Diary of a mall Santa Claus

14

Theft Day

* "What the hell??? Where's my jacket???" Timmy searches in panic through his backpack, "And my...! Someone stole all my money out of my wallet! And my jacket is gone!" During the shift, someone apparently broke into Timmy's locker. Armie wished it had been his. The shop assistant is nice and understanding, but in the end she can't help much. Especially not right now. Completely frustrated, Armie and Timmy step out of the mall and Timmy immediately begins to freeze. Armie takes off his jacket and gives it to Timmy, who accepts it gratefully, but he wishes he could do more. For instance find this asshole and pull his ears out so he could have some elf ears for life. "What about you?" Timmy looks at Armie. Armie shrugs his shoulders. "I'm not cold." "Wrong world, huh? You more or less only know warm temperatures, you should be cold." Armie shrugs again and smiles slightly. He still doesn't know how to help Timmy. And wishes he could. Timmy points to the watch Armie is wearing. "Wow, is that real? I mean, if it is, it's weird to have one of those and still have money problems so you have to work at a mall as Santa, isn’t it?" Armie muses. "I never thought of that before... But when you're right, you're right." He pulls out his cell phone and looks for the nearest pawn shop. "Come on..." he says, pulling Timmy along with him, shortly afterwards into a cab, and 20 minutes later he's sold his watch and is a rich man. Why didn't he think of this before? Well, actually he is very glad that he didn't think of it earlier, because otherwise he wouldn't have met Timmy. And he doesn't want to think about that for too long.  Timmy seems a little intimidated since they were at the pawn shop, he hasn't said much, probably feels guilty about giving Armie that terrific idea, but Armie is busy anyway. Again he searches his phone until he finds what he's looking for. "Ok, come on, let's get you a new jacket." Again he pulls Timmy along with him, who tries desperately to keep up with Armie's pace, until they're in front of a fancy store.  The saleswoman is about to close the store, but Armie knocks on the front door and gives his most charming smile. "What are we doing here?" whispers Timmy behind him. "This is way too expensive for me, I can't afford it, Armie." "You don't have to," Armie simply cuts off Timmy's concern. The lady comes to the door, opens it and smiles, "Sorry, we're just closing." "Yes, I know, but please, someone stole this young man's jacket and it's freezing." He hands her a fifty dollar bill. The lady looks at them both, her smile widens and she opens the door without taking the bill. "No need for that." Armie and Timmy enter the small boutique and Timmy's eyes widen even more, his fingers wandering over the racks of clothes. "Did you see the prices?" he whispers to Armie again. "Yeah, but don't worry about it. You know how much money I just got, right? And I really don't care, okay? I want to do this. You can pay me back when you get your first role in a blockbuster, okay?" Timmy looks at Armie for a second and finally grins. "Okay." "So hurry up, the lady wants to call it a day."

Timmy obviously knows what he's doing. He looks through the racks of clothes briskly, admiring this and that and "That would look good on you!" and finally finds a big, fluffy coat that will definitely keep him very warm. And although Armie kind of liked how Timmy looked in his way-too-big jacket, he looks absolutely stunning in this one. And how happy Timmy smiles makes it twice as worth. That smile stays on Timmy's face the entire ride, too. As they catch a cab to Timmy's apartment, Timmy lets his fingers glide over his coat, feeling the buttons, telling Armie about his favorite designers and how much he loves to express himself with clothes and how he wishes he had the money to do it. "I don't know how to thank you," he finally says when the cab pulls up. "No need. Glad you're warm now," Armie replies. And then Armie suddenly feels a warm Timmy against his body, Timmy hugs him tightly, and Armie holds his breath because he didn't expect to have Timmy's face so close to his. A soft "Thank you, Armie," a kiss on the cheek, and Timmy turns to open the door. "See you tomorrow!" "Yeah, have a good night." The door slams shut. Did his voice just quaver? Armie sees the cabbie's amused look in the mirror. Okay, it did. Armie sighs. There was a reason he doesn't do that boyfriend stuff. He doesn't like it when things happen that he can't control. When he can't control his own emotions.

These are just stupid hormones!

*