Abigail was walking down the street of Houston on her day off, minding her own business and spending her free day window-shopping. She gazed at each of the well-arranged displays that she meandered passed, pausing every now and again to appreciate some fine detail of the design. But she never stopped for long, making her way steadily down the street, not finding anything that held her attention for more than a few moments.

And then she saw it.

In the window of a cutesy little boutique was the most gorgeous dress Abigail had ever seen. Sure, it was nestled amongst plenty of other dresses on the overflowing clothing rack near the front of the store, but even though she couldn't see it in its entirety, she was sure the dress, that particular dress, was flawless. For the first time in her long day of window-shopping, she backpedaled to the door of the shop, and went inside.

The boutique was quaint, and overflowing with clothing of very color and style, like so many boutiques do. She wastes no time in going over to the rack she had seen from the window, and finding the dress that had snagged her attention. She pulled it off the rack, and heaved a sigh of relief when she saw it was her size. Then she gasped at how beautiful it was.

The dress was unlike any other she had ever seen. It was a deep red, with a single silken strap holding it to the hanger. It was floor length, and decorated modestly, but breathtakingly, with golden jewels dotting the fabric. The dress was cinched on one side, and looked to Abigail like it would only go down to just above her knee on that side, but she didn't care about covering up her legs. She was just curious if she would be able to take this dress home or not. Upon checking the price tag, however, the latter seemed more realistic.

"Well, there's no harm in trying it on," Abigail said to herself, even if it was simply a way of making herself feel better. She found a store assistant, who led her and her beloved dress back into the shop's only fitting room. Abigail thanked the store assistant pleasantly, but as soon as the door was locked she was throwing her clothes to the ground, dying to try on her newfound treasure.

After a surprisingly simple wardrobe change, she stepped back and looked at herself in the mirror. Unsurprisingly, she fell in love with the dress all over again. It made her look like a goddess, like a supermodel, like Aphrodite. The red cascaded over her shoulder and down her body, nicely accentuating curves while not clinging to her too tightly, and pooled around her bare feet.

"Like an actress attending the Oscars," Abigail said to herself, and as soon as she did, she could see it. Like a dream, she saw herself at that famed awards show, posing for the cameras on the red carpet, which looked almost orange compared to the true red of her dress. She saw unfamiliar faces smiling at her, a dozen different interviewers asking her where she got her gorgeous dress, and plenty of her favorite actors and actresses complimenting her on it.

She could have gone on in that dream forever, but she was torn out of it before she could get any further along in her fantasy by rapping at the changing room door.

"Excuse me, are you about done, miss? We have another customer who needs the fitting room," the assistant called through the door.

