Derek Venturi looked very out of place at the ‘Furniture Palace’. For starters, at 19 he was the youngest person to step foot in the store. The customer base was usually made up of couples looking for new house furniture or older people scoping out the TVs that went on sale every other week. But despite looking like he’d mistaken the furniture store for a Hot Topic or Abercrombie at the mall, Derek was in fact the newest salesman at the local Furniture Palace branch.

“Derek. You can’t just sit here and text girls all day. You have to interact with the customers” his manager, Felix pointed out as the shaggy-haired Derek sat leaning against a set of bunk beds with his phone in his hand. “Turns out I can, Felix. You’re watching me do it right now” “Your attitude has no place at the Furniture Palace” “Look, man, I only took this job because my dad said if I was gonna defer college a year that I had to get a job. Don’t expect me to be jumping up and down to sell one of those ugly bedrooms sets” Derek answered with his usual dismissiveness of anything he wasn’t interested in. “Just do your job and act like you actually work here or you won’t have one!” Felix fired back before leaving for his office, regretting his choice to hire the ‘too cool for school’ newbie. “Ugh, whatever. Let’s see if I can make bed frames any more exciting” Derek mumbled to himself as he forced his feet to move across the showroom floor.

The lack of enthusiasm was evident in Derek’s body language and his lack of care for his position obvious in his wrinkled collared shirt and he didn’t even bother to wear the khakis he was supposed to, opting for his usual loose-fitting blue jeans and slip-on, checkered Vans. The half-assed smile he’d flash to customers also failed to make him seem any less of a lousy salesman but that didn’t stop one gentleman from eliciting his help.

“Excuse me, could you tell me about this chair?” the man asked, looking near his mid-30s. “Uh, sure. Well, it’s a chair, a recliner more specifically I guess. It’s $250 and it is in the shade warm walnut” Derek answered rather dryly after checking the tag. “Right. Is this one of those with the removable back?” the man questioned after a light laugh at Derek’s answer. “I honestly don’t know. But I don’t think a chair would be much good without a back” “I’ve just heard it’s a feature some of the newer models have” “Sure, probably” Derek answered with severe disinterest.

“This is gonna sound like a weird request but would you mind sitting in it for me, rocking in it a bit?” the man asked. “Yeah, that is a weird question, buddy” “I know. It’s just that I’m a bit funny about germs and sitting in a chair that’s possibly been sat in by so many people before I could disinfect it myself gives me the willies. I just want to see how it sits before buying it” the man explained, earning a subtle eye roll from the young salesman. “Yeah, sure, whatever” Derek agreed with a shrug of his shoulders before plopping down in the brown recliner.

“Here ya go, man…check it out” Derek invited as he spun around in it one good time. “How comfortable is it?” “It’s a recliner, dude…they’re all pretty much the same” Derek assured as he shifted his weight around a little to illustrate his point before suddenly the back of the chair gave way and his back fell with it. “Woah!” Derek let out with surprise as he looked up at the ceiling of the store and looked back down to see the back of the chair now back in the regular position. “What just happened??” “I think the back does come out in this one after all” the customer added somewhat cheekily. “Well, I guess that’s pretty obvious now! How do you fix this thing??” Derek asked as he struggled in the chair, now caught between the backing of the recliner and the seat of it with his legs sticking out and kicking around like a magician had cut him in half. If Derek had been to work on time and been at the staff meeting that morning, he would’ve known that specific chair was broken and actually not for sale but only on the showroom floor until it could be repaired. Now that was abundantly clear as he squirmed to free himself near the back of the showroom.

“My name is Chris by the way” the man added. “Dude! I don’t care what your name is right now! Just help me outta this stupid chair!” Derek barked back with annoyance in his voice. “Ya know, this really isn’t any way to treat a customer” Chris answered as he looked around the store to see it virtually empty now. “Sorry, Chris but I’m a little too preoccupied to worry about customers!” “I think you could learn some manners” Chris added before catching one of Derek’s legs and promptly shoving off the left shoe. “Hey! What are you doing?!” a shocked Derek demanded to know but got no answer as his grey-socked foot wiggled in the air. Instead, Chris let his fingers give the mouthy salesman an idea of what he was up to.

“OoHeEy! CcuuTTiIOooOhUT! HhEEY! DuhuHUDEe! CCooOmMOOnN!” Derek couldn’t help but become consumed with giggles breaching his tough-guy exterior, forcing him to try and contain the reaction but Chris refused to give him a fighting chance. The spidering fingers flew up and down the socked sole while Derek floundered on the other side of the chair and pounded against the back of it to hopefully repeat the trick he’d done earlier. “GGeEETtOOFFmMMYyYFoOooTT CCRreEEEPP!” “Creep? I was just trying to buy a chair and you acted like I asked for a kidney” “TthIiISS iiiSSnNnTTcCoOOOLL!” “Sorry I’m not as hip as you are” Chris answered like he was only half enjoying the ‘lesson’, as if he really wanted to make Derek regret being such a poor salesman.

