The Hardest Sell

A novel bell above the front door of a shop chimed as the door opened and a customer entered, the dwindling murmur of a town in the late afternoon trickling in behind them. The clerk behind the counter looked over - the bell commanding her attention - and saw a gentleman walk inside. Looking up behind her at the clock on the wall, it read 5:25pm, and she was wary that she was due to close in only five minutes and very much hoped that this would be the last customer of the day. Her eyes peered over the rows of shelves and followed the gentleman who she could clearly see over them given his stature, all of which were adorned by the most extensive assortment of Halloween paraphernalia.

All the decorations that one might expect and hope to find would be found in this shop as the clerk behind the counter - who was also the owner - ran the most popular Halloween shop in town. Naturally, her business boomed during October and the Halloween season, though it was still successful enough throughout the rest of the year for her to make a living. It was the most popular shop of its kind for a good reason because she poured her heart and soul into it, with all things horror and Halloween being a passion of hers. If there was anything that one wanted to know about horror trivia, Halloween myth, legend and Halloween itself, then this would be the place to come and she would be the person to ask. Not even Google had such an encyclopaedic knowledge of horror and Halloween as she did.

She observed the man browsing a part of the Halloween costume section of her shop as he perused the selection that she had on display, seemingly pondering them with some consideration. There were costumes for witches, the devil, ghosts, vampires, characters like Snow White, Superwoman, Wednesday Addams, Alice in Wonderland and the Queen of Hearts, and many more. The businesswoman was always keen to help her customers and, of course, keen to make a sale, so - after a few moments - decided to approach the man and offer her assistance. Abandoning the confines of the space behind the counter, she made her way onto the shop floor and down the aisles toward the man and the costumes he was inspecting.

"Excuse me, Sir, can I help?" she politely and cheerfully asked as she stood beside him.

"Oh, hi," he responded, still looking at the costumes hanging up on the shelf, "I'm just looking for some Halloween costumes."

"Is there anything you're looking for in particular?" she enquired, trying to get a better understanding of his needs to better aid him and, hopefully, get a sale.

"I'm throwing a Halloween party for some friends and I'm looking for appropriate outfits for some of the guests, as I'll be providing them all."

"Well, what kind of party is it? Is it thematic at all, perhaps toward a specific aspect of Halloween? A specific movie?" she continued to enquire.

"Well..." he responded somewhat sheepishly, "...It's actually for a stag-do for a friend, which will be Halloween themed, and the outfits will be for the... female 'entertainers'."

"Oh," she replied, "I see". Scarlett knew exactly what he meant and was plenty familiar with such shindigs herself. "That's okay, I have plenty of options for that sort of thing." And indeed, she did. This shop owner catered for Halloween costumes for all occasions, including those of a perhaps raunchier nature. "They're just a little farther down here," the woman motioned to the man, and then the man followed her to the far reaches of the store where such outfits were kept. "I think these are more like what you're looking for," she said upon arrival, gesturing toward the different selection of costumes.

"Ah yes, this is what I'm after, thank you," he gratefully acknowledged, looking at the selection before him. There were rather skimpy and naughty-looking costumes - the kind you might expect to find - for nurses, nuns, police officers, sailors, maids, Playboy bunnies, and even characters like Daphne and Velma, and plenty more.

"I'm Scarlett, by the way," the woman said, introducing herself to him, often finding that there was more chance of a sale when there was a personable interaction and a degree of familiarity established with the customer.

"Thank you, Scarlett, I'm Tom," the man replied with a smile, turning to face her first, "Pleased to meet you."

Scarlett courteously returned his smile thinking that she was in with a great chance of a good sale, but also smiling for other reasons that weren't relevant to her running a successful business.

Tom turned back to survey the rather eye-catching costumes on display, pondering which ones he should get, taking one or two off the shelf to inspect them in greater detail. A few moments passed by unspoken until Scarlett asked another question. "How many costumes are you looking for today?". It was a good question, but not one that Tom knew the answer to.

