It All Started With an Ugly Charlton Holiday Sweater
This most wonderful time of the year, holiday season usually started off for her, being given it from her crafty Mum or Aunt who happily handed over the most hideous sweaters in existence as presents for Christmas over the years to Emily who wore it grumpily and the constant asking (badgering) when she was she going to find a nice bloke to settle down with.
This year was no exception. Nigel thought it was the ugliest thing he'd ever seen. He insisted it be burnt. Jabbed hard on his pinstripe arm, it was from her Mum. Made by her. It was a Charlton tradition.
Emily was just relieved Miranda didn't see it.
Emily Charlton was going to kill her Mum. It came here, for her, her Mum had sent it to her care of Runway.
Fingering the festive robins on it with apt horror and the saying that made Emily hope she never wore it.
Jingle My Bells.
No one was ever jingling her bells.
Emily's Christmas's usually consisted of a long BA flight home to Richmond upon Thames, her arriving jetlagged to the turkey burning, the dog knocking over the tree, all the children crying/fighting/vomiting from too much chocolate or her cousin's two and a half year old headbutting the dog and screaming ''broken penguin'' and toughing out a relative singing 'FIVE GOLD RINGS' in her ear on a loop for three hours and being forced copious eggnog and making a hat out of a sheet of the Telegraph all with King's College carol service blaring.
Always making sure her Dad remembered while popping down to Tesco's for last minute things, like the brandy butter and making sure that the turkey does not look like a weapon of mass destruction.
Not this year. Emily was simply skipping Christmas. She was not flying home this time, she still felt like she was coming down with something.
So deck the halls with boughs of jolly. 'Pffft!' she was staying in New York this Christmas and W'evs to yuletide excelsis over the pond with her entire family. She didn't want to fly squashed in economy and all through Boxing Day to New Year's Eve pretending she was having a great time. When she wasn't.
Her family discussing how she was still single. No children yet. Still working for her.
Her Mum thought Emily should resign and come work for her Dad's investment firm. She could shop at Boots and Waitrose again.
Assured her Mum, NYC had grocery stores.
She'd be fine this Christmas on her own. Told to call them and wear her jumper.
Emily had already shopped for the twins and everything else Miranda had her running around the city for, was sorted. Done. Wrapped and bowed and scheduled and now she could go home and hibernate for a week with her phone turned off.
Runway was closed until January 8th. Her much needed holiday had officially begun. Clicking off her computer. She was curling up to a new Nicholas Sparks book. 'The Choice' and perhaps she might attempt a social life in the Big Apple.
No more dating and never again a one night stand with anything remotely like him last month.
Watching Emily at her desk, organizing her things and gathering her things to go when she was dismissed.
''Emily.''
Miranda hated this time of year. Stephen was over. Ended at last.
If she was still married to him, it would be a week of leading up to Stephen's family arriving to spend the holidays like last year, with his rude sister and his mother who both equally didn't like her and mainly be a strained staying at the townhouse for a week, enduring Christmas morning of Stephen disappears or drinks too much.
She'd end up hating shirking being a husband to her Stephen and the tension he brought for the holidays would be ruined for Caroline and Cassidy. Saw it in last year's pictures of them posed formally.
Those pictures told Miranda everything. Stephen didn't fit with her.
Miranda was determined to give her Bobbseys a great Christmas this year. Not be anything like it was before, no one was ruining Christmas with her and the twins.
They were going to try to be a family together. Hot chocolate and decorating the tree that was delivered this morning and walking Patricia. Miranda promised the twins she wouldn't once call Emily this week.
Miranda was baking and cooking herself this year. No caterers. Cassidy and Caroline were hers this year not their father's. Her Ex got them all summer.
Greg could laugh himself silly in humid Turks & Caicos she could defrost an organic turkey without resorting to calling an assistant.
She ran Runway easily enough.
Miranda scanned Emily with a flick of her cold blue eyes, who had her notepad ready for her.
Emily held it clasped. Her first assistant had picked that up from her clearly. A little habit of hers. Miranda's mouth thinned.
Emily was truly a wonderful assistant not like her. Andrea, who was such a milquetoast. Weak. Insipid. Still seething with what she did to her in Paris. Walking away from her, just like that, without a word of explanation. Leaving her side, in the middle of fashion week was the Midwesterner chemically imbalanced or working for Irv?
Impertinent, childish, the list went on and on at what was wrong with Andrea.
That paste and copy template letter of resignation sent to her made Miranda a true dragon in Paris. Nigel had never seen Miranda more riled, almost on a par when she discovered Greg was cheating on her.
Andrea Sachs was working at that paper now and what she'd seen while pretending not to see her on the curb waving asininely at her. She looked happy.
That was an emotion elusive to Miranda. After all Stephen said to her last week with both of their lawyers present, she had an empty heart full of broken parts not even glue or concrete could put together.
Emily in the New Year was ready for what Miranda had in mind for her. She was ready to move into Jocelyn's role. ''Emily there's nothing I need. Go on. Enjoy your holidays. I will see you in January. Call for Roy.''
Emily softly wished her a happy Christmas as Miranda had her call for Roy before traffic got tied up this late afternoon.