“CCoOMMEEoONnMmAANN! UUGGhHhJJuUSSTTgGEETTLLoOoSSTT!!” Derek tried to convince as he failed to get a grip on his reaction, his reluctant laughter illustrating to Chris just how ticklish he was. “Did nobody ever teach you that the customer is always right?” “YyeEAAHhRRiIIiGGGhhTTWWEEeiIIRRDDdOOO!” “I think I need to hear you say it” Chris pressed without leaving the wily foot he’d commandeered. “NNOooOHO!!” “Say it or the sock is coming off” Chris warned, making Derek’s eyes shoot open wider with panic. “NO! OOKOok! TtThhEECCuUuSSTToOMmMEERR IIiSssAALLWWAAyYysSSRRiiiGGHhTT!!” Derek gave in with a direct blow to his ego. Derek Venturi bent to no one but even as hard-headed and cocky as he was, he knew he wasn’t in any position to make it worse.

“Good. Now, when I say you don’t need this sock anymore, you’ll know I’m right” Chris added before yanking the thin grey material off with one pull, shocking Derek’s system and turning his forced smile into a look of sudden dread, an emotion he’d caused more than he’d experienced. “DUDE! I said what you wanted me to! What’s your problem?!” Derek protested as he struggled to retain his normal cool, careless demeanor. His bare foot being stuck out in the open with a disgruntled, tickle monster of a customer put him on edge. “Felix! Felix, man, help me out!! There’s a crazy guy tickling my feet!” Derek shouted as he realized his manager should still be in the store. “If you’re talking about your manager, I think he’s on a call in his office. He put up a ‘do not disturb’ sign and everything” Chris explained, sinking Derek’s stomach. “Of course he is – that’s just great!” Derek whined just before he felt his other shoe be stolen. “HEY! Stop taking my shoes, freak!” “No problem” Chris casually answered as he reached to grab the last sock but Derek got the idea to plant his feet flat on the seat of the chair, hiding his embarrassingly ticklish soles.

“Just go home or something! Go be a creeper somewhere else!” Derek barked with a splash of his usual attitude. “A creeper, huh? Is name calling anyway to treat your customers? Is Furniture Palace only hiring rude salesmen these days…?” Chris questioned with a teasing tone as he started spidering across the tops of both of Derek’s planted feet, surprising the arrogant employee. Derek clenched his jaw and bit his lip with uneasy determination on his face, fighting the reality that the tops of his feet were ticklish too, unaware that was even possible until now. The fingertips grazed the pale top of the naked foot and the socked one with steady attention, even following the feet when they tried to jerk away as the new tickling threatened more and more to make Derek break again. His cheeks quickly lost their tightness and his face grew pink with frustration, fuming out his nose and holding out the best he could in hopes of defying Chris but the moment the fingers started wiggling a bit faster, Derek couldn’t help but react.

“AAhGH! This is crazy! I don’t care about stupid customer service! Just stop tickling me!!” Derek shouted. “Maybe I haven’t finished deciding if I want to buy this chair or not” Chris answered as he popped the leg rest up and grabbed both of Derek’s legs, forcing them out straight before sitting across the knees. “Are you…are you sitting on me right now??” “You’re a sharp guy” Chris sarcastically answered before reigniting his lesson with 10 enthusiastic fingers pouncing on the newly subdued pair of handsome feet. “AAHAH!! NOO! NOOO!! AohAOHASSTTSSTTOHOohOhOPP!!” Derek couldn’t help but nearly squeal with obvious distress as his feet tried to kick around but Chris’ weight kept them in place. “The leg rest seems sturdy…that’s definitely a plus” was all Chris said as he clawed up both soles from the heels toward the balls, the short nails like hell on the smooth pink sole and nearly just as bad on the socked on.

Derek’s angry, ego-bruised laughter never lost its cartoonish up and downs, unable to control or hide how terribly ticklish his feet were. In truth, Derek didn’t go barefoot very often at all outside of sleeping and showering, consequently leaving his soles incredibly soft and even more sensitive than someone his age that went without shoes around the house for a day or two here and there. All those hours being a prankster and troublemaker in his Vans or high-tops had only made his now helpless feet, very possibly his true worst weakness.

