Rita's Monday Musings

(Rita PoV)

I have no classes on Monday afternoons, so I told Vivienne I could work. Here I am at Muse and Loom, grateful to have something to do to occupy my mind after the disastrous weekend. Getting paid is nice, too.

[I enjoyed our date yesterday! Thanks for coming over for dinner! Next time, I hope you stay all night.] -John

The message on my phone sat on read since yesterday. What do I say when he’s being so nice after I embarrassed myself? I’ve managed to avoid John and Miss Maria after the disaster that was Saturday night.

The QuestMaster sent you the quest : Call your boyfriend

Reward: Dinner and cuddles

Cuddles sound nice... Life Quest, why do you make me do such hard things?

Why am I looking at my phone at work? I needed to take a break from the troubles my phone brings me.

Wait. What is she doing here? Maybe it’s another pink haired girl. Keep going, there’s plenty of stores here. No need to stop at this shop. For a second, she walks past the window and I can breathe again. Minutes later the pink haired girl returns and opens the door.

“Hi Rita! I walked right by your shop. It’s so cute! I can’t believe I missed it!” Mat greeted me as she walked in the door.

“Mat! Hi! Welcome in.” Play it cool.

She opens her arms and embraces me with a warm hug. She lingers in her hug, wandering her hands enough to make me uncomfortable. She kisses my cheek and without releasing me speaks softly in my ear. “Soo, how was your night?”

She sounds… excited… Like she’s asking for some juicy gossip. She makes no move to release me.

“It was nice, John’s a real gentleman.” I answer diplomatically.

“Only as gentle as you want him to be, sweet cheeks.” Came the blushing response. Mat releases me from her clutches and presented me with a large, warm paper bag. “I made you lunch. Next time, stick around, sugar. We can talk over breakfast.”

“You’re so sweet. Thank you! You shouldn’t have. I have my left overs from Saturday. Besides, what if there’s no nex-“

I am interrupted by a finger on my lips. “Shu-shu-shush, sweetie, none of that. There will be next time, and a time after that. Give John a call, he misses your cute little tushy.”

With another hug, quicker this time, and kisses on both of my cheeks, Mat turns to leave. She exits the shop, waves with a pose in the window, and then she's gone.

“Rita!" Vivienne’s loud voice startles me so much I almost drop the lunch bag. "Come back to earth, dear. I need your assistance.” Vivienne notices the bag in my hands. “What’s that?”

“A friend brought lunch.” I heft it, it’s too heavy for just my lunch, probably too much even for the two of us. Challenge accepted. “For both of us. Feels like it’s still warm.”

“Well, in that case, it would be rude to let it get cold. We can take a break and see what your friend brought us.”

Vivienne puts up the “Closed for Lunch” sign. There’s no place to eat in the shop so we put on our jackets and head over to the food court where there’s some tables.

The crisp fall weather is held at bay by the noon sun shining high in the sky. We choose a table in the sun and I set out the lunch Mat brought. It’s in several glass containers.

“She must be some friend! She made such a hearty lunch.” Vivienne remarked as she opened the containers. When did Mat have time to cook all this? There was some beef with barbecue sauce, sweet potatoes with pecans and butter, greens, mac ‘n cheese. She made a full spread.

“Yeah, I guess we're pretty close." Maybe she doesn't hate me. I load one of the containers with different foods and dig in. Mat's cooking doesn't disappoint.

Vivienne picked up one of the apples and poked at some of the other foods. Trying a bite here and a bite there. I don't think she eats that much. She uses the opportunity to talk to me about Cotton's outfits for her tryouts. They're finished, pending the final fitting. We talk about lessons we learned working with the fabric and how it moves and breathes. We bounce ideas off of each other and it spills over to an idea for an active wear inspired line.

We're still talking at the food court when Cotton walks up. She’s wearing some biker shorts and an oversized off-shoulder t-shirt. Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail and looks like it’s still wet. "Hello, girls. Is this seat taken?"

“Please, sit.” Vivienne responds. "We were just talking about your tryout outfits."

“We have some extra food, feel free to have some.” I gesture at the containers and offer one of the plastic forks. How many people was Mat trying to feed?

“Smells delicious!” Cotton pulls on of the containers towards her and loads it up. “With all the training for these tryouts, I’ve earned a treat.”

We fill Cotton in on our progress. She seems equally excited by her outfits and the idea of a new product line.

“Do you think you could make our new team uniforms, for competition season this spring?” Cotton thoughtfully tapped her chin.

Vivienne’s brow scrunched. “You know I prefer to keep my volume small. My brand isn’t uniforms.”

