Page 16 of Painted

“They aren’t that high,” Rebecca snorted with laughter as Early gripped the railing and walked carefully down the stairs to the ground floor. “They’re barely an inch.”

“Says the person who has worn heels before,” they snapped back quietly.

They mastered the art of balancing in the unfamiliar shoes enough as they crossed through the main hall and headed toward the office so that by the time they walked in to where Janice was chatting away with one of the retired women who took all of Robbie’s ceramics classes, they didn’t stumble around like a drunken sailor.

“I approve,” Janice said briefly before going back to her conversation with the woman.

“Approve of what?” Rhys asked, stepping out of the copy room behind the front office, a stack of photocopies in his hands.

He froze and blinked at the sight of Early.

Early was immediately self-conscious. They worried that the clothes didn’t really fit their body as well as it felt like they did, that their hair was a mess from all the dust in the clothes room, or that Rhys would realize they were an inch taller and make fun of them for wearing heels.

At the same time, the subtle shift that the heels caused in Early’s body, the stretch of their legs and the slight lift they felt in their bum, did something funny to their insides. Instead of hunching and shrinking away from Rhys in embarrassment at being caught trying something unusual, they smiled more openly at him than they ever had before.

“I guess she means my outfit,” they said, twisting this way and that and glancing down at themselves as they did. Then they took their biggest risk yet by staring straight at Rhys again and asking, “What do you think?”

It was as close to flirting with anyone that Early had ever come. They were convinced it was clumsy and stupid, but their heart raced and hope raged through them.

“I agree with Mum,” Rhys said, raking his eyes from Early’s head to their toes then back up again. He smiled warmly and nodded. “I like it. It suits you.”

“Really?” Early asked, their confidence falling apart. “All of it? Even…?” They held one foot out and lifted the leg of their trousers to reveal the heels.

Rhys nodded again. “If they feel right, then go for it.” Color splashed his face and kindness filled his eyes. Kindness and something hotter that took Early’s breath away.

A shoot of confidence began to grow in Early’s gut.

It was thrust back into the shade almost immediately when Rhys held up the photocopies in his hand and said, “I’ve got to prep for my next class,” in a strangely tight voice before hurrying out of the room.

Early glanced to Rebecca, hoping she would have something to say to reassure them, but she was busy helping a new student who had just entered the office. Early wasn’t certain she’d even seen the interaction.

To make matters worse, Early’s mobile buzzed in the pocket of their trousers, where they’d transferred it when they changed.

They pulled out their phone only to find a text from their mum.

“Come home at once. This behavior is ridiculous.”

They let out a deflated breath and walked around to the other side of the desk, just wanting to get to work. For a step, they wobbled on their heels, but recovered enough so that anyone who wasn’t watching them wouldn’t have noticed.

That was exactly what they wanted, to go unnoticed.

But maybe not by Rhys.

They huffed impatiently at themselves and tossed their phone onto their desktop before sitting down to work. It took a lot more than borrowed clothes to change someone’s life.

FIVE

“Morning,”Rhys called out carefully as he exited his bedroom and crossed to the kitchen a few days later.

He craned his neck to look over the back of the couch to see whether Early was awake or not. In the last few days, he’d become Early’s morning alarm clock. Whether that was because Early just wasn’t a morning person or because they needed the sleep so badly that Rhys’s couch was a haven for them, Rhys couldn’t tell.

The bigger issue was that Early was still sleeping on his couch.

“Morning,” Early replied groggily, stretching and pushing themself to sit and rub their hands over their face.

Rhys couldn’t help but smile, but he tried not to watch too closely as Early stood and the blanket fell back to the couch. He forced himself to look straight forward when Early reached up to stretch, exposing a pale line of flesh under the more suitable t-shirt they’d found to sleep in, and when they absentmindedly scratched their arse as they headed into the bathroom.

When the bathroom door shut, Rhys breathed out and shook his head. He liked having Early sleep on his couch. He likedthe fact that he could keep an eye on them and protect them. It was a bit of a paradox, considering he’d spent so long distancing himself from Early because of the age gap and working for the family thing, but since Early’s situation had changed, Rhys’s feelings had changed, too. Now he was convinced Early needed him to be their champion.

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