Once Upon A Sequin // to be continued after NQABB

Chapter One - A Cheeky Kiss And A Wink

CHAPTER ONE - A Cheeky Kiss And A Wink.

"Ella? Where are my ironed lilac blouses?"

"Ella! You said you would put my hair in a fishtail braid!"

"Ella, my caramel latte?"

Ella rushed around frantically, trying to get everything all done as soon as possible. The faster it was done, the faster they would leave her alone.

First the blouse. Ella quickly grabbed the shirt, and painstakingly checked it for creases. If there were any, even the smallest kind, then she would have had to to redo it and probably have a punishment and lecture from Clarissa.

That would not be the best thing to have to have dealt with.

Ella finished her inspection, and rushed up the two flights of stairs to her stepmother's bedroom.

As she entered, the overly floral smell of rose and lavender reached her senses. As always, the room and smell overwhelmed her.

The yellow walls were just slightly too bright as to be irritating on the eyes. The four poster bed was colossal, with a daffodil pattern embroidered onto the duvet, one that Ella spent weeks handstitching on. There were sparky sequined gold pillows at the head of the bed. The rest of the room was just as grand.

Clarissa was lounging at the head of the bed, watching Ella with beady eyes. Ella carefully made her way over to her, and passed her the blouse.

She held her breath as her stepmother scrutinized the article of clothing.

"That is fine. Now go, you can't spend time lingering."

Ella left happily. One down, two to go. She remembered her first ever task to complete.

It was Annabella's birthday, and she had been having a costume party. Annabella and Crystal were going as angels, and wanted sparkly bodices on their pure white gowns. So Ella had been forced to sew on sequin after sequin, just to please her sisters.

But at least she discovered something. She discovered she was very talented at sewing.

But there was no more time to ponder on it now. She had to go plait braids and make sweet caramel lattes.

She sped down the hall to Annabella's overly pink room to find her step sister sitting down at the makeup table, facing the mirror with her guacamole face mask on.

"Well, don't just stand there, my hair isn't going to plait itself." Ella immediately obeyed, and settled down to work methodically through Annabella's tangled blonde locks.

After that had been taken care of, Ella strode down to the kitchen to make Crystal her caramel latte.

She had perfected the art over the years, when Crystal first started to have cravings for these. She had found the prefect balance between hot and cold, sweet and bitter.

Ella called one of the servants, Frederick, to take this up to Crystal. She simply didn't have any more time to spare, or she was going to be late.

Ella ran out the door, with everything being done, and grabbed the car keys of the hook. She quickly got in the car, and sped of down the road, to the only place she could be herself.

"Wedding Palace - dresses for every Princess"

Finding a job here had been a stroke of luck. Pablo, the man who ran the store, had seen her running in and out of the sewing supply store across the road.

Figuring that she had clever fingers, he asked her what she could do. What she had done was blow him away with the skill she possessed at the young age of 15.

"Pablo! I'm Home!"

She could hear Pablo chuckling to himself over by the counter. He could imagine what he looked like, his blue eyes twinkling, and 50 year old skin crinkling around his eyes and chin.

"Yes, Ella my dear, we have a client waiting for you. Well, a whole posse of clients. Cynthia here heard of your designs through another customer, and she wants you to do the styling of her whole wedding."

Ella was blown away. She had never attempted to do an order as big as this before. But there would always be a first time for everything, she supposed.

"Hi There! I'm Ella, and you must be Cynthia," Ella said, smiling at the shy looking woman standing next to Pablo.

"Yes, yes I am. I have been planning a wedding for months now, and all we need are the garments. I brought in my fiance, the flower girls, my maids of honor, and my fiance's son, the best man," Cynthia said, a look of pure ecstasy on her face as she obviously thought of her soon to be wedding.

Ella grinned.

"I can start working on the outfits as soon as possible. Just let me call you into the changing room one but one to take you measurements, and then you can tell me the specifics of what you want."

Ella first measured the bride, and then the groom, Arthur. He was a lovely man, and Ella could tell that he was madly in love with Cynthia.

She next called in the two flower girls, Harmony and Adele. The two 8-year-olds were bundles of joy.

Alexandra, Cynthia's sister and the maid of honor, was then measured. Alexandra was soft and quiet, but very loving and loyal when it came to her family.

Finally, it was time to measure the best man.

As he stepped into the changing room, all Ella could see was the jet black hair, messy but stunning. When he turned around, her brown eyes locked into his sparkling blue ones. They were mesmerizing, and absolutely gorgeous. Just like he was.

"I'm Jack," he offered, smiling at her.

"Ella," she replied quietly, extending her hand for him to shake. He took it, but brought her hand up to his mouth, and gently kissed it, looking her straight in the eye.

She gulped. This was the closest she'd really come to a boy, especially one that was actually her age. Annabella and Crystal had made sure of that.

"Well, let's get started."

Ella grabbed the measuring tape and quickly unwound it. Wrapping around Jack, she could feel the hard muscles beneath her fingertips, just a thin layer of cotton separating them.

After a short amount of time, she was done, but she almost wished there was more. Just so she could feel him a little more.

"We're all done here," she told him.

"Well then," he said. "I'll be seeing you later."

He excited the dressing room, but not before turning around and blowing her a cheeky kiss and a wink.

Ella just stood there, beet red, and wondering how on earth Jack had managed to affect her like this.