More Than Fashion (13 page)

The deliberations seemed to take an eternity, but in the end, Paige and Molly were the losing team and Paige was sent home. Molly was still safe, for another challenge at least.

Then it was time. Gavin and I stood beside Tom and Jeff, waiting to hear who would get the $1,000 and a night in the private suite. Even though we’d worked in pairs, only one person would be given the prize.

“The winner of this challenge is…Julie,” Lola said.

I shrieked and hugged Gavin. He wrapped me in his warm arms and the spicy scent of him. I was so happy I could kiss him. I looked up and saw his lips part, and when he lowered his head, I thought for sure he was going to do it—kiss me right there on the runway in front of the judges and the designers and the cameras. And I stood there, eagerly waiting for it.

But all he did was kiss me on the cheek. “Congratulations.”

***

Kelsey led me to the interview room, the same one I’d been to before the show had started. After each challenge ended, the winner and loser had to do bonus interviews. All I wanted was to crash on that king-sized fluffy duvet in the winner’s suite, but that would have to wait.

Kelsey had me briefly talk about how great it was to finally win a challenge after being in the bottom so many times and about how we’d come up with the idea for the look. Then she asked, “What was it like working with Gavin? Please remember to phrase your answer with the question in it, if you can!”

“Working with Gavin was surprisingly good,” I admitted. “I was worried we would clash, but even though we had a few rough moments, we worked really well together overall.”

“So what do you think of Gavin?” she asked and winked.

“I…I think Gavin’s a good designer.” I wasn’t sure what she was getting at, but I had to be careful what I said on camera.

“That’s all? C’mon, there must be more there!”

“Um…” I let out a small laugh. “He’s not bad to look at. And that accent is pretty hot. Oh god, don’t air that please. I don’t want him to hear me say that.”

Kelsey laughed. “He
is
very hot. We’re all really enjoying the chemistry between you two!”

“I’m not sure if ‘chemistry’ is the right word…”

“I don’t know, it definitely seems like there’s a mutual attraction there! Don’t you think?”

I coughed, shifting in my seat. “I don’t know. Maybe? I can’t speak for him, of course. But even if there was, it doesn’t matter. As long as we’re on the show, nothing can happen, since we’re competitors. And only one of us can win.”

“That’s too bad.”

The interview ended and we left the room. But she stopped me outside the elevator, glancing around like she was imparting a secret. “Just so you know, the producers would
love
to see something happen with you and Gavin.”

“What do you mean?”

“We think it could provide some good drama, that’s all. Viewers would probably love it, too.” She giggled. “I know I definitely ship it!”

“Sorry. I don’t think it’s going to happen.”

“Bummer.” She gave me a quick hug. “Congrats again on winning! You’ll receive the bonus thousand dollar prize after the show is over, and you’re free to use the private suite in the Loft until the next challenge starts.”

I’d forgotten about the bonus prize, but I could definitely use that extra cash. My parents were paying for me to go to college, but they could only do so much. Just another reason why winning
Behind The Seams
would be amazing. The $200,000 cash prize would get my new career started, and for once I wouldn’t have to rely on my parents to help me.

But what was I going to do about the private suite? I wasn’t sure I could make it through the whole night in there without inviting Gavin inside. He was just too damn tempting.

Maybe there was another way.

“Can I give the suite to someone else?” I asked Kelsey.

“Sure! It’s yours to do whatever you want with. You can also invite someone to join you.” Kelsey gave me another exaggerated wink. Yeah, it was pretty clear what she wanted me to do.

In the end, I offered Molly the winner’s suite. Doing so both saved me from temptation and gave Molly a chance to recover and get over her cold. Not to mention, it let the rest of us ladies get a better night’s sleep without her snoring. She thanked me profusely, giving me a tight hug, and I knew I’d done the right thing.

Even if I was a tiny bit sad I wasn’t getting any action that night.

CHAPTER TWELVE

N
ow that I’d won a challenge, my confidence returned in full force. We were on our fifth challenge, almost halfway through the show, and my new plan was: Wake up. Kick ass. Repeat.

But all that went to hell when I got up the next morning with a sore throat.