"Yeah, just a moment," Abigail said, sneaking one last look at her dream dress before getting changed back into her boring, everyday clothes.
~~~

"Abigail? Abigail! What are you doing?" a supervisor's angry voice pierced through her daze. "You've done nothing all morning. Again. You know what," he continued, frustration rising, "that's it. One more time I catch you off task, you're out," he said with a huff, storming down the isle of cubicles and slamming the door to his office.

"So," Abigail heard a voice coming from above her computer. Upon looking up, she saw that it was none other than her coworker and friend, Julie. "Daydreaming again?"

"Yeah," Abigail pushed her rolling chair away from her computer and looked up at Julie's amused face. "I... I can't stop thinking about it, you know?"

"Oh, I know," Julie said, smiling. "You've been more off task in the past week than you have been... Ever. Even the last time you were crushing on some guy you just met you got more work done."

"Come on, Jules, I've gotten more work done than that," Abigail said indignantly. "Besides, can you blame me for being excited about him! I thought he was the one! And it's not like I've done anything exciting ever: I wanted him to be my first time. But, as we both know, that has to wait for now." She sighed, and looked down at the huge stack of files she had to input into the computer. She admitted, "Okay, maybe not. But what do I do? It's not like that dream will ever come true. I can't even afford the freaking dress!"

"Well you never know about your dream if you don't try!"

"What are you suggesting, that I take a train down to LA and try my hand as an actress?"

Julie gave her a knowing look, and said, "That's exactly what I'm suggesting."

"Are you crazy? I could never do that."

"But why not?" Abigail looked like she was going to protest, but Julie cut her off. "You're the one who's always telling me that we deserve better than this. That we can get out of here, but we're always afraid to because of the consequences. But what if there were no consequences? You could go start over and be a totally new person in LA! You could go be... Abi Cooke or something. Leave Abigail Cox behind, and go do something you're passionate about. Something you love," she said, moving from her cubicle to Abigail's, leaning against the desk, and giving the best hushed pep talk Abigail had ever heard.

"But... What if it doesn't work? What if I get there and I just... Fail?" Abigail asked, running her hand through her hair and leaning back in her chair.

"What if? We've been asking that since day one. And if you fail there, you'll keep going, become a waitress or something, just like we said we would do if this job didn't work out." She sighed. "No matter what the world says, we still have, we've always had, options. They might not be the most glamorous of options, but we have them as a fall back. So why not take a risk, knowing that you have a secure second option?"

Abigail looked up at Julie. "You really think so?"

"I know so," Julie said with a smile. "Now are you going to go quit or what?"

"What am I going to do about the dress?"

"Have you paid rent for this month yet?"

"No, it's due next week. Why?" Julie gave her a look, and she gasped. "No! I am not spending even part of my rent money on a dress!"

"Well who needs rent money when you won't be in Houston to use the house you've rented? Besides, I know you have way more savings than you're willing to admit."

Abigail sighed, but she was grinning. "Yeah, you're right. Alright, by the end of next week I'm out of here. I need time to find a cheap apartment in LA and pull some money from sailings, but I will do this," she said with certainty.

Julie grinned at her and nodded, before retreating back to her cubicle.
~~~

Exactly one week later, Abigail was back in her cubicle, but her mood was very different from last Friday, when she had her talk with Julie. Her things were neatly packed, ready for her great get away from her boring life in Houston. She stood, and took a deep breath. Julie looked up at her from her desk, and gave her a quick thumb’s up. Abigail gave her a quick smile and took a breath before walking down the isle to her boss' office.

"Mr. Carter?" She asked hesitantly after knocking on the door.

"Come in," he said distractedly. She walked in and stood by the door, waiting for him to finish whatever work he was doing on his computer. A few minutes later, he looked up at her. "What can I do for you, miss...?"

"Cox, sir. And it's not so much what you can do for me. Not any more." She took a deep breath before continuing. "I quit."

Carter just stared at her for a moment, then slowly said, "you... Quit."

"Yes, sir, I quit. Or would you prefer the term resign? Either way, today is my last day," she said, before turning on her heel and walking out.

As she walked back to her cubicle to collect her things, Abigail was unable to keep a smile off her face. Julie peered at her as she walked down the isle, and upon seeing the smile on Abigail's face, she grinned, jumped up, and ran out to hug her.

"I'm so proud of you," she whispered as she embraced Abigail. Julie was grinning when they let each other go, and asked, "Do you need help bringing things downstairs?"

"That'd be nice," Abigail said. Julie smiled, and grabbed one of the two boxes laid out on the desk as Abigail picked up the other one. "Could I also get a ride to the train station?" Abigail asked once they were in the elevator bay. When Julie gave her a quizzical look, she continued, "I had to sell the car to have enough money for the dress, rent, and the train ticket. The guy I sold it to picked it up here this morning, and my bags are down behind the front counter in the lobby."

Julie nodded, and said, "Sure, I can give you a ride." After a beat of pause, she added, "I bet you sold your furniture too, didn't you?"

Abigail smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I did. But I didn't need it anymore, and at least this way I didn't have to take anything out of savings - I actually had some extra cash to put into it," she said as the left the elevators, making a quick stop at the front desk to grab the rest of her bags. "Thanks for the help, Dan," she said to the man behind the counter, who smiled at her and waved goodbye.

Julie took one bag, and Abigail took the other, and together they made their way to Julie's car. They loaded up the bags and boxes into the trunk, and climbed into the car. They told stories and laughed the whole way to the train station, enjoying each other's company for the last time in neither of them knew how long.

