The Perfect, Elusive Dress

[Alexa Flannery]

<sup>Why was it that the perfect dress was so hard to find? It was one of those questions that always seemed to torture and taunt Alexa’s mind; always hanging on by a thread, jumping back into place whenever the girl went dress-shopping. And, to be honest, it was quite an annoying question. Why was the perfect dress so hard to find? She had a great figure, and could make even a potato sack look good. And it wasn’t as if she couldn’t wear certain colors; Alexa could pull of almost anything. Yet, still, it was very hard for the blonde girl to find something that was absolutely perfect.

Maybe she always set her standards too high. Yes, that was probably the answer - though she liked to dress simply, Alexa only bought certain types of clothing. Places like Wal-Mart were strictly off-limits for anything clothing related; that would be so tacky! Wal-Mart, Alexa Flannery had always thought, belonged with tube tops and navel-bearing shirts - in the fashion category of ‘No Return’.

With a sigh, the pretty blonde sifted through the racks at any store that caught her eye, hopefully searching for something formal and pretty to wear. The occasion? It was some party at her father’s expense; Alexa never did bother finding out why she went to her father’s lavish parties and openings. A party was a party in her opinion; the purpose wasn’t going to change much. And a party meant shopping - one of Alexa’s favorite activities.

But the blonde was quickly getting frustrated, and an annoyed expression crossed over her pretty features. “Damn,” she cursed quietly to herself, rolling her hazel eyes. Motioning to a saleslady, she put continued to search. “Excuse me, do you have this in black?” she asked a bit impatiently, not paying much attention to the lady. Tossing her a knee-length, classic-looking, toffee-colored dress, Alexa raised a golden eyebrow. With a dismissive wave of her hand, the blonde went back to her quest, not sure if she even wanted that dress in black.

Now, Alexa Flannery wasn’t the smartest girl in the world - not even close. But when it came to shopping, she was savvy, stylish and extremely impatient, always looking for the latest and greatest. Alexa loved fashion and clothing, and hated having the same exact thing as everyone else. So, she would often run into stores an hour or so before closing hour, trying on things and merely rolling her eyes at the notices of clothing time. And it wasn’t exactly abnormal for Alexa to look for hours before finding the right dress. Apparently, this time was no different. With a sigh, she rested temporarily, sighing in an irritated manner. Why was the perfect dress so elusive?</sup>

[Jillian Onassis]

<sup>Solo. It was a rare thing to see Jillian Onassis walking down the streets of New York City by herself, but today that was exactly the situation. She had woken up at the crack of dawn to get to the gym as soon as it opened. She had really needed to get some exercise time in. Anyway, she had spent two, maybe two and a half, hours there before packing up her bag and heading back to her father's penthouse via a taxi. Usually Jillian was never awake at that hour and she had absolutely nothing to do. She took a long shower and changed into an "every day" type outfit as she had decided to go window shop, which would probably turn into actual shopping, down 5th Avenue.

Though it was September, the heat of the previous summer months was still intact. Jillian had dressed herself in a pair of clean cut dark denim jeans that were just a little bit too large for her thin frame. Paired with her jeans was a plain grey fitted t-shirt that she had picked up from Gap a few weeks ago. Yes, she shopped at Gap. She happened to like it too. So what? At least she doesn't shop at somewhere gross like...Wetseal or something. Ick. Anyway, she had brought along a fitted black zip-up sweatshirt in case it was a bit cold, but she didn't really need it.

Her hair was left down in it's natural waves. Thankfully it was a relatively wind-less day. Her face was nearly naked. She wore only lip balm, mascara, and a light layer of translucent shine control powder. Jillian was never much for make-up during the day time. Luckily for her, she didn't really need it. She had a very natural look which was quite unlike most of the girls she knew in the city that either looked like they got dressed in the dark or belong working the street at night in Brooklyn.

Jillian's ultra slender size 9 feet, the only part of her body that she was slightly embarrassed about, padded along the pavement in white colored flats that looked like a cross between a mary jane and a sneaker. They were cute, but a bit different. Simple silver framed aviator sunglasses shaded her brown eyes from the sun as she began her window shopping experience. It seemed that she had only passed by a few stores when she noticed Alexa inside of one of the stores, looking as if she was irritated. But what else was new? The sales people at these stores tended to be a bit below par.

Jillian entered the store, removing her aviators and walking over to Alexa. "Shopping. Nice." she said simply, not bothering to greet her with a hello. There was no need. Jillian let her canary yellow canvas tote bag slide off of her shoulder to her elbow as she stopped walking when she reached Alexa. "Looking for the perfect dress, huh?" she said in a knowing tone. Jillian knew the drill. Whenever Alexa had to buy a dress for anything it took her forever. Judging by the store and the expression on her friend's face Jillian assumed that was the situation.</sup>

[Alexa Flannery]

<sub>Sifting through more dresses, Alexa waited for the saleswoman to bring her the dress in black - if they even had it. So far, the service at the boutique wasn’t exactly the greatest, but it wasn’t the worst, either. No one had rushed up to help Alexa when she entered, but they weren’t exactly refusing to, either. Ah, well. It wasn’t perfect, but it was fine for now.

Her blonde waves ruffled lightly as she shook her golden head. Alexa could have sworn she saw someone familiar, but then again, her eyes often deceived her. She never hallucinated; merely thought she saw someone, but it would always turn out to be a complete stranger - or someone she really didn’t like in the first place. With a small shrug, she glanced back at the rack, not wanting much to have another fruitless search.

By looking at Alexa Flannery, you could tell she was rich. Slightly faded, her designer jeans flung tightly to her shapely legs, showing off a figure that most girls would die for. Alexa didn’t even remember where they were from or how much they cost - it was her parents’ money, so she didn’t make note of it in the first place. A simple blue T-shirt was paired with the jeans; not something you’d expect from a completely rich brat. But Alexa had always preferred simple clothing over sparkles and glitter - tacky, much? Even her shoes were simple (but expensive) flip flops, the type of shoes she always wore for shopping.

A familiar voice rumbled lightly next to her, and Alexa pivoted her blonde head to see Jillian standing by one of the racks, canary yellow bag dangling from her elbow. Shopping was simply one of the things the Clique was good at; one of the things they did almost daily, too. All five of them were rich enough to get whatever they wanted; money and prices were never a problem. But Alexa always had it worst with dresses. She was the perfectionist when it came to them; the one with the highest standards.

“How could you tell?” she asked sarcastically, laughing slightly. With a cock of a golden eyebrow, she looked at her friend. “But of course. What else would I be doing in here?” Her expression changed from annoyed to slightly disgusted. It wasn’t like the clothes in the store weren’t fabulous, because they were. It was more or less the service, and by the look on Alexa’s face, that was annoying her more and more by the second.</sub>

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