Seven

It took a couple of hours for PJ to get all of the paperwork in order but by the time that he was done, Dani had everything that she needed to start school. Her name was now Daniel Millman. Danny for short. Thankfully she has been answering to Dani for years so it won't get too confusing for her.

“Dani..”

“Hmm?” She asks Eddy, turning to face him.

“What are you going to do about your looks?” He asks her and she frowns.

“Um, what do you mean?” Dani asks, caught off card by the sudden question. She lifts a hand to her face, touching it anxiously as she frowns. I there something wrong with her looks?

She didn't realize that she had spoken that last question aloud until Eddy shakes his head and tells her seriously. “No, there is nothing wrong with you. You are perfect. What I meant by that is, what are you going to do about the fact that you look like a girl? You have long hair, a pretty face and.. boobs.” Eddy blushe harder than she does at that.

“You aren't going to cut your hair, are you? It' so pretty!” PJ says suddenly and Eddy looks alarmed at the words, his eyes flying to her hair.

“No, I'm not going to cut my hair.”

“Then what are you going to do?” Eddy asks her.

Both he and PJ are giving her these looks as if they are doubting her plan, as well as her sanity. He can admit that this is a crazy idea and to someone even lightly sane, it will be hard to understand exactly why she is going to these lengths.

There I nothing left for her here in New York and she wants out. O, if these extremes are what she has to go to to get out and have a fresh start, then she will do it.

“My mom. Was an actress and she kept almost all of her costumes. She was in some off broadway play where they dressed her as a pudgy boy. She had a wig and this band thing that went around her waist, kind of like a corset, that made her waist wider, so that it camoflauged her curves and made her look chunky. It will make me look thicker. I am hoping that will work in making me appear more boyish.”

“It might.” Eddy concedes, “but I would have to see it on you. Where are her costumes at?”

“In a storage building in Queens, where Fred put all of her stuff after she died.” Dani tells him bitterly.

“Well, let's go.” Eddy tell her, grabbing her hand. He pulls her behind him, barely giving her time to ger her papers that PJ altered and printed for her. Eddy pauses just long enough for her to say a rushed 'thank you' and 'goodbye' to PJ before he pulls her with him to his bike.

She wonders for a moment why he is in such a hurry to go look at some old cotumes. Why does he care if her plan works or not? Is it a friend thing, where they are kind of, sort of friends and he wants to see good things happen to her? Or is it morbid curiousity? He wants a front row seat to the show so he can see it when it blows up in her face?

“Do you have the address of the storage unit?” Eddy asks her, as they stand beside his bike and she traps on the helmet that he handed her.

“No. I know what store it is near. You get me to that street and I can get you to the right place.” Dani gives him the street name and the store to look for.

He nods and tell her that he know the exact place that she is talking about. He climbs onto the bike and then holds out a hand to her to help her climb on behind him.

She settles on the back of the bike and fixes her skirt once more. Eddy looks over his shoulder at her. “You might want to hold on tight to me. It's gonna be a bit of a trek.”

Dani nods silently and tentatively wraps her arm around him from behind, trying to old on without pressing her boob against him. But he places his hands on her arms and urges her to move her arms further around him. “Tighter. Don't want you flying off.”

The thought of falling off the bike has her clinging to him like ivy. Seemingly satisfied with her tight grip, he fires the bike up with a loud, thunderous roar. He takes off with a light lurch, darting into the flow of traffic. Dani is a little nervous, but she closes her eyes and tries to enjoy the feel of the wind on her face.

Thankfully it doesn't take as long to get to the store as she had thought that it would. Lifting her arm from his trim waist, she points in the direction that he needs to go. He nods, following her points until they get there. Finally he pulls up outside of the building and turns of the bike.

Dani is glad that she had enough mind to her to drop the key in her purse, so that they can get in to the unit. She had every intention of coming here today, so to save herself a trip back home, she brought it with her. Fishing it out of the tiny bag slung on her shoulder, she walks through the place to find the door that she is looking for.

Eddy is hot on her heels. “We have to work on your whole demeanor.”