Upon getting to the train station, Julie made sure Abigail had everything under control before giving her one last hug, one last "good luck, Abigail," and one last wave goodbye.

Abigail walked into the train station, and set down her things in the waiting area. She had an hour or so before the train was supposed to depart, so she decided to get settled. She pulled out a book from one of her bags, sneaking a look at her dream dress right at the top of the bag before shutting it again.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't focus on the book. After around 15 minutes, she gave up on trying to read, and let herself daydream. For the past 2 weeks, she couldn't get the vision of herself at the Oscars out of her head. It had been there, on the edge of her consciousness, when she was making arrangements to sell nearly everything she owned, putting a down payment on the cheapest, tiniest apartment she could find in LA, and packing up all she was taking with her on her journey. It dominated her dreams: even when she wasn't at the Oscars, she was always doing something new, great, and she was always wearing the red dress.

Abigail wasted no time reminiscing about her past, all she was leaving behind in Houston. Instead, she simply dreamed about the future, about all that she could do with her fabulous red dress, until the train arrived.

The train ride from Houston to LA lasted nearly 4 days, but that was ok with Abigail. Even a sleeping car had been less expensive than trying to find a last minute airplane ticket to one of the most used airports in the world. She passed the ride itself in a daze, incredibly happy to be walking straight into a world of opportunity, but not necessarily eager to get there.

Soon enough, the train was pulling into the station in sunny California, and Abigail was the first one off the train, excited about finally being there. She grabbed a taxi, and gave the driver the address after she piled her bags in the back seat with her. Even though this was her first time in LA, this wasn't Abigail's first experience with the city. She did live in Houston for most of her life, after all.

When she got to her new apartment building, she gave paid the driver, and hauled her stuff out onto the street. She stared up at the grey 4-story building, which matched all the other grey multistory buildings that she could see. It looked like it was falling apart a bit, but it looked livable, so she wasn't concerned. Abigail dragged her stuff inside and, upon finding that the elevator was broken, up to her new apartment on the third floor.

She was out of breath when she finally reached her floor, and had to take a moment before digging through her purse to find the key the building manager had sent her the day before she left. As Abigail was fumbling through her bag, she heard someone come up the stairs behind her. She turned and saw a woman, blond and probably around her age, unlocking the door next to hers.

"Hey," the newcomer said, "do you need some help?"

"Oh, no I'm fine," Abigail answered after a moment, smiling as she pulled out the envelop with the key to her door in it. "I'm just... Looking for this," she said, flashing the woman her key.

The woman nodded understandingly, and asked, "you new here?"

"Yup," Abigail admitted as she unlocked her door. "Just got here from the station."

"The station? Like, the train station? That's so cool!" The woman exclaimed. When she noticed that Abigail was moving to bring all her bags inside in one trip, she asked, "Do you want some help?" Upon realizing the connotations of what she said, she added, "I mean, I'm no going to steal anything. Just... Trying to be a good neighbor." She said with a smile.

"Uh, yeah, that would be great, actually. Thanks." Abigail put down one of the bags and held out her hand, saying, "I'm Abigail."

The woman shook her hand briefly before picking up the rest of the bags and carrying them into the apartment behind Abigail. "I'm May. Nice to meet you, Abigail."

"Nice to meet you too, May," she said as she dropped her bags down in the tiny, but already furnished living room. "Is there anything else?"

"Nope, that's it. You really didn't bring much, did you?" May asked, a smile on her face.

"No. Not much at all. Thanks so much for your help, May."

"No problem, Abigail," May said, turning towards the door and heading out. She paused in the doorway, and turned around. "Do you want to come over for dinner tonight? I mean, I know moving is difficult, and it's nice to not have to cook for yourself the first night in a new place, so... What do you say?"

This surprised Abigail, and it took her a moment to respond, saying, "Uh, sure! Thanks so much. What time do you want me to come over?"

May smiled. "Dinner'll probably be ready in an hour or so, but you're welcome over whenever you want. Just knock."

"Okay, then, sounds great! I'll be over soon." May turned around, and Abigail called after her, "thanks again," before the door closed.

