Walking down a loud and hectic 39th street, Blue muffled out the sounds of traffic with her headphones and listened to music instead. She had a "swatching" playlist that she normally shuffled through when she went by herself, but Kiara was meeting her at the first store so she was psyching herself up now instead. The iced coffee she was slurping the last drops of would also help her have the energy she would need for searching through mountains of fabric all day. It was from her new favorite cafe that Gael had introduced her to a few days ago when he unexpectedly brought her a coffee at work. As he sat the steaming cup down on her desk, he said that he couldn't handle the thought of her drinking store brand coffee grounds and wanted her to try their in-house roasted beans that were ethically sourced from a little village in Columbia. She told him it was sweet of him to try and remedy her coffee ignorance, and now it had become her preferred choice of places to get her caffeine fix...and it had mostly nothing to do with the fact that Gael was the one that introduced her to it.
As she tossed the empty coffee cup into a trash can while she waited to cross the street, she looked down at her fifteen-year-old chucks that used to be white; they were her lucky shopping shoes that always helped her stay on her feet long enough to find what she needed. With the sun beating down on her and even warming the sidewalk's concrete, she was thankful she chose to wear her ripped Levi's shorts and a light green tank top to keep cool inside the sweltering fabric stores. They really needed to find sample swatches of fabrics that she could attach to the sketches for everyone to see at the upcoming production meeting. It would further help get their vision across to all the other heads of departments, and especially to the people footing the bill for her budget. She wanted to make a good impression and show that she was the right choice for this job. No matter how confident Arjun and even Gael had seemed in her, this was a very important meeting to make it clear from the beginning that she was competent enough to make this show be the best it can be.
Even with all that pressure though, nothing could dampen her spirits today. The garment district could be an assault on the senses for some people, but not for Blue. She thrived on the rows and rows of textiles, all piled to the ceilings in every color imaginable. Feeling the different textures and weaves brush across her fingers was like sensory therapy for her. Even the smell of all the different fibers mingling together in the air created an interesting aroma that was a bit funky, and yet at the same time welcoming. The only thing she didn't like was the awful fluorescent lighting every single shop seemed to have; they offered no help in determining if something was the right color or how it would look on stage. Knowing she couldn’t have everything her costumer heart desired, Blue just looked at it as a bit of a surprise awaiting her once she got the fabric outside in the daylight. It was almost like a gamble; take it out of the bag after you've bought it and see if your intuition was right.
The hunt for the perfect fabric was exhilarating yet exhausting, and it charged her with the need to conquer this challenge every time she stepped foot through the door of a shop. It was no different today as she opened the door with a bell ringing above her to announce her presence. She immediately spotted Kiara digging around through one of the bins marked 'remnants 4 sale' by the checkout counter.
"Find anything interesting?" Blue asked as she walked up to her.
Kiara mumbled, "meh..." and looked disappointed. She stood up and said, "there is never anything good, but I can't seem to help myself and check just in case this is the time I find some antique silk ribbon that got mixed in on accident."
Blue laughed and nodded her head, "I'm the exact same way! I try to just walk on by, but never have any luck ignoring them and end up searching for ten minutes to no avail.” Peeking inside an overflowing bin for just a moment, she added, “too bad really, we could definitely use some soft creamy ribbon for Sarah's dress in the second act."
"Yes or some myrtle green for her day dress. But there are dozens of bins for us to look through today, so hopefully we will find what we need." Kiara looked a bit stressed as she turned and started walking towards the aisle packed with every type of wool imaginable.
Blue would admit that she was naturally a bit overconfident, but she had good reason to be. She never once had finished a day of fabric shopping without finding something; it may not be what she was there to look for in the first place, but something always found its way into her arms that was meant to be there.
"Oh, I am one hundred percent positive we will find what we need, maybe more. I must have some kind of fabric fairy that follows me around in these places and guides me to what I need because I always seem to find the perfect thing in the weirdest spots. One time, I was looking for black silk that would shine just right on stage without looking cheap."
"That's impossible," Kiara laughed.
"I know, right? Well as I was walking down the god-awful animal print aisle, something starts to fall off the very top and lands on the ground right in front of me."
"No!" Kiara gasped.
"Yes! The most perfect black silk you could ever imagine. The sheen was just subtle enough that it looked rich, but not obnoxiously shiny. I debated on whether or not I could trust that it was real, like maybe I had imagined the whole thing. I ended up getting the entire bolt and making The Phantom's cape from it for a show my senior year in college. The way it flowed was so perfect too, heavy with just the right enough weight to be dramatic."