“Viv, we talked about how you need to expand. You need to diversify.” Vivienne winced when Cotton shortened her name. I think it's cute, but her reaction warns me not to try that. “The point of a new line is it lets you make new money to pursue your small volume dreams.”

Vivienne visibly swallowed. “I’ll do the uniforms on one condition.”

“You’ll do the uniforms to please your investors.” Cotton smirked. I felt very uncomfortable with the energy at the table.

“My condition." Vivienne continued as if Cotton hadn't spoke. "My condition is that you also get the suits on the sidelines to come in and wear my name, not the sports wear, full-service custom clothes. I’ll accept diversification, but I won’t have my dream diluted.”

Cotton thought about it over a bite of food. “I should be able to get the right women in your shop."

Vivienne nodded and sat back in her chair. "Can you have your suits wearing my clothes in the next month? I know you'll need time to convince your team to buy my uniforms."

"Viv, you worry about the customers I send you. I'll worry about sending them over." Cotton smugly spoke down her nose at Vivienne.

Seeing Vivienne bristle at Cotton's response, I decided maybe I could diffuse the tension. "Cotton, did you want to try on your tryout outfit? It's really cute!"

Cotton held Vivienne's eye for a while replying to me. "I'd love to try on your work, Rita."

“They’re almost done, I just need to do the final fit adjustments! You’re going to look so cute at your tryouts! We decided to go with a look that says 'Returning Champion' instead of 'Freshman Hopeful'. When you show up the girls will want to be on your team!"

"That sounds perfect! I knew I picked you for a reason!"

"How about we take this conversation to the shop?" Vivienne pushed her chair out, standing up to head back. She must be as eager to see Cotton in our designs as I am.

"Go ahead, let me put away my dishes." The two of them leave the table while I put all of Mat's containers away.

The fitting for the outfits goes without a hitch, we mark the last alterations we need to make, nothing major. After the fitting, Cotton offers me a ride to the gym for our workout.

"Vivienne, I'll finish the alterations tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Vivienne looks up from her work. "You're already behind. I expect you back tonight to catch up. Finish your exercises and come back after your shower."

I start to argue when she raises a finger to silence me. Instead of saying anything she pointedly looks at the various stations which have my unfinished work.

It takes long enough to make me uncomfortable.

"There's a lot that needs to be done by tomorrow, you'd best catch up today."

"Yes, Vivienne." I accept my fate. I'm not even one week into this and I'm being worked to ****. My mind moves forward to the gym and I remember something. Miss Maria will be there. I haven't talked to her since Saturday. It's going to be so awkward! Maybe this is my way out! "Cotton, I don't know if I can work out today. I have to catch up on my work." I pull back from Cotton, only for her to zip to my side, grabbing my hand.

"No excuses, Chubs. I need you to take some of Maria's attention off of me. She's brutal." She pushes me towards the changing room to change to my gym clothes. "I can give you a ride back after we shower."

"I don't know, you heard Vivienne."

"Don't use me as an excuse to neglect your health, girlie." Vivienne shoots down my excuse. "Besides a break will do you some good."

Traitor! I look back and forth and stop resisting being herded into the changing room. Once I'm dressed for the gym, Cotton and I walk to her waiting car.

"So Cotton, who's coming to watch your tryouts?"

"What's to watch? I'm going to make the team. People can watch me perform."

"So your daddy won't be coming?" Cotton scoffs, but doesn't say anything. I start to feel bad for her.

"Can I come then? I'd see you perform!"

She stops walking with an unreadable expression on her face. I don't understand her hang up. You know what I do understand? Hugs!

"Oomph." Cotton grunts as I hug her.

"You'll be the first person wearing something I made, I want to see it."

"Don't need to bother. I'll be just fine on my own." Cotton grumbled, missing the vibe of my hug entirely.

"It's no bother! Someone has to watch your bags and check your makeup." I lean back to see Cotton looking far away, like she's trying to ignore me.

"I've never needed that before. I can take care of myself." She pouted.

"I know you can take care of yourself, but isn't it nice to be pampered? I'll be in your corner, rubbing your shoulders, making sure no one pins 'kick me' to your back and fixing your makeup to keep you looking perfect." I step back at this to boop her on the nose with the word 'perfect'. She squinches up her face and moves away from me.

"You can be so annoying you know that?" She rolled her eyes. I could see her cheeks twitch as she tried not to smile.

"Annoying? That's the wrong a-word. I'm sure you mean awesome!"

"Whatever." She started walking again. He driver was waiting for us. "I hope you're as energetic for our session today."

Now it's my turn to fall behind. Maria seems to enjoy pushing me until I want to pass out. Cotton looks at me from inside the car, grinning. I'm glad she feels better.