Abigail turned to face the bags in the middle of the room and sighed. The place was well furnished enough. The couch and chair in the living room weren't in too bad condition, and the kitchen came stocked with the bare minimum of aging appliances, but it was enough to get by. She walked into the only other room in the apartment, her bedroom, and found it was about as small as she expected it to be. But the bed was soft, and it already had a set of sheets sitting at its foot. There was a nightstand, a small dresser, and a small closet, but otherwise the bedroom was bland and minimal. The bathroom was no better, filled with white tiles on the walls and the ground, with a stall shower in one corner and a toilet in another. All in all, the apartment wasn't bad, especially given the price.

Abigail set about unpacking, but there wasn't much to unpack. Within 20 minutes she was done, and back to daydreaming about her dress, which was hanging temptingly in the closet. After a few moments of sitting on the bed staring at her dress, Abigail got up, closed the closet, and went next door to May's.

She knocked on the door loud enough to be heard over the music coming from inside. The music quieted, and she heard May's voice calling, "Come on in, Abigail!"

Abigail entered into May's apartment hesitantly, taking in all the details of an apartment almost identical to hers. The only difference was that the furniture and architecture were mirrored from her own apartment.

"Well don't just stand there," May said, glancing up at Abigail from the cutting board, then motioning towards the chairs at the counter and saying, "go ahead, sit down." Abigail obliged with a smile, and watched May work for a bit before speaking up.

"I hate to be blunt," Abigail said, "but why are you being so nice to me?"

"Never liked small talk anyway," May said with a smile, quickly looking up at Abigail again. "I'm the newest one on this floor, if not in the building, and no one was very nice to me when I moved in. So I decided to do the next newbie a favor. And then you showed up, and looked like you needed help, so I just decided to ask. You were nice, I tried to be nice, and here we are," she said matter-of-factly. "So, since we're skipping the small talk, what brings you to LA?"

"I... I want to be an actress," Abigail replied after a moment. "I moved here from Houston in hopes to find an acting job here," she admitted. Honestly, she was getting scared that she had been ridiculously naive in moving to LA on a week's notice, and worried about what other people would say.

"Cool!" May said, flashing her a quick smile. "I want to be a publicity agent. You know what? We should work together. I can get you a job on a commercial or two, you can help me pay rent, and get me to do more than just shadow and get coffee for some barely known agent. It's a win-win! What do you say?"

Abigail was shocked. She'd been here for what, an hour, and she was already getting basically a job offer? "Uh, yeah. That actually sounds great. Almost too good to be true..?"

"Nope, not too good to be true. But I don't blame you for not trusting me right off the bat. How about you think on it and let me know when you've made up your mind?"

"Okay," Abigail said, feeling a bit relieved. They started talking about other things, about their homes, their families, their past jobs. As it turned out, they had a lot more in common than Abigail and thought. They'd both grown up just outside big cities in Texas, and had done the same variety of odd jobs through their teens and early twenties. By the end of the night, Abigail felt like she had known May her whole life, and she trusted her.

The conversation lulled during dish washing, when Abigail said, "May? I think I'll take you up on that agent thing."

There was a beat of a pause before May spoke. When Abigail looked over at her, she was grinning. "Really? Like, really really? Oh my gosh this is great!" She finished drying the last dish, set it down, and bear hugged Abigail. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise you won't regret it!"

At this point, Abigail was laughing, "I feel like I should be thanking you! And promising that you won't regret doing this for me!"

"No, no," May said, laughing as she moved over to her couch where their glasses of wine were still sitting. "Just one thing, though. I feel like you need a new name."

"A new name?" Abigail asked.

"Yeah, a new name. Abigail just seems so... Old-fashioned? Plain? Not Hollywood material. And the same goes for Cox, although you could keep that if you want. Any ideas?"

