((Are we done with this RP?))

((x.x; No, sorry. I read the post and had to get off, so the next time I checked, this RP had no little red page thing, so I didn't come back here. I forgot I hadn't posted. I'll do that in a bit; sorry.))

A quite uncomfortable look plastered upon his face, Squall followed the clerk as he buzzed around the store, pointing and raving on about his work.
"It's nice, but not me," Squall would say when he could get a word in.
The clerk, seeing that there was no avail, took Squall to the back of the store to fit him for something that was his style. Complying, the brown-haired swordsman did as he was instructed in order to get his measurements as quickly as possibly.

"Alrighty! All done," said the store's employee. "You have decent measurements, so it should be fairly easy to tailor an already-existing piece to fit you perfectly. This should be fun, don't you think, sir?"
Squall grunted a 'yes'-like sound, following the clerk into the main part of the store again. Eyes of pleading blue searched for Aerith to see if she could help, so that this would go by much faster.

"Wow," Squall said as he was yanked away from the clerk. "You're good. And I thank you."
He smoothed his hair back as she released him, and he looked through the women's clothes, actually interested in what she was going to wear.
"So," he began again, tilting his head as he checked a price tag. He exhaled in disbelief, and released the item. "Getting rid of the pink, huh? Why? It looks good on you."

Squall acted as if that wasn't an awkward thing to say, and started thumbing through the clothes once more. Eye contact after saying something so sickeningly odd wasn't an option. Eyebrows of brown raised as he looked at a slightly promiscuous top, and, noticing Aerith's odd look, he released it quickly.

Boots of charcoal black thudded against the hardwood floor as he continued to look, but he lingered around Aerith. Women's clothes were so complicated, Squall decided. There were high-rise; low-rise; boot-cut; boyfriend-style... gah, all this over a pair of jeans? Some even had little sparkley things on the back pockets! If women didn't want men looking at their butts, why would they have distracting designs on them? Squall shook his head, keeping quiet, and crossed his arms.
"Anyway, what kinda look are you wanting to go for?"

"Um, thank for the thought," Squall said as politely as his pride would allow him to. "But I'm not really a formal type of guy, I guess you could say. I'm more focused on-" he looked down at his current outfit. "-this type of thing, ya'know?"
Stealing a glance at his companion, he actually smiled a bit at her. This was an odd, awkward situation, but the look on her face almost made him chuckle. She looked just about at defeated as he felt, but he wasn't planning on drawing any attention to it.

Squall nodded to the clerk as he dismissed himself to pick out a new, "grungier" outfit. Pleased with the choices he could see the clerk making across the room, he turned to Aerith. His smirk was gone, but the glint in his eye was still violently apparent. It suited him well.
"So, are we gonna humiliate you anytime today? 'Cause that was the whole mission in my mind," he let off a small smile as she begun glaring at him. "I'm, actually, thinking of making you try this on."

As the word "this" exited Squall's thin, pale lips, he held up a completely hideous sequined, gold, metallic minidress.
"I know you like it."

Squall sidestepped the panicking girl as she ran away. It was a pretty horrible dress. Aerith still confused him, though, and he wasn't completely sure why she was acting so oddly around him. He'd just joked around with her a bit, but, apparently, it was driving her away and annoying her. He smoothed back his hair as he shoved the dress away from any wandering eyes (for fear of pupil erosion).

The brown-haired "tough guy" moseyed over to the clerk, peering over his shoulder at the items that were slung across his forearm.
"Like what you see so far?" asked the man, briefly looking back at the nosy Squall Leonhart.
"Yeah, I do, actually," he said, looking back at the dressing room doors Aerith had locked herself away in.
"What happened back there?"
"I've no idea. I have yet to understand women; much less Aerith."
"Nor have I," said the clerk. "But that's not really my problem anymore."
Squall actually was quite amused by that statement, smiling cheerfully and excreting a small laugh.

Sooner than later, Squall sat down in a bench near the dressing rooms. He sighed a bit, checking the doors to see if Aerith was, by any chance, peeking out to check for him.
"What's taking so long?" he finally whined.

((Should we have a contact system like email or something so I know when you're available or w/e?))

((I'm not available much anymore. I'm so swamped with school and tutoring little kids that it's gotten ridiculous. I will be able to post today, though, and most of Sunday. :]))

Squall had left the store shortly to get two bottles of water: one for himself, and one for Aerith. Pushing his hair out of his face, he stood at the door with a sigh. It seemed as though he was having trouble figuring out the doorknob, but that wasn't the case at all. He was delving deeply into his mind in order to find out where his feelings were coming from, and, for that matter, what they were.
"I give up," he muttered aloud, swinging the door open. He was hit by a cold, crisp burst of air, inhaling deeply. It was so muggy outside that Squall could barely breathe; the air in the shop was much more tolerable.

"Aerith, I hope you're outta that dressing r-- Ahem," Leonhart cut himself off as he noticed the girl standing in the middle of the room. The florescent lighting was bouncing off of her form like a spotlight; her very presence enticed Squall, making him forget all about what he was saying; even what he was thinking about four seconds ago.
Holy... he thought, not even able to talk to himself in complete sentences. That can't be...
It was. The girl, in all her beauty, turned around to face the door. Gorgeous locks of brown, satiny hair framed a face of perfect pale peach; eyes of deep bluish green made his heart skip a few beats.
"...Aerith?"

