Ripped at the Seams (15 page)

“I found this little fabric shop on Seventh Avenue,” Sami told Nico. “They sell all sorts of great remnants.”

“Oh, this is adorable!” Nico exclaimed, taking it from Sami. “I've got to try it on.”

Sami watched as Nico went into the dressing room. She couldn't believe how nervous she felt. She really wanted Nico to like the nightgown. Not only would it make Nico happy—and Sami had really gotten to like the girl—but it would validate Sami's talents. The nightgowns were the first designs she'd finished and actually constructed since she'd left Ted Fromme Fashions. They meant a lot to her.

“So when did you manage to make that?” Lola asked nonchalantly.

“I've been sewing at night. It's a good thing Rain's not a light sleeper.”

Lola laughed and busied herself folding panties. Sami was left to stand in the middle of the store and bite a ragged nail.

Finally Nico emerged from the dressing room. She was wearing the nightshirt and a pair of white socks. She slid across the floor with a huge smile on her face. “I feel just like Tom Cruise in
Risky Business,
” she exclaimed. “This shirt just makes me want to dance.”

“You sure you're not thinking about
Dirty Dancing
?” Lola teased.

“I like that movie too,” Nico replied. She turned to Sami. “You said you had two designs. What's the other one?”

“Well, this one's very different. I wasn't sure what you'd want, so I went in two separate directions.” She pulled the second piece of lingerie from the bag. Then she handed Nico a short red-and-white gingham baby doll nightgown with lace sewn across the top.

“Oh, that's adorable!” Nico exclaimed. She reached out her hand and fingered the nightgown. “Is this flannel?”

Sami nodded. “It's going to get cold soon. Up where I'm from, people could
never wear skimpy things. They'd freeze their tushes off!”

“I never thought of flannel as being sexy before,” Nico said.

“It's not the clothes that are sexy,” Sami said. “You're sexy if you feel good in the clothes. And this flannel is so soft. Besides, the lace adds the sex appeal.”

Nico nodded. “I love the lace.”

“It's sort of sweet and sexy all at the same time,” Sami explained. “It's made for romance, not just lust.”

“I
have
to try it on!” Nico squealed. She grabbed the nightgown and raced back into the dressing room.

“I never thought I'd see flannel in this store,” Lola mused. “The times they are a changin'.” She flashed Sami a smile to let her know she wasn't complaining.

It didn't take Nico very long to try on the new nightie. She emerged from the dressing room within a minute and twirled for Sami and Lola. “I feel so great in this. It's cozy and cute, but this lace …” She fingered the bodice. “I'll take them both,” she told Sami. “How much?”

Sami didn't know what to say. “I …
um … I hadn't thought about that,” she admitted.

Lola walked over and put her arm around Sami. “This is where I step in,” she said. “Seeing as they were both custom made, I'd say they're worth sixty dollars apiece.”

Apiece?
Sami stared at her. She hoped Lola knew what she was doing. That seemed like a lot of money for two little nightgowns that Sami had whipped up in two days.

But Nico didn't seem to think so. “Okay,” she agreed happily. “Let me just change and get my credit card.”

After Nico had paid for the two nightgowns and left the store, Lola walked over to Sami and handed her three crisp twenty-dollar bills.

“What's this for?” Sami asked her.

“They're your design fee,” Lola said simply. “You made the nightgowns, you deserve to be paid for them like any other professional.”

Any other professional.
Sami stared at the money in her hands in amazement. It was the first time she'd ever been paid for her
design work. “I guess I'm a real designer now,” she mumbled, dumbstruck.

“You always have been,” Lola assured her. “You just had to believe it.”

Sami squealed and threw her arms around Lola's neck. “Thank you!”

The next morning, two young women, probably in their early twenties, wandered into Beneath the Sheets. Sami could tell they were first timers. They kept lowering their heads, obviously trying not to stare at the more exotic items in the store, but unable to take their eyes from all the items on display.

Immediately, Lola went over and tried to put them at ease. “Can I help you?” she asked with her big, broad, welcoming smile.

“Are you Sami?” the smaller of the two women asked nervously.

