Dressing Down

Lucy took a deep breath, feeling a strange sense of nervousness at what she was about to do. She had never approached a guy before. Frankly, she had never had to, since they always came to her, but suddenly she felt like the kind of guys she was into just weren't going to ask her out, so there was **** but to take matters into her own hands.

She reapplied her lipstick and checked her appearance in her camera phone. She knew she was looking good so, as long as she turned on the charm, she figured this should be easy - one thing that had always come very naturally to her was attracting men. Lucy took a few moments to scout the area for a suitable potential date and it wasn't long before she had settled on a target. He was a very traditional looking geek - and not in a cute or stylised way. His clothes were unfashionable and at least a size too big for him; his t-shirt had cartoon girls on it and the name of some manga show Lucy had never even heard of.; his oily hair, which was receding from the front, had been tied back into a ponytail and he sported a neckbeard that he really should have taken five minutes of his life to shave off by now.

Lucy walked over exuding the kind of confidence she was able to project during photo shoots or when she hit the runway. As she approached, her target seemed to be pointedly refusing to make eye contact with her, which threw Lucy a little. But there was no turning back now. By the time she was within a few feet of the stranger, he had **** but to accept and acknowledge it was him she wanted to talk to, though he seemed highly confused by that fact.

"Hey, I'm Lucy!" she smiled warmly and genuinely as she stopped to chat.

"Hello?" the man answered uncertainly, not offering his name.

"I hope this isn't too forward of me, but I saw you across the street and had to come by and say 'hello'. I wondered if you wanted to go for a coffee with me?"

Suddenly the man's expression turned into a wounded scowl "Who put you up to this?"

"What?" Lucy asked in surprise.

"This is your idea of a joke, right? Or some kind of bet?" he asked in anger "Something for you and your buddies to laugh about later? Do you know how much of this shit I had from bitches like you when I was in school? I would have thought you would have grown out of that by now. Get the fuck out of my face, you stupid, pointless bimbo!"

Shaken by how badly that had gone, Lucy nonetheless resolved not to let one jerk destroy her confidence. She walked over to another cutie, a portly gentleman a few years older than her with a big nose and horribly outdated sense of fashion.

"Excuse me, my name is Lucy. I noticed you from across the street and wondered if you might be free to have a drink with me?"

"I'm sorry, young lady" the man threw his hands up defensively "I don't pay for it"

Aghast and embarrassed, Lucy retreated back to her house. It seemed cold approaching wasn't for her. She wasn't quite sure what she had been doing wrong, but something about the vibe she was giving off in person clearly wasn't clicking with the kind of guys she liked. She had never tried dating apps before, but figured they might be a more palatable option than getting shot down and insulted in the street again.

She was pretty happy with her profile once it had been set up. She had used some of her recent modelling shots where she knew for sure she was looking super hot, and wrote a short and cute bio that couldn't possibly have offended anyone. It wasn't long before the likes started to roll in. There were hundreds of them, but none from the kind of guys she was after. Lucy had heard the algorithm on these apps could be trained to match its user's tastes, so she set about teaching hers exactly what she wanted.

Every handsome, stylish and physically fit guy who came into her feed was immediately dismissed, and after a while she noticed a different type of man appearing more frequently, those without any traits of conventional attractiveness - just what she was looking for! Lucy swiped right on a number of these potential dates and even sent short and sweet messages to most of those she selected. She then put her phone on charge and left it for a couple of hours to see what came back.

When she returned, she was shocked to find her profile had been suspended. Opening her Gmail app, she was soon given an explanation as to why.

Your account has been flagged multiple times as exhibiting potentially fraudulent behaviour and has therefore been placed on hold. If you believe this was an error, kindly contact our support team

Lucy was starting to feel utterly hopeless. It was like society was dictating which guys she was allowed to even attempt to date, and they were no longer the ones she was interested in. The only idea she had to assist with her predicament was to give herself a makeover. Or, more accurately, a makeunder. Perhaps if she looked a little more like the type of person she was trying to attract, they would be less resistant to her advances.

Lucy searched through her wardrobe. Most of her clothing was gratis designer label gear she had received from modelling assignments or influencing, and none of it was at all appropriate for her current needs. She therefore rushed down to the charity store at the end of her street and picked up a few things - a beige cardigan, long grey skirt, white blouse and black granny shoes. The great part was the whole ensemble cost her less than ten pounds.

Once she returned home Lucy completed the look by tying her hair back and slipping on her prescription glasses. She had always hated them and only needed them for reading, but felt they really topped off the new look she was going for. Standing in front of the mirror, Lucy felt good about her transformation.

She was ready to head back into the outside world once more and try her luck again.