Life and Limb

“You look like a great orange pumpkin in that one. It’s repulsive. Try another one.”

“Thank you for your kind words.”

“Shut up and take the dress off.”

Marie stepped behind the large black curtain at the dressing room of Gladrags Wizardwear to take off the orange dress she had picked to try on. She was shopping for the Halloween dance...with Tom, of all people. And let the record show that he wasn’t exactly the best companion for such a trip. He either thought all the dresses she picked were ugly, or he complimented her on the wonderful way some dresses gave her a proper cleavage. In either case, Marie always put the dress back on the floating rack that accompanied her into the little dressing area.

On the other side of the drawn curtain, she could hear Tom yawning. “We’ve been in here for a good hour now. Just pick one of the red dresses and buy it, already.”

“You just want me to wear one of the red ones because those have a low neckline,” Marie snorted as she slipped the orange dress off and selected one of the few left that she hadn’t yet tried on.

“I’m a man. We have no control over these things.”

Marie rolled her eyes and slipped the new dress over her head. “Hey Tom, I need help zipping this one up. Mind lending a hand?”

“Really?”

“Not on your life. Stay there.”

“...that was completely unnecessary and a bit cruel, Fugazi.”

Marie didn’t respond but smiled to herself. Once she took her hair out of the bun it was in and shook it around her face, and she was sure that everything else on the dress was where it should be, she drew the curtain back.

“Voila!” she said dramatically, throwing one arm out for added flair.

Tom looked up from a copy of the Daily Prophet he had been perusing and his mouth fell open slightly. Marie, feeling uncomfortable, threw one arm across her chest as if to cover herself.

“No, that’s not what I...I mean, it looks...Hmm...” Tom stammered.

“What’s ‘hmm?’ What’s that supposed to mean?” Marie asked, her face feeling flushed.

The dress was a beautiful baby blue color. It was one shouldered and had a silver sparkling belt at the waist that highlighted Marie’s curves. The bottom was slightly ruffled and there was a bow at the shoulder near her neck. Feeling slightly exposed at the short length of the dress, Marie felt the urge to dive back behind the curtain. Instead she fought the desire and forced herself to stand there under Tom’s stare.

“Hmm...” Tom repeated, probably just to annoy her. He had one finger touching his chin thoughtfully. “There’s something a little off about it...”

“If you say one word about a lack of cleavage – ”

She was cut off when Tom got up from his rickety chair and walked towards her. She took an involuntary step back but her back brushed against the curtain and she stopped herself before she tripped.

“I can’t put my finger on it...” Tom said, still deep in thought. “But it’s missing something.”

“A longer hem.”

“Shush.”

Tom suddenly looked like something clicked in that devious brain of his. “I know.”

Without asking her permission, Tom used both hands and gently brushed Marie’s hair off her shoulders. He made a noise of dissatisfaction and tenderly grabbed two handfuls of her hair, twisted them up behind her, and put them in the imitation of a bun back on her head.

“Much better.” He sounded pleased. “You were hiding your face.”

They stood like that for a moment, Tom still with his hands in her hair and his face dangerously close to hers. Marie tried looking down at something other than his face, but when her eyes landed on his crotch area she had no choice but to look back up.

“I do have to say, though, I’m a bit disappointed the dress isn’t green,” Tom murmured, his voice unreasonably husky. “Green would really bring out your eyes.”

“I think you just like green because it’s a Slytherin color,” Marie said gently.

“There’s that, too.”

His hands released her hair but instead she could feel them trailing lightly down her back and onto her hips where they rested. Luckily they were the only two people in the shop at the moment, minus the cashier at the counter, and she seemed to be too engrossed into her witches’ gossip magazine to care about what was happening.

Tom leaned forward a bit to whisper: “If I promise not to ruin it, can I kiss you?”

Marie’s heart did a violent palpitation at his words. “Why would you want to?”

“Because even though I’ve already kissed you twice, I never really kissed you.”

Marie locked eyes with him and immediately felt woozy. Was she about to faint? How embarrassing that would be. She had to maintain her consciousness.

“How do I know for certain you won’t ruin it?” Marie asked, only half kidding.

Tom didn’t answer and instead leaned forward a bit more and pressed his lips to hers. Marie, instead of freezing up this time, closed her eyes and found that her hands were already making their way around his neck. At this close range, Marie could smell the vanilla-like scent wafting from the dark green sweater he wore and it seemed to pull her deeper into her oblivion with Tom.

He sucked a little bit on her bottom lip, bit it lightly, and kissed her again before pulling away slightly to breathe. Marie found herself feeling disappointed when he did. She kept her hands around his neck and pulled herself forward so their foreheads were touching.

“Thank you for not ruining it,” she mumbled, flashing him a little smile.

Tom looked like he wanted to say something but he bit his bottom lip instead. Marie found it oddly endearing.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Didn’t you feel that?” Tom asked seriously, tightening his grip on Marie’s hips.

“Feel what?”

“...nothing.”

Something touched her forehead gently – his lips, she realized too late – and with a quick, “The dress looks beautiful on you” he was already heading for the door, eager to step onto High Street and leave the shop. Marie stood there, staring after his retreating back, still in the pale blue dress. Her hands were shaking slightly and she pressed them together palm to palm to stop them from doing so.

“Alright there, dearie?” The witch at the counter finally looked up from her magazine. “You gonna buy that lovely little number?”

“Y-Yes please...”

As the witch rang up the price at the surprisingly Muggle-looking register, Marie went behind the curtain to change back into her regular clothes. She couldn’t keep her hands from shaking and it took her a bit longer to take the dress off with them trembling so. Tom had promised not to ruin the kiss, but somehow, unbelievably, he still did.