10. Costume Shopping
"Not anymore," I correct her, before going back to watching the wall. It slowly turns see-through and I can see Josh and Julia's dad in his office, doing paperwork. Curious, I try look through the wall on the opposite side of the office and it too quickly turns transparent at my will. "Cool," I mutter.
"What's he staring at?" Julia asks.
"Dunno," answers Josh, "he's probably using his X-Ray vision again." I nod.
"Nasty," mutters Julia, "how you could bear to use that, I have no idea."
I imagine the walls becoming solid again, and they do. I turn back around to face them and shrug at Julia. "I was just playing around with them."
"Okay, suuuurrre." She rolls her eyes. "So anyway. What was that about you guys going costume shopping?"
"Because Tim is so determined to die young at the hands of some maniac supervillian," Josh says, "and because Tim has managed to find himself a benefactor, I have decided at if he's gonna go suicidal and be a superhero..."
"It's not that suicidal!" I complain, butting in.
"... he may as well do it properly, by getting a suit," he finishes. I roll my eyes, to express my opinion on the matter.
"Cool," says Julia, running a hand through her long blonde hair. Did I mention that it's a really beautiful shade, a rare mix of ash blonde and strawberry? Well, I'm not sure if it's that rare, but it certainly... "Hello?" she asks me, waving a hand in front of my eyes, "earth to Tim?"
"Oh, yeah," I mutter, blushing and nervously switching my eyes from her face to the wall. I hear Josh groan.
"So, yeah," says Julia. "I didn't really have anything better to do for the rest of the day, so if you wanted me to come shopping and offer some advice..."
I'm about to politely refuse when Josh buts in. "Sure, whatever." I groan inside my head. Last thing I need right now is...
---
"Some advice on shopping." Julia pulls a tight-looking red long sleeved shirt from a rack. "You have to make the colours suit you." She holds it up to me, and shakes her head, before hanging it back up.
"No shit," I mutter. Julia looks at me weirdly and I sigh.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing."
She grins at me. "Thought so." She pulls out an electric blue shirt instead. "Better..." She mutters, pawing around in the racks. "Ah ha!" She holds a bright orange one at to my skin. "Right on! This one!"
"Oh, no." I firmly shake my head. "Hell no. You've got to be crazy if you think I'm wearing that horrid thing."
"Oh, come on." She smiles sweetly, and I almost give in. Almost. "The colour isn't that bad."
"I thought the whole idea of superhero costumes is," Josh adds with a laugh, "to be as bright as possible, so everybody can see you coming." He chuckles to himself.
"How about black?" I suggest.
Julia thinks on it for a moment, and I'm honestly surprised she even bothers to consider it for that long. "Nah. Black doesn't look that good on you. It would be slightly better if your hair was black, because then you could go all gothic... besides, isn't black a villain colour? No, I like this orange." She throws the shirt into my hands and I groan.
About half an hour later, she has an entire outfit assembled and orders me to go put it on. Not really seeing any other choice, I wander off to the changing rooms. I suppose the stuff that Julia wants me to wear isn't that bad... okay, who am I kidding? All the stuff she's given me is mostly that horrid orange, with a touch of yellow and red. But I shrug to myself and pull them on anyway. Or more like force them on. Why did she have to get pants that were so damned tight! At least this spandex material stretches... kind of.
I walk out, fearing the moment when I have to look at my reflection. It doesn't help that Josh has to burst into laughter as soon as he sees me. Julia shoots him an evil look.
"What? He looks like an idiot! Is there a rule saying can't laugh at idiots?"
"Outside," Julia tells him. He looks confused. "Go, outside," she orders, "we'll talk to you later."
"What!" Josh cries, "but this shopping was my idea! You can't just..."
"Outside, dude." I hastily agree with Julia. "Or I'll shock you." I add. He frowns.
"That's not fair."
I roll my eyes. "Okay, then, you tell me what is fair."
"We arm wrestle it out."
"What?" I ask, baffled. Julia just groans.
"Arm wrestle." Says Josh again. "You and me. If I win, I get to stay. If you win, I have to go outside."
"Oh, come on." Julia moans, before I get a chance to comment. "Isn't this the wrong time to be having an arm wrestle?"
"No. It's fine." I say, glancing quickly around the shop. There's nobody in sight, except for a bored shop assistant, flicking mindlessly through an old magazine, so I clear a table of a few bottles of perfume and lay my elbow next to Josh's.
"Dude," he grins at me. "You do know you're doomed, right? I'm way stronger than you! There's no way that you could-"
"Josh," I breathe, already annoyed with his boasting. "Are you gonna brag all day, or are we actually gonna get around to doing this?"
"Why so confident?" He eyes me carefully. "Did you discover that you have super-strength or something?"
I'm about to give a mysteriously suspicious reply that would be a total lie because I'm pretty sure I don't actually have any type of super-strength, but Julia beats me to it.
"Well, he might. Didn't he quite impressively smash the corner off your desk earlier? I thought it was probably some other power he had found during the week, so I left it."
"That's right," I mutter in remembrance, while Josh pales.
"If you do have super-strength, and you break my hand while smashing it through the table, I will..."
"You will what?" I chuckle at him.
He grinds his teeth together in frustration, so much that I can almost hear it. "And also, no using those electric or lightning powers or whatever it is that you have."
"Deal," I mutter, grabbing his hand. He reflexes his muscles and strains them, but I can't feel him putting any more than a light pressure on my hand. His face strains as he pours in what looks but doesn't feel like, a huge amount of effort.
"God dammit Tim!" He swears, while I chuckle and Julia looks upon with curiosity.
"Just curious," I ask, "Have you even started yet?"
"Damn you!" he yells, and I watch as his face turns purple with pressure.
Feeling quite confident in myself, I decide to rake him up a bit. "Would you like me to win yet?" I ask.
"If you must." He sighs, annoyed. I quickly push hand down, taking great care not to break the table. He sighs and lets go. "Do I really have to go outside?"
"Can you refrain from insulting this highly insult-able outfit?" I ask.
"No," he truthfully says, and we both laugh.
Julia frowns. "It's not that bad. All you need is a cape, and..."
"Ooh, goody. A cape," Josh mocks.
"Sorry, Tim, but Josh, get out," she orders and he moans, before trudging his way from the shop.
"Please," I beg her, "can I please wear something less..?"
"Stupid looking?" she suggests.
"Yeah, that one."
"Not a chance." She winks, before walking off to browse through some more racks. In search of a cape, I assume.
Oh, great.
She quickly returns and chucks a red piece of material at me, which I skilfully catch.
"This?" I ask, inspecting it. The material is all red, apart from a yellow lightning bolt in the centre. I chuckle. "Oh, I get it. You were feeling ironic, weren't you?"
She just smiles at me. She has a good smile. But then again - I can't shake the feeling that this is gonna end up being a bad thing...
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