Kiara looked at her with her wide eyes, "Blue, were you visited by the Phantom of the Fabric Store?"
They both laughed and turned left to go down the cotton aisle. Blue joked that if he did visit her then maybe he would be there in the store with them and to keep an eye out for a creepy dude wearing a mask, just in case.
Kiara found the first thing on their list, the blue faille they would be using for Gael's character, John. He would be wearing a linen shirt and button fly trousers for most of the show, but there was a dramatic sequence that required him to be dressed for a ball. Faille would be a little more stiff than satin, but it wouldn't wrinkle or be as shiny on stage. He didn't have a lot of movement planned in that scene so being stiff was fine, and it would give him the air of sophistication John was supposed to be putting off while refusing to dance at the ball.
They asked the older gentleman at the counter if they could cut their own swatch, or if he preferred to get one for them. He recognized Blue from her shopping there for years and said she could take whatever she needed.
She dug around in her bag full of swatching day essentials: sharp scissors, a list of everything they would need, her notebook with the sketches in it, a mini stapler to staple the swatches into the notebook as they found them, and snacks in case they got hungry. She handed the notebook and stapler to Kiara and used the scissors to cut a small square off of the most perfect shade of green faille that they would use for Gael’s trousers and waistcoat.
"This is actually a nice warm green, but not too bright, which is hard to find; it’s almost the color of money. I think that it will go really well with his amazingly warm skin tone." Blue immediately felt slightly embarrassed talking about Gael's skin to Kiara, which was ridiculous because it was literally their job to make sure they were making the actors look as best as possible on stage.
"Agreed. He needs something bright enough for the stage, but still elegant for the ball. Plus, these types of crazy colors were common in that period, since aniline dyes were just created by William Henry Perkin a few years before." Kiara rattled off knowledge like it was no big deal to hold that much information in her head, all at once, while she stapled the swatch into the notebook. "Carrie always tried to put him in olive green which is too obvious, or the most boring tan you've ever seen."
Blue stopped digging through a stack of silks and looked up at Kiara. "Carrie? You mean the blonde that hates me for stealing this job from her?"
Kiara rolled her eyes and said, "yeah she's a decent designer, don't get me wrong, but she doesn't take risks. Probably because hiring her is enough risk..."
"What do you mean?" Blue asked, trying to sound nonchalant while she continued to dig through the stack to find a checkered-pattern wool to use for men's trousers.
"I worked with them a few years ago on a show called Henry the Fourths , not sure if you ever heard of it since it was off-Broadway for only one season. Anyways, she was the assistant costume designer for that show and I was just a tailor; she treated me like dirt from day one. Everything I did, she had this way of using words to say she didn't like it, but without ever actually saying she didn't like it. She's smart, so she makes people think she is normal, but there's a whole lot of crazy underneath. I've seen it first hand. Poor Gael..."
"Yeah they seem to have some kind of history," Blue interrupted, "based on what I've heard, right?"
"Sure, they dated, if you could call it that. It was more like she tried to own him and he was stuck not knowing what to do with her, so he just froze like a deer in headlights." Kiara was taking the scissors to cut a swatch of wool. "I mean most people don't come across these situations often, it honestly sounded like something from a mystery novel, except he didn't get murdered at the end. Thank God he had enough wherewithal to finally end it when she lied and said she was pregnant."
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"Oh shit." Blue hopped off the stool she was using to reach the top shelf of a wonderful selection of cotton blends. "Wait, she lied to him about that ? Who even does that!"
"Apparently psychopaths, according to Gael. Listen, I am very loyal and hate to talk about others. I wouldn't want to betray Gael's privacy, but if she has it out for you then maybe you should know what she's capable of..."
"Well that sounds ominous," Blue said.
"When she told him, they were in the workshop where I had been working on mending a ripped seam for the actor playing Sir John Falstaff. Obviously, they didn't know I was in there, it was super late but I needed it fixed before the next show. She starts yelling at him about how he never even wanted the baby anyways, so why did he care that she lied? Then he starts piecing it all together, why she wouldn't let him go to any OBGYN appointments, or even the first ultrasound. He finally asks her why she did this to someone she was supposedly in a relationship with? She doesn't even give him a reason, but instead says maybe they shouldn't be in a relationship anymore and...then they weren't after that. They didn't speak unless they absolutely had to, made it super awkward for everyone."