Lola shook her head. “No, I'm Lola. That's Sami,” she pointed behind the counter.

“Um, Nico sent us,” the other woman told Lola. “She thought we might want to talk to Sami about some lingerie.”

“Yes,” her friend added. “We work at Casablanca Magazines, where Nico's been temping. She came in with these adorable nightgowns.”

Lola turned and gave Sami a supportive grin. “Sami, these two clients are here for you. I think they might want to commission a few designs. Is that right, ladies?” she asked in a voice that was tinged with so much phony uptown professionalism that Sami had to choke back a laugh. But the two women seemed to be eating it up.

“That's exactly what we want,” the tall woman agreed. “Nico told us you gave her the most beautiful demure lingerie.” Her eyes went over toward a black see-through teddy hanging on the wall. “But I don't know if—”

“Oh, this is just our off-the-rack merchandise,” Lola quickly assured her. “Sami's custom designs have a very different look and feel.”

“Oh, of course,” the tall woman replied.

“Sami, why don't you take these two clients into the office for a consultation?” Lola continued. “I can handle the traffic out here.”

Still a bit bemused, Sami nodded and led the women back into Lola's office. On the way she grabbed a tape measure and a pad of plain paper and a pen. She wasn't quite sure what it was like to actually be a lingerie designer, but at the very least, she was determined to look the part.

Sami's career wasn't the only one on the upswing. Rain had spent the past few weeks focusing all her energy on getting ready for the Mollie Mack fashion show. The week had finally arrived. And now, Rain was backstage getting ready to go down a runway for the very first time, and Vin and Sami were there to witness the event.

“This is so exciting!” Sami whispered to Vin as they took their seats at the Mollie Mack fall fashion show. Rain had gotten them tickets for the event. It was Sami's first fashion show, and the excitement was almost overwhelming.

Vin, on the other hand, seemed decidedly nonplussed by the event. “I hope she doesn't trip or anything.”

Sami looked at him, surprised. “Vin, how could you say that? Do you want to give Rain bad luck?”

Vin shook his head. “Sorry. It was just a joke. It's just that I'm sort of uncomfortable in this type of situation. Do I look like the kind of guy who's into fashion?”

Sami smiled. Despite the fact that Vin had tried to dress up for Rain's big night, he hadn't quite succeeded. His pants were just a little too tight, and his shirt had a tiny stain on the collar. At least his sport jacket, bought especially for the evening, fit him well, although the color made his skin look too olive.

“You just need the right girl to dress you,” Sami suggested.

“That's just what I was thinking….” He blinked suddenly as a photographer's flash went off right in his eyes. “What the—”

“I think he was taking a picture of Madonna. She's sitting right there, two rows ahead of us. Wow! Madonna! Can you
believe it? She's gorgeous in person.”

Vin shot Sami a playful glance. “She's not my type. I'm into someone—”

Sami grabbed his sleeve excitedly as an idea brewed in her mind. “Hey! You should ask Rain to fix you up with one of her friends from this show. I've met most of them. They're amazing!”

Vin's face fell. “That's not quite what I had in mind.”

Before Sami could say another word, the music began. One by one the models came out, dressed in the hottest new Mollie Mack fall fashions. Camera flashes went off wildly as each girl took the stage, and video cameramen vied for the best spot to shoot the show. Fashion writers—all of whom seemed to be dressed in nearly identical chic black suits—scribbled notes frantically as the girls went by.

This year Mollie had gone with a total retro look—a throwback to her days on Carnaby Street. The music was all sixties and seventies period pieces as the girls strutted down the vividly painted multi-tiered catwalk, dressed in wetlook miniskirts, high go-go boots, and blouses in outrageous
colors like electric orange and hot pink. The models were so heavily made up that Sami barely recognized Rain beneath the wild hair, dark black eyeliner, and huge false eyelashes. The fashion show was classic Mollie Mack, and by the sound of the appreciative murmur in the audience, it was another huge hit for the designer.

But Vin wasn't so sure that the clothes were anything great. In fact, as he and Sami left the show, he did nothing but complain. “Who could wear that stuff?” he asked. “Why doesn't she design things for real people?”

