A/N: I know maybe the time difference is a bit confusing for some of you guys, but basically Tea is a day ahead of Atem and Kiya's time. They'll both be on the same page soon enough. Also thank you for the helpful tips in the comments (you know who you are). I hope I made things a little easier for you guys and happy reading.
Tea nervously waited in the overly decorated elevator leading to the ninth floor. She wasn't sure how she was going to even find Claire and whether she would actually find a half decent dress in a day. This day was going to be very important to her, as she was going to be showcased to the ballet community of New York, as well as various ballet companies so she needed to look astonishing.
The doors finally opened and she entered a room that resembled the reception area of a doctor's office. There were tasteful blue chairs that stood next to each other around the room and fashion magazines everywhere. The room itself was nicely decorated and Tea almost forgot she was still in Macy's.
"Um hi." She spoke to the lady at the front desk who was scribbling something.
"Hello, how may I help you?" she asked politely looking up.
"I'm looking for a lady named Claire Dubuque." Her voice sounded small and Tea instantly cleared her throat. Why she was so nervous she didn't know.
"Miss Dubuque doesn't take in guests unless they have a previous set appointment. Do you have one?" she asked again looking Tea up and down. Although her tone was polite, she seemed a little snobby after the mention of Claire Dubuque's name.
"No, but I was sent here-."
"I'm sorry but without an appointment I can't show you to Miss Dubuque, she is very busy." She dismissed Tea with her hand and went back to work. Tea stood for a moment, shocked at this lady's petulance.
"No, I was sent here by my dance instructor, Miss Gutierrez. She knows Miss Dubuque personally so if you could please just tell her Miss G sent me that would be nice." Her tone was very clipped and the receptionist looked at her with annoyance.
"If I do what you ask will you leave in peace?" the receptionist asked with clear annoyance.
Tea fought the urge to yell at the woman and just nodded her head.
She watched the receptionist type in a number into her phone.
"Miss Dubuque, I have a lady here who says a Miss Gutierrez sent her to you for a dress appointment I'm assuming?"
Tea continued watching the woman closely as her eyes went a little wide.
"Oh, oh I see okay I will send her back immediately."
She hastily put the phone down. "I am so sorry, it's just a lot of very rude woman around your age come in here without an appointment pretending they know Miss Dubuque and I have to literally kick them just to make them leave."
"It's fine, I get it." Tea softly smiled at the woman. She was still slightly annoyed at her for her rudeness earlier but at least her reason seemed somewhat justifiable.
She smiled back at Tea and motioned at her to go through the thick red curtains that stood behind them to the left.
"Right through there and she's in the first room on your right.
"Okay, thanks."
Tea headed for the curtains, her nerves getting the better of her. She hadn't even met the woman yet but was already intimidated. Her presence seemed to fill the entire office.
She walked through the curtains and was met with a massively long hallway. Along each wall were French doors that were all closed. The receptionist said she was in the first room on her right so Tea followed her instructions and made her way into the surprisingly large room. She saw a sofa sat to her right along a wall with a coffee table in front of it. There were three brown doors that looked like dressing rooms to her left and towards the back was another door. Tea did not know where that could possibly lead to.
Suddenly, a woman emerged from the mysterious door. She wore a delicate quarter sleeve lavender dress that looked way too extravagant to be part of the simple attire of Macy's employees. Her blonde hair was set up in a tight bun and Tea saw she was absolutely beautiful. Although Tea could see she was a bit older than what she had in mind, her beauty was undeniable. She held an aura of elegance with every step she took. It was almost mesmerizing to watch.
"Hello my dear." Claire Dubuque spoke with a slight accent. Was is German? Tea couldn't tell, but it sounded almost sing song to her ears.
"Hello ma'am." Tea thought it best to be formal with her.
"Oh please, call me Claire." She smiled warmly in Tea's direction.
"Okay, Claire." Tea smiled back instantly liking her.
"Penelope has sent you my way huh?" she asked with a gleam in her eye. "You must really be in trouble then."
