They headed off to look for ribbons and beads, which Dorana really did want, he hadn’t made that up, but it wasn’t like it had actually beenurgentor anything. Bennan told him about the locations he’d heard about, and Chamis confirmed he knew about all of them. Bennan’s face fell.
“Oh, that’s not very helpful, is it?”
Chamis plucked up his courage and reached out and squeezed Bennan’s arm before letting go.
“It means a lot to me that you asked. It was very kind of you. Thank you.”
Bennan perked right up again, grinning at him. Chamis tried to tell himself it was just because Bennan was kind and helpful… but it did seem like he was trying to impress him, didn’t it?
Chamis was trying to tell himself not to read too much into it, but he was getting his hopes up despite himself.
They ended up going through four different stores, still early enough that none of them were terribly busy. Chamis did better when he had a purpose that he could focus on. Four stores was more than he would have done except in dire straits. Bennan had recalled the ribbon debacle of last year, and Chamis had laughed in spite of himself as he relayed that yes, Dorana really had reported that it was that much of a disaster and she might as well not wear the entire dress and her whole life was going to be blighted forever if she couldn’t find ribbons and beads that would match.
Chamis didn’t have a lot of opinions on women’s fashion—or fashion generally, really—but he didn’t think ribbons could possibly bethatimportant, and his sisters both had plenty of beads. Dorana had certainly seemed to think the correct ones were crucial, though, and he couldn’t bear to have her be disappointed.
“I must have gone to ten stores!” Chamis said, shuddering at the memory. “Maybe more! Frantically looking for a color I didn’t even understand. I mean, what coloris‘ocean breeze’?”
Bennan was laughing, smiling at him with such a happy expression that something just… settled inside of Chamis, something he hadn’t even known wasunsettled.
He realized he’d stopped talking and was just staring at the other man.
“What?” Bennan asked.
Chamis shook his head. “Nothing, nothing. So what do you think about this one?”
He held it up.
It turned out that Bennan hadlotsof opinions about women’s fashion. He had opinions about everything, it seemed, and he wasn’t shy about sharing them. He was the perfect person to bring on an outing like this, because he would tell you which of two ribbons he preferred even though Chamis would have been willing to swear they were pretty much the same color. He would wave over salespeople and engage them in a protracted discussion about what the difference was between cream and eggshell and whether ‘petal blush’ or ‘rosy glow’ would look better with it in consequence.
Chamis was good to confirm straightforward things he actually knew: yes, they should look only at square beads because his sisters both identified as female. But he didn’t have an opinion aboutshineorglazeorcolor effect. He clarified that they didn’t have red hair like him but took more after their mother: gold curls for Dorana and a strawberry blond for Halna. Chamis had gotten the pure, brazen orange-red directly from his father—and none of the fierce behavior that the man had also expected.
Whenthey asked weird questions—how would Chamis know if there was lace on the dress, and why would thatmatter?—Bennan would always have a response, even if it was only to state cheerfully that they’d better take both of them, just in case, and surely even if it didn’t work for this dress, it would work for something else, and Halna really needed some ribbons, too, right, and they’d need beads that went with each of them, and if there were extras, well, his sisters could give the ribbons and beads to their friends, and then wouldn’t they be the most popular girls in the village?
By the end of it, Chamis had an actual string of beads and more lengths of ribbon than he’d ever bought at one time—and he’d had more fun than he could ever remember having trying to purchase anything. Ever.
From the amount of grinning Bennan had done, he was having fun, too.
“Lunch?” Bennan asked. “We could find somewhere where there aren’t too many people.”
“You don’t need to get back to the castle?” Chamis made himself ask, trying to give him an out, because they’d just spenthourstogether.
But Bennan immediately negated this. “Nope. You?”
Chamis could only shake his head. He was pretty sure that if Bennan took his hand and just walked off into the sunset, Chamis would follow him, wherever he was going and for whatever reason he was going there.
Bennan flashed another grin. “Lunch. Excellent. Let me see what I can come up with.”
It was becoming even more obvious that Bennan was trying to impress him. Chamis wasn’t sure whether he should say anything or not. But aftergnawing at his lip for a long moment and realizing how much better it would makehimfeel, Chamis reached out and snagged Bennan’s jacket.
Bennan turned to look at him, a little surprised, probably because this was the second time Chamis had voluntarily touched him. He hadn’t dared do it before.
Chamis swallowed and made himself speak, even though his palms had gone all sweaty again and the back of his neck prickled.
“I’ve been really enjoying this. I’m going to enjoy lunch, whatever it is, because we’re spending time together.”
It was worth it for the way Bennan’s face lit up, his eyes practically glowing. He beamed at Chamis.
“Me too,” he said simply, his eyes never leaving Chamis’s face. And then he blinked. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t have an extra amazing lunch! What do you like to eat? Um, nothing green, lots of meat and potatoes, and I’ve not forgotten about that sweet tooth.”