Sami couldn't argue. In a way, she'd been thinking the same thing. The Mollie Mack show was almost a costume performance—much like many of the other big designers' shows. It was as though their goal was to set a tone for the fashion industry, knowing full well that only jet-setters and celebs could ever really wear their overpriced, overdesigned clothing.

“And that
set,
” Vin continued as he and Sami headed outside to wait for Rain near the backstage exit. “What were they thinking? It was completely overdone. The
designer and the carpenter should have gone with something much simpler. That way, the colors wouldn't have been competing with the clothes.”

“Wow,” Sami said. “I hadn't noticed that. You're right. My eye was going all over the place, but I couldn't figure out why.”

“Sometimes it takes a carpenter to point things like that out,” Vin told her. “It's just something you pick up over the years.”

“You have an artist's eye,” Sami told him.

“I
am
an artist,” Vin said proudly. “My medium is wood. Sure, I install cabinets and wall moldings. But that's just my day job. The furniture I make, that's my art. Every piece I build is part of me.”

Sami's mind thought back to the magnificent drafting table in her apartment. It was a piece of art. And a part of Vin. A true sign of friendship. She gave his hand a little squeeze.

Vin looked at her oddly, but didn't say anything.

“Look, there's Rain!” Sami shouted, letting go of Vin's hand to run over to her
roommate, who was coming out of the models' dressing room and onto the sidewalk, where Vin and Sami were waiting for her.

“You were awesome!” Sami praised her as she ran over toward Rain.

“Do you really think so?” Rain asked hopefully.

Sami nodded. Rain's sudden insecurity surprised Sami. She always seemed so tough and assured. This small glimpse of a need for approval had popped up out of nowhere.

“What did you think?” Rain asked Vin.

“You didn't trip,” Vin teased. “That was good.”

“Thanks for the compliment.” Rain laughed. “I did my best.”

“In fact, you were the one good part of the show,” Vin continued. “The only model with any character.”

“You really stood out,” Sami agreed.

“I was the only one with red hair. That helped,” Rain explained.

“No, it was more than that,” Sami said. “You were having fun up there, and it showed. When I'm a big designer, I'm only
going to cast models who can have a good time on the runway.” She started to laugh.

“What's so funny?” Rain asked her.

“The thought of me as a big designer,” Sami said. “So far in my career as a professional designer, I've only sold six nightgowns.”

“I don't think it's funny,” Vin said.

“Me either,” Rain seconded. “You gotta start somewhere. I have big dreams for us, Sam.”

“For
us
?” Sami said.

“Oh, yeah,” Rain grinned. “Since I'm the one who rescued you from the hellhole known as the Beresford Arms, I get first dibs on being the
face
of Sami Granger Designs.”

“Speaking of faces …,” Vin said, laughing.

Sami joined in, giggling uncontrollably.

“What's so funny?” Rain demanded.

Vin pointed to the window glass in one of the neighboring stores. Rain glanced at her reflection. Her face was still made up heavily, with deep blush on her cheeks, liquid blue eyeshadow, white lipstick, and
humongous black eyelashes that looked like spider's legs. While the effect was dramatic on stage, it was genuinely creepy close up.

“Ooo, I'm so Baby Jane.” Rain grimaced.

“Do you want to clean up before we go out and celebrate?” Sami asked her.

Rain shook her head. “Let's go back to our neighborhood. I'll fit in just fine over there. Anything goes in the East Village, right?”

Lola was on the phone when Sami arrived at Beneath the Sheets early the next morning. Sami got to work immediately, going into the stockroom and pulling out a box of scented candles. She grabbed a ladder and began to arrange the candles on a high shelf behind the counter.

“Okay, thank you,” Lola said, hanging up the phone. Then she looked up at Sami. “Oh no, you've got more important things to do today.”

“But these just came in …”

Lola held up a stack of papers. “Do you know what these are?” she asked Sami.

Sami shook her head.

“They're orders for nightgowns, baby dolls, and nightshirts. And every one of these women wants
you
to design for her!”