Disclaimer: I do not own ff8 or its characters etc...

The story's name might change in the future, I'm still trying to think of something appropriate but until then it'll stay at Heartilly's Boutique. Let me know what you think. Ps. I suck at summaries.

Summary: Rinoa Heartilly is an up and coming dress maker in Esthar City. Selphie is adamant about the pair of them attending the President's Ball but Rinoa is more concerned about the money they could make. Is there someone else that can convince her that attending the ball would be the best decision in the world...?

Heartilly's Boutique

The Dress Maker

"I can't go to a party, Selphie!" Rinoa sighed as she gently placed the crimson dress in her hands onto the counter before turning to her friend. "As much as I would like to, you know I can't afford it."

The shorter, brown haired young woman, who had been bouncing on the tips of her toes whilst she tried to hang up an emerald green dress on a peg high above her head without damaging it, turned to her. She had an incredulous expression on her face and after she too gently placed the dress on the counter she said, "Are you kidding me? We work in a boutique where we sell ball gowns and evening dresses day in day out. Which you own, I might add."

Rinoa picked the small mini stepladder up from just inside the stock room door and walked over to where Selphie was standing and smiling in a You know you want to' kind of way. She set it up below the peg and handed the emerald dress to Selphie. "You know as well as I do that I'm still struggling to pay off the loan re-payments."

She watched as Selphie hung the dress on the peg, holding the ladder steady for her with one hand and the back of Selphie's short yellow dress against her skin with the other. "I really can't afford it. I mean, exactly what is this going to cost?" Rinoa took the stepladder over to the opposite side of the small shop.

"Weeell, maybe there was something that I forgot to mention." Selphie grinned sheepishly as she followed with the crimson dress.

Rinoa turned warily. Selphie rarely sounded sheepish; where most people would be sheepish Selphie was her normal self. What her young enthusiastic friend had 'forgotten' must have been quite an important point.

"Yes?" She asked warily, not taking the offered dress from the brunette who was now stood in front of her.

"It's not really a party but the President's Ball." Selphie admitted, her grin fading to a delighted smile.

"What!?" Rinoa gaped at her. "The President's Ball!"

"Yeah!" Selphie exclaimed, dancing enthusiastically on the spot, failing to see her friend's shock. Her green eyes shone with excitement. "The President's Ball. Us. Can you imagine…? They only hold it once every decade unless theirs a wedding or some other majorly big occasion. The last time they held it we must have been about three or so I'd guess. That's like a whole fifteen or something years!" She stopped dancing to bound up the stepladder beside Rinoa and hang the dress on the peg. Rinoa, still in shock, barely caught hold of the metal frame in time as Selphie almost sent it flying from beneath her.

Rinoa sighed brushing her raven hair back off her shoulders and walked around behind the counter again where she peered down at the stock list. "You know how much it would cost to go to that, Selph?" she said still frowning down at the sheets of paper before her.

"I know, probably a few hundred gil each. But, seriously, can you honestly put a price on such a one in a life time event!?"

Rinoa looked up, "Funny, I thought you said they throw this President's Ball every decade," she said wryly. "The ball is for the wealthy Selphie, let's face it." She was rather surprised at the disappointment in her voice.

Selphie looked down at the purple carpet suddenly glum then her head shot up and her smile was back, "Oh come on, Rin. The ball is weeks and weeks away yet, they only announced it last night after all, and we could easily get the money by then, right?"

Rinoa glanced back up from her papers, unsure. "Hundreds of gil each." She shook her head, "Even if we got the hundreds of gil, we'd still need to buy dresses and they would cost quite a bit too."

"Nah-uh. We could just borrow them from here." Selphie motioned towards the many dresses hung on the pegs or on the rails below. "These are wicked dresses, Rinoa."

"Yeah, and they cost an absolute fortune! If they get damaged, Selphie, I can't afford to buy the materials to make the replacements and I totally cannot borrow more money from my father – not after the way we left."

"Oh, please, just think about it?" Selphie pleaded, willing to get on her knees and beg if she had to.

"Fine," Rinoa sighed, "I'll think about it. We should get back to work; we have four more dresses to hang up before you can go on your coffee break. Oh…and the front window display, too."

"Oh, it doesn't matter, I'll get coffee at lunch. Come on then, which is next?"

Rinoa disappeared into the back room and returned shortly after with a royal blue, knee length dress with beading on the bust. The beads were a mixture of blue and blue almost green. "Wow, Rin! That one is gorgeous. Well done. How much you charging for it? I think it'd easily fetch six hundred gil, perhaps more."

"Thanks," she murmured a faint blush on her cheeks. "It's on sale for 450g, display window."

