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 Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 8:32 pm
The wounds on Andrea's arms were not healing as quickly as he would have liked. Though he had long sleeves on his costume, his dance instructors had thought it best to cover up the bandages with ribbons to make them look like they were there on purpose. Just in case.
Andrea had been fabric shopping before, but he was feeling sort of tired today, and in a bit of a bad mood. He wished he could just spend another day resting, but he had already missed two vital days of practice, and had had to skimp on a third. Stressful, especially so close to his performance date. Once he had the ribbons, he would have more practice time today, too.
... So maybe it would not be so bad if he lingered a little longer over the fabrics and spools of ribbons, just to buy himself a bit more time.
Standing by the walls of ribbon-by-the-spool, Andrea looked between the swatches of patterned gold fabric in his hand and the various patterned yellow ribbons on the wall. He was having a legitimate bit of trouble selecting between two of the different yellow ones, and was also considering skinny black ribbons, but he was also admittedly spacing out a little on purpose, too. God, he had missed a day of school, too, so there was catch-up work there, too... he still looked forward to the dance recital performance, but he would have been lying if he had said that he would not be relieved when it was all over.
So the questioned remained, should he go with the half-inch wide, or the whole inch-wide? Or the really skinny black ribbons...?
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Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 9:04 pm
There were only a few days until she was going to start at her new job. Maybe it was a bit selfish of her, but she wanted to spend that time working on a few sewing projects. Sewing required cloth and thread amongst other things. She had just a scant amount of money left over from her last visit to the fabric shop, but there was one thing which was a saving grace.
Coupons!
Coupon was such a funny word, and it rhymed to Poupon, like the mustard. A tiny giggle escaped her as she wandered, looking over her treasured scrap of paper.
"50% off the entire purchase." There must have been a God out there, because this was such a wonderful coupon.
Yvette Weaver was a pretty regular customer in this shop and knew her way around. Even with her eyes paying more attention to her coupon than where she was going, she was still managing to weave her way through the aisles without a problem.
Until there was a person in the middle of her path. If she had noticed the boy in her path, she would have scooted to one side to make certain she didn't disturb him. However, this was not meant to be, and soon enough to short girl had literally walked right into the boy. Upon impact, she had let out a quiet squeak.
Oops...
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Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 5:57 pm
Andrea inhaled sharply between his teeth as someone ran into him, snapping him out of his little space-out rather uncomfortably. His expression was not quite angry when he turned to peer at the girl who had bumped into him, though.
"Are you okay?" he asked almost reflexively at her squeak, even as he cradled his own arm. The sophomore was not hurt badly - the wounds on his arm were mostly healed, but the bandages had rubbed uncomfortably and it was another moment before the stinging had faded.
He had also dropped his fabric swatches at being bumped, and he noticed abruptly some seconds after he had studied the girl who had stumbled into him.
"Ah, excuse me," he said as he moved to crouch down to pick them up, but waited for her to step back as she was a bit too close for him to bend over and fetch them without awkwardly invading her personal space.
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Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 8:34 pm
If she had been a little Japanese girl, the girl would have been bowing and apologizing profusely. There wasn't a stitch of Asian blood in the girl, but that didn't stop her from apologizing in a tiny, quick voice.
"ohmygoshiamsosorry,ishouldhavebeenlookingwhereiwasgoing!" Apparently Yvette didn't believe in speaking with breaths between words when she was apologizing like this. Her face was bright red within seconds, and she rather easily noticed the swatches on the floor.
Thinking she was helpful, the girl ducked down at the exact time that the other boy did, but soon enough found herself practically face to face with the stranger. "Oh... um..." She stood up rather quickly after seeing he had taken care of recovering the bits of cloth, and edged back like a startled animal. It was a slightly awkward position she was now in, because usually when she was feeling embarrassed, her deep purple eyes would drift to the floor. Right now, the current source of her embarrassment was right there, on floor level.
Looking down at him would be awkward.
"Umm..." He had swatches, so he was obviously looking to match something to the cloth. "I... I'm really sorry... uh... um... d-did you need s-some help with that?" Her fingers stiffly gestured at the pieces of cloth he was picking up.
"I... I might not be much help, but... I... I can try..."
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 5:25 pm
When he crouched to fetch his swatches, Andrea found himself face-to-face with the girl again, and smiled awkwardly as she kept apologizing. His scrapes tingled and ached as the nerve endings quieted down from being bumped, but ... with the other girl apologizing like that, the boy could not be angry at her. You would think by looking at her that she had just broken his arm or something.
Standing straight again and folding the pieces of cloth between his fingers, he offered her his other hand to help her up as well. "Hey, don't worry about it, I space out sometimes, too," he told her with a patient smile. "And... Yeah, I guess I could use a second opinion on this, since I'm having trouble picking by myself."
