Ken // sapphire and faded jeans

[HADLEY CLARISSE FAIRCHILD]

OUTFIT

When she'd decided to run away from the hospital, Hadley hasn't quite thought things through. She had been smart enough to realize that if she went home, she would never get out. Not alive anyway. So she'd run with just one outfit and now she was in quite a predicament. Jack had invited her to the resort's holiday party and Ken definitely didn't have any fancy dresses stashed in his closet for her to borrow. He had, however, been all too excited to help her find a dress for the party as well as a few other things to help her get through normal days.

Even with Ken's entire closet at her disposal, Hadley couldn't convince herself to give up Jack's shirt. She ought to have been concerned about that realization, but she refused to let herself focus on the intense connection she already felt with him. This was a non date, and she was determined not to her hopes up just in case something went wrong.

As they wandered down the street in the town square, peering in windows, Hadley shivered. A coat seriously needed to be at the top of her list.

[KENNEDY DAVID MILLER]

OUTFIT

Considering that it was almost Christmas, less than a week away in fact, the streets were lined with shoppers, bustling from this store to that, wallets open and credit cards charging. Ken of course did not have the budget for most of these upscale stores, so he and Hadley would have to get farther down to the more knock off and discount clothing stores, and the TJMax. They'd parked a bit too early, but they'd found a spot, which was unusual.

Finally, they got to the Target and Ken whisked Hadley inside before she could argue. They could get most of what she needed here. Basic toiletries as well as clothes. "First step, getting you a coat." Ken said, realizing how cold she probably was. "Step two, HBA's" He said, pointing toward the aisles holding the aforementioned health and beauty aids. "Step three, a fabulous wardrobe, step 3.5, party dress." Ken decided. He realized that maybe he should have picked a budget for each thing too, but he was willing to play in by ear. He trusted Hadley to pay him back, and besides, he was about to get a fair amount of christmas money.

[HADLEY CLARISSE FAIRCHILD]

Truthfully, Hadley hadn't felt too out of place in Aspen. That was, of course, until she realized that she couldn't even afford to dream about most of the things in the stores they were passing. But Ken seemed to know something she didn't, and he continued to lead her along the street until they managed to find a Target. Breathing a sigh of relief, Hadley looked around the store. It really was just like every Target she'd ever been to. Smiling at the familiarity of the place, she turned her attention toward Ken as he laid out their plan of action.

"Okay. Good plan. Only... The coats and clothes are in the same section. And I'm not freezing in here. So we could switch things up and go for the HBAs first?" she suggested, her fingers making air quotes around his shortened reference to the health and beauty department.

[KENNEDY DAVID MILLER]

Ken chuckled, "True enough." And steered their cart toward Health and Beauty. Being a guy who had never had a girlfriend, he wasn't entirely sure what she really needed. So he figured oral care was a safe bet, toothbrushes were pretty universal after all. Then he figured the hair asile (he needed some hair gel anyway.) Ken realized he might actually use more hair product than she did generally speaking and she could always borrow his.

"So lets see, I don't know what you need," Ken said. "I have enough hair product for a small army, but my apartment has never had a need for tampons or mascara, so you're on your own getting that." He teased. he didn't mind being in the same area as such things, he just had no idea what to pick. (Technically he knew a bit about mascara but had no occasion to wear it himself on a regular basis).

Maybe he should get a head start on the coats or party dresses or something? But maybe sticking together was more fun.

[HADLEY CLARISSE FAIRCHILD]

Ken was surprisingly easy to shop with, and Hadley found it terribly refreshing. It had been a while since she'd had a goo enough friend to go shopping with. Phillip would never have allowed it. There was too much chance that she would run her mouth. Hadley grabbed the necessary toiletries as they navigated the aisles, dropping a toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, shampoo, and conditioner into the cart. She had a feeling Ken would have whatever she needed as far as hair products went. "Do you have a hair dryer?" she asked, pausing in front of a display of them. It was much too cold to expect that she wouldn't need one at all.

It took them a while, but eventually Hadley had stocked the buggy with all of the basic necessities as well as a coat and a few outfits. She'd insisted on only getting enough to get through a week. She wasn't going to spend all o Ken's money and she could buy more later. The only things she hadn't yet found we're underwear and the aforementioned party attire. Well, that and the multicolored concealer wheel she knew she would need. She hadn't yet though of a reasonable way to explain that.

