Misdirection

[Missy Benson]

It was another bright day in Paris. The sun was up and had been for a couple of hours and the sounds of a bustling city could be heard for miles. Missy Benson was delighted about being in this beautiful country. She had been planning to come to France for a very long time and when opportunity had struck, she had been more then happy to jump at the chance. Working in make up had been a hobby for the most part and she had never expected it to take off. It had become a hobby that helped her cover for her insecurities, but now she was a much more confidant person and her interest in make up and fashion has spawned an entire career. More then that, it was her life. When she had graduated from school, going to college had been her priority, but she had not been happy with her degree in mathematics. However, one day she had been approached by the drama department to create an entire style set and things had just taken off. In her second year, she had been selected by an agent to participate in a competition and that had eventually led her to where she was today. As of yet she wasn't actually an official designer or anything and she only designed sets for other people, but her dream was to one day create her own tags under her own name. She even had a name for them and everything. Missy Bee's Summer Fashions. Well, she would change the season of course, but she liked the name because it was cute and sweet and it wasn't like she was Oscar de la Renta. As much as she liked his work, she could never hope to emulate.

Missy spun around her hotel room, trying out her new dress and shoes. The dress was the latest from the new Emilio de la Morena Spring line and Missy couldn't be more pleased. She had received it as a present upon her arrival and although she hadn't been able to wear it at the time, she had immediately fallen in love with it. The shoes, whilst not a favourite, were also from a well known designer, Maurice Tyler. Missy had met the man once, but it had been a brief meeting at a fashion show when she was twelve. He probably wouldn't even remember her, she was, after all, one face amongst a thousand. That had been her first real experience with fashion. She had already been into make up, which had mostly started the year before with the loss of her brother. Going off on his own to a school she had never even heard off had been a big deal for both of them, mostly her though as she had been the one to be left behind. However she had managed to find her little niche in the universe and now she was enjoying herself more then she could ever have imagined. As a rule, Missy tried to never regret anything, but sometimes regret slipped through. However, Missy would never regret any of the decisions that had gotten her to this point. She had done a couple of things she was not proud of in her life, like her tattoo, but she didn't dwell on that. It still held meaning in her life, even if now she wished she had never gotten it, such things held little relevance to her these days.

Stepping out into the morning sunlight, Missy kept swiveling her head around as she walked, taking in the sights. She was going to have to set some time aside for a proper tour at the end of the week. Maybe she would be able to enlist one of the locals. Missy couldn't speak french so that was one of the major problems. She could ask if something came in a size four and if they had something in a certain colour, but other then that she was almost at a total loss. For the entirety of her stay in France she was pretty sure she was going to need a translator. Smiling to herself and popping her head into a couple of the haute couture boutiques, Missy eventually found one that was actually showcasing one of her designs. Of course it wasn't under her name, but she was just happy to see it there. It wasn't every day one saw their own design sitting in a store window. Walking into the store, Missy looked around a little before running her fingers along the display. The set up was really good, the tone was excellent and the pose was fabulous. At least they were showcasing it the way it was meant to be seen. That made her happy. It wasn't until she backed away from the display and went to turn around that she realised there was someone behind her. As she went to try and dodge around him, she lost her balance and fell forward into the person who had been behind her. "Kyah!"
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[Jon Phillips]

Jon frowned as he strolled along the streets of Paris. Birds were singing and the sun shone bright. Everybody around him seemed to be smiling, he would be smiling too if is sour mood didn't put a damper on everything. Today he had been forced to go clothes shopping, and it was the last thing he wanted to do. If he had a choice in the matter he would have been inside all day, playing video games and eating his net worth in pizza. But spite every instinct he had to avoid going outside, he had given into other people's whims and couldn't turn back now. Fashion was never his strong point. Neither was appearances in general. Fact of the matter was, he never cared how he looked, and in turn he never cared how other people looked. In his eyes this meant what he chose to wear on an everyday basis didn't matter. For a long time he had gotten away with constantly wearing pyjamas. He cherished that most people didn't bat an eye to what he chose to wear, but now his lack of attire had reached an end point. His wardrobe almost entirely consisted of pyjamas. He only had one or two 'decent' outfits and everyone had begun to notice. For a while he had borrowed Sam's clothes, and for a while he didn't mind looking like a pretentious tool. Recently, his opinion had changed, he had grown sick of dressing like somebody else. That was why he had no choice but to go shopping when Sam ordered him to.

