DISCLAIMER: I'd The Facts of Life and its characters are the property of Columbia Pictures Television and Sony Pictures Television, no infringement intended.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Color Me a Season
By Ann
"This is absolutely ridiculous, Blair. I agreed to come with you to this stupid appointment, but I never, ever, agreed to participate."
Jo stood with arms folded, glaring at the blonde as the two sat in the empty, poshly decorated waiting room.
"Oh, c'mon Jo. It'll be fun. Maybe after Mrs. Winters finishes her appraisal, you'll finally know what you've been all this time."
"Appraisal? Blair, this isn't some real estate office. I don't need to be appraised."
Blair sat on the colorful sofa and patted the seat next to her. "Just sit and let's fill out these questionnaires."
Jo narrowed her eyes and grudgingly sat next to the blonde. Blair smiled brightly as she handed the brunette a clipboard and, turning her attention back to her own questionnaire, the socialite began to earnestly answer the questions, reading each sentence carefully before checking the appropriate box.
Sighing, Jo began to read her own set of questions. She easily checked the first few boxes dealing with hair color and eye color, and she even managed the question about the shape of her eyes, but she balked at the more personal questions.
"Am I comfortable with authority? What the hell type of question is that?"
Blair looked up from checking her strong agreement to the inquiry concerning her enjoyment of meeting and impressing new people.
"There's more to determining what season you are than just your hair and eye color. Your personality plays a big part. Although, I don't see any questions asking about how gruff or rude a person can be."
"I'm not rude. I just tell it like it is. You just don't like to hear the truth, Blair. You want everyone to cater to you, and, oh, hey, is that one of the questions? I think you can strongly agree to that one."
Harrumphing, Blair glanced back at the list. Reaching over, she grabbed the clipboard out of Jo's hand, surprising the brunette.
"Hey, that's mine. What do you think you're doing?"
With a few strokes of the pencil, Blair added a sentence at the bottom and drew a small box under the row of strongly agrees. Checking the area, she smiled and handed the questionnaire back to the brunette.
"Opinionated and obtuse? Why, I oughta . . ."
The door to the inner offices opened, interrupting the veiled threat. "Ms. Warner, so good of you to come. If you and your friend will follow me, I'll take you to your consultants."
"Consultants? As in plural?" Jo asked, stepping closer to Blair.
Blair smiled at the young assistant and turned to follow her down the hallway. "Yes, Jo. I thought it would be best if we had our own individual consultant."
Jo quickly glanced over her shoulder at the exit, trying to decide if she could make a quick getaway, but a touch to her arm startled her back into reality.
"This way, Miss. Julianna is waiting for you in room 1."
The brunette watched Blair disappear behind door number 2, and mumbling, she followed the young attendant. "I can't believe I agreed to this."
Hours later, the two finally met up again in a small conference room. Each woman carried a color wheel and some brochures.
"Oh, Jo. I'm a spring, a glorious spring, in fact."
Grumbling, Jo consulted her brochure, and a grin began to crease her face. "Man, they certainly pegged you. Manipulative, fails to plan ahead, too talkative, takes on too many projects at once and rarely finishes one, and, my absolute favorite, speaks without thinking."
"What? Let me see that." Blair swept the pamphlet from out of the brunette's hand.
"You're reading the negative traits which, by the way, don't actually fit me. Here, look at the positive ones: friendly, curious, good humor, smiles often, enthusiastic, witty, good at conversation. I'm all those things."
"And then some," Jo muttered quietly. "Well, you're still the others, too. I guess you have to take the bad with the good.
Blair threw the brochure back at Jo and lifted her own to read. "So, what did Julianna have to say about you?"
"I'm a striking autumn, something about a winter mix. I told you this place was a rip-off. How can someone be two seasons?"
Blair ignored her friend's question and focused on Jo's answer instead. Laughing, she read, "Disagreeable, wants to do things their own way, stubborn, easily irritated, takes over in group situations. Oh, Jo. You're definitely a striking autumn."
"Hey, give me that." Jo grabbed for the brochure and easily wrestled it from the grinning blonde.
"It also says that I'm dependable, loyal, true to a cause, confident, AND, I always stick to a plan. Now, isn't that surprising; we're total opposites. You paid way too much money for this consultation, Blair. I could've told you that."
The door swung open, revealing their two very perky consultants. Smiling, they echoed enthusiastically, "We've got your color swatches."
Blair positive beamed while Jo groaned and hit her head on the conference table, repeatedly.
Another hour later, the pair could be found in a spacious dressing room at Bloomingdale's. Jo sat against the wall with her head leaned back and eyes closed as the sales person carried in another armful of clothes.
"I think this should do as a start, Ms. Warner. Just call me if you'd like to try something else."
Peering through a slit, Jo complained, "You're not seriously going to try on all those clothes are you, Blair?"
"Of course, I am. There are just too many colors that suit me. Mrs. Winters said I needed to try them all and choose what I like best."
Jo looked over at the peach and coral colored sun dresses and frowned. Nothing in the color scheme seemed to suit her. Moving her eye down the rack, she picked up more shades, clear blues, bright greens, and true reds.... red. Jo's eyes popped open, and she sat up straighter.
"Need any help with your zipper, Blair?"
The blonde smiled and reached for the low-cut red dress. Turning, she made her way over to Jo. "I'd love some help. And, if you're good and patient, we'll head over to the coat section when we finish up here. Julianna did say that you'd look good in spicy, rich colors. I was thinking a new dark brown leather jacket."
Jo jumped from her seat and hurried to help the blonde out of her dress, suddenly realizing that perhaps she'd been too hasty in her judgment of the whole color idea. As more and more of Blair's smooth silky back became visible, Jo was positively certain that she'd been wrong. The 'Color Me a Season' agency was the best idea Blair had ever had.
The End