"Okay. On to party dresses," she murmured, as much to herself as to Ken. But where would they find those?

[KENNEDY DAVID MILLER]

Ken laughed "Of course, One with different detachable heads," he explained. Ken took great care with his hair, it was one of his best features in his opinion. Shopping was remarkably easy with Hadley, she enjoyed his off color comments and calm advice, and she tried to save him money, which he did appreciate. In a short time, she had a small affordable wardrobe in the cart, with the notable exception of under things. But Hadley seemed intent on party dresses next.

Ken pointed them in the right direction and started to look through the racks, trying to find something seasonal, soft spoken and Hadly-ish but still flirty. "Any rules on length or sleeves or something?" Ken asked lightly, holding up a dress to her to see if her skin color went well with it. He decided not and kept moving along the rack. "Though, you seem the type to hide what you got and that just won't do." Ken added, deciding he'd find her things to try on, regardless of what she actually thought on the matter.

[HADLEY CLARISSE FAIRCHILD]

Grinning, Hadley wondered how she had ever considered the possibility that Ken wouldn't have a hair dryer. His hair was better than hers, so it only made sense that he would. Letting herself relax, she decided that she really did enjoy this. Maybe once her income was a little more stable, they could make a habit of it.

Her comfort level took a nosedive as Ken steered her toward the party dresses. While he had asked whether she had any rules for length and such, he seemed to be pulling whatever he liked from the rack, and Hadley was acutely aware of the marks that would show if she wore pretty much any of those dresses. Still, she wasn't sure she could come up with a convincing argument. "Just don't make me look like a whore," she cautioned, though she was already sure that Ken would never do such a thing.

Anxiously, Hadley ventured into the fitting room with an arm full of beautiful dresses. Really, Ken had very good taste and she would love to wear any of them. But as she stripped to her underwear and stared at her reflection, Hadley knew none of them would cover everything she didn't want to show. Biting her lip, she wracked her brain for an excuse, but she couldn't seem to come up with anything that would get her out of this mess. Finally, she approached the door and called out, "Ken... I don't think this is going to work..." Maybe he'd let her off the hook without an excuse.

[KENNEDY DAVID MILLER]

Ken waited dutifully outside the dressing room, inspecting his nails absentmindedly. He hadn't picked anything that was whore ish or anything, an he figured the colors he'd picked would look good on Hadley. The only things left were really the fit and texture (some people got picky about fabrics). When Hadley said that this wasn't going to work, Ken scoffed, "come on girl, don't be afraid to work it!" But doubting she would, ken entered the dressing room.

Some middle aged woman gave him a funny look, like she thought he didn't belong but Ken just threw up his hands and said, "gay best friend coming through" by way of an explanation before he found Handleys face peaking out of a door and barged in. Anticipating her to be ashamed or exposed, ken said, "your junk means the same thing as your elbows do." Ken didn't much care about her parts and so she didn't have to feel weird about it in his opinion.

But as she stood there in her underthings, Ken immediately understood. Her shoulders, collarbone, arms.... Hadley was covered in bruises an suddenly it all made so much more sense. "Oh honey," Ken breathed. His new friend ha been abused and had run away with nothing. She was very brave. Ken hugged her tightly, but not too tight before stepping back again, easily switching subjects.

"You can still work it Haddie, try them on, show me what you got." Ken prompted, doing a little twirl himself. She could do this. She could own her body again.

[HADLEY CLARISSE FAIRCHILD]

Hadley wasn't entirely sure what she'd expected him to do. Maybe ask her what was wrong with the dresses or insist that she try on another stack of them. The last thing she'd thought would come out of her hesitant response was for Ken to burst into the women's fitting rooms and let himself in with her. Biting her lip, Hadley tried to ignore the warm blush that spread across her cheeks when she heard his voice declaring that he was her gay best friend. He wasn't lying. In the little time that they'd known one another, Ken certainly had become her best friend. But she hadn't trusted anyone enough to tell them about Phillip in as long as she'd been with him, and if Ken burst into the dressing room now, he'd be able to fill in all the blanks himself.

