Page 16 of Friendly Skies
Moving past Luis, Ricky stopped. “You want to go out tonight?” he asked.
The invitation surprised Luis, and he hoped his face didn’t betray his shock as he shook his head. “Can’t. I fly out tomorrow morning. Darius might be up for it. He’s home for another couple of days.”
Ricky rolled his eyes. “Right. He’s not going out if you aren’t, dude.”
Chuckling, Ricky continued into the bathroom and shut the door, leaving Luis standing in the hallway to contemplate whether they’d judged their fourth roommate too harshly. Yes, he was prickly, and yes, he was moody, and yeah, he definitely wasn’t the easiest person to get to know, but he’d also taken theplace of someone they all dearly loved and enjoyed having in the apartment.
When it had been the four of them—Luis, Darius, Greg, and Micah—things seemed easier. Micah and Greg were both easygoing, and Micah had been the perfect blend of outgoing and fun while still having the best shoulder to cry on. But then Micah had moved out, leaving LA for San Francisco and the relationship he’d always wanted with his soul mate. Ricky had taken Micah’s place, but he’d also had an incredible crush on Micah and not taken it well when they’d all gotten the wedding picture of him and his now husband. Now, it looked like Greg was heading the same way, and he and Darius would be looking for a fourth again.
Thinking about all those happily ever afters depressed Luis even more, so he decided to do the one thing that was sure to cheer him up. He was going shopping. There was a new vintage shop at Row DTLA that he’d been wanting to check out, and there were a couple of places on Retro Row in Long Beach as well. If Darius wanted to come with him, they could make a stop in the old neighborhood to visit Luis’ parents as well. That was something he felt like he needed today.
“I don’t get why we’re here if you’re not going to buy anything,” Ricky said as they entered another shop at Retro Row.
Against all odds, the redhead had decided to accompany Darius and Luis on their excursion. Given the amount of complaining he’d been doing, Luis wondered if it had been a wise decision, but,whatever, he was in his happy place, and Ricky’s petulant teenager thing was absolutely not going to killhis joy at finding beautiful pieces in the vintage shops.Buyingwasn’t the goal here; seeing what the shops were selling was. This way, when Luis went to estate sales, he knew what kinds of things were worth spending his money on. He’d already explained this to Ricky at DTLA.
Luis loved finding vintage pieces, and he had a knack for it. In addition to furnishing the condo for next to nothing, he’d made a decent amount of money from selling to the vintage stores, as well as directly through online sales sites. It didn’t make him enough to retire from flying—not that he’d want to because he loved his job—but it had given him a nice nest egg for when he did decide to hang up his wings and try opening a store of his own.
Darius looked up from a display of vintage denim and grinned at their grumpy roommate. “We warned you, buttercup, Luis can do this all day.” He pulled a pair of cutoff shorts from the rack. “These are really cute.”
“Yeah, and probably about five hundred dollars,” Ricky said. “Why is everything so damn expensive? It’s all old stuff like my grandmother owned.”
“And that’s why it’s expensive,” Luis said. “It may have been crap when it was first made, but there’s only a limited number of pieces left. Low supply. High demand. It’s basic economics.” He eyed a mid-century credenza that was in pristine condition. Price tag: three thousand. “And why I’m not looking to buy anything.”
“At least not in these stores,” Darius said. He pulled a denim corset that laced up the front off the rack as well and held the two pieces up together. “What do you think?”
“Cute. Go try it on.” Luis nodded, then resumed his perusal of the credenza.
Ricky scoffed as Darius headed off for the dressing rooms. “Why is he going to do that? It’s not like any of us can afford the stuff in here.”
Looking up at Ricky from where he knelt on the floor, trying out the sliding door to see how smoothly it moved, Luis rolled his eyes. “That’s not the point.” He stood and walked over to the denim, sorting through the pieces until he found a pair of bell-bottoms and held them out to Ricky.
“What?”
“Take them.”
“I’m not trying them on.”
Luis sorted through another rack of '70s mod clothing and pulled out a shaggy vest that looked like someone had cut arm holes in a sheep’s fleece. He shoved both the vest and the jeans in Ricky’s direction.
“I told you, I’m not trying them on. What is with you people?”
Ricky turned to walk away, but Luis grabbed his arm. When Ricky turned, Luis cocked a hip and put all the sass he could into telling the asshole in front of him, “Look, sweetheart, we’ve all got shit going on in our lives, and this pissed-off routine is getting boring. You’re the one who decided to come along today, so stop raining on my parade, and go try these fucking clothes on. Okay, sweetheart?” He shoved them into Ricky’s arms and walked off without waiting to see whether Ricky would do as he was told or throw the clothes on the floor and stalk away.
Busying himself with vintage clothes from the '80s, Luis watched Ricky trying to decide what to do. In the end, he surprised the heck out of Luis by walking toward the dressing rooms. Not wanting to be left out, Luis went back to the racks of '70s fashion and quickly found an embroidered denim jacket and paired it with some well-worn jeans. He also grabbed a denim newsboy cap, then followed Darius and Ricky to the dressing rooms.
A few minutes later, they were all standing in front of the three-way mirror in their best vintage attire. Luis and Darius posed while Ricky stood to the side with his arms crossed over his chest.
“I feel ridiculous,” Ricky said, but he was trying hard not to smile.
“Well, I think I look pretty damn good,” Darius said as he turned to admire his ass.
Luis couldn’t blame him. God, his friend looked so hot in those short shorts with sleek legs that seemed to go on for days. And the way the corset pulled his already trim waist in and highlighted his broad shoulders and muscular arms? Damn. Not to mention the way the corset’s laces played peek-a-boo with the tight black curls on Darius’ chest. It was incredible, and Luis continued to take in all the things he’d been too distracted to admire properly the night before.
“I think we all look good,” Darius said, breaking Luis out of his thoughts. “Kind of like gay Charlie’s Angels. Come on, everyone, strike a pose.” Darius grabbed his phone from the dressing room, cajoled Ricky into mugging for the camera, then snapped a couple of shots. When he showed them off, he bumped Ricky’s hip with his own. “See? This is what’s fun about going shopping with Luis.”
Ricky rolled his eyes, but he was grinning. “Fine. But lunch better happen soon or I can’t be responsible for what I say or do.”
Laughing, Darius eyed Luis as Ricky disappeared into the dressing room to change back into his own clothes. He sidled up and threw an arm around Luis’ shoulders. “Nicely done,” he whispered and kissed Luis’ temple.