"I'm not really sure," he rather unhelpfully responded, "I've not yet had confirmation on how many... 'entertainers' there are going to be. But it would be helpful to have a good selection, just in case."

That sounded like a grand idea to Scarlett. A 'good selection'? The larger the selection the merrier, the business side of her mind thought. "Do any of them jump out to you?" she asked, trying to gauge what his tastes were and which direction to perhaps encourage him in.

"To be honest? All of them," he replied, again somewhat unhelpfully, "I definitely want some of them, but I don't know whether I need all of them, and I'm not sure which ones to get. It's difficult to decide which are best judging only by the photo on the packaging."

That was a fair point, Scarlett thought, and very keen on making a sale and being as helpful as she could possibly be to her customer, she had a great idea. "What if..." she started, "...I modelled them for you?" suggesting it as though it was something she did often, though it would be a first for her and not something she would do for any other prospective customer. "Then you would get a better idea of how they might look at the party?"

"Oh, wow," Tom replied, grateful for her offer, "Are you sure? That would be tremendously helpful."

"Of course, I'd be more than happy to," Scarlett responded with a chirpy tone in her voice and a somewhat cheeky smile on her face, "Shall we get the ones we want to try?"

At her behest, Tom took a collection of costumes down from the shelves and collected them in his strapping arms, then Scarlett had him follow her once more, this time back to the counter. "Pop them down on the counter for me, darling," she said, working her personable demeanour once more to make the customer - hopefully - all the more amenable, "I'll be back in two ticks." Scarlett quickly but casually walked over to the shop door as Tom sorted the outfits out onto the counter, and she turned the sign around to show 'CLOSED', and locked the door, not wanting to be disturbed from doing everything she could to make this sale.

"I hope I'm not keeping you late?" Tom queried, wary that he was rather late coming into the shop.

"Oh, not at all," Scarlett responded on her way back to the counter, "This is my shop and I can close whenever. Besides, I'm more than happy to help." Scarlett walked behind the counter and stood across from her customer, then assessed the options that he had picked out. "This is a great selection you've picked out, Tom, I think you've picked all the ones I would've chosen," she said like the experienced salesperson she was, though it was also quite heartfelt. Scarlett would've gladly worn any of these outfits on Halloween, or perhaps for other purposes on any other night of the year.

"Which one would you like to see me in first?" Scarlett asked, quickly realising what she had just said. Oops. That was a bit of a Freudian slip. 'Which one would you like to see first' was what she meant to ask, but instead let slip that she was rather excited by the idea of modelling these skimpy outfits for this handsome man. She hoped he hadn't picked up on her slip and anticipated his response, and Tom scrutinised the outfits that were sprawled out over the counter.

"Hmm," he pondered, "Could we try this one first if that's okay?"

"The witch? Of course, that's an excellent choice," the shop owner said approvingly, then somewhat flirtatiously quipped "Stay right here, I'll just fly into the back and pop this on quickly." Scarlett picked up the first costume that Tom had chosen and made her way through a door to the back office, and Tom patiently waited for his model to return. The store owner, in the back office, found herself doing something which she had never done back there before; undressing. She felt so, so naughty doing this - modelling these outfits for her sightly customer - and it was such a thrill. And it was to try and make a big sale, of course. That too.

So, she quickly slipped off her comfortable shoes, pulled off her appropriately horror-themed top and peeled down her trousers, leaving her standing in just her underwear. Here she was, at work, standing in the back office in just her underwear and using the office as an impromptu changing room - probably not something she envisioned doing when she woke up this morning. Yet she wasn't modelling for this gentleman in just her underwear, as much as he would've liked that, so she grabbed the witch's costume and began to put it on.

After a minute or so Scarlett had donned the outfit - complete with the pointy hat - and she looked just the part, and she couldn't help but think about how she loved getting wet and wild during the witching hour in this sort of get-up. Alas, that is not what she had put this outfit on to do, at least this time, instead she had a customer to impress and a sale to try and make. Checking herself in a small mirror that she kept in the back office, Scarlett made sure that the costume looked just right before she headed back out to the front of the shop, wanting to ensure a good impression would be made.