It only took Ken a couple of seconds to make his way to the fitting room she was peering out of, and Hadley didn't have time to cover herself. She simply stood, awkwardly trying to make sense of the situation, as Ken explained how little he cared about her girly bits. Of course, she'd already figured that out, and being in her underwear in front of him was about as meaningful as being in the same state in front of one of her sisters. Until he really registered what he was seeing, anyway.

Hadley's cheeks flooded with heat and she stared at her toes. She winced slightly, hearing the pained tone in his voice, and she remembered just how much she hated being pitied. She'd been the one to get herself into the mess she'd been in with Phillip, and now that she'd finally gotten herself out of it, she didn't want anyone feeling sorry for her. Part of her wanted to tell Ken exactly that, but in the beat it took her to work up the words, he had moved back to the subject of dresses, almost as if he knew how she would feel. Smiling gratefully, she turned back toward the dresses, rifling through them and pulling on a pretty red one.

Three dresses later, she was beginning to feel a little more confident. She'd also come to the conclusion that there wasn't a single dress in the store that she wouldn't have to spend hours working on make up for. "I guess we need to go back to health and beauty," she mused, slightly relieved that she didn't have to explain why. Instead, she pulled her own clothes back on and held out her two favorite dresses to Ken. "The red or the gold?" she asked, figuring he was probably better at this sort of thing than she was.

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[KENNEDY DAVID MILLER]

Ken grinned as her confidence grew in the dressing room. Given the time of year it made him think of the Grinch, who's "small heart grew three sizes that day", Hadley's confidence was like that, and he was glad for it, though between being supportive and truthful about the outfits, his eyes darted to the painful looking bruises that were healing on her body. No wonder she'd run, thank god she was able to. Ken was glad that she'd found him, because he would never treat her like that, and he wouldn't tolerate anyone treating her like that. Ken was usually so open with his opinion, but in this case he hoped she'd know how he felt through osmosis.

"The gold one," Ken answered decisively. "It'll play up your hair, compliment your skin tone without washing you out..." He mused, looking over Hadley and the dresses in her hands"Besides, its your time to shine baby girl, you gotta just step out there and be like this is me, I own my own body." Ken said, looking her in the eyes at the last bit. He was sure Hadley could make it, because while she was 'damaged' as she put it, she was also strong.

"Let's go to HBA's again," Ken said, figuring he'd let her lead the way.

[HADLEY CLARISSE FAIRCHILD]

Ken seemed willing enough to move on with their shopping trip as though he hadn't just figured out everything she'd been trying to keep private. Still, Hadley couldn't help but wonder when he was going to ask about it. She wasn't stupid enough to believe they could go on pretending he hadn't seen anything. As it was, though, they made it through the line of dresses she'd tried on and manage to choose one without incident. Hadley beamed at the gold dress. She'd practically fallen in love with it the moment she'd tried it on. She was just about to tell Ken as much when he launched into a rather encouraging rant about it being her time to shine. Hadley bit her lip and forced herself to hold his gaze for as long as possible. In the end, though, she found herself staring at her shoes as they made their way out of the fitting room. Confidence had really never been a strength of hers.

With a sigh, she led the way back across the store to the makeup aisles where she selected a couple of wheels of concealer in varying shades and a few brushes to help with the blending. At home, she'd frequented a store that sold theatre and dance supplies, which meant a wider array of makeup specially designed for camouflaging anything she wanted to hide. She figured she could work with this, though. No need to spend a ridiculous amount of money on stage makeup when she wouldn't have any more bruises to hide.

Once that was accomplished, she found herself bouncing anxiously on the balls of her feet as she wondered where they should head next. Her eyes found her toes again and she frowned. "I don't suppose my boots really go with the dress, do they?" she asked. Truthfully, Hadley would love to wear her boots to the party, but she also knew that many of the people there would have a great deal more money than she did. That meant they would be far better dressed. It also meant that she was probably the only guest that would consider wearing boots with a sequined party dress. If she was going to party with the rich and famous, she might as well make an effort to dress as if she belonged there.

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[KENNEDY DAVID MILLER]

Ken walked with her back to the make up aisle, watching her find what she needed quietly, silently promising her that she'd never need to do this ever again. Ken was going to look even harder at Jack now, read between the lines, since nice now might not mean nice later. Not that Ken knew much from personal experience. He'd had a boyfriend that seemed to be getting emotionally abusive and Ken turned and ran, but he hadn't been in it long enough to get stuck. Most people did.