Abigail thought for a moment and smiled, saying, "you know, I've always been partial to Abi Cooke."
~~~

"Ms. Cooke? Mr. Thomas will see you now," the secretary informed her. Abi stood, smoothed out her red dress, and took a shaking breath before heading towards the door that the secretary was holding open for her.

"Thank you," she said quietly to the secretary as she shut the door behind Abi. She turned to face the desk, and found Mr. Dwayne Thomas staring at her with an unreadable expression.

"Come sit, Ms. Cooke. We have much to discuss," he said with his slight British accent, motioning for her to have a seat. Abi obliged, sitting carefully and crossing her ankles, schooling her expression to hide her anxiousness.

"You have an impressive resume, Ms. Cooke. May I call you Abi?" She nodded, and he continued, "Yes a very impressive resume indeed. And your audition was nearly flawless. Excellent work, truly excellent. But I have a few hesitations about giving you this part."

Abi cleared her throat softly, and asked, "Hesitations?"

"Yes, Abi, hesitations. This role... Well, it can only be played well by a very versatile actress, and I'm not sure you're ready for it."

"And what would change your mind?" Abi asked after a moment.

"Well, I am most concerned about your sexual chemistry with your costar. You're very pretty, and a great actress, but I haven't seen anything from you that has sold me on that front. Prove it to me that you can do that well, and the part's all yours."

Perhaps it was a good thing that she wasn't sure what she was doing, because before she knew it, Abi had stood up, and was leaning over Mr. Thomas with her hands braced on the desk between them. "When can we start?" She asked huskily.

"Right here, right now," he said as he pushed his chair back from the desk and motioned her towards him. Abi walked around the desk and took a seat, straddling his lap. The slit in her deep red dress pushed up to her hip, and its silky fabric pooled easily in her lap, leaving her legs bare. He pushed the strap off of her shoulder, and when she looked in his eyes, all Abi could see was the look a hunter gives its prey. It was full of hunger and lust, and although Abi wasn't comfortable with this at all, this was the only way to guarantee a part in an actual movie, so she let him do whatever he wanted to her.

And he did.
~~~

Abi forced a smile as the endless hours of posing continued. It was the premier of the movie, of her first big movie, and the paparazzi were abuzz. This was predicted to be the biggest movie of the summer, maybe even of the year, and it had a brand new, unheard of actress; Abi. She'd sat through more interviews and photo shoots in the past 2 weeks than she could count, but it was worth it, she kept telling herself. It was worth it to be on the red carpet at a huge Hollywood movie premier, wearing her red dress she had always dreamed she would wear. Sure, her designer had insisted on altering it a bit, but it was still the same dress she had bought nearly two years ago. Just like she had always planned.

The premier went on, and she posed for plenty of pictures and gave a dozen of interviews before getting to see the movie. She had to admit, it was a good movie, but Abi wasn't sure if she could ever get used to seeing herself on the big screen.

After the premier was over, one of her costars dragged her off to an after party. Abi thought she had a good time at the party, but she wasn't quite sure. When she woke up in the morning on a couch in some actor's penthouse she couldn't remember much. She saw her dress in a crumpled pile in the corner of the empty, but wrecked room. There was shattered glass and empty glasses everywhere, and when she sat up her head spun. She groaned internally, because groaning out loud would have caused too much of a headache, and stood. She braced the back of the couch until she could see straight, then grabbed the dress and pulled it over her head.

Despite all it had been through last night, the dress was still just as gorgeously red and nicely stitched as when her designer had given it to her the week before. The clear vodka had left no trace on the material, and the only sign of what it had been used for last night was the lines of white powder on the abdomen. She felt sluggish compared to last night as she bent down to get her shoes, and paused at a mirror before leaving the penthouse. She looked tired, her hazel eyes still slightly bloodshot, and she had bags under her eyes. It didn't help her appearance that her dirty blonde hair was a mess. She sighed and headed down to street level to get a taxi back home.

Abi passed the taxi ride in a hazel and the next thing she knew she was peeling off her dress in her dark bedroom. She hung it up on its hanger in the closet, sat down on the bed and stared at it. Before she can stop herself, she gets lost in reminiscence, remembering that first day she saw this enchanting red dress. It had put her under its spell, and hypnotized her into making one of the most risky decisions of her life. She wondered, just for a moment, what her life would have been like if she hadn't seen the dress, if she hadn't decided to abandon everything and come be an actress in Hollywood. She wished, for a brief moment, that she could go back and just walk right on past that fatal red dress, that she could never have to live with all the consequences of her actions since she saw it.