Chapter 54 Girls' Afternoon
The second Valeria opens the door to her studio, my eyes widen and my jaw drops in awe. By the walls, there are four beautiful dresses on mannequins. Each have their own charm. Other than the dresses, there are lots of fabric rolls by the sewing station and sketches on the desk near the window.
Wow. Did she actually made all of these by herself? Saying she's talented is definitely an understatement.
"Are these the dresses for your final project? They're so stunning," I say as I walk towards the dresses. I can sense Valeria following right behind me and then we stand next to each other as I marvel over the dresses. In front of me, it seems it's a dress inspired by fairies because there are lots of nature, floral, and green elements to it. Other than flowers, the dress also has butterflies stitched onto it.
"Yes. They still need a bit of tweaking later, but the designs are final," Valeria says. Leaving my side, she goes to her table and grabs her sketchbook. After flipping through the pages, she finally stops and then hand the book to me.
"Anyway, here's the sketch of the last dress," Valeria says with an excited smile.
I stare at her sketch and smile at the beautiful design. The dress is a ombre of colours. Silver at the top and black at the bottom. A silver-coloured wave wraps around the dress and one of the shoulder. It looks as if it's a wave ready to crash onto the shore on a gloomy day. For the skirt part, it's a high-low skirt with ruffled edges and long train. From what it seems, I guess this one is the siren dress.
"I assume this is the siren-themed dress," I say.
"Yes. See the floating wave-like design around the dress? That part will be made with the stiff fabric I've told you about. It needs to be stiff enough so it can still stay afloat while the dress is being worn," Valeria explains.
"That's cool. The dresses you've made look absolutely beautiful. I'm sure the last dress will be as beautiful as they are," I say, handing the sketchbook back to Valeria. She holds the book close to her chest, smiling at me.
"Thank you so much, Alessandra. I'm glad you like them," Valeria says.
I walk to her desk and then stare at her other sketches. The sketches there seems to be a rough design. Concepts, I might say. They look a bit more experimental than the dresses Valeria has made, but they're still as beautiful as her final project's dresses. Some of them look a bit more futuristic, but still has the elements of nature themes in them.
"How about these designs? Are you going to turn them into actual garments in the future?" I ask.
"I'm not sure. These are the rough sketches I made while I was bored. I'm not sure if I'll ever make them. I feel like they're not really me, if you get what I mean," Valeria says.
"If the 'you' you mean is something like your final project designs, I think these sketches have your essence in them. I can even though they roughly look more futuristic, they still have that nature's characteristic in them. For these, you could turn them into one, ocean-themed collection. Maybe instead of only dresses, you can also make tops and skirts with the same theme," I say.
"Really? Do you think so?" Valeria says.
"Of course! Even though having your own uniqueness in your designs is a part of being a designer, it won't hurt to experiment with new stuff, right? People always want to see something new, something creative and innovative, so I think you should continue to make new designs. However, what truly matters is to do what feels right to you. So, just take my advice lightly," I say, smiling at Valeria.
"You know what? You're right. I'll keep that in mind. Maybe if you want me to, I can make one of these into a real thing for you," Valeria says.
I'm not going to lie, but her futuristic and oceanic short dresses look amazing. The thing is, I barely go somewhere where I'll wear any of these cool dresses. So, it's definitely better if she keeps them for the future. Other than that, asking for my soon-to-be ex's sister for something like this will be strange. In the near future, we definitely won't be as close as we are right now, so it's better to save ourselves from the hassle and awkwardness.
"Oh, you don't have to do that. Save them for your future collection," I say.
"Alright then, but if you need a new dress or anything, just hit me up," Valeria says, winking at me.
"I definitely will," I say.
"Alright. That's all about my final project. You'll see how they look on a real person on the runway day," Valeria says.
"Can't wait to see them flow nicely on that day," I say.
"You will. Don't forget to attend the show," Valeria says.
As much as I want to go to Valeria's show, I don't think I can do it. By the time she's showcasing her dresses, Antonio and I wouldn't be together anymore. Damn. I guess I'm kind of getting attached to the family already despite only meeting them a few days ago. This is why it's important for me to keep reminding myself that I'm here with them only to gather information to get revenge for my mother and brothers. That's it. Nothing less, nothing more.
"I won't," I say.