Molly’s cold. Perfect. Just what I needed.

Kelsey gave me some cold medicine, but there wasn’t much she, or anyone else, could do to help me. My one consolation was that most of the other designers seemed to be hit with the same illness. Not Gavin though. He looked as perfect and handsome as always. That jerk.

We were asked to design a dress for Lola to wear to a red carpet event, which made me especially nervous because I had a feeling she hated me. No clue what that was about, but I worked my ass off on my dress or as best as I could with a waterfall of snot running out of my nose every couple minutes. I went through an entire box of tissues. It wasn’t pretty.

The second day was even worse. The design room had become a hellish place, full of coughing, sneezing, and people who stumbled around like zombies. Only Jeff and Gavin seemed to be immune to the plague sweeping through our ranks. Some of the models didn’t even show up. But by some miracle, all nine designers finished a dress and made it to the runway show.

And once again, I ended up in the bottom.

I stood before the four judges with Carla at my side. She wasn’t sick, but then, she never got sick. It was her superpower, and one I would kill for right now.

They started with Nika and Tom, ripping apart their dresses while we all sniffled and coughed on the runway. The judges seemed especially nasty tonight. Tom’s dress wasn’t even that bad, just kind of boring and simple. When they got to my dress, I could only brace myself for what was coming.

I’d made a black vintage-looking strapless gown with tiny silver stars all over it. Along the top of the bodice, I’d cut the fabric to look like crescent moons and covered them with rhinestones that trailed down and vanished into the body of the dress, giving the impression of a twinkling night sky. There were a few places where the dress was a little sloppy, due to lack of time and my cold, but I couldn’t believe I was on the bottom. Not for this dress.

Lola’s mouth twisted as she eyed Carla. “Julie, you won the Comic-Con Masquerade contest, yes? That’s how you were invited on the show?”

“Yes.” I sighed. I knew it would come out sometime. The other designers on stage all looked at me with varying levels of surprise written across their faces. Except Gavin, who stared straight ahead, his expression neutral.

“It shows,” Lola snapped. “Every challenge you make us another costume.”

I heard Nika do her mean giggle and wanted to die right there on the stage. But instead I stood up straighter. I wasn’t ashamed of how I’d gotten on the show. I hadn’t even applied—they’d
asked
me to be on it. And I was proud of the clothes I’d made so far. My dress was a thousand times better than Nika’s. It was obvious she would be the one going home today. Not me.

“I love this dress,” Kiara said, and Lola’s eyes rolled. “It’s feminine and magical. A little rough at the bottom with the hem, but I can see what you were going for.”

“I like it also,” Ricardo said. “It’s beautiful and unique. But I’m not sure I can picture Lola wearing it on the red carpet.”

“I could see someone
younger
wearing it,” Kiara said, with a pointed look at Lola. Their rivalry had gotten intense over the last few challenges, and I seemed to be caught in the middle of it. Maybe that’s why Lola hated me? Either way, I was grateful to have at least one judge on my side.

“
No
one would wear that,” Lola snapped.

“I would!” Kiara argued. “In fact, if you make me a dress just like this, Julie, I will totally wear it to a big event next year. Proudly.”

“I would love to make you one,” I said, smiling at her.

Beverly chimed in before Lola could reply. “This dress would photograph really well, but I agree, it’s a bit too…theatrical. In the future, try to tone down the costumey elements.”

I nodded, hoping that meant I still had a future on the show. But who knew what the judges would decide in the end?

They moved on to Gavin next, who’d made a long dress composed of geometric pieces of leather arranged over his model’s body. He’d figured out the exact layout using complicated math and an intricate blueprint, like some sort of engineer, then spent hours cutting and laying out each piece. There was a tiny slit between each triangle, giving just a glimpse of skin. The effect was stunning, and if they didn’t give him the win, they were fools.

“Gavin, we all really liked this dress,” Lola said. “The pattern, the silhouette, the way it moves…”

“Did you cut out every triangle yourself?” Kiara asked.

“I did.”

“It’s so clever,” Beverly said.

“And very well made, too,” Ricardo added.

He bowed his head, hands clasped behind his back. “Thank you.”

