Blast: The Teenage Hero

14. Dress For Success

"Did you just say... design an outfit?" she asked with a curious glance.

Hearing Julia's voice was enough to make Alex turn surprised, and start to feel flustered. "Y-Yeah, design an outfit..." he said, blushing slightly as a grin formed on his face.

Julia's eyes seemed to sparkle for a moment as she came closer. "That sounds wonderful!" she exclaimed cheerfully. "You know, I've always dreamed of being a fashion designer. I'm not a professional or anything, but I've learned a thing or two about making outfits. Maybe I could help you out." she offered with a sweet smile.

Hearing Julia's offer only made Alex's grin grow. "Y-You'd make a superhero costume for me?" he asked, his face lighting up as none other than Julia was offering to help make his superhero costume. However, a realization then hit him, and he seemed a bit embarrassed. "That'd be great... but I'm not sure if I have the money to pay for it..." he told her.

Julia just giggled slightly. "Oh, don't worry about that!" she told him. "Honestly I'd do it just for the experience. I'm going to need to practice a lot if I want to become a real fashion designer one day." she explained to him. "Besides, if it works out, your superhero costume will be on the newspaper, and more people could get to see my work." she said.

Tommy seemed excited, and hopped up and down for a bit. "It sounds really fun! I wanna help too!" Tommy exclaimed.

Julia looked back at Tommy as he shared his excitement. "Do you know how to sew, Tommy?" she asked him.

Tommy shook his head. "Not really, but it could be fun to learn! Besides, I've read dozens of superhero comics, and with my art perspective I could help make sure the outfit looks just like what a superhero would wear!" he said.

Julia nods, liking the idea. "That sounds good. To be honest I haven't really read any comics, so I think having some advice from a superhero connoisseur could help." Julia said with a warm smile.

Tommy smiled, but then stopped as he realized he didn't understand what Julia said. "A cone of what?" he asked.

Julia smiled at him. " A connoisseur. It's someone who knows a lot about something, so they can give an expert opinion about it." she explained.

Tommy nodded cheerfully. "Oh yeah, I'm a cone of score then!" he replied.

Julia shook her head. "No no, connoisseur, not cone of score." she explained.

Tommy just shrugged. "Aw anyway, can we get started making the superhero costume?" he asked.

Julia nodded. "We can gather at my house after school to start working on it." she suggested.

Alex rose an eyebrow as she said this. "W-What about your brother?" he asked her.

Julia giggled slightly. "Oh don't worry about Harris, he's going to be out to go take his driving test again." she said with a smile. "We should be fine, mom doesn't have a problem with me having friends over." she explained.

Alex's eyes twinkled as he realized that he really was being invited by Julia to come to her house. Could this day get any better? A daydream played out in his mind, with him and Julia spending more time together, until they'd start dating, and eventually they'd get married.

However, as his daydream played out, he didn't notice Julia was concerned about him not responding. "Alex, are you alright?" she asked him.

"I do..." he said, before snapping out of his daydream. "I-I mean... yeah, sounds good!" he replied with a nervous chuckle.

Julia smiled, giggling excitedly. "Alright then, you two come over after school, and we'll get started working on your superhero outfit." Julia told them.