I do not own Twilight.
The princess stared down at her kingdom before her. Surprisingly she was content. No prince would take her away from her kingdom.
"Princess Renesmee!" her new servant, Bella, called.
The princess turned to see Bella running towards her with a long blue ball gown.
"Is this my ball gown?" the princess asked, reaching out to touch the beautiful light blue fabric.
Bella stopped, confusion crossing her face. "Ball?" She looked down at the dress and laughed. "No, no! Not the ball!" With a snap of her fingers, the beautiful gown changed into a ratty dress.
She held it out to the princess. "You're going to wash the floors!"
The princess gasped, her mouth dangling open. "I shall do no such thing!"
Bella snapped her fingers again, changing the princess into the rags. "Give give give!" she said. She began pushing the princess down the long set of stairs.
"I will not--"
"Yes," Bella stated. "You will. Trust me. You'll thank me later."
She threw a bucket and sponge at her then disappeared.
"Good for nothing servant!" the princess scoffed, scrubbing the stairs. "I shouldn't be doing this!" Tears began to fall from her eyes.
A fellow servant walked over and lifted her chin with his finger. "My dear princess, why are you weeping?"
The princess threw her hands up in the air, water splashing everywhere. "I was supposed to go to the ball! But now I'm here! Cleaning floors!"
He smiled, then held a strong arm out. "I would be more than happy to escort you to the ball, m'lady."
She examined the arm before she began to laugh.
"What's so funny?" the prince asked.
"The thought of you and I-- going to the ball together!" the princess replied between laughs. "Sorry, but stronger men than you have tried. Now, get out of my day dream!"
With a snap of her fingers, the vision vanished into clouds.
"To who do I owe this honor?" I asked the morning after, Tuesday. I was walking with my brother down the bustling streets of New York.
"An older brother can't take his baby sister out to breakfast on a Tuesday morning?" my brother, Edward, retorted.
I held up my hand which had a thin black glove on it which matched my white cloth coat and black pants. "A brother like, I don't know, Emmett, can. But not you, Edward. You always have your own agenda."
He held open the large dark black door to the restaurant for me. "Agenda? What agenda?"
"Don't play dumb with me," I warned. "What do you want?"
He walked over to the receptionist who gasped to see us there. I mean, who wouldn't? I was Renesmee Cullen, after all. Needless to say he didn't have to tell her we needed a table. She was shouting orders before we could sit in a chair to wait. We were wisked towards the dining room and to a small booth. I scooted in, feeling like a child once more. The restaurant was dark on the inside, being lit only by table lamps and small lamps that hung from the ceiling. I squinted to see the tiny print on my menu.
"I think I'll have the chocolate chip waffles," Edward mused.
I peered over my menu towards him. "Edward, that's going to go straight to your thighs! Do you want to have... cellulite?" I winced at the word.
He chuckled and looked at me. "Well, princess, what are you having?"
I hated that nickname. Princess. He gave it to me when I got this position at Mauve. "I'm having the fruit platter," I stated. "With a side of whole wheat toast."
"God, what are you?" he asked. "The fat police?"
"You try being the editor of a very successful magazine!" I shot back. "Then you come back and complain!"
He rolled his eyes and set his magazine down. The waitress came and we ordered.
"Now," I continued. "What do you want?"
He looked down at the table top and began to play with his hands.
"Well, Nessie," he said, calling me the childhood nickname that only Leah now called me. "I have a friend... he's been out of work for a while..."
"Yeah," I pressed.
"And well... he's a photographer... So I kinda sorta told him..."
"Told. Him. What?" I asked, enunciating the "t".
"I kinda sorta told him... maybe, you know... I could get him a shoot at Mauve...," he finished, his eyes trained on the table.
"You did what?!" I asked, jumping up, ready to strangle him at any moment.
"It's just one photoshoot!" he said, holding his hands up.
"Edward!" I yelled. "This is Mauve Magazine we're talking about here! We can't be hiring some guy off the streets--"
"He's not off the streets," Edward defended.
