Unrequited

Once Again - May 1986

Arianna was extremely excited. ELLE magazine had contacted the designer that she had been working with for the past four years, wanting to know of any up-and-coming designers. He had given them her name. ELLE had contacted her and asked to see her portfolio of work, so she traveled to New York City to do so.

When they saw her work, they fell in love with her designs, and by the time she left, she had been contracted to be a part of a massive layout in the next issue that would feature new designers like herself. She knew having her work in ELLE could be her big break, and hopefully, it would allow her to afford her own studio soon. She had been saving and saving, yet she still knew that no amount of money would make people buy her designs. She understood that she needed to have a following before she made the leap to have her own business and tried to make it on her own. Maybe this feature would be her leaping off place.

When she returned home from New York, she had a small celebration with some friends, then got right to work on designing new ensembles for the layout shoot. Within a week, she sent several sketches to the ELLE editors, and they approved two, saying they would send her the measurements for the models who would wear them. As soon as she had received those measurements, she put her heart and soul into making those creations perfect. Within a few days, she was to be in a vast photographer's studio in New York City, putting those designs on two big-name models, and those photographs could very well be featured in ELLE. She was over the moon ecstatic.

On the day of the shoot, Arianna was dressing the first model in one of her designs. The model's name was Renee, and they casually chatted about their lives. Renee told her that she lived in a high-rise apartment building there in New York City with her rock star fiancé. He had been away for a few weeks in London, recording a new album with his band, but he had returned to New York the night before. She said he sometimes visited her on her photoshoots if they were nearby because he liked to watch her work.

All that Arianna could think was that it was quite possible that this woman's fiancé was John. Oh boy, she did not want to see him. It had been far too long, and she didn't want to deal with his arrogance. But to find out if John would be gracing them with his wondrous appearance (eye roll), she needed to play it cool and get more information from the model.

"Let me see the ring," Arianna said to Renee, who thrust her left hand giddily at her. "Wow! That's a beautiful ring. How long have you been engaged?" she asked as she knelt in front of Renee to sew a few more flowers onto the flowing, long skirt.

"It's been five months. We got engaged on Christmas Eve. He has this thing about Christmas Eve," Renee explained, making Arianna once again think of John. Christmas Eve had been special to them once as well.

"What do you mean he has a thing about Christmas Eve?" Arianna queried, looking up at Renee, probably looking as confused as she felt.

"Well," Renee started with a sigh. "He was engaged before and proposed on Christmas Eve. He said he didn't want our Christmas Eve to be tarnished by that, so... I know it sounds weird. But he's a really great guy. And really good looking, too. I hope he visits so you get to meet him." 

Renee was babbling on, but Arianna didn't hear much more. She was thinking about how she would feel if her fiancé proposed to her on a specific date to lessen the stigma of a previous engagement. She wouldn't stand for it. Plus, she kept wondering if this woman's fiancé was John. It certainly sounded like it. If he showed up, there could be fireworks, which would definitely be bad for her career. She was already nervous that her designs weren't good enough to be published, so his presence would only make her more nervous. All she kept thinking was, why would such a forward-thinking magazine like ELLE be interested in her work?

"Oh, look! I told you he'd stop by!" she suddenly heard Renee exclaim, startling her out of her thoughts.

She looked up at Renee to see her happily waving and smiling. She laughed to herself, thinking that she had once been that giddily in love with John. Before he had broken her heart. She was still busy sewing on flowers when Renee spoke again.