//------------------------------// // Just Another Normal Day at the Boutique // Story: Amor Fati // by BRyeMC //------------------------------// Clyde awoke on noon the next day, still feeling tired and sore from the game. He slowly rolled out of bed and sluggishly walked to the bathroom for the daily routine. After dressing, he made his way downstairs and readied a bowl of cereal. Clyde always loved breakfast food and would eat cereal, pancakes, or waffles, anytime of the day if he had the choice. He sat down at the table and pulled out his phone. He responded to Tyrone’s text to him about some video game he wanted to buy for his new console before opening up his chat with Rarity. “So, I just woke up,” he typed. As always, Clyde saw her read it nearly three seconds after he sent it to her, like she anticipated Clyde’s texts to her every day. “Goodness. Were you really that drained from one game?” “I have no idea, but it did feel wonderful sleeping in for once. I think I tore something in my back, though.” Clyde slowly sat up from his chair and tried to move the muscles in his back, but stopped and winced. “You did not!” “I’m not sure, but I can handle the discomfort while I rest. Coach gave us the next two days off because we dominated Cloudsdale. It’ll heal.” “Well, it better. I’d hate to see you miss games after all the work you put in the past few weeks.” Clyde smiled at her reassurance. He was happy he had a fan that could make him smile in just a few words or actions. Another text came through as he looked back down at his phone. “So, when are you coming over? I actually do need your help and no one is here to help me.” “No one?” “No one. My parents went to a convention and my sister, heavens, I don’t even know where she went. She and her friends go out and wreak havoc on the city weekly, trying to figure what to do for the talent show in the spring.” “I’ll stop over soon.” “You are truly wonderful. See you soon! :)” Clyde finished his bowl of cereal and threw it into the sink for when he returned later. He put on his normal gray jacket and stepped outside into the cool December wind. The holidays were three weeks away and the weather was getting colder, but snow has yet to fall in Canterlot. Normally, snow would fall much earlier, but then again, Clyde only lived in Canterlot for a season so far. He was more familiar with the weather north of Canterlot instead. A quick drive through the city later, Clyde parked along the curb to Rarity’s shop entrance. He saw a large, square box outside the door and got out of his car to look at it. Upon closer examination, he heard the shop door open and Rarity walk outside to greet him. “Hello, Clyde,” said Rarity in her lovely and polite tone, “I see you found the problem I needed assistance with.” “What this box?” asked Clyde, looking down at it. The box was half his height, and about a fourth of his car in length. “What’s in it anyways?” “Oh, nothing much. Just some new fabric and a few catalogs.” Clyde frowned and looked at her. She wasn’t wearing her normal outfit he grew accustomed to. Instead, she wore a simple cozy winter outfit composed of a sweater and leggings. She also wore orange-colored glasses he never seen her wear before. Clyde looked down at the box again and went down to pick it up. He felt his back begin to tighten up and he quickly stopped and stood straight up again. “Can’t you help?” he asked her, even though he didn’t want to. “Heavens no. I just painted my nails,” said Rarity joyfully and took a glance at them. After her boast, she looked at Clyde with a playful smile. “Of course, I wouldn’t be impressed of your strength if I had to help you.” Clyde shook his head and hid a smirk. He placed his shoe on the side of the cube and pushed it towards the door. Rarity laughed and opened the door for the shop. When Clyde successfully pushed the box into the middle of the room, he looked at her and rapidly smacked his hands together to rid the dust from his hard work. “Man, that was tough.” “I’ll give you this one,” laughed Rarity, “at least you’re creative.” She walked over to the box and popped it open, revealing a bolt of fabric. She took it out and under it, like she said, was stacks of catalogs. However, it certainly wasn’t only a few. “This sure doesn’t look like a few,” stated Clyde, looking into the box and rifling through the pages of multiple different books. Rarity ignored him and placed the bolt of fabric on the counter. He looked around and took notice of the shop. Beside her counter, there was a staircase leading up to the next floor. Clyde assumed that was where her room and family slept so he gazed to the side of it. Beside the staircase was another doorway and curtain, to the kitchen, a few dressing rooms, and little booths with seats and mirrors to them. Lines of makeup and other essential cosmetics for girls were all sorted by color and opacity at the base of the mirrors. Seeing no reason to go over there, Clyde next saw Rarity’s wall collection of shoes and boots that stretched to the main door. The left side of the shop was filled with clothing racks, accessory