"You don't mind that I'm basically crashing your date with Johnny?" Clem asked her sister as they drove home from the set that evening.

Hyacinth looked over at her. "Don't be ridiculous, I should've invited you myself, I'm sorry I didn't. I don't know how the studio will feel about it, though. They're really pushing this 'burgeoning romance' narrative between John and me."

Clem looked worried. "I don't want to do anything that will get you in trouble with the studio execs," she said. "Maybe I shouldn't go."

"No, John wanted you to come, and the studio wants him to be happy, you know?" Hyacinth shook her head. "We're pretty much running the show," she told her sister. "And I'd say John more than me, since he's the bigger draw on this movie."

"You think so?" Clem asked as she merged onto the 101. "He's the bigger star?"

Hyacinth nodded. "He was cast first, then they cast me. I heard he asked for me, though, so that's nice."

"Well, you're always a star to me, Hy," Clem quipped.

"Thanks, sis." Hyacinth reached over to pat her sister's shoulder.

Clem dropped Hyacinth at her house and continued home to Santa Monica, where she lived with her mother.

"Mom? I'm home," she announced as she hung her keys on the hook in the kitchen. "Something smells good."

"Hello, baby girl," her mother Jill answered. "It's just spaghetti."

"Well, it smells amazing," Clem assured her, kissing her cheek.

"Have fun with Hy today?"

"Yeah, it was great. I got to meet John, too. And mom, he's as good looking as his pictures."

Jill smiled as she stirred the sauce. "Pretty dreamy, hm?"

"For sure. And he and Hy are going to a gallery opening next Friday, and he invited me to come, can you believe it?"

"How marvelous! And how kind of him." Jill smiled at her daughter.

"I know, but mom, what am I going to wear?" Clem turned agonized eyes to her mother. "I'm no Hollywood starlet, I don't have those kinds of clothes."

"I'm sure we can find you something. Besides, they wouldn't expect you to be all glammed up, would they? Not like they'd expect Hy to be dressed."

Clem considered. "Yeah, maybe you're right. They'll expect her and John to be really dressed up, but I could sort of be low key and it wouldn't matter, would it? Kind of dull?"

"Well, I don't know about dull," her mother responded with a laugh. "I just wouldn't think they'd expect you to be in couture, that's all."

The two women sat down to eat, continuing to talk about what Clem could wear to the gallery opening.

The next day she was subjected to a barrage of questions about the movie set generally and John in particular by her friend Kim.

"So? Tell me! He can't possibly be as good looking in person as he is in his photos, is he?" Kim's eyes were huge as they waited for their lunch orders in the coffee shop.

Clem nodded her head. "But he is, though, he's exactly like his pictures. It's hard to talk when I'm looking at him, that's how handsome he is."

"Well, maybe his body's all fucked up, then," Kim speculated. "I mean, no one can be that perfect, can they? You didn't see him without his clothes on, did you?"

"Kimberley Mercer, of course I didn't!" Clem couldn't help but burst out laughing. "He was fully clothed, but I'm telling you, he looked like what was under his clothes was pretty damned incredible. Tall, broad shoulders, long legs, the whole package."

Their orders came up and they took them to a table as they continued their conversation.

"You always liked Johnny the best, didn't you?" Kim asked rhetorically as she bit into her burrito. "I mean out of all the guys in the band. I was more of a Nigel Cunningham gal myself."

"I remember."

"God, it was awful when he died. I mean, I was over my adoration phase by then, but still, he was such an important part of my teenage years."

"You remember how we'd wish before we went to sleep?" Clem asked as she, too, dove into her food.

"'I love Nigel Cunningham, Charlie McAllister, Heath Spencer, and Johnny Darling, and I hope one day one of them loves me back'," Kim intoned with a smile. "I loved The Jacks, I really did, probably the same way older girls loved UK Crush or Pete Santangelo."

"What do you mean, 'older girls'?" Clem asked. "Speak for yourself, those guys in UK Crush are total hotties, and so is Pete Santangelo. Though none can ever take the place of Johnny."

"You're so lucky you got to meet your crush," Kim observed. "I mean, The Jacks are no longer a thing, but Johnny's still so popular, there must be girls lined up from here to the moon to meet him."

"Yeah, but I think he's off the market," Clem answered.

"Really? Who's he dating?" Again, Kim's eyes were round as marbles as she picked up her latte.

"Maybe Hy," Clem informed her. "He seems interested, anyway."

Kim let out a shriek so loud people at other tables turned to look. "Oh my god, that would be so cool! Johnny Darling and Hyacinth O'Dell, your very own sister, can you imagine?"