“Excuse me?” She throws a glance over her shoulder.

“You walk like a girl.” Eddy tells her and she stops on the spot.

Turning to glare at him, she puts a hand on her hip and raises her eyebrow at him. “What does that mean and why did that sound like an insult?”

“No insult. You walk, uh, sexy.” Eddy blushes slightly once again. As does Dani. “Your hips, um.. sway. Guys don't walk like that. And you keep your hands perfectly at your side as you walk with correct posture. It's regal. You walk like a queen or a super model. You need to relax your stance.”

Dani nods along, only half listening to what he is saying. First he told her that she was perfect. Now he told her that she walks sexy? Does he actually notice her? Because for the last two years she got them impression that she was invisable to him, when it come to seeing her in a sexual way.

He has only ever treated her platonically, like one would treat a kid sister. Definately not how he would have treated her had he been intersted in her. So what is this? Is he just making general statements or does he actually find her walk sexy?

“Dani?”

“How is this?” she says quickly, not wanting him to know that she was distracted by his words. Turning around quickly, she drops her shoulders a bit and shakes out her arms, before letting them fall limply to her side. She concentrates on taking a bit larger teps than she usually does, but no so big that she looks like an idiot.

She makes a show of looking down and rubbing the back of her neck as she walks. When she has gone a few steps she turns around to look at him, awaiting his opinion.

“Not bad. I will need to see how it looks once you are all guyed up.” He tells her and she smiles, pleased.

They continue on until they reach the right unit. Using the key, she removes the lock and Eddy pushes up the garage style door. Boxes upon boxes are stacked floor to ceiling in the small space. “Woah.” Eddy says, looking around.

Dani chuckles, knowing that he is probably picturing having to look through all of the boxes until they find the right one. “We don't have to look through the boxes. Her costumes are in a large, antique trunk. It looks like an old, ugly coffin. The thing is huge.”

Eddy nods and they both step in. She peaks behind boxes on one side, while he checks out the other. “Found it.” He says, pushing a stack of boxes to the side so that they can get to the trunk.

He moves over to it and pulls it out to the open spot in the middle of the room so that they look through the trunk with more ease. Eddy flips it open and reveals the contents to her. Old period dresses and medieval dresses on top catch her eye. Then chunky costume jewelry and wigs.

A long, flowing red curly wig. Short, blunt cut wig that stops at the chin and has straight across bangs. “Eww. No.” Dani tosses it aside. Then she comes upon a short brown one. “Bingo!”

“That's the one?” Eddy asks, looking at it doubtfully. “How is all your hair gonna fit up under that thing?”

“With this.” She rifles around for a second before she pulls out a wig cap that looks more like a pair of stockings that are in a bowl shape. He gives it a dubious look and then looks at her to say one simple word.

“How?”

“Um, on. I would show you, but it will make me look like I am bald and there is no way in hell that I will ever make myself bald in front of a hot guy. Nope. No way. No thank you.” She tells him, stuffing the wig cap inside of her purse.

“I'm a hot guy?” He asks her suddenly and it takes her a moment to realize that she had, in fact, said that about him. To his face. Oh good Lord, kill her now. Strike her down so that she does not have to try to get herself out of this awkward fucking situation.

“Um, I didn't say that.” She mumbles the lie, knowing that she did. She wants to turn to him and shout in his face 'Of course, you are fucking hot! Are you an idiot or do you just like to hear it told to you?' but she doesn't. Instead, she pulls out a bunch of dresses and wigs, tossing them at him. “Here, hold this while I look for the waist thing.”

Thankfully he says nothing else, so she searches for the thing in silence. She finally finds it and lifts it up. Ugh. Looks uncomfortable. But beauty is pain so why wouldn't doing the opposite be just as painful too?

“Alright. We can go now. I still have to go shopping for boy clothes.” She tells him.

“So you want to go to the mall next?”

“No, that's okay. I don't want to take up your whole day. I can take a cab.”

“Nope. No way. I will take you.” He tells her but she begins to protest.

“But-”

“No protests. Come on. I don't mind.”

But I do.