A fashion expo seemed like a good idea to Zoey when she bought tickets— a chance to get away from everyone and have a little 'me time' with one of her favorite hobbies. As it was, so far all it was doing for her was making her despair over the sorry state of affairs in the fashion industry. Everything was either minimalist modern trite or unwearable novelty weirdness, and despite her best attempts to find diamonds in the rough, so far nothing she saw spoke to her muse.
So dire was her disappointment with the designs on display, that between moving from booth to booth, she kept a line of communication to her friend Dakota open by text. Occasionally she'd snap a picture of something particularly hideous and send it to her friend for both to have a laugh at. Like a onesie she just saw that looked like it was made out of crumpled aluminum foil— who would actually wear that? Snickering to herself she sent the pic to Dakota.
An answer was a long time in coming, and Zoey suspected she knew exactly why. A few booths later her phone buzzed and she checked it.
Lol told u it would blow The message read. Zoey rolled her eyes. Of course when she'd first heard there was a fashion expo in town the first person she called about it was Dakota. Being the wealthy and ultra-connected heiress that she was, she knew all about it months in advance, and had insisted it was truly terrible. Coming from someone with such mainstream taste like Dakota, that only encouraged Zoey to go, expecting something that would appeal to her desire for something more original and off the beaten path.
Instead, she was getting a sobering lesson on how "not mainstream" and "good" were not always synonymous. Sure, there was a lot of originality on display here, but there was just as much bad judgement and questionable taste. Her phone buzzed a second time, and she saw the follow up message from Dakota.
You should be here. Game night 3 xoxo
Zoey tapped out a reply on one hand. You with sam?
Ya. If you brought mike we could have made it double d8 #romantic
Pls I just need some me time kota
R u havin fun 'me time' w/ the garbage clothes? lol
Zoey let out a frustrated little huff and muttered some mild profanity under her breath. She left the conversation off with a simple ':(' and slipped her phone back into her handbag. Dakota was an amazing friend, but she could be pretty grating sometimes without realizing it. Zoey set off with a renewed vigor, determined to find something in this show she could say made it worth going.
Just then, as if by divine providence, her eyes fell upon a booth that stood out from all the rest. It called to her, a retro paradise throwback to the best of 80s fashion. Mannequins stood decorated in outfits with yoga pants, high waisted belts, tube tops, and one with enough denim on it to make at least five pairs of shorts. The color grades were all beautiful pastels, a bold and bombastic statement painted in a rainbow of colors against the tide of modern minimalism.
"Wow," Zeoy muttered under her breath as she inspected them closely, noting artistic patterns in the stitching and spotting some eccentric choice in fabric; this was very clearly handcrafted. "The sewing work is beautiful. Hah, I gotta send Dakota a picture, then we'll see who's spending time with garbage clothes."
"Ooh! See something you like?" A high pitched voice grabbed Zoey's attention.
Behind the booth table stood a young woman, about Zoey's age. Tall and thin, she had bronze skin and short charcoal hair down to her shoulders. Her outfit was as retro as the contents of her displays, with high waisted jeans and a large leather belt hiked up over a fuzzy pink V-neck sweater. Her smile was cheerful and friendly, and she had a childish excitement to her demeanor when she saw Zoey checking out her handiwork.
"All of it, really," Zoey answered, "I love retro, and you make it so artistic and pretty too. This booth is like, the first I've actually wanted to check out in this whole place."
"Awwww, that's so sweet of you to say! We made this all by hand, you're looking at like, weeks of work on a sewing machine." She tugged at the hem of her jeans, beaming with pride, "Including all our outfits!"
"Woah, you make your own clothes too?" Zoey lit up with excitement, "No way, so do I!" She tugged at the edge of her rainbow-striped cardigan with a red floral tee beneath, "Is pattern on pattern too overstated? You don't think stripes over flowers is too much right?"
The booth girl shook her head, "Oh my gosh no! You look great, and you did a great job on that outfit! Never be ashamed to be a little bold! Eeeee, it's so nice meeting someone who loves custom retro fashion! Sadie's gotta see this!"
Zoey blinked twice, shaking her head to make sure she heard right. The girl turned behind her to a little desk in the corner of the booth. "Sadie! Come here, you gotta see this!" Yep, she heard right.
From the corner emerged a squat, short and plump woman in an outfit that perfectly matched the other girl's, albeit in a vastly different size. Her hair was matching, and now that they two were standing together Zoey also noted they had their makeup done the same, with identical eyeliner, lashes and lipstick. If it weren't for the fact they were different like night and day physically, one might easily mistake them for twins.