"Whatever," I complained. "Point is, we can't be hiring some untrained unprofessional to do shoots for very popular designs!"
"Give him a chance," he pleaded.
"Why should I?"
"Because I told him you would."
"WHAT?!"
"One shot! Please, Ness. I'm begging you."
I sighed and leaned back against my chair. Closing my eyes, I said "Tell him to be at the office today at eleven."
Edward leaped up. "Thanks, Ness! You're the best!"
I nodded and sat back up. "Now, let's eat!"
Bella was waiting for me when I walked up to the office doors at nine. She wore black pants and a white silk button down. Great. Now I'd have to change my whole ensemble just because of her pants! I huffed through the door, ignoring her as she bustled to catch up with me.
"Calls, Mike?" I asked as I walked towards his desk. Lucky him, I decided not to fire him.
"Yes, ma'am," he said, looking at his small thin black computer screen. "A Jacob Black called to confirm your eleven o' clock."
I sighed. This must be the photographer. "Give me the number," I snapped.
He handed me a small white sheet of paper with her number on it. I stormed off into my office, Bella gathering my mail and then following.
"Um... I got you a cappucino," Bella said quietly, handing me the small cup of Starbucks. I examined it and then looked up at her.
"It's a small," I said, glancing between the cup and her.
She blushed and then reached for the cup. "I'm so sorry! I can get--"
"You got it right," I said, shocked. "Nobody ever gets it right on the first try."
Her blush became deeper. "I just figured... you know, you're a fashion editor."
I sighed a sigh of relief and threw my hands up in the air. "Thank you!" I exclaimed. "That's what I keep trying to tell my brother! You two should really hang out! I think you have quite a bit of potential! You may be able to teach him a thing or two."
She smiled and said a quiet thanks. My phone began buzzing and I looked down to see it was one of the fellow designers, Jessica Stanley. What a suck up. I picked the small white phone up and pressed it to my ear.
"What Jessica?" I asked rudely.
"Um... ma'am," she stuttered. "I... I have those new designs... for you..."
I rolled my eyes. "Well? Bring them down to my office!" I slammed the phone back onto the hook. I turned to say to Bella "Amateurs." Bella nodded and then went off to pick up my dry cleaning.
After changing into a brown silk dress, I sat at my desk, playing around with a sketch pad. A nice little outfit was coming up on my pad when the designers strutted in. Cocky, much? Jessica Stanley, Lauren Mallory, and Angela Weber walked in carrying their designs in their hands. I didn't care much for any of them. Maybe Angela was the most civil out of all of them. She was the one I didn't mind. But the rest I knew would kill for my job. I smirked at the idea. They stood in a straight line at the door of my office.
"Well since you barged in," I complained. "Present! What the hell are you waiting for?"
Jessica Stanley stepped forward, giving some spiel about an "all new Mauve look." Honey, an all new Mauve look doesn't include that thing you wore to work today you like to call an outfit. She wore a white suit. Seriously. What do we call that? Oh yeah. Tacky. And her design was even worse. It looked like something out of a bad Madonna concert. Lauren's was even worse.
"This is what you two give me?!" I asked, looking from Lauren to Jessica. "Jessica, we aren't Madonna! We're Mauve! And Lauren?! What are we? Grapes?!" I threw the designs on my desk and pressed my fingers against my temples. "We're supposed to be designers! Not costume people for the circus! Angela, design."
She nodded and set her design down on my desk. I examined it and decided I liked it.
"You see?" I asked, holding up Angela's design for the other two to see. "It's new! It's fresh! Yet it appeals to our audience! It's something they wouldn't be ashamed to wear!" I gathered up Lauren and Jessica's designs and handed them back to them. "Now go back and turn these into something that humans would wear. Maybe even take a little bit of advice from Angela, here. Now, be gone!" I waved them off and they walked out of my office in a trance. I'll admit, I was harsh on my designers. But it was all in good interest. I didn't work so hard to make Mauve one of the top fashion magazines in the world just for it to be torn down by two morons!