Hadley mentioned her shoes and Ken screwed up his face in thought. "I don't think so... maybe we can find nice boots? But heels are probably the best bet." He said, agreeing with her. Ken was less of a sucker for shoe shopping than he was shopping for other things, but he figured this could potentially be a problem. Heels... probably gold, or tan. Black or white, while versatile, would be a little too much in this case in his opinion.

"You strike me as the not too high, stays on but easy to get off heel type..." Ken decided. "Let's see what they have in gold." He wandered between the rows of heels, getting odd looks from other patrons but he didn't much care what they thought of him. He'd done a drag show in college a few times, he wasn't such a stranger to women's shoes.

[HADLEY CLARISSE FAIRCHILD]

Hadley wasn't at all surprised by the fact that heels were a better option than boots. As much as she didn't like wearing them, she supposed they would look much prettier and more festive. Besides, if need be, she could always take them off. Even the rich and famous couldn't stand to wear their shoes all the time if they were dancing, could they? "Right. Heels it is. And you're right. Not too high. I don't want to fall on my face." With a good-natured chuckle, she followed Ken through the shoe section, hardly bothering to look at the racks of heels around her. She trusted his judgment far better than her own where fashion was concerned.

Several hours later, they had everything they could possibly need for the party and quite a few other everyday items. Hadley sighed in satisfaction. This was the last day that she would have to appear homeless, at least. She wouldn't have to be worried about whether her coworkers noticed that she wore slightly different variations of the exact same outfit everyday. "Okay. I'm cooking to thank you," she decided. Food was one of the best ways to show your appreciation, Hadley figured. And cooking wasn't as expensive as dining out, so she figured it would work.

Later that evening, she stood in front of Ken's refrigerator, fishing out ingredients. It took her a little time, but she soon had a pot pie in the oven, crusted with canned crescent roll dough. It wouldn't be exactly the same as what she might have made at home, but it was home cooking, which usually got the "I love you dearly" message across. Hands on her hips, she let out a satisfied breath. "Okay. Dinner in half an hour," she called into the other room.

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[KENNEDY DAVID MILLER]

The shopping got even easier from there, and after picking shoes and various accents and such. Ken paid the bill happily, though aware that his spending money for the month was pretty much gone, maybe next month's too, but it was worth it to help his friend. Hadley was already his best friend here and he was happy to keep her close and happy. She was older than him it seemed, but he felt responsible for her like an older brother, a father, a boyfriend, except he was none of those things---that made it all immensely uncomplicated.

"I won't argue with food," Ken said with a smile. He had no intention of letting her freeload, and she never would have thought of it anyway. Ken got some bills done and went through the mail while Hadley cooked in the kitchen. Once she said that dinner was a half an hour away, Ken closed his laptop and wandered into the kitchen and wandered to the fridge.

"I have white wine, beer, and whiskey," Ken said. "What do you want?" He asked her. Any full day needed to end with some alcohol to relax, and they had some bonding to do, stories to exchange. Ken hadn't forgotten, and this was a nice little chunk of time with a definite end so the topic could be changed to eat it either of them wanted it.

[HADLEY CLARISSE FAIRCHILD]

Cooking was a comfort to Hadley, and while she was putting their pot pie together, she had all but forgotten about her promise to tell Ken more about the bruises he'd seen while helping to dress her for the party. It wasn't until he wandered in offering alcohol that she remembered what the evening would hold. Letting out a sigh, she began to wring her hands nervously. Alcohol would be a necessary part of things, she figured. There was no other way she was going to be able to tell him everything he wanted to know without it. "I'll go with the wine," she decided, crossing the room to pull a long-stemmed glass from the cabinet.

Hadley accepted the glass gratefully and took a long, slow sip of the beverage. Lowering the glass, she glanced at the stove to be sure she'd set a timer for the oven. Confident that she was in no danger of burning their supper, she padded into the living room. "You're not going to let me out of this conversation, are you?" she asked, though she already knew the answer. Anxiously chewing her bottom lip, she sank down onto the couch, propping herself up against the corner and tucking her legs beneath her.

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