Today Loraine would be stopping by the tailor’s shop. Luffas, who knew the tailor through his mother, had pulled some strings, and gotten a deep discount on the alterations to Loraine’s hand-me-downs. He used some of the money he and Orian had saved up to pay in advance. 

“Wow, Orian. Who’d have thought you were living with an older woman?” Luffas chidded. He’d weasled the information out of Orian a few days earlier when the tailor asked about Loraine’s age. “Not only is she super gorgeous, but she’s totally taboo because you’re underage!” 

“Shush, Luffas! She’ll hear you.” 

“She’s in her room. How can she?” Luffas asked. 

Loraine was indeed out of earshot, but Orian didn’t want to risk it. In just the last week he and Loraine had become very good friends and he felt like romance might be in the air. If it was, then Orian wanted it to take it’s time to flourish. 

Luffas let out a sigh. “Fine. I won’t bring it up anymore. Oh look, there she is now.” 

Orian nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned around to find Loraine standing behind him with a large box in her grip. Luffas quickly took the box from her. “I’ll take this.” 

“Thank you, Luffas.” 

“Are you ready to go, Loraine?” Orian asked. 

“Yes,” she replied. 

“Great! Let’s go, Lovebirds!” Luffas snickered and made his way out the front door leaving the two blushing lovebirds in his wake. They followed him out, Orian locking the door behind him. 

Orian was about to apologize, but Loraine stopped him. “Don’t worry. I know its in his nature to tease.”

“Thank’s for being so understanding. Luffas can be really embarrassing sometimes.”

It was true. As long as they had known each other Luffas was always saying embarrassing things, especially when adolencence hit and Luffas’ attraction to girls came into full effect.. For a while Orian wasn’t sure he would survive growing up if he ever became anything like his best friend. But he hadn’t, and he took great pride in being a little more gentlemanly. 

Loraine and Orian quickly caught up Luffas who was making rounds as he headed to the plaza. He stopped by every shop along the way, winking and smiling to every woman he laid eyes on before moving on to the next shop. 

“Why does he do that?” Loraine asked as she watched Luffas chat up a pretty lady. 

Orian wasn’t sure he should explain that his friend was a horny lech but he tried his best to answer Loraine. “Two reasons. He thinks he’s irresistable to women and two, thats how he gets some of his scoops. As he puts it, women love to gossip and thats where the big stories are.” 

Loraine couldn’t help but laugh. “I see. Well atleast he’s good at his job.” 

“Yeah. Nobody wants to admit it, but he is. That’s why he works for the village news letter.” 

After visiting several shops, Luffas finally stopped at Goldenrod Garments. No sooner did the door fly open to reveal a stout elderly woman. The gray of her hair blended into the red of her rather large fox ears while her graying tail was rather bushy but not nearly as smooth as it had once been. She had a full face with rosy cheeks and a big smile.  “Luffas, Dear. I’ve been waiting for you all morning. You know you shouldn’t keep a lady waiting.” 

“Sorry I’m late, Ma’am. I brought the pretty young lady who needs her dresses altered.” Luffas said. He stepped aside letting Loraine through the front door, then handed Loraine’s box of clothes to the the seamstress. 

“Let me see her. Come forward dear.” Loraine stepped forward and loomed over the seamstress. “My, my. She’s as tall as a sunflower!” This might pose a bit of a problem. You’re mother is no where near this young lady’s height.”

Orian had been living with Loraine so long that he no longer noticed her looming height. Now that he’d been reminded, he thought she must haven been suffering all this time with clothes that didnt fit. She had the dress she’d been arrested in, but the rest of her clothes didn’t fit. The hand-me-downs were just too short for her long body. The dress she was currently wearing barely made it past her knees and lacked any form, like a potato sack. 

“Yeah. Mom’s clothes probably weren’t the best fit, I hope you can fit them better for her. I’m sure she’s got a smokin’ body under there.” 

“Luffas!” Orian shouted. 

Loraine’s face flushed. Sensing her embarrassment, the seamstress dragged the elf straight back to the changing room. 

“Why’d you have to say that, Luffas?!”

Luffas grinned. “I never lie, you know that.” 

“But you didn’t have to say THAT!”  Orian was starting to feel embarrassed too. He didn’t know why. Maybe it was because deep down it was something he was curious about. What would Loraine look like in a tighter dress. Maybe a powder blue dress would look good on her, he thought. Something to contrast her black hair. 

As Orian was going through different dress colors in his head Luffas had his hand on the door knob ready to make his exit. ”I’m done here. Everything paid for so all you have to do is wait until Miss Vea is done with the alterations. In the meantime, I’m going to go see a lady friend about some inside info on the next council meeting. See ya!” 

“See you....” Quicker than a summer dragonfly, Orian’s friend was gone. He shrugged it off and found a place to sit down in the corner of the shop between piles of textiles. 

Orian was reminded of the last time he visited Goldenrod Garments. He had always been small but grew rather quickly as a child and made frequent visits to the shop to get his clothes altered. It was a lot more affordable than buying a new wardrobe every week. When he grew his last inch he was releaved that he could buy clothes that would be a little more permanent. He was still on the scrawny side, but he didnt mind if a shirt was too big around the collar or he had to wear a belt to hold up his trousers. 

He wondered if Loraine had had that problem as she was growing up. She had a lot more to grow than he did. As his mind was imagining Loraine as a child, she suddenly apppeared before him. She was wearing a simple cotton dress to replace the potato sack. It fit much better but to Loraine it was nearly the same as underwear. She shyly sat beside Orian and asked, ”Could you please face the other way?”

