More than Fashion

31

Once she was gone, I could finally breathe again. Gavin leaned over and whispered, “Great job, love.”

“You too.” I reached over and gave his hand a quick squeeze.

When the show was over, Lola announced that Dawn and Trina were safe and could go into the lounge to wait. The rest of us stood on stage, and our models joined us. They talked to Tom and Jeff first and said they loved the dress, but thought it might not be sci-fi enough for the challenge. They called it “gorgeous but safe,” although Lola said she would wear the dress herself.

Next, the judges critiqued Paige and Molly’s look, which I had rightly guessed would be in the bottom. They’d picked fantasy and had gone for a pretty generic Renaissance princess gown in burgundy velvet with gold trim. It wasn’t bad, but I couldn’t argue with Ricardo when he said it was too frumpy and not sexy. Paige tried to throw Molly under the bus, saying she wasn’t pulling her weight because she was sick. But the judges had the biggest problem with Paige’s part of the dress, so I wasn’t sure who would be going home if they lost.

We were next, and I had no idea if we would be on the top or bottom.

“Gavin and Julie, your genre was historical,” Lola said. “Please tell us about your look.”

Since Gavin was team leader, he did the talking. “We didn’t want to make something boring or predictable, so we decided to go with a Wild West steampunk look. Julie did the corset and a lot of the detail work, and I did the skirt and shirt.”

“I absolutely love this look,” Kiara said. “I would wear it to a Hollywood costume party in a second.”

We were in the top three! For once I wasn’t in the middle or the bottom! Oh my god, I might even win this challenge! I grabbed Gavin’s hand, and he smiled at me, his eyes sparkling under the bright lights.

“I love it too,” Ricardo said. “She looks fierce and tough, yet also feminine and sexy. It’s a fun blend of historical and fantasy, perfect for the movies.”

Lola tapped her notecard against her hand. “I like that you took a risk with the challenge and made something unexpected, even knowing we might kick you off for it. But I am not entirely sold on this look.”

“I am,” Kiara said. “I want to see a movie with this character in it. Maybe I need to find myself a steampunk role next!”

Beverly pursed her bright red lips. “I can definitely see this in a movie, although it might be even too costumey for the challenge. Whose idea was it to do a steampunk look?”

“It was Julie’s,” Gavin said. He sounded almost…proud.

They moved on to Derrick and Nika’s dress next, but I already knew we weren’t being eliminated, so I could relax during the critique. For horror, the two of them had made a black backless dress with long sleeves and high slits on both legs. They’d kept it fairly simple, but had red fabric trailing along the sleeves and down the back of the dress to the floor. They called it a sexy vampire queen dress and said the red represented dripping blood, but I didn’t quite see it. The judges had mixed feelings on it, but overall thought it was a bit too trashy. I hoped one of them would be going home instead of Molly, but it was hard to tell what the judges would do.

The deliberations seemed to take an eternity, but in the end, Paige and Molly were the losing team and Paige was sent home. Molly was still safe, for another challenge at least.

Then it was time. Gavin and I stood beside Tom and Jeff, waiting to hear who would get the $1,000 and a night in the private suite. Even though we’d worked in pairs, only one person would be given the prize.

“The winner of this challenge is…Julie,” Lola said.

I shrieked and hugged Gavin. He wrapped me in his warm arms and the spicy scent of him. I was so happy I could kiss him. I looked up and saw his lips part, and when he lowered his head, I thought for sure he was going to do it—kiss me right there on the runway in front of the judges and the designers and the cameras. And I stood there, eagerly waiting for it.

But all he did was kiss me on the cheek. “Congratulations.”

***

Kelsey led me to the interview room, the same one I’d been to before the show had started. After each challenge ended, the winner and loser had to do bonus interviews. All I wanted was to crash on that king-sized fluffy duvet in the winner’s suite, but that would have to wait.

Kelsey had me briefly talk about how great it was to finally win a challenge after being in the bottom so many times and about how we’d come up with the idea for the look. Then she asked, “What was it like working with Gavin? Please remember to phrase your answer with the question in it, if you can!”

“Working with Gavin was surprisingly good,” I admitted. “I was worried we would clash, but even though we had a few rough moments, we worked really well together overall.”

“So what do you think of Gavin?” she asked and winked.

“I…I think Gavin’s a good designer.” I wasn’t sure what she was getting at, but I had to be careful what I said on camera.

“That’s all? C’mon, there must be more there!”

“Um…” I let out a small laugh. “He’s not bad to look at. And that accent is pretty hot. Oh god, don’t air that please. I don’t want him to hear me say that.”

Kelsey laughed. “He is very hot. We’re all really enjoying the chemistry between you two!”

“I’m not sure if ‘chemistry’ is the right word…”

“I don’t know, it definitely seems like there’s a mutual attraction there! Don’t you think?”

I coughed, shifting in my seat. “I don’t know. Maybe? I can’t speak for him, of course. But even if there was, it doesn’t matter. As long as we’re on the show, nothing can happen, since we’re competitors. And only one of us can win.”

“That’s too bad.”