Selphie nodded cheerfully and went to swap the dresses over. Rinoa frowned down at the unfinished dress in the corner of the small shop behind the counter. She wasn't able to finish it until they sold another dress, perhaps if they had the right dresses in the window they could attract more customers. Most people who attended the balls of such high-ranking officials went to the more upper class shops on Rose Crescent. Rinoa's shop wasn't in the poorest section of Esthar city; she had managed to buy a place in the bordering on upper class mall. Admittedly they were rather tucked away in a quiet corner, next to a shop that sold old wooden style toys that were painted with bright colours on one side of them and a high quality suit store on the other. Across the way and a little to the left were the public restrooms, any one coming out of them would have to be blind to miss the shops opposite and hey, Rinoa thought, even posh people needed to go to the loo.

She exited the shop and walked roughly seven metres away from the window. She examined Selphie's work and motioned for her to move one of the spot lights slightly so that the light was focused onto the dress more than the purple display board. Selphie leant forward and moved the light before turning back to Rinoa, who gave her the thumbs up and a small grin.

"Hey, Ladies!" Irvine called as they entered the coffee shop. He waved one of his workers over and after a quiet spoken order appeared at their side to lead them to a spare table.

Rinoa took a seat on the small leather armchair, inhaling the mix of coffee blends and hot food greedily.

"And how are my two favourite women this fine afternoon?" Irvine smiled, taking his notepad out of the pocket of his apron that was tied about his waist. "Taking a break together today? I was expecting to see both of you hours ago, you're lucky I've been rushed off my feet since this morning, I didn't get a chance to make your usual orders before you arrive like I usually do. "

"Oh, no it's our lunch break Irvy." Selphie answered, "We always take lunch together. We missed our breaks this morning, talking to much the boss said."

Rinoa kicked her gently under the table; "Well it did put us behind Selph."

Irvine laughed, "What'll it be then? And feel free to order me." He winked at Selphie who collapsed in helpless giggles and flushed a faint pink.

"I'll have the usual," Rinoa said, "and anything that has bread and is hot would be good too."

Irvine scribbled on his notepad, "So that's one cinnamon spiced coffee and…how does a cajun chicken with red Leicester baguette sound, my speciality…?"

"Perfect," she smiled.

"And for you, Selphie dear?" Irvine smiled down at her.

"Caffe Latte, ooh and one of the white chocolate muffins," she answered bouncing slightly in her seat.

"That's your lunch?" Rinoa asked disapprovingly.

"Yeah, have you seen the size of those things? I'm a small girl so I have a small stomach." She shrugged.

"Anything sweet for you, Heartilly?" Irvine tapped his pencil on the pad in his hand.

"No, not today thanks." She shook her head.

"Ok, well I'll be right back with these then." He turned to leave and was a good two metres away when Rinoa said, "Why are you so busy today?"

He turned back to her with a small grin, "President's Ball. Every woman in the city is out window-shopping for the best gowns and the best deals. Every single one of them looking for a dress they can bet will be unique." He laughed, "Dunno who they're kidding, how many dresses are there in the city? Surely not enough affordable ones that are guaranteed to be unique at least. Brings business though."

Rinoa turned back to Selphie as Irvine disappeared into the small kitchen with Rinoa's order. "Unique, huh?"

Selphie nodded, "Shall I put Zell on advertising? Get our name out there?"

"Maybe," she replied frowning down at the table, "How much would he ask for?"

Selphie shrugged, "Dunno, he owes me a favour though."

Irvine returned shortly after with his favourite girl's muffin (she had been right, it was huge) and their coffees along with his usual free gift of chocolate.

Rinoa was halfway through her baguette when Selphie broke the silence. "What would we say? On the advertising, I mean. "Unique dresses at Heartilly" just doesn't have a ring to it."

Rinoa swallowed her mouthful before answering, "I don't know, I'm not sure if I will advertise."

"What? Why not? It'll pay off your debt in no time." A shocked Selphie replied.

"Supply and demand, Selph. I only have so many dresses and practically no time between now and the ball." She sighed before draining the last of her coffee, "Maybe we should be more tactical. You know, like…send you into the big shops where all the shoppers are and wheedle out a few people. Make her promise not to tell anyone about your favourite shop because you don't want people finding out about it."

Selphie grinned, "That's a good idea, I like it. Besides it means I'm still owed a favour from Zell."

"Right," Rinoa nodded decidedly, "come on, hurry up and finish that muffin. We need to get back to the shop."

"Yes boss." Selphie mumbled through a mouthful of spunge and white chocolate.

They left the coffee house shortly after, waving goodbye to Irvine, and made their way back to their part of the mall which was a short few minutes walk away.

Thanks for reading!