Chapter Three

Weeks had passed and now I had just 5 days to the exhibition. The last couple of weeks had been spent mostly painting and doubting myself and then listening to my “You Can Do This” playlist. It didn’t particularly help but it did keep me focused on my pieces. I had almost the required number of pieces now. Taylor and I had narrowed down and decided which of my archival pieces I should add to the exhibition. She seemed to have been really impressed by what she saw and that made me feel good.

Today, I’ve been up since the crack of dawn finalising my last piece, but it just still felt off and like something was missing. It was noon now and as I stared pointedly at the painting, my phone dings.

Bella: Hey, have you gotten your dress yet for your exhibition.

Me: no, girl. I haven’t even thought of that…

Bella: Good thing I’m here. I’ll come by when I’m done with this showing and we’ll go shopping!

Me: alright!

Dropping the phone on the desk, I turn back to my painting and make a low grumble still trying to figure out what I was missing. Dumping my brush on the desk, I decide to figure it out later and make myself an extremely late breakfast.

I fix myself some toasts and scrambled eggs while my mind still wandered around perfecting my last piece. Once I’m done eating, I clear out the dishes and drag my feet to the already pulled out couch in the living area of my loft. Feeling the exhaustion pull me under, I fall asleep.

*************

I hear the banging in my head, thinking I was still dreaming but it keeps going on obnoxiously. Jolting up from the couch realising someone had been banging on my door and I groggily walk over.

“Vanessa, you better be dead because my hands are aching and my shoes are killing me standing here.”

Ah, shit! I completely forgot that Bella was coming over so we could pick out a dress for the exhibition. Hurriedly, I open the door and immediately say, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I slept off and I don’t even know how that happened. One minute I was eating, the next I was hearing loud bangs.”

“Well that’s probably because you’re so tired all the time since you’re always working. I’m proud of you but also getting worried. You need to rest Nessa, like really rest.”

I avoid her concern because I know she’s right. Lately I have been feeling really exhausted and I’m probably putting a lot of pressure on myself because of this exhibition but I mean, there’s a lot riding on this. It has to go well.

“It’s under control Bells, don’t worry about it, okay?”

I hear her take a deep breath as she walks to the couch. Before she says anything else, I change the topic, “so what kind of vibe do you think I should go for? It’s an event completely out of my comfort zone and I want to seem like it’s where I’m meant to be, you know?”

“Nessa, you are meant to be there. However, I think you should go full bombshell!”

I eye her warily “Me, bells. Not you.” Snickering as I imagine myself like that “there’s absolutely nothing ‘bombshell’ about me bells.”

“Yeah, right. Anyways, let’s go shopping and find you something. Go get dressed while I go through your stuff.”

I stroll lazily to the bedroom area of my loft tucked away in the corner and get dressed. When I’m done, I call out to Bella, letting her know I’m ready to go and we leave the apartment.

We walk from store to store trying to find an outfit both exquisite and also within my budget —a very difficult task might I add. After searching for almost 2 hours, we were about to take a break and I see a really pretty burgundy dress out of the corner of my eye in one of the stores I felt would definitely be above my budget.

Bella notices what I’m staring at and without saying a word, she drags me towards the store. I watch as she talks to the store attendant but I don’t hear their conversation.

Immediately they smile at each other and the attendant struts towards the dress, peeling it from its hanger and she beckons me to a corner which I guess is the dressing room. In my mind I don’t even need to try it, two things were clear; it was definitely going to be a perfect fit and it was definitely going to be way past my budget.

Still I try on the dress. As I look at myself in the mirror, I’m completely blown away. The way the dress hugs my curves and feels against my skin is so different from anything I’ve ever worn. I walk out of the dressing room and two pairs of eyes immediately lock on me as they roam over my body, taking in the elegance of the dress, inch by inch.

“This is it” says Bella like she’s under a spell cast by the dress.

“I think so too,” the store attendant says as her eyes crinkle in admiration.

“Well only the price of the dress would determine if this is it,” I say trying to downplay how badly I want the dress.

“You’re in luck, the dress is on sale for half the price and as your friend has confirmed, it’s right in your budget.”

As the words register in my head, I picture myself back in the dressing room, looking at myself in awe, realising I had never looked like that in a dress before.

As I go back in to change, I sneak another glance at myself through the mirror and look away so I don’t get carried away.

I pay for the dress and Bella and I leave the store feeling like we accomplished something other than buying a dress.

**************

I’m back in my apartment staring at the piece again and finally it clicks. The shade of red from the dress seemed like the perfect color to balance it out. After we left the store, Bella and I parted ways and I came back home and had been trying to avoid looking at the piece since I couldn’t detect what was missing.

Now, I immediately get to mixing my colors to get the exact shade of red that the dress laid carefully in my closet has.

After a while, I drop the brush on my work desk and realise the clouds had begun to gather as they hid the sun, casting violet shadows across my apartment.

Feeling lazy to make dinner, I order takeout and plan how to move my pieces from my apartment to the gallery. I decide to call Taylor and ask what to do about it.

“Oh, don’t worry about that Nessa. Just let me know when you’re ready for them to come pick them up.”

“Tomorrow’s fine really. I brought the archives here and my apartment is crowded” I say, with a nervous chuckle.

“Alright, I’ll tell them to come by in the morning. Does 9am work for you?”

“Yes it does. Thank you Taylor!”

“Of course sweetie, have a good night.”

“You too.”

At least that’s one thing off my list of things to do. Checking it off my mental list, I walk to my bedroom to go to bed.

***********

The next morning, the movers Taylor sent had arrived and swiftly and most importantly, delicately packaged all the pieces into their truck. Taylor texts me 30 minutes later that the pieces had arrived safely and were being installed. She also tells me to come by later to look at the set up.

Later in the day I go to the gallery and we work on the setup of the pieces in anticipation for the day.