Andrea un-crinkled the swatches and held them out so she could see them. "Looking for something to match this, but I can't decide between these two ribbons." he turned and picked the two gold ones in question off of the shelf. "But there's also a bit of black in the outfit, too, so I dunno if some contrast might be better."
Looking up at her (and half-fearing he would find her sinking into the floor), he smiled faintly as he showed off the ribbons for comparison.
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 7:48 pm
Her little hand squeezed his hand like a child would as she was assisted back into a standing position. Once on her feet, she pulled her hand away in a skittish fashion. Of course, she only did that because she thought it would be weird to hold hands for too long, but after her hand had been pulled away so quickly, she also realized how rude that could have seemed.
Why did her brain have to think so much?!
When the swatches were held out, the girl looked at them, the ribbons in question, then the swatches again. A finger managed to wander up to her lips, touching the bottom lip as she thought it over. Every so often, her eyes wandered to the ribbons and back to the swatches. She was personally leaning towards the black ribbons, just because the contrast would have been bold and tasteful, but she really couldn't decide on just having swatches.
"Uh, um... w-what sort of outfit is it, if I might ask?" Even just asking this question caused her cheeks to grow redder.
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Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 9:02 pm
Andrea's brow furrowed slightly as she moved away from him like he had burned her. He could understand being embarrassed, but she was starting to make him worry that he had somehow injured her when they had collided. Even so, he had had people run into him harder than that - she was not even all that big.
Trying to be as gentle as possible for fear of freaking the poor girl out further, he kept his distance as he told her, "Ah, I have a sort of plain white shirt with a vest over it made out of this gold." Andrea pointed out one of the swatches. "And then I have black shorts and white tights, and a cape made out of this other gold" He indicated the other swatch.
He reached up to rub his fingers through his hair, crossing his eyes for a moment to look at the blonde-dyed tips of his black hair. "Then like a little gold crown thing, and a black bow around my neck, and black shoes." He had just described what was pretty obviously a costume, and probably almost as obviously a dance costume of some sort. But ... as he looked at the purple-haired girl again, quivering there like a flower with his fabric swatches, Andrea sighed and smiled. She hardly seemed ready to judge him.
"It's a ballet costume," he added. "The shirt is long-sleeved, but I'm looking for some ribbons to sort of decorate these, just in case the sleeves slip up." Andrea pushed up one of the sleeves of the shirt he was currently wearing, just enough to show the bandages wrapped around his arm.
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Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 11:09 pm
As the boy explained, her eyes had been on the swatches, but eventually she dared to look up slowly until her eyes were upon his face. Of course, her timing was just enough to see him making a strange face. Was he crossing his eyes? Her mouth curled into a soft smile, and eventually her eyes pinched shut as she let out a tiny giggle that could only be described as a "hamster giggle."
And again, her timing seemed off. By the time she giggled, he was telling her that the costume was for ballet. She had to cut off her giggled rather quickly, and once more, her eyes fell on the swatches in an apologetic fashion.
Oh no no no, she hadn't meant to make it sound like she was laughing at him for his costume. Oh gosh, why couldn't she get her act together today?! Once more, she panicked, voice once more blurring her words together as if it was one big long word.
"Itsoundslikeareallynicecostume,isitsupposedtobeaprinceorsomething?"
Her purple eyes glanced up shyly, still completely apologetic for her badly timed laughing. She almost looked like a puppy that knew it had just been scolded.
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Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 5:54 pm
The dark-haired boy's eyes focused on the girl when he heard a tiny giggle, and Andrea smiled back when he realized she was likely laughing at him. He reached up to sweep his fringe to the side (though it promptly fell back into his eyes) ... and blinked at her as she hurriedly said something.
It took Andrea a moment to parse out what she had said, but then he nodded again. "Oh, yeah, actually. Prince Ivan, from 'The Firebird', to be exact. It is a pretty nice outfit, though I can't say I made it myself." Momentarily, he regretted not snapping a picture or two with his cell phone so he would have an image of the completed outfit handy for situations such as this one.
He held the spool of skinny black ribbon out beside the swatches, studying it for a moment before glancing up at the girl again. "How does that look to you?" Andrea asked. Maybe it would be best for the poor girl's nerves if he got a quick answer from her to let her off the hook for promising to help. He did appreciate her offer of assistance, though, and tried to give her a reassuring smile. Just like she was a puppy who had been scolded, Andrea found it impossible to be mad at her for bumping into him when she was acting like this.
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Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 10:59 pm
The boy's explanation as to the outfit flew right over Yvette's head with an almost audible WOOOOSH. At least, almost audible in the girl's mind. The only thing she really understood was the fact that the costume was indeed a Prince costume. Not wanting to seem absolutely clueless, she offered the polite nod or two after his explanation.