Blue was honestly speechless for the first time in her life. What could even be said about something so cruel and so disturbing? Her heart hurt for Gael and what must have been going through his head at that time. Even though Carrie was obviously a nightmare, after the initial shock of hearing these events Blue's nature still made her want to look deeper. There had to be some sort of emotional instability inside Carrie to do that to another person that she supposedly cared for, it's rare for someone to be so calloused for no reason.
"I wonder what made her even go down that path in the first place? Who comes up with an idea to manipulate someone like that?" she asked, mostly to herself.
Kiara held up a bolt of off-white linen next to another bolt that was one shade darker. Blue nodded at the darker one and handed her the scissors. "I don't even know. They seemed fine at first, everyone thought they were a decent match. But by the end...poor Gael had to be so confused by what was happening, all while trying to do eight performances a week. He was always so nice to me and, well, everyone really. By the end she had him making excuses for her behavior and just kind of trying to what was really going on. It was so weird, he's normally a big dynamic guy, but you could actually see the life being drained from him and it showed in his performances." She put away the scissors and added that she couldn't find anything else and maybe they should start making their way back to the front of the store.
Blue was reminded of the day she walked in on them in the office. He really did look like Carrie had been drawing the air from the room and Gael was suffocating. However, she noticed he also seemed to be standing very firm and not tolerating her nonsense. She explained to Kiara all about what she saw that day to see if she had any insight as they headed out the door to start walking to the next shop.
"Hmm, that is interesting..." Kiara muttered. "Good for him for standing his ground. I wonder what could have changed? I mean it's been years, so who knows. He hasn't even really dated anyone since then, that I know of. I was actually surprised to hear she had been called in last minute for the job after the last designer had to quit so suddenly. I assumed they had maybe made amends, but it seems not."
————
Blue felt even more confused than ever while they continued their swatching. They split up to conquer one of the bigger stores, J & L Fabrics, so she had time to give it some thought.
She was attracted to Gael, there was no denying that. He seemed to have some sort of attraction to her, there was no denying that either. There was a lot of hesitation on her part to even get to know him more so she could decide what she wanted, simply because he was kind of her boss and it would complicate things. Add on top of that the entire Carrie story, it complicated things even more and made it seem like he could possibly have some reservations about everything as well.
But try as she might, she could never really put him out of her mind; she was always wondering about what he was doing, or having to actively will herself to not text him or pop into his office. There was also the incidents of her imagining his face as a way to calm herself to sleep or absentmindedly drawing him...
In the end, she needed to focus on her job and just let things play out. She decided to try and not pursue anything, let him be the one to make it obvious what he wanted. He stood to lose the most if he entered into another relationship with a professional colleague, and she could assume he was pretty tormented about how things went with Carrie. If he was ready for anything, he would be the one to know it and make that clear. She could respect that and make sure to not further complicate his life by adding any drama.
Finally feeling resolved, she was better able to focus on the task at hand. They had searched through most of the stores on 39th that she wanted to check, now they just needed to look for notions and trimmings after lunch. She had planned to take Kiara to her favorite British tea house for lunch, knowing she would probably love the insane amount of pastries and desserts they had to offer.
When they walked in, Kiara's excitement was obvious, if only to Blue. She didn't expect her to jump for joy, but she did say, "this is going to be amazing,” which was basically the same thing from Kiara.
"Okay, the plan is I order two desserts and you order two, then we can split them all and try each one!" Blue said excitedly.
"Sure, but I'm getting my own sandwich. The only reason I'll share dessert is that I'm afraid you'll take your half anyways if I don't, so I might as well relent."
Blue gave her a sly look, "you already know me so well."
Blue ordered Welsh Rarebit since it was so tangy it would combat the onslaught of sugar she was about to assault her palate with. Kiara got a small order of tea sandwiches, cucumber and cream cheese, turkey and cranberry butter, and chicken salad. They shared a pot of Earl Grey - luckily Kiara agreed it was the superior of all the black tea blends.
Going over their swatches to make sure they were still happy with their finds, they hoped they would still be able to find the fabrics once the production team gave the final approval at the upcoming meeting. Blue had taken photos on her phone of where each bolt was located in each store, so hopefully that would help when the time came to purchase them; though, in the garment district, nothing was guaranteed.
When the time came to order dessert, they agreed on a lemon scone with clotted cream, a bakewell tart, raspberry teacakes, and a white chocolate choux pastry. Blue ate with her eyes closed and the sun beaming on her face through the window they sat next to. Kiara made notes on her phone with every bite she took.