"Yeah Katie? What is it?" She asked, her demeanor as bubbly and excitable as the first girl— whose name was Katie. The last pieces of the puzzle were starting to fall together in Zoey's head. But getting a word in edgewise would prove difficult between these two, as Sadie hadn't finished talking for a split second before Katie was replying.
"I met this girl checking out our booth, and get this— she makes her own retro outfits at home too!"
"Just like us? Eeeee!" Sadie spun around on her heel and reached out to grab Zoey's arm, pulling her into a two-handed handshake whether she wanted to or not, "It's so nice to meet someone who gets it! Fashion isn't something you hire some snobby studio designer to make—"
"—it's something you have to love, and use that love to make something you love to wear, and other people love to see you wearing! You get it uh…" Katie trailed off, scratching her head, "Uh, I don't think I got your name?"
"It's Zoey." She laughed, glad for the chance to speak. "I'm sorry if this is a question you get a lot, but, you're not Katie and Sadie from Total Drama, are you?"
"You got us!" Sadie put her hands up.
"We totally are the Katie and Sadie from Total Drama, reality TV's biggest BFFFLs—"
"—on account of being the only BFFFLs on the show."
"Even though we were only there for a little bit of the first season—"
"—and never got the chance to come back to compete again."
"It was still amazing and I'm glad I got to spend the time I had with Sadie on the Island, even if it was short."
"Yeah. So, why do you ask—
"—are you a fan?"
The way they spoke fascinated Zoey— less like two people having a conversation, and more of two people sharing sentences. They picked up where the other left off so seamlessly that it almost seemed like one person switching voices mid-sentence, so synchronized were they. She shook her head at them, replying.
"Oh no. Well, yes, I was a fan, but then I actually got on the show. I was in Revenge of the Island and All Stars, not sure if you saw those."
"Oh my gosh, you're that red haired girl—" Katie's eyes widened in realization.
"—with the cute twinky boyfriend that sometimes turns into a funny Italian guy!" Sadie followed up.
Zoey couldn't help but laugh a little at that, "I wouldn't call Vito funny, but yep, that's me!" She said as she browsed through some of the display cases on the table, "You guys make a lot of stuff. How long have you been doing this?"
"Since like, forever," Katie replied, throwing an arm around Sadie, "I've loved fashion almost as long as I've loved Sadie!"
"And I've always wanted to start a business that helps make people beautiful." Sadie beamed, "We came from a small town where you just don't have any real fashion, so you had to make your own style if you wanted to stand out."
"Whoah you too?" Zoey asked, incredulous at how many similarities were springing up between them, "I'm from a small town with only one junky strip mall that sells the most boring mainstream dreck, so I picked up sewing so I could express myself and really feel like the stuff I was wearing was more….me!"
"Oh my gosh, that is soooo inspirational!" Sadie gushed.
"Mhm, I totally understand what it's like, when you want to express yourself and say 'this is me!' with your look." Katie said.
"She does." Sadie nodded, "She's like, all the creative energy of our little fashion line. Katie just like, has these amazing visions and she is a magician with a sewing machine. You gotta see her working!"
"Awww that's so sweet! But I'd be nowhere without Sadie, she's so smart! She handles all our money to buy materials with, and she sets up venues, gets us guest spots on reality TV and talk shows. She's just amazing, I wouldn't be able to get my designs out there without her."
"Yeah, in fact, I got us into this expo because one of the tables flaked and left their spot open," Sadie explained, "This isn't really our sort of thing but—"
"—It's like Sadie says! All publicity is good publicity!"
Zoey applauded with delight. "Wow, you two really compliment each other. You're not at all like I thought you'd be. Uh, no offense."
Immediately there was a change in Sadie's tone and expression. "Uh, what does that mean?" She asked, suddenly quite terse and staring at Zoey intensely.
Feeling as though she'd stepped on some toes, Zoey threw up her hands in front of herself, shaking and waving disarmingly, "Nothing! Nothing bad anyways I just uh— well, everyone, who watched it really thought you guys were basically the same person? But that's totally not true, you're way more different and interesting than that!"
"Ugh, there it is again!" Sadie threw her arms into the air in frustration, and like a switch had flipped she sounded bitter and spiteful. It was like someone completely different had sprung from within and replaced the sweet girl she was talking to just seconds ago. "Katie and Sadie share a brain, you can't tell Katie and Sadie apart. Haha Katie and Sadie only bicker in a cave and fight over boys. Well you weren't that much more interesting either, and you got third place!"
