Dave took the Board Shorts from Calvin. They looked like the kind that you would see on the typical surfer, solid black with a red swoop pattern on each leg, that tied in the front and would come a little past Dave's knees. Dave looked at Calvin skeptically.
"Um...these are nice, but I'm not much of a beach goer, I don't even know how to surf."
Calvin's smile just widened, "Well, then you definitely could use a pair so that you can learn if you want, don’t you? Give them a try. I’ll just step outside to give you some privacy to really get a feel for them."
With that, he turned and stepped out of the changing area, leaving Dave alone with the board shorts still in hand. Dave looked at them, still not seeing himself as the type to go anywhere in them.
"Well, he left me with them, may as well give them a try" Dave thought to himself.
He pulled his tee shirt over his head and looked at himself in the mirror. He wasn't fat, like some of his friends, but he was extremely bony. He could see each of his ribs move under his skin as he twisted. Dave had tried to work out some, but no matter how hard he did, he never seemed to get any stronger. He sighed and bent to untie his sneakers, pulling his feet from his socks. He pulled off his shorts and, after making sure Calvin hadn't snuck back into the changing area, his white briefs.
Dave picked up the Board Shorts and pulled them on. He turned to look in the mirror and groaned. There was no way that he could pull this look off. If anything the board shorts made him look even skinnier.
“Well, it’s not like I was expecting it to be much better” He thought to himself. He reached down to pull them off, but hesitated when his hand brushed against something hard in the velcro pocket. He reached in, and pulled out a pendant on a twine necklace. The pendant looked like it had been made from a shell, that had been carved to look like a wave crashing against the shore.
As Dave held the pendant, he began to feel strange, almost lightheaded. It was almost as if he could faintly smell the salt water of the ocean, hear a sea breeze blowing through dune grass, and the carpeting of the changing area was starting to feel more like sand under his bare feet.
Dave closed his eyes, taking in these new feelings. The longer he held the Wave Pendant, the stronger the feelings got, and the more that Dave began to like them. Dave opened his eyes, a dopey smile on his face, completely at ease. He felt an impulse to put the Wave Pendant on, and did so without a thought. A small part of him tried to raise an alarm that something was wrong, but Dave simply felt too calm, too completely pleasant to do anything at all.
Dave looked into the mirror again, still feeling as though he were standing on a beach, rather than in a clothing store. He watched as his ribs, that had just before been clearly pressing against his skin, faded from view as layers of muscle filled in. It was slow at first, but he watched with drunken fascination as his chest swelled, his abs tightened, and his arms bulged with new strength. He wasn’t huge, he looked more like he had a swimmers build, but Dave didn’t really think about this change too much, still wrapped in the pleasure that seemed to come from within.
What little body hair Dave had seemed to vanish from his body as he watched the changes in the mirror. His blonde hair grew out and grew shaggy, sweeping over his head like it was blown back in the wind. His jaw line became more pronounced, as his chin sprouted a thin layer of stubble.
His feet swelled larger, as his legs gained more definition then his upper body had. Not the kind of definition that came from working out, but that came from a life of gripping a surfboard as you road it to shore.
From when he had first held the Wave Pendant, to when the changes stopped, Dave had no idea. It may have been a minute or an hour, Dave wouldn’t have known the difference. As the physical changes came to a halt, Dave’s mental functions began to return as well. The scent of the ocean faded, the grass in the dunes stopped rustling, the floor felt like carpeting again. As they did, Dave felt their absence like he had lost a part of himself. He struggled to keep the feelings, but they slowly disappeared, leaving him with a longing in his heart.
It was in this state, that Calvin came in from waiting outside.
“Oh my, yes, I think that they suit you perfectly, don’t they?”
“Hm? Oh, yeah dude, these are cool, how much for ‘em?” Dave asks, not really noticing the surfer slang he was now using.
Calvin shook his head, “No, no, you can keep those free of charge, so long as you let anyone who asks where you got them”
“Awesome!” Dave said, the same dopey smile that he had acquired when he was in his trance returned. “Will do bro. Thanks!”
“You’re very welcome, and as a parting gift, for helping with our word of mouth advertising, we have something else for you” Calvin said as he walked back around the corner. He came back a moment later with a brand new surfboard under his arm. It was white with a swirl of blue and green flowing up one side in a pattern that looked like a swell starting to build from the ocean.
Dave looked at it with wide eyes, “You serious dude?! That rocks! Im’a tell everyone I know to shop here!”
“You are very welcome, now why don’t you go get started on that? You’ll want to break in your new board at the very least.” Calvin said with a smile.
“You got it bro. Thanks a ton!” Dave said, taking the board and leaving the dressing area, thinking only of how to get to the beach, fast as he could, feeling the need to be where he belonged.