When they had finished, fully satisfied and energized for more shopping, they walked down to 6th street where there were a few notions shops Blue wanted to check out first. As they passed storefront after storefront that said, "STORE CLOSING" or "COMING SOON: STARBUCKS" Blue mentioned how sad it made her that the garment district was suffering so badly.
Kiara said, "I read that New York City has lost 95% of its clothing and apparel workforce since the 1950s. Can you believe that? I feel like it's doomed and there's nothing to do about it. It's just hanging on by a thread."
"True, but us supporting smaller shops is more help than you think. And I refuse to haggle, even though people say you can. I'll find other ways to stay on budget, reducing their profit is not a bragging right for me. This is how they feed their families, it is my responsibility to have the imagination to pay decent prices and not cut corners."
Kiara looked surprised.
"What?" Blue asked.
"Oh nothing, you're just the complete opposite of basically everyone I know in this business, like Carrie..." Kiara trailed off.
"Oh good, I hope to stay as wildly different from her as humanly possible."
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They were finally done for the day and headed to the subway stop to say their goodbyes when an antique store grabbed Blue's attention. There was an old bathtub filled with plants and greenery outside on the sidewalk, a dozen old mismatched chairs, and even a few bookshelves sitting there waiting to find new homes. What caught her eye, though, was a sign that said 'civil war antiques: 50% off today only' . She had been slightly disappointed her Fabric Phantom hadn't visited them today and had even joked he must have the week off. So when she saw that sign she got the tingly feeling of a good find waiting for her and nudged Kiara inside the store before she could protest.
"Blue, I hate antique shops. They're disorganized and dusty and half of the stuff isn't authentic," Kiara said as she passed an old creepy doll that was definitely haunted.
"I know I know, I usually don't fall for these rip-off spots. But I have a feeling, trust me on this one." She stopped when she found a sign hanging over a glass counter protecting exactly what she was looking for.
Inside, there were a few rusted shaving mugs, some still with shaving brushes and some missing them. The straight razors were marked "bone and ivory" but were clearly resin. The belt buckles looked real, although so weathered you couldn't see the design on them anymore.
Then she saw it, right next to the Calvary officer's spurs. It was a bright silver pocket watch, still in good enough condition to use. Less than three inches tall, including the pendant and crown, it would fit perfectly in the pockets of the trousers pattern she intended to use. The cover had an engraving of a young man and woman standing on what seemed to be a farm or homestead of some kind.
A man of unknown age, due to his leathery skin, popped out from around the corner and asked, "can I help you two young ladies? I can open the case if you'd like to handle any of the artifacts."
"Actually, I'm interested in the watch here on the second shelf." Blue pointed to it so he could find it quicker.
He grabbed it with a cloth and set it gently down on the glass counter. "It's American made, Waltham model 1857. This is what we call a hunting model since it has a front cover. Let's open her up and see inside."
Blue noticed some kind of inscription she couldn't make out in this lighting, and saw that it wasn't working.
"Do you have the key? Or do you know if it's in working condition?"
"Well no, this one was brought in by a man trying to get rid of his grandfather's things and he didn't have any service work records, the key, or really any information on it at all. I'm asking $50.00 for it, but for you, I can do $40.00 cash money right now."
Blue smiled and said, "how about that 50% off sign outside?"
The man looked like he had forgotten all about that sign and regretted already knocking off $10.00. She felt bad for him so she said, "how about we make it $25.00 and call it a deal?" since that would only be 50% off his original price.
"Sold!" he smiled and wrapped it up to take to the register.
————
When they were only a block away from their subway stop, Kiara said, "I can't believe you found an actual antique Civil War era watch for the show! For $25.00! You’re sure this doesn't trespass into the prop department, right?"
"Nope, watches were considered jewelry, especially back in those days, which means we have full reign over it. It will be perfect for the scene when John and Sarah have that big fight and he dramatically checks the time to see if he can leave yet, or if he has to stay and keep fighting with her. Sometimes the real thing helps the actor have some weight behind what they're doing, you know? It really feels different holding this than it does holding some cheap knockoff I could buy online."
Kiara teases, "I guess the Fabric Phantom has broadened his repertoire to include finding antique watches too. What's next, wigs? Maybe even shoes? We could use some help finding era-appropriate shoes if you're listening, dearest Phantom!"
Blue laughed and said, "I told you to wait and see, I always find exactly what I'm looking for, and exactly what I'm not looking for."