Paris had always held a place in Miranda's heart but this year she was not looking foreword to her annual Paris trip. She would not be going with Andrea, having watched her walk away from her. She saw the girl walk past the Elias Clark building everyday and noticed that she looked happy. Miranda didn't know why she watched for her everyday but she did. Standing at her window with her eyes scanning the people for Andrea. Her clothes were still fashionable but much more casual.
She wouldn't see Andrea walk by the building because she was on a plane headed for Paris. She let her crystal blue eyes drift over the other passengers. Emily was typing on her blackberry with one ear bud in her head, her foot bouncing in time to whatever she was listening to. Miranda rolled she eyes and moved on. She had replaced Nigel with Paul, Nigel was now the Editor-in-chief of Men's Runway and she had never seen him so happy. But Paul was different, quiet and hard working and fiercely secretive. She didn't mind that but she would like to find out his last name.
She felt her phone vibrate and was soon texting away with her twins, they didn't like to talk on the phone preferring to text . It had taken Miranda a while to get the hang of it but now she sat back and comfortably had two different conversations with her daughters. She was trying to decipher what the arrangement of letters and numbers meant when she saw a flash of red out of the corner of her eye.
She looked up happy for the distraction of the constant brain teasers. What she saw shocked her. Andrea Sachs in a gorgeous red channel dress flying into the open arms of Paul. "Big Brother!" She screeched as giggled as he took her up into his arms and spun her around. Paul had asked if he could bring his little sister with him on the trip saying that he wanted to show her the sights. Miranda didn't mind since she wouldn't be around Paul that much and if he thought he could manage then let him. She would gladly stand back and watch him struggle.
But now seeing Andrea again made her realize that perhaps she spoke too soon. This was going to be the longest week of her life. Miranda sighed and let her head hit the head rest. Oh God, here we go.
Andrea stood in front of her mirror spinning in her red channel dress. It had been a year since she had seen Miranda and in that time she had done a lot of growing up. She ended the relationship with Nate, deciding that she wanted to be happy rather than do what was expected. She always knew that she was attracted to girls since she had a crush on her high school English teacher. But because her family was Jewish and fiercely religious they would have disowned her, like they did to her brother. Paul, he was now working at Runway, she had to laugh. But he was happy and that was all that mattered. It was probably because he didn't deal with Miranda on a daily basis and because Miranda actually valued his opinion as he knew about fashion.
After she left Runway, she went to the Mirror and liked working there. But it was not that challenging so she began to write freelance. Within two months she was one of the most sought after writers in New York. Then her mom got sick. Andrea was torn between what was right and what was expected. She went home to sit by her mom's bed and while the life was draining out of her it seemed to make the words pour out of Andrea.
Her mom died almost six months ago and she was hardened, eyes no longer innocent. She was not liked in most circles for writing a provocative story about the problems in the health care world. The insurance company had gotten out of paying for her mom's treatment because of a loop hole so instead of being in a hospital her mom died in her bed in extreme pain. She didn't take crap from anyone and worked hard, being the first one in the office and the last to leave.
She was going to Paris to get out of the states and to try to find some peace and quiet. She knew that she was traveling with Miranda but frankly she no longer scared her because she had become her. People called her a bitch and quaked in fear when she read their stories, she had been promoted to second editor of the paper and while it was Greg's final decision about what went in she reviewed all the stories. She understood what Miranda meant about doing what it takes to be the best. Yes she am be a bitch but they kept coming back because they knew that she knew her stuff and a yes from her was rare.
Her bags were packed and with a final sweep of her long brown hair she left the apartment. She did hope that she got a chance to speak to Miranda but she wouldn't seek her out. She was here to relax not to cater to this woman's needs and not to apologize for her actions one year ago. Truth is she would thank her if she got the chance. She was one of the last people to board the plane and when she did she walked down the aisle until she saw Paul, completely missing Miranda looking confused at her cell phone. "Big Brother!" She screamed and ran into his arms. He lifted her like he used and swung her around in his strong arms.
She breathed in his scent and realized how much she missed him. She hadn't seen him since the funeral where he stood in the back so he wasn't noticed, that wouldn't go over well. He set her down and let her have the aisle seat knowing about her fear of heights. Paul put his headphones in his ears and settled down while Andrea laid her head against his shoulder and opened her laptop. She wanted to get some work down so she put her headphones in her ears and tuned out the world around her. She missed the reaction of the silver haired goddess sitting in the seat one row back opposite her.
Miranda watched as Andrea walked right by her and said hello to her brother then pulled out her laptop and started to work or something, she assumed it was work but it could be solitaire for all she knew. She would need her glasses to see the screen from here. Miranda was not used to being ignored and as much as it made her mad it intrigued her. Why did the girl come here? The last time Miranda saw Andrea she could make Andrea faint dead away by lifting her eyebrow and now she was pretending she didn't exist. No not pretending she didn't see Miranda and she didn't care enough to look.
