2k12: Last Post - Short story, 'And the winner is...'

Ah! Soon another year comes to an end...I hope you all have a lovely night and may next year bring you great joy, love and happiness.

This is a story quite close to my heart, I hope you enjoy.

'And the winner is...'

Blair was sitting nervously in fluorescent lighting waiting for the hair stylist to curl the last strand of her long glossy auburn hair. Her pale green chiffon dress rustled softly as she got up.  As she checked her reflection in the mirror, her face flushed with self-conscious pleasure.

She had worked hard to produce an original dress to send down the runway. The dress was gorgeous; it was long and seemed as if it was floating. As it was strapless, it showed off Blair's freshly tanned shoulders.

The dress took three long months to make, and was the very same dress that would determine if she would get a spread in Vogue Italia. After one last look at herself she took the dress off and placed it carefully on the mannequin from where she would later put it back on for the show.

The dress was inspired by her azure surf board she got for her fifteenth birthday. Blair was blessed with her model looks and perfect bronzed 5’9 figure. These were the very reasons she decided to model the dress herself. After all, she knew exactly how to walk the runway showing off the last piece from her collection.

Just then, Lauren Anderson walked into the room with her pointy nose sharply in the air. She smelled of freshly manicured nails. Every step she took with her 6 inch stilettos on the the wooden floor, sounded like gunshots. Her flawless alabaster skin look juxtaposed against her black asymmetric tartan dress. She walked up to Blair, swishing her sleek platinum blonde ponytail behind her. She certainly looked very put together but Blair knew she wasn’t the nicest of characters.  Definitely not the sort of person you would like to make friends with. Her witty insults would linger in your head for a very long period of time and sting every now and then like a Jellyfish.

She looked straight at Blair with her piercing dark green eyes.
“You know Blair that black is the new blue” said Lauren with a blank look on her face
Blair’s veins fizzled with fury but quickly decided to laugh "Lauren it's just blue, turquoise in fact"
"Just blue?"Lauren said calmly through tight overly glossed lips. She then added soothingly"Just blue? Are you trying to tell the world you take yourself too seriously to care about what colour of clothing you put on your back? What you don't know is that that in fact that dress is not blue, and it certainly is not turquoise! It's not azure or lapis. It is cerulean. You are also blithengly unaware that last year's runner up also designed a cerulean gown. Fashion tends to repeat itself. So I think we both know that I will be more than happy for you when we are both up on that stage, you and your fake terquoise dress coming runner up and I showing off my black tartan sweetheart as the winner"
‘The only thing fake here is your nose. Yes Lauren, everybody knows about your nose job! With that explosive comment, Blair left the room.
Lauren smirked and muttered "We'll see..."

When she came back she let out a scream. Her eyes were effulgent and were now filling up with silver tears. She clasped her hands to her mouth and just simply stared at her dress with disbelief. Her beautiful dress was splattered with bright purple paint. She stood there frozen as she knew who was responsible for this. There was a murderous flicker in her eyes. Blair wanted retribution, but she knew that this wasn’t the right time. “It’s over, my dress is ruined” Blair kept saying with her hands over face.

 Blair opened her eyes and stared at her dress. The paint was now dry and somehow made the dress look even more extraordinary in an Avant Garde sort of way.” I will continue and I will win” she said deciding not to let it ruin months and months of hard work.

Ever so quickly she put the dress on and then made her way over backstage in silver peep-toes. Her heart was beating so fast she was concerned it would fly out of her chest. It was really hectic backstage Blair thought to herself as she saw hair stylists spraying hairspray all over the models’ heads. There was no doubt there was a lot of talent in the room. There were only 10 seconds until the start of the show; Blair had never felt so nervous in her life.

Blair watched the others confidently strut down the runway. She was now taking deep breaths, to calm her nerves.

“Blair you’re up” said one of the backstage assistants.

 Blair stepped onto the runway. The lights were so bright they nearly blinded her vision. Then before she knew it, she was strutting down the catwalk with her biggest smile. She felt her dress swaying and whooshing around her. The whole crowd erupted cheering.  Blair soon noticed that Fashion TV was covering the event and felt a frission of excitement tingle through her body.

Twenty minutes later the winner was announced. It was Blair! Blair caught sight of Lauren crying uncontrollably in the distance. A sea of reporters and TV crew rushed to ask Blair about her winning design.

“What made you splash such dramatic colour on your dress?” Asked one of them.
“Let’s just say it was a last minute decision.” She said getting the retribution she was after and the coveted title of ‘Designer of the Year' and of course, her spread in Vogue Italia.