((Aww, well, take all the time you need. I'm back in school now too so my time on here's pretty limited, so I understand. Good luck on tutoring, though!))

He tried to come up with something in order to compliment her, but everything he thought of sounded creepy or out of place. Could someone that he thought of only as a friend look this good? Was it possible? With a sigh and a swallowing of his nerves, Squall approached Aerith, standing behind her as she stared at her reflection. He locked eyes with her mirror image, tilting his head as she did. Noticing his hair was in slight disarray, the man ran his hands through it until it was about as right as it would ever get.
"Yeah, you probably should take it off," he finally said. "There isn't anywhere for you to wear it... but you do look really amazing in it; no lie."
At this point, his back was turned to both Aerith and her reflection. Silently blushing to himself, staring at the condensation on his bottle, Squall crossed the room.

"I mean, unless you can think of a place where that kind of dress would be suitable," he hinted, not speaking up; nor was he whispering. Twisting the cap off of the water bottle, Squall gulped down half of the liquid, sighing heavily afterward. His throat still felt dry for some reason; he figured it was due to his nerves. Slowly, he turned to face his friend.
"Can you think of any place?" he cooed, still not looking directly at her.

Blue eyes off in a daze, the gunblade-wielder caught sight of the tailor admiring Aerith-- or his work, rather-- over a pair of pants he was measuring and hemming for Squall. At first glance, he almost got jealous, but remembered the man's sexuality. He thought of himself as completely ridiculous; what right did he have to be jealous of anyone? Aerith wasn't his girlfriend, his daughter, nor was she anyone that he would be interested... His thoughts were cut off by an odd feeling in his stomach. It was the type of feeling you get when you stand in front of a crowd and make a complete ass of yourself; a feeling you get when you know you're a liar. Balling up his fist and rubbing it against his eye, Squall finally looked at Aerith in full, plain view. Now that was a view, alright.

"Nah, I'm not one to dance," he said, scratching his head as she released him. He halfway ignored the 'cute' comment, and kind of didn't notice it at first. "Uh-... Well, I mean..." he cleared his throat. "We should still go somewhere, though. We can't let this dress be kept between you and I; you deserve to get out there and show it off."
He slid his hands into his pockets, feeling just as uncomfortable as she did. He wasn't sure what else to say to the girl, due to the both of them being a light shade of pink and stunned silent. Something was moving along, but Squall wasn't sure what it was. They were both acting strangely, and it was making him... nervous.

"Uh," he started, his deep voice cracking slightly. "If you can think of something else, I'd be glad to accompany you. Maybe a fancy restaurant or something? Do they have those here?"
His brow raised and his head cocked, Squall pondered to himself in silence. He couldn't come up with anything on his own, and was waiting for a chirp from one of the two other beings in the store with him. They would know better than him anyway, right?

"Well," chimed the tailor. "I do know of a place.. but it's only for couples!"

Squall knew he was lying through his teeth; this man had always been a "matchmaker", never successfully pairing up anyone in his wake.

"Okay, okay, don't look at me like that, sir," he said, looking back down at the clothing and needle in his skilled hands. "It's for just about anyone, but it's rather fancy.. and there's no way you're getting in looking like that."
The man looked up at Squall as the last word exited his lips, jumping up from his idle position.
"May I suggest one of my suits, hm?"

Narrowing his eyes, Squall turned to Aerith, who seemed to be frozen in time. He tapped her on the nose once, smirking at her.
"Wanna go?"

"Doesn't matter to me," he cooed, taking the suit from the tailor's awaiting grasp. A sigh that he'd been holding back for quite awhile now exited his lips, and he slowly made his way to the dressing rooms. Relieving himself of his other clothes, Squall buttoned, zipped, and tugged at the new suit. The 360-degree mirrors made him feel awkward; he wasn't sure if he looked 'good' or not.

'I do want to let Aerith get out there, though,' he thought to himself. 'But I really don't wanna make an ass outta myself while she's being asked for dances and nights alone.'
He knew he was thinking too vibrantly about things, but he couldn't help it; it was his persona. He cleared his throat as he looked himself over once more, clipping on the tie that had been thrown over the door to the dressing room.

Unlatching the door, he removed himself from the confines of the small square-shaped room, immediately staring at Aerith. She looked as though she had been waiting for him to emerge for a century: bright-eyed and eager. He scratched his head in wonder as she and the tailor both stared at him, not sure if it were a compliment or in confusion. Squall was red- not pink- red in sheer nervousness and embarrassment.
"So, uh," he looked down at himself. "How's this?"

Chuckling a bit as she made a complete fool out of herself, Squall, after a moment or two, pushed her away from him.
"I don't know," he said, looking down once more. "I mean, I guess it's alright."
As he looked up once more at Aerith, who was still smirking, his blushing cheeks had faded into a more realistic color- pink. A twinge in the corner of his lips almost resembled a smile, but that assumption couldn't justifiably be made.

"I guess if you like it, then it looks good, huh?" he said, smoothing down the slightly-wrinkled front of the jacket. He shook his head accordingly, though, and looked back up at Aerith. "I'll buy this, but you have to promise me we'll go somewhere that has nothing to do with dancing."