Twinkling lights on the tree, Andy was really grateful to her new roommate being a perfect fit with her. Moving out of her last place with Nate was for the best, she needed to move on and she was doing just that, living near Central Park besides Serena was looking for a roommate last month and thought of Andy instantly and that next Monday Andy moved in, plus, she wasn't a slob or psycho and at any given opportunity Serena kept her up on the daily saga of life at Runway.
Often with news about Miranda.
Serena also now knew how she felt about Miranda. Was it that obvious? Andy hoped it wasn't. If Miranda knew?
Andy hoped Miranda didn't.
Serena had been cooking for Andy the night she moved in and just asked her out of the blue over Calabrian sausage and red wine ragu with pasta, why did she leave Miranda in Paris. Andy blamed it all on the really good red wine. Serena liked good red wine. She said it out loud. What she'd been hiding and denying for months. She was in love with her boss.
Serena clinked her glass and asked her what she was going to do about it.
Andy didn't honestly know, it was not so easy to go and tell Miranda this, she reminded Serena, and that Miranda was getting divorced. She'd been married to Stephen. Also Miranda hated her.
Serena just grinned and casually shrugged her toned shoulders. ''Andy tell her how you feel about her or narcotize yourself with casual sex for years.''
Serena swallowed her wine and her eyes sparkled as she held Andy's dark eyes. ''Only with white haired night stands though.''
Andy almost inhaled her own sip of wine.
Neither Andy would attempt this Christmas. Or ever. Go and tell Miranda how she felt about her, Andy couldn't.
Changing the subject to Serena's own unrequited love. Emily. That frosty snobby redhead Andy actually missed sometimes and she knew Serena secretly loved and adored.
Discovering this when she saw Serena on the phone to Emily. It was in her eyes.
Serena still hadn't told Emily who her new roommate was. Being very mysterious about it. Nigel didn't know and Serena suspected Emily or Miranda wouldn't care for the idea of it being Andy Sachs.
Andy and Serena had bought the tree and decorated it together.
Serena was probably on her plane right now to her family in Rio.
Andy had the week off alone, and she wasn't going home to Ohio this year, maybe next year. Her parents just didn't understand she didn't want Nate back. They were over.
They just didn't work anymore. Nate and she were never getting married or having kids that had her smile and his unruly hair.
He chose Boston and as Nate rubbed it in to Andy, she chose Paris and someone whose calls she always took.
Half the time she didn't understand it herself that she now only wanted to kiss a certain white haired Editor with a soul of ice, who loathed and despised Andy and once called her fat and treated her like an inferior pair of hands to fetch and catch her coat. Andy was nothing to her. Groaning to herself, Serena was no help, kept urging Andy should go and just tell Miranda how she felt about her.
What was she supposed to do? Show up at Runway and corner Miranda with her lips.
Andy honestly didn't need that inevitable humiliation or rejection.
Serena warned her not to flake out on the couch in her fuzzy slippers, numbed to 'Last Christmas' or watch a marathon of sappy holiday flicks. She wasn't going to do just that. She was going to finish a few articles and stay in, subsisting on her Mom's sugar cookies and bin the fruit cake. Maybe she'd call Doug or Lily.
If it snowed she could go walk in it.
Andy slipped on her lumpy sweater over her head as her door buzzed.
''Hi Andy there's a delivery for you. You have to sign for it.''
Andy's dark brows came together. Her folks sent her gifts last week by overnight delivery and she got it. ''Sure I'll be right down.'' Getting her keys and grabbing Gordon the doorman's wrapped up gift box as Andy made her way to the elevator, pressing Lobby.
Serena held her phone to her ear, its battery was dead, and she hadn't charged it last night, as she rummaged through her bag for her ticket, her long fingers brushing it, she forgot to give this to Emily.
In all honesty Serena hadn't forgotten, more like chickened out of giving it to Emily, she should have given it to Emily yesterday many times missed her chance, and Serena almost gave it before she left the office. Couldn't.
Only able to sputter out a Merry Christmas to the redhead she worked beside.
Emily liked guys not girls. She didn't even know Serena liked her. Liked her, liked her. Serena kept those feelings to herself.
The envelope and glittery snowflake gift paper mocking her.
It was something she just knew Emily would love. Serena had watched her enough to know she would.
She was pathetic and hopeless, Emily didn't even know how she felt about her. Emily wasn't her girlfriend or life partner and never would be.
So Serena knew when Emily's face was upset or how many freckles she had or how she liked her Starbuck's coffee, that and Serena worried that she should eat more and that she liked inhaling her scent of perfume every morning when she leaned over Serena's shoulder, showing her something on the computer.
Emily only dated men. Serena knew Emily wasn't about to suddenly start dating Serena for any reason. Ever.
Serena's soft eyes scanned the flight board, she read it, just perfect her flight home was cancelled. She would probably wait for hours.
Looking down to get her address book out and find a payphone. Serena glanced, confused. Where was her wheelie bag?
This was the start of a truly shitty Christmas Eve for her.
Her bag was gone, likely stolen and her phone dead.