Tom's patience was kindly rewarded when he saw Scarlett walk back out through the door in which she previously disappeared, and he got a great idea of what the costume looked like thanks to his own personal modelling show. Scarlett came out of the door and out past the counter onto the shop floor with a twirl, giving her customer a full appreciation of the outfit. "What do you think?" she asked as Tom looked her up and down, admiring both the costume itself and the woman that was wearing it. "The skirt on this costume is a little bit on the short side," she highlighted in a somewhat teasing manner, "Though given the nature of the party, that's perhaps what you're going for?"

The customer had indeed noticed the rather short nature of the skirt and Scarlett's lovely, bare legs sticking out from them. How could he not? "That's exactly the sort of thing I'm after," he said approvingly, "Something appropriately Halloween-esque, but something sexy. That costume is definitely both. Though maybe you make it look sexier than it is." The man flirtatiously complimented her and Scarlett blushed, not only aware that she was wearing something sexy in front of this sexy man, but hearing it from the sexy man himself.

"Not nearly as sexy as the entertainers will make it look, I'm sure." Scarlett humbly countered with a confidence befitting a salesperson, trying to encourage the customer about how good it would look at the party to make the sale. Tom did not doubt that it would look good on the entertainers, but he couldn't disagree more that the entertainers would look better in it than Scarlett did.

"You're not interested in being one of the entertainers, are you?" he replied rhetorically, flirting with her again, and Scarlett appreciated the comment.

Though it appeared that every group had their token redhead. The Spice Girls had Geri Halliwell, Girls Aloud had Nicola Roberts, and Steps had Lisa Scott-Lee - while her hair was red, at least. However, in Tom's opinion, redheads weren't simply there to be a token representation of that demographic because redheads were the real stars of the show. She wasn't interested in being an entertainer at a stag do, but she was interested in being the private entertainment for one, particular person.

"Okay, that's one down, which costume should be second?" the bewitching proprietor asked, and her customer looked at the selection before him. "I think we should try the Harry Potter one, they usually look great," he suggested, and Scarlett was more than delighted.

"Oh, I love Harry Potter, especially these risqué takes on the outfits," she shared with him, "From a witch to a wizard, I'll be back before you can say 'abracadabra'." Taking the new costume in her hand, the witty witch headed back to her cove to change.

Off the witch garbs came, then she set to put on the rather minimalist Hogwarts uniform complete with a quite cleavage-y, short dress, a separate choker-like collar with a clip-on tie with the Gryffindor colours, and white stockings. It was like a stereotypical schoolgirl uniform that one might see in a porno, only clad with the colours of House Gryffindor and not at all appropriate to wear at Hogwarts. If there was anything this student would be learning about while wearing this uniform then it wouldn't be magic, but it would be absolutely magical.

The costume even came with a novelty wand to complete the look, so Scarlett took it in her hand and then made her way back to her class with Professor Tom. "Hello, Professor," she flirted as she walked back out onto the shop floor, "Sorry I'm late, are you going to punish me?" Tom laughed, though the thought of taking her over his knee and punishing her appealed to him significantly.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" he cheerfully voiced, swishing and flicking his wrist and holding an imaginary wand, very much wanting his spell to magically lift Scarlett's skirt to reveal the magic beneath it.

"What about this one? Do you like it?" Scarlett queried, though she could already tell what Tom thought of it.

"That's just the thing I'm looking for, I think that one will be a hit." Emma Watson was gorgeous, but she had nothing on Scarlett, and she was casting her spell on him like Tom had already cast his upon her, though Scarlett didn't yet know that Tom fell under her spell from the moment he laid his eyes on her. She wanted to discover all the magical things that he could do with his wand, and he wanted to put his basilisk in her chamber of secrets.