"Well I'm a dancer and tomorrow I will be introduced to the ballet society of New York because I am the lead for our upcoming performance, which is Swan Lake."
"Oh a classic, and one of my favorites." She smiled again walking towards Tea's figure and eyeing her body intensely. Tea couldn't help but feel like a specimen under a microscope.
"So you are playing the white swan?"
Tea nodded.
"You are representing elegance and strength. Serenity and fragility. And most importantly, love, the heart. We will find you a dress to fit you for this part. You will look exquisite when I am done with you." She smiled serenely at Tea and walked back towards the door she came from.
"I will bring out a few suggestions, in the meantime strip to your bra and underwear. I want to see your entire body so I know which dress will accentuate all the things you want shown."
"Okay, thank you so much for this." She said while walking to the first dressing room.
"It is my pleasure." Claire stated before leaving the room.
Tea entered the small space, shedding her clothes immediately. She folded everything she was previously wearing, and left the room a little shy. It felt strange to be standing in a room that wasn't you own almost naked. Especially in a department store.
Shopping truly was a torturous feat. How women could stand to go for hours walking around while staring over the same items for hours blew Atem's mind. He didn't understand why it was so difficult to pick a dress when they all looked wonderful. And he didn't understand the difference between blood red and regular red. It was all the same red to him.
He internally groaned watching Kiya look at jewelry. She had thankfully decided on her dress. It had taken three hours. Three hours of torturous maybes, unending 'I look fat's', until finally a long red gown was chosen.
He had to admit the dress looked stunning on Kiya. It accented her waist and bust wonderfully while still staying tasteful. The richness of the color really brought out her pale skin and dark hair. Her eyes seemed to shine brighter than ever.
Even while watching his former lover look wonderful in her new gown, his mind wandered to Tea. He wondered what she was doing. Whether she thought of him as well in his absence.
"What do you think of this?" Kiya suddenly asked, pulling Atem away from his blue eyed dancer. He looked up to see Kiya wearing a long, thin diamond chain that pooled around her neck twice. A long single chain connected to the chain around her neck slid down her chest, escaping her in bust. He couldn't deny it was a gorgeous piece and he couldn't help but picture Tea in it.
"It's beautiful." He admitted. He watched her pursed lips form into a grand smile.
"I thought so too." she turned around. "I'll take this, the matching bracelet and the diamond studs. Along with a couple of silver rings."
Atem had always known Kiya was wealthy, he didn't know the bounds to which her wealth were held but they were certainly long and loose.
The pair exited the jewelry store, the same smile Kiya wore in the shop still stood on her face.
"I'm excited for this ball; it has been a long time since I've been around New York high society."
Atem refrained himself from rolling his eyes.
"Yes you will enjoy yourself."
"You too." she stated, emphasizing the you greatly. "Speaking of which, let's go find you a tux."
"I do not need one, I have plenty." He said annoyed.
"No you don't, I've never seen a single one in your closet back home." She replied back.
"I bought some when I came here, I am earning a doctorate degree so I figured they would come in handy."
Kiya stayed quiet taking in his words. Atem couldn't help but look over at her, she was never this quiet. He was shocked to see her eyes were slowly watering. He could see her trying to fight them and his heart couldn't help but break at the pain he knowingly caused.
"Kiya." He lowly stated.
"Don't." she stated. "I just have something in my eyes." her voice came off much higher than she intended, but he respected her wishes and stayed quiet.
"This is the one." Claire spoke while spinning Tea around. Tea laughed and spun with the airy material swishing around her. The girl she had seen in the mirror after putting the dress on was one she was not use to. The material hung perfectly along her waist and breasts. Because her bust was larger than the average dancer, she filled the dress much better than if she were the preferred breast size. Almost nothing needed to be altered and Tea smiled, for once feeling truly beautiful. Her mind aimlessly drifted to Atem out of habit and she wondered what he would think of this dress on her. Just as soon as the thought came she shunned it away. It's not like he would see her anyway.