Like a homing missile, Katie was on Sadie the moment she blew up, throwing her arms around her waist and squeezing her tight. "Sadie please! That's not what she was saying at all! She was saying we're not like that and the show was wrong." Slowly her BFFFL's cries got through to her, and Katie held onto Sadie as long as it took for her to come back down and douse the fires of when she was sure that her friend was alright did Katie let go of Sadie, and turn back to Zoey. "Ugh, sorry Zoey, Sadie's still a bit….mad, about getting kicked off so early and never asked to come back."
"Oh, no, I am so sorry! I had no idea it was that much of a big deal to her, or I wouldn't have said anything! Really!"
"It's alright." Sadie shrugged, having regained some of her cheer, and yet not enough to keep a sour edge from her words. "The Aftermaths were probably better for promoting our clothes anyways. Except, those segments never made the final cut. Ugh." Sadie let out a sigh and slumped back into one of the chairs behind the booth, "Sometimes you just can't win."
Glad to have skirted disaster, Zoey let out a little sigh of relief. Wanting to keep this little potential friendship kindled, she spoke up again after a suitable pause. "Trust me, I know. Reminds me of my friend, Anne Maria. She got booted without being voted off— that's a sore spot for her too."
Now it was Katie and Sadie's turn to look at Zoey, confused. "That's the Jersey girl right? Wait, you're friends with her?" Sadie asked. "Didn't you spend, like, all of Revenge being jealous of her for kissing Mike?" Katie followed up.
"What? No! We got along fine— we talked about movies and shared makeup tips! Aside from the whole Mike thing, which we totally cleared up after we were both eliminated. She gets invited to my girls' nights all the time now."
"Whaaaaat, that's crazy! It looked like—"
"—you totally hated her!"
Zoey shook her head, "No, it wasn't at all like that! Just because we had some guy troubles doesn't mean we were mortal enemies. Yeah, we fought, and yeah, there was some bad blood over it, but it wasn't nearly that dramatic. Actually, she's the one who forgave me first."
Not quite sure how to respond at first, Katie and Sadie looked at each other and nodded silently, as if communicating between each other telepathically. Zoey briefly wondered about introducing them to Dawn and seeing they shared an aura or something of that sort. But the wilderness pixie girl was quite difficult to get ahold of, and so that might have to wait until the time was right, which could be a while.
Sadie was the first to break the silence with a fit of giggles that broke into a laugh.
"What's so funny?" Zoey asked.
"Just that we both were totally wrong about each other cause like, we never actually met and we just judged each other based on what we saw on TV in our different seasons. Even though we were on the same show, we were totally strangers. Isn't that crazy?"
"Yeah, guess you can't really know someone just by watching them on TV huh?"
"Wow." Katie said, "You two are so smart and that is so deep and physiological!"
"I...think you mean philosophical?" Zoey corrected hesitantly.
"Isn't that what I said?"
"Uh, no."
After an awkward pause between them, it was Katie who spoke again. "Well it was super nice meeting you Zoey. Can we trade numbers? After the expo is over we could grab takeout and talk shop about fashion! I totally want to hear some of your ideas and what you've done!"
"That's a great idea!" Zoey said, taking out her phone— her notifications showed a couple missed messages from Dakota. She'd get to those later. The exchange of phone numbers was a simple affair, and of course Katie and Sadie were number neighbors, with Sadie's number differentiated from Katie's only by the last digit.
The three said their goodbyes and Zoey went to wander the exposition for a little while longer. There wasn't much point in it, as she knew that nothing would top her encounter with Katie and Sadie, nor stand out as much as their positively delightful taste in design. She looked at her messages from Dakota, wondering how she should break the news of her remarkable encounter.
Eventually she conceded that it was too great of a story to simply relay over text. This would require a proper conversation. It was time to expand her circle of fashionistas. Zoey dialled the number quickly and held the phone to her ear, waiting for her to pick up.
"Hey Dakota. Yep, it's me. ….oh, I'm doing great, actually. In fact, there's someone here I think you'll want to meet."
A/N: This one kinda sprung into my brain while I was driving and suddenly remembered that both Katie and Sadie, and Zoey all make their own clothes. I also happened to need to write something for CactusPot for a fanfic swap event, and by reading a lot of their work I knew they really liked Zoey. And thus this came together!
Not only is this a gift for CactusPot, but it's specifically designed to be compliant with their canon-compliant series of slice of life fics that I have gotten so much delight from. I don't expect them to actually canonize this pointless fluff but it's my little way of paying respects. Hope you like this one bestie!
Sadie being the one with the temper is partially inspired by her iconic "Marshmallow eating freaks!" blowup at her elimination ceremony. Plus Katie being described as "The Sweet Girl" in her TDI bio made me think she was the more mellow and friendly of the two, which would balance out a more temperamental Sadie nicely.