"Alright. What should we do now? Oh! How about we watch some movies together while doing some girly stuff? You know? Like painting our nails and stuff like that?" Valeria says.
"Sure. Why not?" I say.
"Alright. Come with me," Valeria says.
Once we get into Valeria's room, she didn't waste time on preparing everything for our afternoon's activity. On her bed, there are now various snacks and numerous nail polish with different colours and shades. Once she puts on a rom-com movie to accompany our evening, we finally start on painting our nails first.
As the brush of the pink nail polish glides over my index finger's nail, I can't help but to think of Dante. I wonder what he's doing right now. Is he in his room, not able to do anything around the house, or is he somewhere around the house trying to get just a tiny bit of information about the Ricci? As much as I want him to be safe, I'd rather him doing the latter. We can't waste our chance and time in here. This is the closest we are with the Ricci by far. So, Dante better comes up with a good plan and get what we need while we're in here. He's a smart guy, so I'm sure he already has something figured out. Hopefully, that's the case with him.
"Can you help me with my pinky? I swear I always mess up this one," Valeria says, pouting as she stares at her left hand fingers.
"Sure," I say. I grab the light purple nail polish from Valeria and start painting her pinky's nail.
"You know what? This is the first time I've seen Antonio so happy. Before all this arranged relationship stuff, he's mostly a reserved person. He may look like a typical frat guy with his stupid smile, but he's actually far from that. He even only have a few close friends since he was younger," Valeria says.
Antonio is actually a shy person? Oh my god. That's cute. All this time, he's always been the first to say and do anything, so that's surprising. And Valeria is right about his damn smile. With all that charm he has, I thought he's like the popular guy in school that has lots and lots of friends and exes. Turns out that's not the truth. Maybe it's a lie they're making up for me, but now that I think about it, Antonio does seems a bit shy sometimes when we're on our dates, but he always hides it with jokes and random conversations.
"So, you're saying I'm his first girlfriend?" I ask, handing back the nail polish back to Valeria. Looking at her, she already has a grin on her face.
"You could say that," Valeria says.
If it's actually true that I'm Antonio's first girlfriend, then it's no wonder he never initiates something more intimate with me. He's probably unsure about what to do since he doesn't have such experience before. That makes sense. I'm glad if that's how it actually it with Antonio. That means I don't have to worry about him making advances towards me. But still though, I can't let my guard down when I'm around him.
"He never told me about it," I say.
"Of course he won't, silly. He's probably embarrassed of it," Valeria giggles. "So, yeah. Don't worry if he's a bit awkward. It's his first time being in a relationship."
"It's fine. I find it cute when he's awkward," I say, smiling as I reminisce about the times when Antonio and I are together.
Gosh. I just realise how silly he can be sometimes. On our third date, he decided to take me to this park by the lake for a picnic. When it was our time to finally go back, I hurt my ankle so it was painful for me to walk. And then, Antonio stopped in front of me, looking so worried yet confused on what to do. He just stood there right in front of me for a few minutes, staring at me as he thought of what to do. At last, he awkwardly offered to carry me and without any other choice, I accepted his offer.
"You're smiling. Does this mean you actually like him? Like for real?" Valeria asks. The expression on her face tells me how excited she is about Antonio's and mine relationship's progression.
"Uh, well..." I falter. My eyes widen as Valeria grabs me and shakes me while she lets out a screech. Holy shit. I didn't thought she'd be this excited. Damn. What should I do now? Well, I guess I have to improvise as always. This is my chance to get closer to her.
"You do! You actually like him!" Valeria squeals.
"Uh, yeah, you could say that. I can't really say much about it though. I mean, we've only been with each other for a few months now," I say, grinning awkwardly. Valeria rolls my eyes at my explanation.
"Time doesn't really matter. Love at first sight exists, so it's absolutely possible that you like each other a lot after a few months of being together," Valeria says, smiling widely at me.
"Maybe. We'll see where our relationship will go in the future," I say.
"Fine. Suit yourself," Valeria says.
This is seriously confusing. The Ricci is definitely playing a mind game on me, making me confused about everything. If I keep letting them into my mind, then my family and I will lose this battle. If the Ricci succeeded in manipulating me, then we're fucked. Shit. I'd better not let them play me. They can't. It's time to take everything seriously and not be swooned by their words and acts.