"But he goes by John Darling-Ezekwesili now," Clem corrected. "I guess he really tangled with his label over his identity, and he wants to acknowledge his Nigerian heritage a bit more."

Kim shrugged. "I'll call him whatever he wants, I think Darling-Ezekwesili is a cool name."

"He invited me to go with him and my sister to a gallery opening in Hollywood next Friday," Clem confided.

Another shriek, and more looks.

"Oh my god, how exciting!"

"I don't know, though, if I want to third wheel it while he and Hy make goo-goo eyes at each other, you know? Not to mention I don't have anything to wear." Clem's concern was apparent in her voice, she knew.

"Well, let's hit some thrift stores and see what we can find," Kim responded, wiping her mouth.

"Thrift stores?" Clem repeated. "I think I need something more high end, Kim."

"Yeah, but you can't afford anything really expensive, anyway," Kim answered reasonably. "And you know how there are some really cool, nice things at the thrift stores in LA, you just have to know where to look. Unless you want to hit your sister up for the money to buy something on Rodeo?"

Clem shook her head firmly. "No. She's paying for my education, that's enough, I'm not asking her for a penny more. You know that, Kim."

Kim nodded.

"Okay, so thrift stores it is," she said to Clem. "When do you want to go? I'm free now, if you want."

"Now?" Clem repeated. "What about school? Don't you usually go to the library now?"

"Hmm. Library or shopping," Kim said, holding out both hands as if weighing them. "No contest, shopping it is."

Clem laughed at her friend. "Okay, okay, come on, let's head to Melrose, see what we can find."

The girls drove to the famed street and began hitting the shops one by one. However, they found nothing that struck either of them as appropriate to wear to a gallery opening. The closest was an old blue suede jacket with huge lapels. The suede went from light blue near the shoulders to dark blue down at the hem.

Clem looked at the jacket, her imagination in overdrive. "You know, I think I could do something with this," she said to Kim, who looked at the garment doubtfully.

"Really? I mean, the suede's really nice, but it's so old-fashioned, and it's way too big for you."

"I'm serious," Clem said. "I mean, there's no way I could show up in something I can't afford, it would just look like I'd borrowed someone's clothes." She held up the jacket, looking at how much suede was in the sleeves. "Yes, I'm going to do it," she decided.

She started on it as soon as she got home, carefully cutting the suede into squares. Then she  poked holes along the edges of each square. She decided that was enough for the day, and sent her sister a picture of her progress.

"You know I'd give you the $$ for something new if you wanted?" Hyacinth texted.

"I know, but I don't need your $$, honestly," she texted back.

Clem spent the next week working on the jacket, carefully crocheting the squares together, making sure none of the squares touching each other had the same color blue.

When she was finished, she modeled it for her mother, who was amazed.

"You're really talented at this sort of thing, you always have been," she remarked. "Remember when you were little and you'd make clothes for your dolls?"

"I remember, mom."

"And you made me that beautiful shawl for my birthday?" Jill ruffled her daughter's hair. "Maybe you should think about doing this full time, honey."

"Right." Clem scoffed.

On Friday, she drove to her sister's and got ready there.

Hyacinth was a vision in a fuchsia minidress with a slit up the back to show off her very toned thighs. Why wouldn't John want to date her?

Still, Clem was satisfied with her own, toned-down outfit. It was just her.

There was a knock on the door at six o'clock sharp, and Clem answered, as Hyacinth wasn't quite ready. John stood on the porch, resplendent in a suit with no tie, the first few buttons undone to show his very attractive chest.

"Clem, you look marvelous," he said, entering the house to wait for Hyacinth. "That jacket is the shit, isn't it? And I love your boots as well."

Clem smiled, pleased that he'd noticed. "I didn't realize you were so into women's fashion," she quipped. "I made this out of an old jacket I found at a thrift store."

"It's really fun, you have a good eye," he responded, motioning for her to do a twirl so he could see it from all angles.

Clem obliged, feeling a little awkward with all of the attention.

His golden eyes lit up with appreciation, taking all of her in. "You look lovely," he finished.

"Just wait til you see Hy," Clem said. "She looks amazing."

"I'm sure, she always does."

"Did I hear my name?" Hyacinth called, emerging from her room holding her shoes in her hand.

"I was just telling John how great you look," Clem began, turning to her sister. And she did, with her blonde hair brushed to a high gloss and the dress fitting her like a second skin.

Hyacinth leaned on John to slip her heels on, and the trio left her house.