"Thank you so much Claire." She spoke sincerely, looking up at the elegant woman. "I feel so beautiful in this."
"I am glad Tea, you are a beautiful girl and you deserve to be presented as such. Everyone will have their eyes on you during the ball."
Her cheeks warmed as she looked at herself once more in the mirror.
"Now, onto shoes, how high are you willing to go heel wise?"
"I'm fine with four inches, but if the shoe is right I'm willing to go five."
"Perfect, I will bring out options for you."
She disappeared back into the room all her dresses came from. Tea presumed it was probably huge and held tons of clothes and shoes.
Claire came back with three boxes. She ushered Tea to the couch against the wall and sat each box in front of her.
"Try them out and see if you can walk, then tell me if you like them. I know they say fashion hurts, but that doesn't always have to be the case."
Tea nodded loving this woman even more. She tried on all three heels, two being four inches and the last being five. Surprisingly the last one was the most comfortable to her and she also found them the cutest of the three. They were silver, matching her white dress perfectly. Her toes would be showing and small silver lace strings wrapped themselves around her ankles securing the shoe up to her calves. The shoes were a work of art themselves.
"These are really comfortable and I think they look nice with the dress." She stated walking around in them in the modestly sized space.
"I hoped you would pick those." Claire winked at Tea who laughed.
"Do you have any jewelry to go with your dress darling?"
"I have a small silver chain I could wear around my neck, I'm not sure about earrings or bracelets though."
Claire looked to be in thought as Tea spoke and headed back to the door. Tea looked at her in confusion as she came back holding two small black velvet boxes.
"Try these." She stated opening the first box. They held small sapphire earrings.
"They're beautiful." Tea breathed looking at the studs. Although the rocks were placed in a simple silver base, the earrings were stunning because of how pure the sapphires looked. They seemed to shine on their own.
Claire helped place each one in Tea's ear lobes.
"My dear, you look exquisite."
Tea looked in the small mirror that had been miraculously placed in front of her and saw the earrings made her own eyes shine as bright as the sapphires.
Claire then opened the second box which held a sapphire bracelet. Each sapphire was connected to a single small diamond, creating a pattern of sapphire and diamond throughout the circular band.
"Wow." Tea stated.
"Try it on." Claire said, taking the bracelet from its case and placing on her left wrist. It fit with a bit of adjustment and Tea beamed loving the way it looked. The earring and bracelet fit so perfectly, Tea realized she didn't even need to wear a necklace. These small pieces did enough to complete her outfit.
Claire smiled adoringly at Tea's reaction to the pieces she had placed on her. She did look quite beautiful. A rare beauty at that, not needing an ounce of makeup to have the entire room looking at her.
"Okay let's get everything packed up for you." She stated, placing the jewelry back in their designated cases.
Reality set in and Tea paled. Claire had already told her the price of the dress, which was two hundred dollars, overly exceeding her small budget to begin with.
"The shoes I'll give to you for fifty because I know the dress is expensive and you are a student."
Tea gratefully smiled at her.
"And the earrings and bracelet you could never afford on your own. I won't even tell you the price but just know they are very expensive. Keep this in mind as I am letting you borrow them."
"Excuse me?" Tea choked.
"Yes, so be careful. But I trust you, Penelope has boasted about you."
Tea felt her cheeks warm at the mention of Miss Gutierrez praising her to a stranger.
"Thank you Claire, seriously you have made me feel beautiful in just a couple of hours. I'm sure you are a very busy woman and I am just a walk in, so thank you for taking your time with me."
Claire smiled down at Tea. "My job is to make a woman feel her best so she can go wherever she needs to with confidence. Once you have honed that skill you tend to become popular." She laughed and Tea grinned agreeing.
Once she was done paying for her things, Claire carefully wrapped everything and placed them all in white bags. The dress held its own black cover that Claire carefully placed in its own white bag as well. Once everything was packed and ready, Tea left the shop with a huge smile plastered over her face, her excitement for tomorrow growing with every step she took.
