Three hours later, after Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Balenciaga, Salvatore Ferragamo, Saks 5th Avenue, and Miu Miu, Harvey was getting impatient that Donna hadn't found anything she liked. Everything was either too long, too short, or simply too ugly. Harvey was amused at the fashion show he was just exposed to, secretly glad that Donna was his model. Her blunt responses to certain pieces was very attractive to him in the way that she knew what she wanted. Sometimes she would come outunsure, and that was when Harvey would help her decide. Naturally, everything she wore appealed to her very toned yoga body and Harvey almost would have recommended she buy anything, besides the fact he would be completely broke. So instead, trying not to notice the perfect curves in each dress, he raised his criteria to find the right one for her. And so far, none of them had been it.
As they walked towards Jimmy Choo, wanting to be focused on at least finding shoes, Harvey got a text yet again. Out of annoyance, Harvey checked his iPhone, scrolling through his emails as fast as he could. His eyes caught on one from the Harvard Reunion Organization, and out of curiosity he clicked on it. Five seconds later, he groaned out loud.
"What, Harvey?" Donna inquiried.
"They sent an update about the event. There's gonna be dancing." He rubbed his face in agony.
Donna was momentarily confused. "Is that a problem? You can sue people but you can't move your two feet?"
Harvey stared at her. He was actually worried about the close proximity they would have to be in. Seriously? Dancing? We'd have to be constantly touching... But he didn't want to make it a big deal if it wasn't bothering her, so he shut up and kept walking, leaving Donna behind with her bewildered expression. He realized this and turned back,
"Come on, let's forget Jimmy Choo. Let's see if there's a dress for you in Valentino."
Donna went in and once again, changed into dress after dress after dress. A satin blue one-shoulder was deemed "too bright" by Harvey, the dark blue, short, backless one "too slutty". Donna came out with a strapless brown formal maxi dress only to be immediately deemed, simply, "too brown". The gray short bodycon didn't match her skin and was too teenage-like anyway; he wanted to come across as a man with a serious wife, not a man who only got married because he had money. After five more "nopes", Harvey told Donna to take a break and looked around himself. He picked up a gold sequined mermaid-like dress with a sweetheart neckline and a red v-cut dress. He walked them back to her and threw them at her.
"Here, try these on."
Her eyes bugged out. "Harvey, these cost more than my monthly rent. And I live in a nice apartment."
"Just do it, okay?"
Donna hesitantly took the dresses and walked back into the dressing rooms. Harvey waited impatiently, pacing around. He knew he actually kind of chose these dresses because yes, they would be fitting, but he was less willing to admit that he also just wanted to see her in them. As he began to ponder as to why he felt this way, Donna stepped out, dipped in red.
The dress fit her perfectly (they all kind of did), but the v-cut made everything all the more different. For a moment, Harvey completely zoned in on her cleavage on natural instinct because he couldn't resist all the skin showing. For a fleeting moment he reminded himself that he had once touched and caressed that beautiful skin. And then he became alarmed when his pants got tighter so he quickly coughed and looked away, hoping Donna hadn't caught him gawking.
"This one's no good." He responded.
"What, really? I thought I looked pretty good." Donna did a 360 and her long dress spun slowly behind her. She came back to him with a look of disappointment so small that only Harvey could have caught it.
"That's the problem, you look too good. I don't want other people to be eyeing my wife like a piece of candy."
As Donna's face lit up, so did his mood. But he didn't know why. Regardless, Donna went back in to change. As he heard the rustling of clothing, Harvey tried to keep himself out of thinking inappropriate thoughts involving nudity, trying to picture Louis naked to calm him down. Luckily, at the right time again, Donna came back out again.
Harvey's jaw dropped. If he thought the previous dresses brought out her curves, he was dead wrong, because they absolutely did her no justice. There his secretary, Donna Paulsen was, with one wave of red hair tucked behind her as she looked away, all the more alluring and sexy. Harvey had to gulp a few times as his throat dried. She looked like a Greek Goddess, skin practically glowing, and Harvey kicked himself for ever letting this one go. Had they been at an actual event at the moment where they didn't know each other, Harvey would have gone for her in a heartbeat.
Wait, what? Harvey shook his head. His previous thoughts were purely physical and were of no harm, he didn't think, so what was going on in his head now? He slightly considered that maybe this was an emotional attachment he was building, or had been building to Donna, but let it go and instead quickly said,
"Perfect."
They had finally made it to Jimmy Choo. With the fact that Donna's dress was now gold, the search became much easier due to the fact that the color of shoes had been narrowed down to that one color.
Donna had four pairs in front of her, that she liked anyway, all simple strappy heels but at different heights. As she was putting her first pair on to see which one was more comfortable, Harvey had an idea.
"Stand up," he said.
"Why? I assure you I can walk in them; I've been doing it for 13 years."
"Just do it."
Donna stood up, questioning his order. Harvey faced her, and evaluated the first pair.
"These are too short. If we're going to dance, it's not going to work out very well."
Donna nodded and she sat down and tried on the second pair. Those were a little bit too tall, and the third were too skinny-heeled to properly dance in. So, on the last pair, Donna's personal second-favorite, she stood up, waiting for Harvey to measure the height.
On the spur of the moment, Harvey went up to her, closed the space held her left hand with his right and put his left on her waist. Their faces were inches from each other, and both Harvey and Donna stared intensely into each other, both pulses running a little faster, until Harvey said, for the second time of the day,
"Perfect."