"This one is definitely a winner. Which should we try next?" she wisely asked which was becoming of a wizard such as herself, gesturing toward the remaining costumes on the counter, and Tom had to direct his eyes away from Scarlett despite not wanting to. He pondered briefly before deciding, then picked out costume number three. "Oooh, the policewoman, of course," she said, picking up the third costume, "I'll be back in a jiffy, in the meantime you have the right to remain silent." Scarlett winked at her customer, then made her way to the back office once again.

Scarlett took off the Harry Potter costume which had adorned her before and left it to one side, then took the rather minimalist policewoman costume in her hand. It had a top and, rather than a skirt, shorts. Tight, short shorts. It came complete with a fake baton, a tool that could be used for a couple of rather smutty and stimulating purposes other than for enforcing the law. Scarlett took discipline quite seriously, as long as she was on the receiving end of it when she hadn't been a good girl. She took the shorts and put one leg into them, and then her other leg followed, then she pulled them up her legs and, with some considerable effort with shimmying and wiggling, Scarlett pulled the tight shorts over her luscious arse and to her waist. The shorts really didn't do anything to conceal her arse and, in fact, they simply exposed it given how short they were and how tight they were.

Next was the top, and that wasn't much less tight than the shorts, but Scarlett slipped it on with a little more ease and did up the zip, but not quite all the way to the top. She left the zipper down just low enough so an eye-catching amount of cleavage was on display, so much so that her bra was peeking out a tad, as she was going to use all the weapons in her arsenal to make this sale, and she wasn't talking about the baton or just about her proficiency as a salesperson. She looked in the mirror, turning sideways to get a look at how the shorts made her arse look, and she very much hoped that her customer liked what he saw.

The horror aficionado made her way back out to where she made her living through her passion to find her customer waiting patiently but eagerly for her return. Scarlett made her way onto the shop floor so Tom could get a proper look at her- at the costume, get a proper look at the costume, and she gave him a slow 360° spin so he could see everything properly, before completing her spin and turning to face him. "What do we think?" she enquired, looking Tom in the eye and noticing a look that she could read very well.

What Tom thought was probably not appropriate for him to verbalise, so he approved of the costume instead. "That's ideal," he gleefully said, looking her up and down more than once, "Very arresting."

Scarlett giggled at his clever play on words, his sense of humour seemingly matching her own. "It even comes with a hat and a baton, the latter of which can be attached to a belt," Scarlett explained, beating the baton against the palm of her hand and then slowly moving her hand up and down it in a casually suggestive manner.

As Scarlett had hoped, Tom very, very much liked what he saw. How could he not? Scarlett was stunningly gorgeous and sexy, and her physique matched her beauty. The costume was great too, he noted, as that was what he was here for after all, and Tom felt like committing a crime just so Scarlett could take him in and pat him down to check whether he was concealing any weapons. Scarlett likewise had a desire to discover what weaponry her customer might be concealing, so moved things along.

"Okay, the policewoman is a yes. What should we try next?"

Tom scrutinised the remaining costumes on the counter, though his mind was already made up. "We've got to try the Velma one next," he said, and it was music to Scarlett's ears.

"Ha!" she exclaimed with joy, "I was hoping you'd say that. This is a favourite of mine! We also have wigs to finish the look, and I can throw one in for you for free if you would like. Just for you." She gave Tom a sultry, flirtatious look as she said that, again putting on her very best personable salesperson persona, and then something even more personable on top of it.

"Let me go and slip out of this tight costume and get my Velma on. You wait right here." Scarlett was struggling not to flirt with him, her personal desires getting in the way of her professional ones, though she didn't see any reason why they couldn't coexist. She took the orange costume in her hand and headed back into the office once again, and, with great admiration, Tom watched the tight shorts of her costume and what they were hugging as she left him there on the shop floor, and what he wouldn't give to see her slip out of it.

Scarlett arrived in the back office and started doing just that, starting with the top. She manoeuvred herself out of it and put it to one side, leaving her top half covered only by her bra, and then she made a start on the more difficult shorts. Pinching either side of them at her hip, she peeled them down with a little bit of effort, stretching the hemline over her curvaceous arse, though the shorts were so tight that they were bringing her panties down with them, exposing her arse even more than it already had been.