She stands out like a sparkling gem on a wedding band, and Gabriel suddenly feels more out of place than ever before.
While he's wearing a worn down, hand-me-down suit for the occasion as money's more than a little tight lately and materials for a full bodied suit cost more than he could even dream to afford, she's wearing a bright green gown, not bright enough to hit gaudy neon green for this event, just enough that she practically sparkles in the light and that her eyes come alive.
Her blond hair has been tugged away from her face, away from its normally straight layers and falls in gentle curls around her shoulder.
Gabriel is lost in her even though he carries the words that everyone's spoken to him far past their desired age, even if he knows better.
An event like this is hard to get into, so he turns away from what appears to him almost like a goddess in human form and finds his feet carrying him over to a notable designer as he clutches his designs in his notebook tightly as if his iron grip will keep it alive and well by sheer force alone.
He catches his attention by sheer luck or perhaps by the way his worn suit awkwardly falls down his frame and how nerdy he must look with his design book held in his hand; he doesn't belong at an event quite like this, is all that he can think.
Gabriel isn't necessarily broke and starving on the street, and he came from a fairly normal, middle class home; his parents encouraged his dreams but very few others saw them as notable.
He'd lived with few friends and mostly family to keep him company, but he wasn't the sort to not pay attention when he could as his inspiration often came from the people and things around him.
Gabriel loves to design and likes most of his designs by consequence, and he can tell with a self trained eye whether a design of his is lacking in some way or not up to the standards that he sets for himself, but sometimes he can't find a way to better that design, rise up above the other designs.
He speaks to designers all night, looking for a way in, and suddenly, she's there; her family is not of designers, but they are more than affluent.
She's a woman of upper class and while that doesn't matter much nowadays as far as Gabriel's aware, she clearly isn't the sort that he could even dream of being with.
Her smile is like the sun peeking out of the clouds in the dreary room, and when she offers for him to dance with her, he can barely say, 'yes.'
She tugs him onto the dance floor with such strength of will that a part of his heart is already going out to her.
While Gabriel dances with her, he considers her for all that she is and wonders what she sees in these parties.
"Are you a designer?" Her voice is soft and gentle, almost like a caress to his ears, and he can't help but wonder her view of those that make the pretty dresses that she wears.
"I am." Gabriel refuses for a moment to deny his hopes and his aspirations, because surely they matter more than anything else to share if he wants to succeed.
"I bet you're a good one." She smiles, "Some of the designers are stuffy in their old age. Don't become like them." She leans slightly back though it is not to run away.
Gabriel admires her, sees the effortlessness of a model in her, and just wonders for a moment.
"Do you want to see my designs later?" His question is nervous, and suddenly he feels like a thirteen year old with a crush on the prettiest high school girl, knowing that he looks awkward by default and surely not enough to catch her eye.
"Certainly." Her smile is genuine and contagious; Gabriel wants to reach out and hold her, less of a strict dancing pose, and more of an embrace. He doesn't though, because he can't imagine that that is what she'll want in this room that lacks the right kind of color to draw your eye until you find her.
She's the lighthouse in the room, drawing sailors' much needed attention, promising a sort of serenity that no one quite expects.
Gabriel decides past the frivolous nature of the party that he's much happier here, dancing with a woman that he barely knows, and yet always admires rather than sharing his designs with older fashion designers.
There's something assuring about her eyes and perhaps he isn't too surprised when later, she helps him build up his business with a sort of renewed vigor that he's always longed to see.
It's more than he can hope to know that a woman like her exists out there.