Never Have I Ever…gone dress shopping

I'm sitting in Rio's orchard, enjoying the fall air and taking a nap with her oldest dog when I hear a couple of voices headed out way.

"Neil? Neil, where are you?"

In a few minutes Rio steps through the trees ,and when she sees me a smile wreaths her face. Slowly I get up, dusting off my pants as I ask, "Hey, you were looking for me?"

"Mmmmhhm."

I put an arm around her waist and pull her in for a kiss before I realize we're not alone. Looking up , I see Sanjay standing a few feet behind Rio, his gaze averted respectfully as he avoids looking at us. Coughing, I blush a bit and loosen my grip on Rio as I ask her, "What did you need?"

She bites her lip before glancing back at Sanjay and then looking at me again. Digging her toe into the ground, she admits, "I was planning on harvesting my rice today and I forgot that I have some chores I also needed done by today too…I was wondering if you wouldn't mind going into town and taking care of them for me."

As she pulls a list out of her pocket, Sanjay smiles at me welcomingly before saying in a mellow voice, "I would be pleased to assist you, Neil."

"Uh," I cough, "Thanks Sanjay, but you don't have to."

"It would be my pleasure!" Sanjay insists, his eyes wide and earnest as he takes a step forward and Rio smiles up at him. "Master Amir has made it clear that in his absence I should help Miss Rio in any way, and I would enjoy spending time with you."

It's a bit of an awkward thought considering we've only really hung out once, but when he gives me a gentle smile and a tilt of the head I can't help but smile back a bit.

Maybe it won't be so bad spending some time with him.

As we walk out of the general store with bags of curry powder and cocoa packs, I adjust my grip on the bag in my arms and turn my head back to look at Sanjay.

"What's next?" I want to know.

Consulting the list, Sanjay says, "We took care of the food shopping and said our greetings to Miss Tina, bought the blueprints from Rebecca…it says here that the last thing is a trip to the tailors."

"The tailors? What for?"

Sanjay shrugs, and I shake my head before hoisting the bag up again and grunting, "Alright whatever. Let's go and finish this last chore then. I might still have enough time to take that nap in the orchard I was planning on taking earlier."

We reach the tailors quickly, and as we walk in we look around at the nearly empty store before finding Yuri fixing up one of her mannequins.

"Yuri," I say, causing the shy girl to jump a bit before she turns around and looks at us. Clearing her throat, she turns around and fiddles with her fingers in silence.

Finally she says, "How….how can I help…you?"

Resisting the urge to raise an eyebrow at the way she talks, I cough and explain, "I'm here to pick up something for Rio?"

"Rio's…?" Yuri lapses into a thoughtful silence for a bit before turning around and mumbling Rio's name under her breath. Pawing through a few piles of clothes Yuri turns back around with a frown on her face and walks past Sanjay, still mumbling Rio's name.

As she walks behind the counter and looks over there, I exchange a look with Sanjay before Yuri comes back to where the two of us are standing. She holds two different dresses with a puzzled look on her face before explaining, "Rio…was supposed to choose one…which one?"

Sanjay's normally calm expression slips a bit as he looks at me expectantly. Blankly, I stare at the dresses.

What did she mean, 'which one'?

She can't mean I'M supposed to choose one…

As I continue to stare, Yuri holds both of the folded up dresses closer before giving me a questioning look.

I have no idea what I'm supposed to do; fashion is hardly something I'm into, and on top of that it isn't as if I know which one Rio wanted in the first place. I've half a mind to tell her I'll just take both, but by the looks of things that won't be an option.

While I stand there, unsure of what to do, the door chimes signaling another customer. The three of us all turn to look as Allen walks in with a displeased look on his face and some bagged clothing in his hands.

When he sees me, his eyebrows go up but he says nothing and turns to Yuri holding out the package in his arms.

"I've ripped one of my jackets and it needs mending as soon as possible," Allen tells Yuri, placing the clothes on the counter as he looks over at where the three of us are standing.

I can't resist giving him a grin as I say, "Look at you, worrying about your clothes like some girl."

The stylist just gives me a look before saying, "I didn't expect to see someone like you in here…Rio has a hard enough time dragging you to my salon. I can't imagine what she promised to wear to get you come in here. Let me guess…she wanted you to see her new swimsuit?"

Immediately I turn bright red, and stammer, "Th-that's ridiculous! I'm just here running some errands with Sanjay."

Allen glances over at where Sanjay smiles politely, before turning his gaze back on me. With a shrug, the stylist turns to look at Yuri before noticing the dresses in her hands.

"Oh, what are these? Are these for Rio?"

As Allen pulls at the dresses and admires them, Yuri nods and murmurs, "Only one….she put in an order for both…but only paid for one. Since they're the same price…Neil, which one?"