“Gavin, you have a great understanding of the female body,” Lola said.

I couldn’t help it—I let out a sharp laugh. I quickly covered my mouth, but Lola narrowed her eyes at me. It was just so ridiculous. The judges loved him. The other contestants loved him. I was the only one he seemed to drive absolutely insane. Even if he
did
know his way around a woman’s body.

They praised him for at least another five minutes and then moved on to Tom. He’d made a sleek, elegant off-white dress that fit his model perfectly. It was beautiful in its minimalistic simplicity, but Lola wasn’t a fan.

“There’s nothing here I haven’t seen before,” she said. “Where is the drama? Where is the flair?”

Tom cleared his throat. “I was planning on adding this trim to the edges, but ran out of time…”

“No. You need to think bigger. You need to wow us. This? This does not wow me. This makes me fall asleep.”

Harsh. But it was good to know I wasn’t the only one Lola loved to rip apart. I figured he would be safe anyway because Nika had made a leopard print dress that was so short I could see the model’s butt cheeks as she walked.

Jeff won the challenge with a rose-colored gown with a high cowl neck and a two-tiered skirt with feathers. Lola was going to wear it (or a slightly modified version, more likely) to a red carpet event in a few months. It was a great opportunity for Jeff to get his work out there, and I so wished it had been me instead.

In the end, they sent Tom home. Tom, whose dress’s only flaw was that it was a little boring. I couldn’t believe it. Nika had basically made a 1980s hooker dress, and they’d kept her over him. It made no sense.

There was a good chance I was going to be next, too. Even though Lola didn’t like my dress, I had not deserved to be in the bottom three. Jeff’s dress had been just as costumey as mine. I could try to work on that, but I didn’t want to lose who I was either. I had to stick to my aesthetic, and that included being a little dramatic and quirky sometimes. But not all the judges were a fan of that.

I’d been certain I would make it to the end of the show and be one of the final three contestants. Now, I wasn’t sure I’d even make it another week.

But I wasn’t going to give up. Not when I’d been given this chance. When Giselle Roberts had invited me on the show, I’d taken it as a sign I needed to break out of the rut I’d been in. A sign that I had to do what I needed to do, instead of what my perfect sister did or what my demanding parents wanted. Fashion design was where my soul was. It was what I wanted to do with my life. And that meant I’d have to work my ass off to make sure I made it to the end and won this thing.

***

“I think Lola hates me,” I said to Trina and Dawn that night at dinner. We were sitting at our usual table, the two of them holding hands throughout their meal. I kept cracking up because they were having a hard time eating like that, yet didn’t want to let go. Too cute.

“I’m starting to think you’re right,” Trina said, wearing a plaid bow tie tonight.

Dawn blew her nose, but she still looked as lovely as ever. Or maybe that was just the way she seemed to glow when she was around Trina. “Why would she hate you?”

“I don’t know, but she’s always glaring at me. And even if the other judges love my dress, she always hates it. Her loathing is like a wave of heat that follows me around. I can’t see it, but it makes me all hot and sweaty.”

Gavin set his plate down and joined us. “What makes you all hot and sweaty? And can I be a part of it?”

“Don’t get too excited. We’re discussing how I was in the bottom, yet again.”

“You shouldn’t have been there,” he said. “Your dress was beautiful.”

“Lola didn’t think so.”

“The judging tonight was all fucked up,” Trina said. “I still can’t believe Tom was sent home.”

“Me either,” Gavin said. “He was the only halfway decent guy here. Now I’m stuck sharing a room with Jeff and his fanboy.”

He scowled as he glanced across the room at the other table, where Nika and Derrick were conducting another session of the Jeff Jayson Fan Club. Jeff was in the middle of a story that made me want to choke him.

“After last season, the show made me fly
coach
when they sent me across Europe to tour all the big fashion capitals. Paris. London. Milan.
And
it wasn’t even Fashion Week in any of them.”

“Ridiculous,” Nika said, while Derrick nodded eagerly. I wanted to scream at Jeff that he should feel lucky to even be sent on such an amazing trip, especially one he didn’t have to pay for, but they just ate it up.