Maybe the next time she was at the library, she could look up this Prince Ivan from The Firebird. That might be a long ways in the future, since work was going to keep her busy for a long time.
Once more her eyes managed to drift up, and caught upon the ribbons hovering by the swatches. It took her a moment to fully gather her thoughts, but eventually her voice managed to offer her take on the matter.
"I personally think the black works best because it contrasts the best while matching. The other colors are too light, so you wouldn't really notice them from off stage." He did mention it was ballet, so he was obviously going to be on a stage, right? "A-and... as the saying goes... black goes with anything really..."
She managed to catch his smile, and in turn she offered a small one of her own. "Um... m-my name's Yvette... s-sorry for bumping into you... but I was excited about getting started on a sewing project."
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Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 8:00 pm
"Oh, good," Andrea replied with a grin. "I was sorta thinking the same thing, with the black. Glad it's not just me." He turned to put the yellow ribbons back, then hesitated a moment with one hand reaching out towards the racks of spools.
Then he selected another wider spool of black. "Skinny or wide, though?
"Oh, and my name is Andrea." The boy transferred both spools to one hand and offered his free one to shake hers. "And don't worry about it, I'm fine." A moment later, he added, "What're you sewing? If you don't mind me asking?"
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Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 8:58 pm
The newly introduced Andrea held out a hand, and shyly, the girl placed hers in his for a very light handshake. Just from the handshake itself, it was easy to tell she did not have too much confidence. She hardly squeezed his hand at all before taking her hand back.
"W-well... how big is the bow around your neck?" There were lots of aspects to analyze, and one was any other existing sorts of bows in the same color. She would have gone with the wide, but that was simply to draw attention to the arms rather than the bandages underneath. However, if the bow around the neck was skinnier, then it would look odd to have such a wide ribbon around the arms at a less significant focal point.
Before letting her mind drag her into another abstract art tangent (because Yvette really could have lingered on the idea of arm ribbons), she answered the boy's question as best as she could. "W-well... um... my friend's birthday is c-coming up soon... and I just got a job at the mall... but I don't start for a few days... so... I want to try and finish up his present before... I get swamped with work..." It was a vague answer at best, but she wasn't about to go advertising what she was going to make.
It was silly, if anything. Nervously, her fingers traced over the ragged edges of her coupon.
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Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 7:37 pm
The boy gave a firm enough handshake in reply, but went out of his way to make sure he was not squeezing or anything when he noticed right away that she was hardly holding his hand at all. "Nice to meet you," Andrea said with a small (and perhaps vaguely concerned) smile.
"Oh, and the bow around my neck is uh...." He looked down at the black ribbons, brows drawing together momentarily. "I guess if they have like, a three quarter-inch black one, that would match. I forget how wide it is, but it's about like that." He indicated a small but not really super-skinny distance between his thumb and forefinger.
Andrea brightened when she mentioned making a birthday gift, though. "Oh, that's cool, your friend must be pretty lucky then! What are you making?" He went ahead and asked since she had not elaborated on the gift, hoping that he could offer the quiet and shy girl some further encouragement in her sewing endeavors.
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Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 10:53 pm
"I'm not really all that good..."
There was modesty, and then there was Yvette. She could have just sewn a perfect replica of a designer purse, and she still wouldn't have considered it good. There would be something wrong with it. It would probably fall apart, and then all of the things inside of the purse would fall to the ground. It would be a mess. Yvette just knew the purse in the hypothetical scenario would fall apart.
Her fingers still continued to touch upon the edge of the coupon, getting that slight bit of uncertain energy out into the world. Andrea wanted to know what she was making, and in all honesty, she was a bit shy about sharing that little fact as well. It was rather personal in comparison to a gift card to Smoothie Hut.
"Um... I'm... I'm sorry... but I can't really tell..." If her brain wasn't in overdrive, she probably could have turned the comment into something cute like It's a secret, but alas, Yvette wasn't that clever on the fly.
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Posted: Sun May 09, 2010 6:46 pm
"Oh, that's fine," Andrea hurriedly assured her, hoping that he had not made her too uncomfortable with his question. "I'm sure it'll look fine when you're done, though, whatever you're making. I mean you have to be better than me at sewing." He smiled, then looked down at the ribbons in his hands again.
Putting away all but one each of black and gold, he said, "I think I'll go with both of these. They're cheap enough, and we'll figure out something to do with the other ones." Looking up at Yvette again, he grinned again. "Thanks for your expert advice. I would have been here another ten minutes at least, waffling on my own." Much as it was nice to have someone to talk to, her nervousness was making Andrea worry, too, and so he figured it might be better if he left sooner for her sake.
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