chests and cases, and mannequins. “Are you amazed by my fashion?” questioned Rarity as she walked up to him. Her glasses were missing from her face. “I would ask you to go ahead and try something on, but it’s all clothes for women and you would look pretty ridiculous.” Clyde gave a slight laugh. “I don’t know though. It seems like every time I’m with you, I embarrass myself somehow.” He looked at her and saw a sudden pout and face growing with tears. “You mean you’re embarrassed when I’m with you in public?” she said disheartened and through a sniffle. Clyde pinched his nose. “No, that’s not–” He felt his arm move away as she pushed it away to gaze into his eyes. Her tears from a few moments ago had vanished and her pout turned into a smile. “I know what you meant.” Clyde felt a sudden surge of intimacy with her as he continued to stare into her azure-colored eyes. The moment wasn’t long-lived as he nervously looked away and back to the box in the middle of the room. “Do you want me to help taking the catalogues out of the box.” “If it makes you feel better,” said Rarity with a sigh. “Just put them on the counter. I’ll sort them later.” Clyde gave a nod and reached down into the box. He took around five to seven catalogues in a stack and placed them beside the fabric she had on there. It took him four trips to empty the box. Rarity took it and vanished behind the curtain to the kitchen. As Clyde turned around to lean on the counter, he felt something brush against his leg. He looked down and saw a pudgy white cat with a purple bow atop her head and a collar embedded with opal gemstones. The cat purred as it rubbed its face into Clyde’s leg. Clyde leaned down to rub it’s head, where it purred again. “I see my dearest cat has met you!” Clyde glanced over at Rarity. “That’s Opalescence, or Opal for short. She is a pain sometimes, but what cat isn’t?” Clyde stood upright and looked down at Opal. She rubbed her face into his jeans again before yowling at him. “I think she’s mad at me,” said Clyde with a laugh. “No, she just wants attention. She’s very dramatic, which makes me wonder where she gets it from.” Rarity gave Clyde a sly wink and went down to pick up Opal. Opal hissed at her and swiped her paw towards her hand, spurning her advances. “Opal! Let mommy hold you!” Opal continued her hisses and swipes. After a handful of failures, Rarity gritted her teeth. “Fine!” Clyde watched Opal flick her tail towards Rarity and look back up at Clyde, yowling again. Clyde carefully squatted down and picked her up. Opal purred and rubbed her face in Clyde’s cheek as Rarity gasped. “Looks like I found a new friend,” said Clyde, trying to lean away from Opal’s face rubs. Clyde never had a pet, let alone interacted with one before, so he was mildly surprised on Opal’s sudden affection towards him. He continued to rub her clean coat as he saw Rarity still angry. “What’s wrong? Did I steal your pet from you?” he playfully asked. “No, it’s nothing.” “If you say so,” said Clyde hesitantly. She still had a certain look on her face as if troubled, but he didn't know what for. He carefully placed Opal down on the floor and watched her brush her tail on his leg and walk into the kitchen. Suddenly, he felt tension in his upper back again and struggled around to ease the pain. “What’s wrong? Are you in pain?” asked Rarity, noticing his flinches. “My back is in a knot or something,” he said reaching an arm over his shoulder to scratch it. “Hmm, well, I can massage it for you,” she suggested. “A massage?” “Of course! Mother and I go to the spa monthly, and by now, I think I can replicate them and give my own and be your very own personal masseuse! Just don’t yell at me if I can’t stop the pain.” Clyde nodded. “I won’t yell at you for trying.” “You’re sweet,” responded Rarity with a smile. She led him to one of the makeup booths she had and pulled out the chair. Clyde sat down and stared at her through the mirror. Rarity stood there and Clyde could see she had a troubled expression on her face. “Did I do something wrong?” he asked, looking through the mirror to talk to her from behind him. “No, it’s just I don’t know how to ask this without being awkward...” “What is it?” “Well, you don’t have to, but most of the time, it helps if the client removes his or her shirt,” she said quietly, as if to back her proposition. “Oh.” Clyde shrugged and pulled off his jacket and shirt and threw them to the floor. “As long as the pain subsides, I don’t care if my shirt is on the floor.” He saw Rarity give a smile and cracked her fingers. “Shall we begin?” she asked him. Clyde gave a simple nod and felt Rarity’s delicate hands clamp down on his shoulders. She began rubbing her palms over, around, and to the side of his shoulders and towards his neck. He sighed in relief as the tension in his deltoids were easing. “You certainly have gotten more toned since the last I’ve seen you at the Trotsburg movie. Does Coach make you lift too?” “Sometimes,” replied Clyde with a twitch as Rarity began rubbing near his knot in his upper back. “He makes us practice like we are playing