The Fashionista

She couldn’t help but frown at the conundrum. “There’s no way Samantha Townsend, part-time college student, part-time office secretary, can afford that luxury outfit she’s wearing!”

Jayna Jensen, although reasonably miffed, was not about to show it. She could, however, almost taste the arrogance emulating from Sam’s newly gained, confident stride as she swished past Jayna sporting one very smart-looking, Brunello Cucinelli double-breasted, white twill blazer coupled with a pair of sassy, chocolate brown Chloe wide-leg cashmere pants.

Jayna's immediate thought was, “Hmm, has Samantha Townsend chanced upon a gold mine somewhere? What secret investment had she discovered to afford this wardrobe of a Hollywood socialite?”

Jayna tried not to appear overtly intrigued but wasn’t able to pacify her prodigious disbelief of magnanimous proportions. And the bottom line was: Samantha Townsend's meager salary was no match for this level of high dollar fashion! It simply would take months of overtime for any of the underpaid employees there at 'Kingston Consults and Accounting Firm' to afford half an outfit so jaw-dropping! Oh no, Jayna didn't have to do the actual math on this one because it was all too obvious that Samantha's reckless display of GUCCI, Balenciaga, and Salvatore Ferragamo designer clothes sported at this frugal workplace - did not add up! Yet, here she stood donning the stunning garb with a casual eloquence that provoked Jayna all the more.

Was it Monday or perhaps last Friday that Jayna recalled Sam wearing an incredibly chic Dolce & Gabbana ruched floral print silk dress that must have cost a cool two grand if purchased from a reseller like thredUP or Lyst! Jayna imagined what secret admirer or rich new lover boy Samantha may have wrangled into her web, who was as generous a gifter as this, perhaps?

Jealousy was getting the best of her, so Jayna decided it was high time for the little office 'Fashionista' to spill the beans on her high-end hustle.

She strolled over to where Samantha sat thumbing through the pages of a little black notebook, well worn at the edges, and greeted her in a rather chipper tone, “Hey there, Sam! That is a fabulous jacket you're wearing!”

Samantha looked down at her apparel, lightly touching the hem of her impeccably fitted waistcoat, and replied, “Oh, this old thing?” She looked directly into Jayna's wantonly grey-blue eyes with a spark of satisfaction, then coyly smiled in mischievous mystery at her drooling associate and added, "Thank you", as she briskly walked away.

Sam appeared to be almost floating as she maneuvered towards Mr. Kingston's office, her weekly balance reports in hand. When she looked back down the hall at her office cohort, she noticed Jayna staring in a frozen, open-mouthed gape, to which Sam smiled again, then disappeared into the office.

“Damn,” Jayna skirmished, “She's going to play hardball with me!" and immediately she began devising a plan of action to swoon those juicy, needful details out of Sam Townsend, once and for all! She felt it best to talk with Sam somewhere private, rather than here at the office, in case the info was a tad nefarious.

“I will offer to take Samantha out to lunch, my treat, and that will be my perfect opportunity," Jayna surmised and was about to pose the idea to Sam when suddenly she felt dizzy and light-headed and had to sit down.

“Why am I getting so obsessed over this? It’s making me physically ill.” Jayna's head began throbbing. "It isn't like me to feel this jealous and petty and materialistic!" Jayna felt her neck getting stiff and her face growing hot and determined that she would be better off forgetting the whole planned inquisition.

Perhaps she rather should concentrate on finishing the balance sheets for this pile of overdue accounts sadly looming on her desk.

“The 'Samantha Townsend Fashion investigation' is best put off for the time being”, she affirmed, but couldn’t help drifting off in her thoughts....”That girl is definitely up to something, and something big too, because it was paying off in Burberry and Chanel! Even Louis Vuitton, for Pete’s sake!”

The wonder became a frenzied curiosity and was gaining momentum on Jayna's race to find some answers.

“Humph, it’s not fair!” she pouted, complaining to herself, “That Sam is nothing special, no smarter or prettier than me, although, wearing all those fabulous designer clothes makes her seem quite glamourous.”

The impressive way Samantha filled out that Dulce & Gabanna dress was admittedly just as infuriating to Jayna because “WHO WOULDN’T look drop-dead gorgeous in a designer gown that cost a month’s salary?”

She needed a non-jaded approach to this endeavor and waited until tomorrow afternoon to invite Sam out to lunch with her. She wanted to go somewhere nice just to relax a little, talk some spicy girl talk, and then turn their conversation towards the subject of sexy fashions. And hopefully, Sam will become inspired to let the bodacious GUCCI cat out of the provincial Givenchy bag.

The following morning started with a busy, fast-paced run towards some heated deadlines at hand. Noon strolled by quicker than Jayna realized. She glanced out her front office window with its picturesque view overlooking Ridge Front Avenue and noticed Sam perusing towards the Italian eatery across the street. "Damn. I missed my chance again," Jayna chastised herself.

Sam had been wearing the most exquisite pair of black eel skin boots by St. Laurent that Jayna had ever laid eyes on. It was killing her! Double Damn! Grumbling at her dumb luck, Jayna resolved herself to a Campbell’s can of barley soup for lunch, dining alone with her covetous obsession.

Samantha had an important appointment after lunch and didn’t return to work that afternoon. When Jayna drove home that evening, she silently stewed in a disgruntled fester over the day’s many failed attempts to learn Sam’s secret, thinking to herself, “Tomorrow has to be a better day, It must be!”