His eyes didnt linger for long before they saught a new focus, the shop window. For some reason Orian wanted to look back at Loraine and take more notice of her slender form. Just a peek would have been nice, but he had to stop himself and resist temptation. He wasn’t a pervert like his friend. This was Loraine sitting next to him. The girl he wanted a romance with. He couldn’t oggle her no matter how hypnotic her beauty was. Naughty thoughts could be fun, but Loraine was special to him. 

“Perverted thoughts come later.” 

“Later?” Loraine asked. 

“How much did you hear?” 

“Enough, my dear Orian.” 

My Dear Orian. That’s what she’d been calling him lately. It just sort of happened one day while they were preparing lunch together. To Orian it was like an omen. She’d started using terms of endearment. Such a small display of affection had to be a sign that romance was next. He had never pegged himself the romantic type, but lately the idea of love was something that Orian now embraced. 

“Forgive me,” Orian said, ”That was totally inappropriate.”

Loraine smiled. “Do not worry. I will tell your father later so he can give you a spanking.” 

“Please don’t do that.” Orian pleaded. His face was turning red at the thought of what his father would do if he found out his son had feelings for their house guest. 

Before Loraine could reassure Orian that she was only joking, Miss Vea called her into the sewing room at the back of the shop where she’d actually be sewing the new dresses. “We’ll make one or two to send home with you. The rest I’ll make according to your measurements and you can come back to get them fitted.”

Loraine barely heard the seamstress. She was busy looking at the many threads, ribbons, pins, and buttons that were shelved all over the sewing room. “This is incredible, Ma’am. We didn’t have a sewing room back home.” 

“Didn’t have a sewing room? Elves are known for their elegant sewing!”

“Not this elf, I’m afraid. I’d love to learn though.” Loraine said. 

“Would you like to be my apprentice? I could use some help here on occassion. Especially before school starts in the fall. Our village is rather large with many many children who all need fittings. I can give you some materials and some books for you to study.” 

“That would be wonderful, Miss Vea.”

Later on, Loraine walked out of Goldenrod Garments with two new dresses and a box of everything she would need to start learning how to sew. Her first assignment was to make something. It could be anything Loraine chose. If she could do this successfully the seamstress would hire her. 

The whole way home, Loraine spoke of the projects she’d like to make. She had so many ideas but one idea in particular made Orian smile. “How about a cushion for your rocking chair? It should be easy to make and it wouldn’t go to waste.” 

“I feel selfish for saying it, but I would love that, Loraine.” Orian said. 

“Well then, My Dear Orian, when we get home I’ll go straight to work.” 

Loraine kept her word and went to straight to Orian’s shed. There she set down her box of sewing tools and found a measuring tape, then she got out one of the many sewing books inside.  “Alright. I just need to measure the seat right? That should tell me how big or small to cut the fabric.. right?” 

Orian didn’t know a thing about sewing, but he agreed that that was the most logical place to start. He took the measuring tape and and measured the dimensions of the rocking chair’s seat. The only problem was that it wasn't completely square. The corners had been rounded. For a moment Loraine wasn’t sure how she would get her fabric in that shape, but Orian had a trick up his sleeve. He went to a drawer and pulled out a roll of paper. 

“I saved the chair pattern, all you have to do is pin it to the fabric and cut it out.  Just like in the book here, see?” 

Loraine glanced at the book which showed an image of a piece of fabric being prepped for cutting. There was indeed a piece of paper pinned to the fabric. “How lucky. You’ve got the pattern all ready for me!” She gave Orian a smile before holding his pattern at arms length to examine it. 

“Yeah. Its very lucky.” Orian could have have sworn he felt his heart detatch from its blood vessels and leap out of his chest. Her smiling face was getting more and more irresistable. He could feel it in his core. A fluttering that would arise at just the thought of her. 

He asked Luffas about it once. He didnt dare let on to his father that his feelings were for Loraine. Luffas, being the expert on these matters, told Orian he was experiencing attraction. 

“Well duh. Don’t you think I know that?” Orian asked. 

“Of course I know that you know. I was just making sure. You could be in denile.” 

“Well I’m not. So what do I do?” 

Luffas stroked his chin. He thought very deeply before answering his friend’s question. “Maybe you two lovebirds should move on to adult stuff.” 

Orian panicked. “N..No way! Loraine’s not.. She’s not like that! She’s not a pervert!” 

“Cool it! I didn’t say she was! You don’t have to be a pervert to do adult stuff you know.” Luffas said with a grin. 

”Just be an adult?” Orian looked closely wondering if his friend was speaking from experience. Was he an adult already?

“Your birthday’s coming up. You could at least ask for a kiss as a present.” Luffas gave his friend a thumbs up. “Unless you’re feeling brave.” 

Orian shook his head. “Luffas. Did anyone ever tell you you’re insane?” 

“Love you too, buddy.” 

Shaking off the memory, Orian was just in time to see the setting sun in the shed’s window fading away in its fiery array of colors. He grabbed Loraine’s hand so suddenly that Loraine was jolted away from her focus.  “My birthday is coming up soon....” 

Loraine gave him another smile and it was all the more reason to ask for a kiss, but she spoke before he could get out the words. “Then I shall have to finish this cushion for you as a gift.” 

“You know what? That sounds perfect.”