Grace's dream was a career in the fashion industry. But while she's finally pursuing that dream, her personal life remains a nightmare. Will she be able to escape an abusive relationship? And will she be able to find happiness and maybe true love?
On a little break at work, I check Instagram to see if there's anything that inspires me. I'm feeling so low on new ideas this week.
"Rúben posted. Let's see...oh my God! What is that?"
"What's what?", asks Bella, moving her chair next to mine. "Oh God! Did he buy that? Why do you allow him to buy ugly clothes?"
"No. It's the team's uniform for away games".
"Well, it's horrible".
"I know".
Manchester City's partnership with Dsquared is...interesting. The outfits they got for the boys are usually talked about because of how ugly they are. But last season they went a bit more minimal and I thought it was an improvement. Well, the improvement is now gone.
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Rubendias: Champions League ready #UCL 💫
-Gracewells: That's so ugly. Do you have to wear it?
-Rubendias: It's not that bad.
-Gracewells: Sure, Jan! (can we insert gifs here?)
A few days later, I find myself at Rúben's place staring at the ugly Dsquared cardigan. And I get an idea and hide it in my bag without telling him.
When I'm home, I take the cardigan out and start to plan how to style it. It looks huge on me, of course. But that can work in my favour because people love the oversized look. And after trying over ten different looks, I find the one. I take a couple of photos and post them on my Instagram with the caption "looks a little bit better when it's properly styled...like most of @ rubendias' clothes would".
I expected a couple of jokes about it but...the post goes viral. All of Rúben's teammates are commenting on my post, including Bernardo who takes the chance to insult Rúben's style. I can't keep up with all of these comments.
"You got a new job", says Rúben when I open the door to let him in.
"What do you mean?"
"The team wants you to style us for the Champions League matches. Dsquared are on board now they know you work in fashion and weren't just taking the piss".
"But what should I do?"
"Just go to try clothes on us one day and pick the perfect styling for each player or something like that".
He says it so casually, but my brain starts to work. I spend the movie date on my laptop looking at the players, checking their height and personal style...if I'm doing this, I'm doing it right.
And the following week, I'm in front of all of them, ready to tell them what they have to wear. It feels a bit surreal. And intimidating. So I go into work mode to deal with how shy I get surrounded by these many people.
"I like Grace, she's so sweet", says Erling and I smile at him...until I see what he's doing to the shirt.
"Haaland, stop messing about. You're going to destroy the shirt. And the material is already pretty crappy".
Everyone looks at me, surprised I raised my voice slightly. And I blush.
"I thought you said she was nice", mutters Gvardiol.
"Grace is nice. Work Grace is bossy and mean", adds Rúben.
"Shut up, Rúben", my blush must have taken over my whole face by now.
"I like bossy Grace. You know that".
The boys keep bantering while I move around, seeing how everyone looks now they're wearing the pieces I gave them. It's mostly good, but I need to change some things.
"You're the one that looks the best", I tell Rúben when he's looking at himself in the mirror.
"I liked it better when you wore this", he says, pointing at his jacket.
"Really?"
"Yeah. And not because of the styling. I like seeing you wear my name".