football. As least there are also agility practices to help with the added muscle.” “Mmm...” Clyde looked at her through the mirror and realized she didn’t pay attention to his reply. He figured she was busy focusing on the massage, so he sat there and focused on the relief. Rarity continued working through his shoulder area and finally made it to where Clyde felt the most discomfort. He told her where the pain was coming from so she gently rubbed it before attacking it with a faster rate. Soon, he felt the pain in his back magically vanish and his mood was instantly brighter. Rarity gave one last rub to each shoulder and his back, before taking a step backwards. “How do you feel?” she asked with a smile. Clyde stood up and rotated his arms and pushed his chest forward. Feeling no pain he grabbed his shirt. “It feels a millions times better! Thank you, Rarity.” Rarity’s eyes shimmered. “It was my pleasure! Like I said, you now have a personal masseuse so do contact me if you need another one!” Clyde smiled at her and put on his shirt. He picked up his jacket and placed it on the chair. “So, do you have that tie?” “Oh! Let me go get it. Whatever do you need this for again?” “When we have away games, Coach makes us show up to the school in a nice outfit, rather than shorts and a dirty shirt. Ties go with the dress shirt I have.” “I see,” stated Rarity, “well, if you ever need to know how good or classy you’ll look with an outfit, I can tell you. After all, clothes are one of my passions.” “Fashion is only one of your passions? What’s another one?” he asked. Even though they mostly communicated with each other every night, Rarity was still partly an enigma to him and vice versa. Rarity looked at him strangely and gave a playful smirk and wink. “You’ll figure it out. Telling is hardly fun.” She quickly ran upstairs and Clyde waited in the lobby. He tried to guess one of her secret passions and glanced at his car outside. Before drowning in thought, he heard her run down the stairs, holding a blue tie. “Here you are.” Clyde took it from her and glanced at it. “So, you do sell men’s clothing?” Rarity shook her head. “That tie is my father’s. He doesn’t normally wear ties anymore, so I doubt he will notice its absence.” “Wait, what? What happens if he finds out?” asked Clyde worried. Rarity rolled her eyes. “I’ll tell him someone needed one. Don’t worry about it, Clyde. He’s not going to beat you up because I gave you a tie he doesn’t wear. Plus, I simply won’t let him beat you up.” “That’s good to hear...” Clyde glanced back down at the tie in his hands and threw it around his neck. He took both ends and tried to form the perfect knot that he always saw on TV. After some struggles, he sighed. “Do you need help?” questioned Rarity, looking at him, but holding back some laughs. “I think I do,” said Clyde sheepishly, “I never wore a tie before so I don’t know how to tie a tie.” Rarity gave a confident smirk. “It’s quite simple, really. You just go under with one end, wrap it around, and sort of do it again, but go through the hole you made near your neck. From there, it’s a simple pull and you can tighten or loosen it as you please.” She looked at him and noticed he was blankly staring at her. She giggled and walked up to him, standing only a few inches away and gazing into his eyes. “Would you like me to help?” Clyde ignored what she said and focused solely on her enchanting eyes again, feeling the intimacy between them. They shared a smile before Clyde held up his tie in front of their eye contact. “If you would, I would greatly appreciate it.” Rarity took both ends and began right away, wrapping the thick end around the smaller one. Clyde looked down and tried to learn how to do it himself, but was easily distracted by Rarity’s shiny and voluminous scented hair. Before he knew it, she looked up at him again and smiled. “There. It’s not hard once you do it a few times. My father always needed help with them so I was the one to help him most of the time.” “Do you mind if you did it again? This time, maybe in a mirror or something so I can see the process better?” Clyde feared a sigh, but instead, got a nod. “Sure thing! A boy without a nice and straight tie is a major sign of unprofessionalism, and we sure don’t want that. I will show you as many times as you would like.” Rarity led him to the big mirror in the shop, the one beside the fitting room and her shoe collection wall, and pulled the tie apart. She reached her arms under Clyde’s shoulders and grabbed the ends of the tie. She also stood on her toes to peek over Clyde’s shoulder to see better. Clyde made sure to pay attention this time, watching her movements in the mirror and by looking down. Once he saw her pull the knot and tighten it near his neck, he made a note in his mind the steps. Expecting Rarity to ask if he got the steps down, he felt, and saw with the mirror, her head rest on his right shoulder and her arms wrap around them tightly. “Do you understand now?” she asked him softly, almost in a whisper. Clyde felt a sudden warmness flowing through him, but remained relatively