I've been wanting to write something relating to the Antibug episode since it aired. Now that this is out of the way, I'll try to get back to ~that one~ story.
Chloé is narrow minded, but obviously appreciates Sabrina as a friend more than she realizes. Unless Chloé does something particularly awful, Sabrina is aware of her negative traits and still mostly sees the good side of Chloé. Ah... so this one was a little harder to write, particularly because of Sabrina. It was watching Antibug and noting how pleased Chloé sounded with herself for having bought that "unfortunate, ugly sweater" that finally inspired this story.
Inviting Sabrina to go shopping was supposed to be fun, like something out of a movie. Chloé would play the part of the generous, beautiful, popular, kind, and all around well-intentioned friend while Sabrina would be... well, herself. Instead, Chloé found herself gasping in unsuppressed shock and horror as Sabrina happened to pick the most beautiful sweater in the store off a clothes rack.
The gray and white cable knit design would have looked gorgeous on Sabrina, but it would've looked even better on Chloé. As soon as Sabrina lifted the hanger, the blonde's gut lurched, knowing what was going to happen next. And that she had what was practically a legal duty to stop it – after all, what was the point of the beautiful and glamorous most popular girl in school helping out her not as fortunate best friend if it ended with the plain girl becoming the prettier one?
Chloé was not a risk taker, no matter how small that risk was. Besides, as mentioned previously, the sweater was absolutely stunning.
"What about th – "
"Absolutely not!" Chloé screeched.
The soft upward curve of Sabrina's mouth dissipated as Chloé stormed over and snatched the sweater away. It was replaced by a look of confusion when her best friend began cooing to it over how luxurious it felt and how charming it was going to look in her closet next to all her other designer sweaters.
"What's wrong with it?" Sabrina asked cautiously.
There was obviously nothing wrong with it, but she wanted to hear Chloé's explanation.
Almost immediately, Chloé seemed to remember what the purpose of this shopping trip was. She froze in the middle of nuzzling her soon to be new sweater and stammered, "W-well, uh..."
"Look, Chloé! There's another sweater in the same size. Maybe we can both have one?"
"Tch, as if. Only people who can only afford to shop in department stores think matching clothing is a sign of friendship," Chloé huffed. Upon seeing Sabrina's dejected expression, she clarified, "If I can afford to shop anywhere I want, there is no reason why I should have to match with someone else!"
She thought they'd covered this thoroughly enough last year, when Sabrina had decided on her own that it would be a cute idea to buy matching "best friends" t-shirts for Chloé's birthday... Although Sabrina had a surprisingly good eye despite the gift being such a lame – and cheap – idea. Chloé had even worn it once, but only after apologizing to Sabrina for Sabrina's own lack of taste and under a strict confidentiality agreement with her butler as the legal witness that she would not be seen in public like this. That meant no leaving Chloé's bedroom, no photos, and a verbal agreement that Sabrina would forget it had ever happened as soon as she walked out the door.
She hadn't expected such a wide-eyed, jubilant smile to appear on Sabrina's face over a stupid t-shirt. For some reason, it made Chloé's skin feel uncomfortable and itchy – like a fuzzier version of how she'd felt when her Ladybug costume had arrived in the mail, except her heart had been beating faster and she'd never felt genuinely worried that dressing as Ladybug would make her sick.
"Besides..." Chloé reached blindly for a different shirt, something off the rack to her left, "I think this one looks better."
As soon as Chloé saw what she'd grabbed, she made a face. Admittedly not a very beautiful, kind, or all around well-intentioned face, but at least she still had popularity going for her. Sabrina looked understandably skeptical.
"Are you sure? It's kind of..."
"It's horrendous!" Chloé screeched without thinking. "I-I mean – Sabrina, it looks horrendous, but it suits you so well!"
"You think I'm horrendous?" Sabrina inquired dryly. She looked and sounded disappointed, which was pretty much the opposite of what Chloé had intended with this shopping trip.
Ugh, this was all Sabrina's fault! If she'd just picked out a shirt that was only slightly pretty like Chloé had expected her to, this never would have happened!
"No! No, no, no – t-that's not what I meant!"
Eying the purple and teal monstrosity in terror, that was exactly what Chloé had meant. As if being a sweater vest with no sense of color coordination weren't bad enough, checkered patterns were beyond unfashionable. This thing belonged in a dumpster, but it was too late to go back now or Sabrina would think she'd meant to call her ugly.
"I mean, it looks super smart, doesn't it?"
Nerds on television always dressed in clothes like this, although Chloé wisely managed to leave words out for once.
"Does it?" Sabrina asked, still moping.
"Of course!" Chloé replied, clapping her hands together reassuringly. "You're, like, the smartest person I know. I totally think you could make this work. What I meant was, it would look horrendous on me."
"Well, teal is my favorite color..."
"Even though it clashes with your hair?" Chloé asked, as that was something that never ceased to surprise her. If she weren't blond, did Sabrina seriously think she would wear as much yellow?
"It doesn't matter," Sabrina replied, picking the sweater vest out of Chloé's hands. "Do you seriously think this will make me look smart?"
Chloé nodded enthusiastically. Perhaps a little too enthusiastically, but she was trying very hard not to live up to her earlier mistake. "Uh-huh, I do. Here, why don't we try matching them with... these? Argyle's kind of smart too. It'll go great with those – uh, argyle tights you have at home."
"Oh, you mean those ugly argyle tights in my closet you swore nothing would ever match?" Sabrina questioned, parroting Chloé's worst fears perfectly.
"Hey, I was trying to avoid calling them ugly this time!"
"I see," Sabrina muttered. "How much does this cost...?"
It wasn't like Chloé knew; she never checked the price tags for anything. But within seconds, Sabrina was gasping and desperately trying to hand the vest back to her like it was overcooked meat. "This much for a single shirt?! Chloé, I couldn't possibly – "
"You," Chloé started, "don't possibly have to. I'm paying, remember?"
"But even if it's your money – well, your daddy's money – Chloé, this is way too much. You don't have to do this for me."
How weird, that a simple price tag could inspire such fear in people. This wasn't the first time Sabrina had objected to expensive gifts, but it was happening less often lately. Finally. After years of being friends, it was about time Sabrina noticed that Chloé refused to be seen next to "middle of the road" quality trash. The same sweater purchased at an ordinary boutique wouldn't have looked even half as good, and only magicians could understand how department store clothes avoided falling to pieces the instant they were hung inside somebody's closet. (Sabrina frequently insisted this wasn't the case, but didn't quality make the price tag?)
"Oh, please." Chloé laughed dismissively. "I would buy you a hundred ugly sweaters."
Hugging the not ugly sweater to her chest, Chloé knew that she really meant it. She really was the most generous, beautiful, popular, kind, and all around well-intentioned friend in the world, plus Sabrina looked thrilled and she got a pretty new sweater out of it. Today had turned out fabulously for both of them!