“AALLLRRIiIGGHHTT!! AohAOHACCOOMMEEoOONNMmMAAANN!!” Derek raged like he could convince Chris to back off but he had no such luck, unable to slow the steady fingers clawing across his trapped feet. “I think I deserve a discount after the attitude my salesman had today, don’t you think?” Chris suggested. “AAHOANNOOO! NNoOOoDDIISSCCooOOuUUnNTTSS!!” “Are you sure?” Chris challenged before reaching down and grabbing the other sock, pulling it up until it was halfway off Derek’s other foot. “AAGGhAOhAAOKOOK!! TTEEEENnPPEERRCCEEnNNTT!!” Derek gave in to hold onto the rest of his sock, clinging onto it with his toes. He knew he wasn’t authorized to give discounts and it’d likely come out of his check but he was playing Chris’ game the best he could.

“I think you can do better than that” Chris assured as he started wiggling more randomly across both soles, making Derek’s slender toes flail and lose their focus. “AAHA! AAHAHNoOO! AhAOhAOAIIICCAAnNNnTT!!” Derek assured between his squeaky laughter. “Sure you can…” Chris pressed as the rest of the sock fell off and Derek’s pale toes clenched in defense but the stubborn customer just tickled around his ankles hidden by the ends of the jeans, another curveball to undermine Derek’s only way to fight back. “OoOhAOhWWhhYyDDoOoESSTThhAAtTTTTiIICCkKLLEE?!” Derek tried to make sense of as he had no choice but to relax his toes and Chris sprang back into action, this time wrapping his fingers around the tops of the toes and scratching across the tops of the balls where they met the creamy toes. “AAAH!! AOhOAHAOhANOONOOO!! AOhAOHNnOoOMMMOOORREE!!” Derek nearly shrieked with audible desperation, his tough guy persona cracking more by the minute the more Chris tickled him.

“I think a 50% discount is more reasonable” Chris decided. “AAAHAOhAOHAYYOouUURREeCCrRRAAHAAZzYYY!!” “I thought we agreed that the customer was always right?” “AAhAH!! DDUUuDDE!! AohAOHAJJUUuSSTTCChHIIILLLoOoOoUUUTT!!” “I’ll chill out when I get my half-off discount” Chris answered before reaching over and grabbing a curtain tie from a nearby display and wrapping up Derek’s ankles, further securing the deliciously ticklish pair. “Are you serious?? You can’t tie me up and tickle me in my own store!” “Well, that looks to be what’s happening. Now about that discount…” Chris reminded as he took advantage of his newly bound targets and really let them have it, scribbling and raking all over the supple, buttery soles until Derek was squealing and yelping and laughing with new intensity behind the chair.

“AAAHAHAHAA!! AohAOHAOOKOOK!! AOhAOHAPPLLLEEAASSEE!! AohAOhAOHAASSTToOOOPPP!!” “I wanna hear that I’m getting this discount…” “AHAOAHOAHFFFIIiNNEE!! AOhAOHAYYYOoUUWWIIINN!! FIiFFTTYyYPPEERRCCeEeENNTT!! JJuUUSSTTTGGEETTOOoFFMmYYYFEEEETTT!!” Derek surrendered for the first time in his life, rendered a submissive, begging version of the formidable, not to be messed with Derek he was known to be. “Great! I’ll be by tomorrow to pick it up. Oh, and if it’s not half off the price, I’ll know exactly what salesman I said promised me that deal. See you tomorrow” Chris added as he got up and stood beside the chair to see a disheveled Derek catching his breath and trying to act like he hadn’t just been tickled into giving a customer the best deal of the month.

The next day, Derek showed up for work without nearly the bite or attitude that he usually had. “Derek” “Hey, Felix” “Do you want to explain to me why there’s a man on the showroom floor right now saying that the recliner we just fixed this morning was sold to him for 50% off??” “Right…about that. I uhh…it’s kind of a long story…ya see” Derek tried to come up with something that wasn’t the truth before Felix interrupted him. “I can tell when you’re about to lie to me by now, Derek, and before you do, the customer out there told me if I had an issue with selling him the chair for half-off that I should check the security footage from the store yesterday” Felix explained, getting a nervous, wild-eyed look from Derek.

“NO! No…you don’t, there’s no need to check the footage. He and I came to an agreement about the price yesterday. That’s all” “So, since there wasn’t a discount on the recliner, you’re saying I’m supposed to take half of the price of it out of your check?” “…yeah, I guess so” Derek answered through gritted teeth as he forced the words out. “Fine. He did say you really sold him on the recliner yesterday. Just don’t make a habit out of giving discounts like that, alright?” Felix added. “You’ve got it” Derek answered with another put-on half smile as he looked out through the office window to see Chris standing by the recliner, making Derek’s temper boil and his toes curl in his checkered shoes.