She wasn't sure how she was supposed to react but then she heard the captain say that they were beginning to take off and watched as Andrea reached for Paul's hand while he put his arm around her shoulders to comfort her. Miranda rolled her eyes and looked out her window watching with interest as the plane taxied down the runway. She heard a yelp as Emily dropped her phone and it collided with Miranda's shoe. She bent down and picked it up before handing back to Emily with her trademark icy glare in place. However when she moved her eyes off Emily's she connected with Andrea's. Miranda continued to glare but Andrea merely dipped her head a fraction of an inch and returned to Paul's shoulder. Okay now Miranda was confused, what was that. No flinching, no shaking or quaking, just a head nod and barely that. This girl confused Miranda to no end and she could tell that it was one sided and Andrea was not thinking about her. She wasn't looking for her she was just curious about the sudden noise, as any sane person would be.
Miranda waited until the seatbelt light went off to stand up and move to sit across from Andrea. She went under the pretext that she had to discuss one of the shows with Paul but really she wanted to see Andrea's reaction up close. It bothered her that she was thinking about this so much but now she wanted to know. And Miranda was a woman on a mission, decipher Andrea Sachs once and for all.
By the time Miranda made her way over Andrea was deep in thought and had her headphone in her ears, flipping through a notebook and typing only pausing to push her reading glasses up her nose. Paul was reading the schedule and was taking notes of his notes. Because of all this work Miranda had to practically flop into her seat to be noticed. Paul looked up and put away his notes while looking for the list from the Versace people. Miranda wanted to have the details again. Andy didn't notice at all until Miranda said her name. Her head shot up until she realized who it was.
"Hello, Miranda, how are you?" She said politely while saving her document and taking off her glasses. Miranda noticed that her eyes had hardened and her voice held authority and power. She gave off an aurora of self assurance and power that Miranda found was very sexy. Wait where had that come from, she mentally shook her head and replied, "I'm well. What are you doing her Andrea?"
"Visiting my brother and relaxing so I can try to work undisturbed." There was something in the way she said undisturbed that made Miranda think for a second that she should leave her alone to work. She turned her head and waved her hand to show her displeasure and disinterest. She wanted to see what the girl, no woman now, would do. To her surprise she replaced her glasses and resumed typing with an astonishing speed. She must have been staring because Andrea raised her head again while still typing asked, "did you need something?" When Miranda replied no she returned her head to her notes.
Miranda finished her conversation with Paul and left to return to her seat even more confused than before. Nobody talked or treated her like that and she didn't know what to do. She had actually been following Andrea's career and her success so she knew that she was too successful for her to ruin with a phone call. Plus she knew that Andrea had a "list" like Miranda had and it was probably more influential than Miranda's in some accounts. Andrea was young and had lost her innocence and become power and ruthful in her assent to the top. This impressed Miranda and she wanted now to talk to the woman because she seemed to like her. The only thing was Andrea didn't seem to want to talk to Miranda. She deiced to try to corner her when she wasn't working, knowing that if Andrea was anything like her, talking when working was not a good idea.
Half way through the trip Andrea stood up to make her way to the bathroom and on her way back she stopped at Emily's chair and the two shared a friendly air kiss. Emily motioned for Andrea to sit and they chatted in low tones talking about the latest party they had attended together and how Emily was getting on with the boy Andrea had set her up. Emily in turn asked Andrea if she met someone but instead of answering Andrea whacked her upside the head and Miranda had to struggle to stop laughing and concentrate on her book, but really this was more interesting. She didn't know that Andrea and Emily were such good friends but it shouldn't surprise her since in the past few hours her thoughts about Andrea had completely changed. All of a sudden the conversation seemed to changed when the air around them became tense. Miranda was always good at reading people and the aurora around them.
"I'm so sorry to hear about your mom. How are you holding up?"
"I'm better since I wrote that article and got all my feelings out about the anger I had for the insurance company and the health care world. I now just feel empty. My mom was always there for me and now I don't have anyone. I'm nobody's little girl anymore, Em." Said Andrea and tossed back her long hair. Emily nodded and laid her hand over Andrea's. After a minute she asked, "What about your dad?"
"He killed himself after Paul 'came out'. he said it was too much to handle. The family pretty much disowned him after that. Even mom wouldn't talk to him. I ingored that it was all going on and lived for school and then this job took all my time." andrea spoke without emotion and her eyes were blank. Miranda put down her book and looked up. "I'm sorry about your parents." She said quietly but Andrea and Emily were talking were too wrapped up in their conversation to notice that Miranda had said anything. Miranda shook her head and told herself that these two were friends and she had no right to barge into their conversation.