cool. “The steps of a tie or–” He watched Rarity lower her eyes. “That, but also what I’m trying to imply here...” He felt her tighten her grip on him. Clyde looked at her through the mirror’s reflection and saw she had a tremendous thrill across her face, as if she wanted this close to him for a very long time. Truthfully, he always wanted Rarity to show affection towards him that was more than a friend, but he never thought it would happen. Most of the time crushes are left to, in simple terms, be crushed. Before he could respond to her, she let go of his shoulders and turned him around, holding on to his tie and gazing into his eyes again. “Clyde, have I ever told you how much I adore your eyes?” she purred. Clyde refused to blink. “I feel the same way about yours.” She gave a smile and Clyde saw her begin to blush. “I know how you feel about me Clyde, but I always wanted to say how I feel about you. I–” “RARITY, I’M HOME!!! Oh hey, Opal. Why are you staring at the curtain to the store?” Rarity suddenly pushed off of Clyde and tried to stand there and act normal. Clyde blinked multiple times of the intimate moment and the sudden, random voice that broke it. He looked over at the kitchen curtain and saw a girl who was younger than Rarity, holding Opal. “Sweetie Belle? What are you doing home so early?” asked Rarity in shock. Clyde saw her blush had faded already. “Well, Scootaloo had to do something and Apple Bloom had to help Applejack and Big Mac on their farm, so I came home early.” Sweetie Belle looked at Clyde and squinted her eyes. “Who’s this guy?” Clyde cleared his throat. “I’m–” “He’s someone from school who needed a tie,” said Rarity suddenly. “It’s good nature to help someone when they ask for it, so I did.” Sweetie Belle blinked and glanced at Rarity and Clyde every few seconds. “All I asked was his name...” “My name–” began Clyde. “Why does that matter?” questioned Rarity, interrupting him once again. “Why does it matter for you to ask me why it matters!” retorted Sweetie Belle. “It’s extremely rude for you to blatantly demand someone’s name!” “He’s in our house! It’s also extremely important to know your guests!” Clyde watched the two bicker back and forth and stood there confused. Both of them were only focused on yelling at each other that he figured he would just leave them at it. He walked towards the door and stopped. “Clyde, where are you going?” asked Rarity in a concerned tone. “I–” “Wait a minute!” shouted Sweetie Belle who interrupted him this time. “Clyde. Clyde... That name you stopped saying that morning ago began–” “Sweetie Belle!” exclaimed Rarity, her ears blazing red, “don’t you dare say anymore!” Sweetie Belle smirked. “Oh, and what if I do?” “Don't even try it.” “So, this is the boy–” Sweetie Belle stopped and saw Rarity charging at her. She dropped Opal to the floor and ran upstairs as quickly as she could, Rarity right on her heels. Clyde blinked some more and felt Opal brush against his leg. He picked her up and let her rub her face into his cheek. “At least we won’t turn into that,” laughed Clyde. Opal replied with a pur. ~ ~ ~ Around ten that night, Clyde was laying on his couch watching some basketball game. He saw Rarity text him so he opened it up. “I’m terribly sorry about my little sister’s actions today.” “It’s fine,” he typed. “Sorry I didn’t say thanks or goodbye, but I assumed you wanted to beat her up and I didn’t want caught in the crossfire.” “Well, I didn’t beat her up. I ignored her until dinner to teach her a lesson, but you’re sincerely welcome. I just hope she didn’t scare you off from talking to me again...” “Of course not. Something a lot more tragic would have to happen before I stop texting you.” “I’m glad you’re understanding! I do hate to make this short, but I’m exhausted from chasing her today. Rest well and have a good evening.” “You too.” Clyde put his phone on the floor and sighed. He was thankful for the help today with his back and tie, but he saw the look in her eyes what she truly wanted. He knew because he wanted the same thing. “Why don’t you just ask her already?” he said to himself in dismay, looking down at his phone. She couldn’t have fallen asleep that quickly, so she had to still be awake. He felt confidence in himself and reached for his phone. As he picked it up, he felt it vibrate and an unknown number popped up on the screen. Clyde ignored it and waited for the number to hang up. As soon as the phone stopped, he began typing in Rarity’s number. He thought calling her and hearing her voice would make it more special, so he nervously fumbled around the number pad, thinking of the exact words to tell her. Before hitting the last number, the same unknown number popped up. Clyde sat there and wondered who it could be. Normally, his rule for phones was if the same number called twice within a few minutes, it was important. He answered the call and put the phone to his ear. “Hello?” “Clyde. How’ve you been, man?” Clyde quickly stood up at the sudden realization of the familiar voice. His hand began to tremble in joy and he smiled. “I’ve been great.” * * * * *