The next morning, while fidgeting with the copy machine, Jayna was already plotting her scheme, when along strolled Samantha, strutting her stuff in a red mulberry silk palm tree pattern blouse from Giorgio Armani with a stunning FENDI stretch-velvet all-black jacquard midi skirt that looked like a million bucks on her! Wow! The matching red mulberry Ralph Lauren leather heels were to die for, and must have cost a small fortune! Jayna nearly slid off her feet at the sight of how spectacular Samantha looked in that superb ensemble.

“Well, that does it!” Jayna fumed, unable to keep cool any longer, and took off after Sam with copied sheets of analytical data flying down the hall behind her.

Jayna sped towards Sam’s office shouting, “Sam! Hey, wait up!" abruptly halting to greet Samantha in the doorway.

Sam looked at the spectacle of Jayna with a humorous grin and replied, "Yes, what is it, Jayna?”

All the confidence drained from Jayna’s face as she tried to regain her composure. “I, um, needed to talk to you Sam, if you, uh, have a minute, that is.” Jayna could feel herself shrinking smaller by the second, having no other words to adequately begin that conversation.

“Jayna, are you okay?” Sam asked in a rather preoccupied tone, half looking at me, half looking down at that little black notebook she recently began keeping with her at all times.

“Um, yeah,” was the meek reply, and then, “Yes, of course. I am fine, it’s just that I, well I need to ask you um, oh never mind, it’s not that important. I can see you are busy, Sam, so we can talk later, ok?” That was all Jayna could eke out before she skirted quite red-faced back down the hall, picking up her trail of scattered papers along the way.

“Triple Damn! This is insane! Simply ludicrous!” Jayna scolded herself for blundering so awkwardly and thought what a wreck she must appear to be!

“Samantha may very well be enjoying these moments of tormenting me”, Jayna considered this possibility for which she had no one to blame except herself! Her growing infatuation had become a veritable nuisance to its own coveted goal.

What was the big deal with coming right out and asking Sam directly? Seemed logical, and yet virtually impossible. Jayna had become a mouse in the shadow of Sam’s glowing extravagance. A meek, timid, plain little mouse. She imagined the cartoon version of herself shrinking smaller and smaller until Pop! She was turned into a little grey mouse with white whiskers and a long pinkish tail. Tee hee he! The pictured thought made Jayna giggle out loud.

“What’s so funny? Asked Samantha as she walked past Jayna giggling in the mailroom.

“Oh nothing but imaginary comic relief,” said Jayna, still smirking to herself, then turned to face Sam and added, “I’m sorry, Sam, I owe you an apology.”

“Oh?” Sam was intrigued. “What for?”

“For letting myself get all crazy at your obvious newfound fortune. I mean, whatever financial blessing you’ve received, it’s not right for me to become this jealous zealot.” Jayna tried to put it into perspective.

“Oh, Jayna!” Exclaimed Sam, “There’s no reason to be jealous of me. I haven’t come into any fortune, at least not yet!”

“But, but....all your clothes,” Jayna struggled to object, “All those beautiful designer fashions you’ve been wearing...how can you afford......?” She was stumped.

Samantha began to laugh. She could now see where the error had been made in Jayna’s assuming those outfits were Sam’s clothing. “They’re on loan,” Sam explained, “from StyleLend.com. It’s a truly great service that offers thousands of designer clothes you can wear for a small rental fee.”

“Rented?” Jayna was taken off guard completely.

“Yep!” Sam said as she continued to smile out loud. “I’ve been interviewing for the past two weeks with a slew of fashion designers and stylists, trying to get a job as a design apprentice or brand developer. I had to look the part, and StyleLend.com helped me do just that!” Sam was visibly excited she would be getting her degree in Fashion Design at the end of the month.

“Wow, that is so cool,” Jayna genuinely agreed. She was happy for her associate to be doing things, going places in her career, and had to ask, “So how goes your hunt for the perfect fashion job?”

Sam beamed a million-dollar smile and squealed, “It is funny you should ask because I just signed on with Maria Grazia Chiuri, the creative director at Dior!” Sam pulled out the letter sent from Maria Grazia Chiuri herself and said, “See, I start the job next month, the week after graduation!” Sam was truly glowing. “And look! A $20,000 sign-on bonus! Eeeeeeee! I’m so excited!” She held up the unexpected bonus check and wiggled it in the air.

Jayna felt ashamed of herself for the many days of silently plotting and making assumptions against Samantha. But Sam was too happy to be bothered and she whisked Jayna into a twirling spin around the mailroom. Jayna laughed at Sam’s contagious enthusiasm.

A few minutes later, Sam paused and said, “I’ve got to mark this date so I never forget it! She reached into her zippered pocket to pull out her little black notebook and opened it to a fresh page, where she wrote the words: “March 2, 2021, 11:11 am. Got hired at Dior today. Received initial bonus paycheck from Maria Grazia Chiuri, hopefully, the first of many more to come! A dream come true!” Sam placed the little black notebook back inside her zippered pocket and felt like really celebrating! “Jayna,” she asked, “would you like to go out to lunch with me today? It’s my treat!”

Jayna laughed out loud and nodded yes. As far as fashion goes, she mused, this certainly was a fitting end in perfect style!