A little gift for the shippers! Merry Christmas! 

“I need to wear a what now?” 

“This one.” His boss pointed to a huge white with black spots dog costume. A mascot of the pet shop. He made a face cause it smelled of sweat (and regret if you ask me)” 

Henry was holding a sign he thought was the thing he just supposed to flip around, pointing to customers where the pet shop was located. He did not expect this job came with a costume. 

“And you need to dance as well.” 

“Excuse me? Is this some sort of rite of passage for new employees?” 

“No.” The boss handed over to Henry the box that contained the costume and some money. “Use that for dry cleaning. And you can wear that first thing tomorrow morning.” 

He sighed as he followed the instructions of his new boss. It had good pay. He thought he had hit a jackpot because all he needed was to flip some oversized board but no, he needed to wear this costume and even dance. 

-//-

The dry cleaners employee stopped herself from laughing when she saw a man laid out a human sized dog costume on the countertop. 

Approaching the man, “Please do not tell me you are a furry. This is not the first time I told a customer that. Sadly.” 

“Oh God no. Never in a million years.” 

“Why the costume though?” 

“For a job.” 

“A job? Oh my God, are you a stripper? Some weird stripper? And again, this is not the first time I have asked a customer this. I want to know exactly what to expect as we clean this.” Pointing at the costume. “What is that smell?” She crunched her nose. “What is that awful smell?”

“I hope mostly sweat.” 

“Me too, man. Me too.” Pulling a receipt pad out and a piece of paper for the instructions the “not a furry and a stripper” customer would be telling her. 

“Nice meeting you, Henry.” She saw the name he had written on the receipt. “Amber.” She showed him her name tag pinned on her shirt. 

“You can pick this up by lunch tomorrow.” 

“Lunch? Can it be rushed? I need that by morning.” 

“Well, there will be an extra fee for rush orders. But, for you, free of charge. I will make sure it will be ready by morning. I will even wash this myself to make sure.” 

“You do not have to do that. I will pay.” 

“No need. It will be a hoot and a half to see you wearing this tomorrow. For that reason alone is enough for you to not pay for the extra fee. Promise me, a selfie though.” 

“Okay. Deal.” 

-//-

The bell that hang by the door, signalling there is a customer waiting by the counter, dinged. 

Amber heard her name. It was a familiar voice. “Oh, Henry’s here.” 

“Here you go.” Amber handed over the costume.  

“Wow. Looks really clean.” The amazement was evident on his face. “Finally, I will not die wearing this.” He joked. 

“There are few stains left though but I have removed like half of them.” 

“As long as the smell is not there anymore. Thanks, Amber.”  

“Just don’t forget that selfie.” 

He was at the door. “I won’t.” And bade goodbye. 

-//-

Amber passed by him, holding a paper bag. It was lunch time anyways. She waved at him, and could not contain her laughter. She looked fondly at him. 

And Henry waved back at her, like a hyper puppy, jumping around. She was sure he was smiling under that dog headgear. 

-//-

By the end of her shift, she was about to leave, already outside the store, when she noticed her shoe laces. She knelt down to tie them when a shadow cast over her. 

Henry was behind her. Still in his costume. It looked like a dog following its owner.  

“Hey.” She could not help smiling at the sight of Henry in that costume.  

Henry removed the dog headgear. “I could not take a selfie wearing this.” He showed the paws and pouted. He was disappointed he would not be able to fulfill what Amber wanted. 

“I could take the picture.” Amber stood up. 

“I cannot get my phone in my pocket.” He pointed the zipped pockets of the dog costume.  

“At least, treat out me out to dinner first.” She reached inside of the pockets.  

He nervously laughed. He got flustered all of a sudden.  

She pointed the camera at his direction. “Ready?”  

He smiled and wore the dog head again, and posed holding his sign that goes with the costume. Trying to look cool. 

“You look really cute, Henry.” He looked at the pictures she took. “And...And we could take a picture together.” 

He could only nod the best he could. (Was she blushing? He smirked at that thought.) 

Amber stood next him, doing her best impression of a puppy face to match Henry’s (well, his costume’s facial expression). They did at least three shots.  

“I can send you the pictures if you want?” Henry, once he again removed the dog head, all sweaty, asked and dropped his signboard.  

“If you wanted my number, all you need is to ask, Henry.”  

“Here’s your phone back.” She placed his phone back inside, smirking because of the name she saved in his contacts (not letting Henry see her reaction). “You can send me the pictures later.”  

“And by the way, I did not save my number with my name.” She winked at him as she was walking away. “Good luck sending them, Henry. There is like a hundred girls’ names in your contacts.” A hint of jealousy in her tone. 

“How can I know which is yours?” 

“It is easy to figure out. I swear.” (It was not.) Amber smiled at him and jumped inside the car who had been waiting for her. “See you around Henry.” 

-//-

It took him hours to finally make a decision to whose number belonged to Amber. 

She apparently renamed a few contacts (it was seven) with the same name with emojis beside them.  

And he figured out it was Amber with a llama and puppy emojis. And confidently texted her with “Haha I found you!” Along with the pictures they took earlier.  

Amber replied with “Huh? Who is this? The girl in the picture is so pretty. (heart eyes emoji)” 

Henry sent a screenshot of his contacts. And texted back with “There. I deleted all the other girls’ names. (Smiley with a halo emoji) 

“Much better. (Smiling Violet devil emoji)” 

-//-

Note: I have not been to a dry cleaners or a laundromat or whatvever the name of business etablishment that does your laundry for you or if said business washes human-sized dog costumes. For that I apologize if I am wrong. 

Hope you guys have great day today!