There was a time where he couldn't think for himself, when he needed to take someone's orders to go about his every day life. Since moving away from home he had become accustom to making decisions for himself, and now he had a strong sense of individuality. Catering to Sam's orders felt like a kick in the stomach, a step back from how far he had matured the past few years. It was apparent that he needed to buy clothes, and he was going to. The instruction to do so was what bothered him. He saw himself as a decision maker now, he had enough power to give other people orders. It shouldn't be the other way around. He refused to be bossed about like a clueless fourteen year old any more than he needed to. Shaking his head, he walked into the first boutique he saw, absent mindedly chewing his lip as he searched through the shelves. Until today shopping for clothes had been a taboo. Sam was the one that usually shopped for him, he was previously too indifferent about fashion to shop for himself. Part of the reason he decided to choose his own clothes today was because Sam ordered him to, and because he wanted to show off his maturity. Mostly, he was doing this in the hope his half-brother would recognise he was a mature adult now. An adult that did not need to be bossed around. Overly determined to show off his maturity, he didn't notice the girl standing nearby until she turned and fell forward onto him.

He stepped back, instinctively locking his hands to her waist to keep them both from falling over. It was times like these Jon was glad to be steady on his feet. If he was a tiny bit clumsy, they wouldn't have been so lucky. After making sure their bodies were stable, he chuckled quietly. "That could have been an epic wipe out." He said, talking more to himself than the girl in front of him. He felt far enough outside his comfort zone already, the last thing he needed was to fall over and embarrass himself. That would have made this whole experience twice as uncomfortable. He sighed, relieved that he had a momentary distraction from clothes shopping. It took a moment before he realised his hands were still gripped to the girl's waist. "Oh." He immediately removed his hands and pinned them to his side. "Sorry."​

 

[Missy Benson]

Missy yelped once again as the boy seemed to catch himself and her. She was definitely glad for it though, she would have left little to the imagination had she fallen over she was sure. Not to mention with these shoes she was going to very likely break her ankle and that would not be very much fun at all. Missy laughed slightly out of nervousness or delight was unclear, but she still laughed. It was probably a bit of both really. Missy placed her hands on his shoulders to help steady herself and looked up into his eyes. He was much taller then her, built really nice and his was really cute. His eyes were the clincher though, they were so nice. Brown was one of her most favourite colours when it came to eyes. Missy could just stare at them all day really. She wouldn't mind one bit because they were just like windows to his inner fire or something. It was so beautiful! Missy shook her head as she realised the level of insanity she had reached and patted the boy on the shoulder slightly when he spoke. She grinned, "Verily. Thanks for catching me. I very possibly could have ended arse up!" Now that would have been completely embarrassing. She didn't exactly enjoy flashing people and she certainly didn't want to do it in the middle of a store! It wasn't proper, not was it classy. Then again, her mother was a spa specialist, what did she know about class? However, Missy's father was a lawyer, that gave her a bit of a boost in the class system, not that it existed anymore of course. Still, there were some people that liked to use it to define others. Missy never did and she gave everyone a chance, but she still had to watch out for that small minority.

Missy looked down at the hands that encased her waist. They were nice hands, not soft or calloused. They were a nice in between. She could feel them through the thin material of her dress. She looked back up at him again as he seemed to come to the realisation of his hand placement himself and removed them. Missy shook her head, dropped her hands and laughed, but she did not move backwards either, so they were still as close as they had been only moments ago. "Oh, it's quite alright, Sweetie. I didn't half mind your hands being on my waist at all." It was only after she had finished speaking that she noticed they were both speaking english. Missy grinned and stepped back from him and clapped her hands once in joy. "Oh! You speak english! Marvellous. I was wondering how I was going to get by in this shop." She then stopped speaking when she realised he probably had things to do. She shook her head and her grin turned into a soft smile. "I am so dreadfully sorry. You must have things you need to do. I need only really came in here to look at my designs, so it really isn't that big of a deal." She told him, straightening out her dress where it had crumpled slightly from him saving her from falling. "This may be a little forward of me, but may i ask what you might be doing in such a boutique?" After all, this sold only woman's clothes as far as she knew. She had not seen anything for men. She looked around. At least she didn't think she had, but she had not seen the entire store yet. She'd only been interested in her own design. Looking over the boy's shoulder she noted that there actually did appear to be men's clothes, but they were sort of tucked away. She smiled to herself. She was supposed to be the observant one. Clearly that was not the case today.
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