Silently I curse at myself, wishing I'd brought my wallet so I could just pay for both when Allen looks over at me and smirks.

"Need some help?" the stylist asks, grinning as he puts an elbow on my head and leans casually. Quickly I pull out from under him and snarl back, "No! I mean…I'll just choose one and she can get the other one later."

"Ah, but don't you want to get the one that will make her look the cutest?" Allen says, before turning back to look over the dresses again. Reaching out, he says, "Yuri, go put them on hangers so we can look at them properly."

Nodding, Yuri heads to the counter again and begins rummaging while Allen turns back to me and crosses his arms.

Still smiling, he says, "If I was the one choosing for Rio, I'd choose something elegant…like that fancy red skirt she wears sometimes to festivals. It's a good look on her."

"Well she's not yours to look at," I grumble, irritation starting to grow in the pit of my stomach as I continue to hold the bags in my arms.

Ignoring me, Allen turns to Sanjay and asks, "What would you like to see Rio in?"

"M-me?" Sanjay stammers, looking embarrassed. Quickly he looks at me, and with a sigh I just shake my head and say, "Just answer. You can't be any more vulgar than Allen is."

At this Sanjay blushes a bit before coughing and admitting, "I…think Miss Rio looks very nice in shorts…purple ones actually. The color looks very attractive on her…"

Allen nods a bit then shrugs, "I suppose that's fine but if you want to talk about attractive it would have to be an eastern style dress…the short skirts, the little slit up the side…"

"Can we stop talking about my wife?" I want to know, my annoyance nearly bursting through at this whole conversation. If it weren't for the bags I'm carrying right now, Allen would be dead for even bringing this up; even if he's just teasing about Rio I can't help but feel angry when he talks about her like that.

Seeing my irritation, Allen frowns as Yuri begins to walk over to us again. Holding up a hand, the stylist says, "Calm down Neil, we're just talking. Trust me, Rio's really not my type-if I was going to go for anyone it would be someone who appreciates fashion, like Yuri."

At this point, Yuri has reached us and she blushes a bit, the dazed look fading before she coughs and holds up the dresses.

"Which one?" she wants to know.

The second I look at them on the hangers, I know which one I want to see Rio in. Sanjay blushes a bit as he stares at the same dress I have my eyes on, and Allen gives a low whistle and puts an arm around me as he points and says, "That one, Yuri. That's definitely the one."

Sanjay bows and says his good-byes as I wave to him and carry everything inside the house. While I set things on the table, Rio calls from the bedroom, "Neil, is that you?"

"Who else would it be?" I call back, smiling at her as she comes out of the bedroom and sticks her tongue out at me playfully. While I carry the food towards the kitchen and begin putting things in the fridge, I hear her rummaging through the packages I left on the table.

Instantly a blush begins on my face as she calls, "Thank you for running those errands for me, it was a big help!"

"Oh, no problem!" I call back, feeling hot as I hear the tell-tale rustle of plastic that signals she's pulled the dress out of the bag.

There's silence from the dining room. For a second I wait to see if she'll say anything, but when she doesn't I turn on my heel and rush back to the table to see her holding up the dress with a blush on her face that's every bit as red as mine.

As her gaze travels over the maid outfit, she coughs and says, "So you picked this dress instead of the raincoat…I wasn't expecting you to be so eager for the Pumpkin festival. I was going to wear a costume for that…"

My blush becomes even more heated as I fidget and mutter, "Oh…so that's what it was for…"

Instantly she meets my gaze, a curious look in her eyes and she asks, "What else would it be for?"

I'm growing more and more heated by the second before I turn around and say, "Nothing! Absolutely nothing! I'll go get your raincoat tomorrow-"

"Neil."

My breath gets cut off as I feel her breath on my neck and her arms wind around my shoulders. Her lips brush against my ear as she asks, "Did you want a preview of my costume?"

"No," I lie stubbornly, unwilling to tell her what I actually thought she ordered that costume for.

Curse Allen and his ability to give me weird thoughts…

My self-scolding is interrupted as Rio's arms slide down my chest and to my waist, before she kisses the back of my neck lightly. I freeze before she giggles, "I guess I'll go try it on then…see you in the bedroom."

The second she lets go, I whirl around and see her walking off towards the bedroom with a skip in her step. Quickly I take a deep breath to calm myself before following her.

I guess shopping for dresses isn't that hard after all…

So when I was writing this, I looked up their preferred outfits and ironically enough the maid outfit was a liked one for all three of these bachelors. I figured either they were just really into playing dress up or (like most guys I happen to know) have somewhat dirty minds :P

That's just my take on things though, so I hope it was at least enjoyable to read and slightly amusing, if nothing else XD

Anyways, until the next update thank you for the reads and reviews! I love hearing back from you guys, and knowing what your reactions are to my weird twist on Neil's thoughts XD