My head lay across my desk when Bella returned. She held my dry cleaning in one hand, her car keys in the other. Without a word, she set the dry cleaning down and then came to sit beside me.
"Miss Cullen," she asked. "Are you okay?"
I raised my eyes to meet hers. They had genuine concern in them.
"Stressed, my dear," I muttered, before turning back.
She smiled and then I heard her stand up. "Let's play a game," she suggested.
I raised an eyebrow and looked up at her. "Game?"
"Yes," she insisted. "It will be fun. Since I don't know you, we're going to get to know each other better. Now... how old are you?"
"Twenty-four," I responded, curious to see what she would ask.
"Favorite food?"
"Lobster."
"Favorite animal?"
"Stuffed."
"Favorite color?"
"Whatever is in style."
"Favorite movie?"
I laughed. "Darling, I haven't gone to see a movie since I was a child."
She gasped. "No movies?! Why not?"
I waved my hand dismissively. "I'm far too busy."
She nodded timidly and responded with a simple "I see." And then she gave some excuse about calling to confirm my eleven o' clock. I nodded and dismissed her.
The silence of my office was welcomed. Everyone knows I needed it. Thinking time, I mean. Of course Mauve was busy as ever, with workers rushing by outside my window. Designers, secretaries, reps. Who wouldn't want to be at Mauve? Oh right, me. To keep my thoughts focused, I began looking at a new proposal for a theme that Dale, one of the new designers, had proposed. I read the words in italics.
Fulfillment.
What really did count as fulfilled? I was a successful editor of a fashion magazine. Every woman in America wished they were me. My family... well, they were... I had a lovely breakfast with Edward this morning, right? Hey! It's not like I needed them. I had money. I had fashion. I had popularity. Yes, picture perfect life.
***
"No, no, NO! This will never work!" I screamed, ripping up another design sheet. We sat in the conference room after Jessica had called an "emergency conference." Who made her boss? The long horseshoe table was filled with designers and their assistants. Bella sat quietly next to me, ready to hand me coffee at my word.
"We're supposed to be designers, Jessica," I hissed.
"We are," she said timidly. "This is my design..."
"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't know we were designing for a child's birthday party!" I snarled. She sank back in her chair.
I held my hand out to Bella for more of my cappucino, which she gladly pressed into my hand. The warmth of the coffee was much like my anger. I pressed my thumb and forefinger on the bridge of my nose. Eventually I released them and took a sip of my cappucino.
I examined another one of her designs before shaking my head and slamming her book back down on the table. Bella took my cappucino and rose beside me, probably in an attempt to calm me. Well it wasn't working!
"I don't understand," I muttered, shaking my head. I looked up to address my staff, my voice rising. "I don't understand how you can throw this all out! This is an honor to be a designer for Mauve! Stop acting like children and start focusing! Your work is your main priority!"
I stormed out of the room, leaving a room full of stressed staff members. They should be stressed. We were working on a deadline! Five models stood in the foyer waiting in their assigned outfits. The only outfits we really had done since beginning this issue! I waved them off towards the back room for them to wait for the shoot. Sighing, I plopped myself down in one of the soft red chairs in the foyer. I held the proposal for the magazine in my perfectly maniured hands.
"Rough day?" a male's voice asked.
I turned to see a tall man with well built muscles. He had short black hair and russet skin. Glistening teeth sparkled beneath his lips which were turned up in a smile.
I sighed. "Amateurs."
He sat in the chair to the right of me. "Oh, I think you should give them a chance?"
I laughed. "I've given them many. If they want to work here, they have to step up their game."
He caught sight of the proposal. "What's that," he inquired.
I rolled my eyes. "Nosy much?"
The man snatched the packet from me before I had a chance to hide it.
"Fulfillment?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. He turned to look at me. "Are you fulfilled?"
I rolled my eyes. "Of course I am! I'm Renesmee Cullen for God's sakes! I'm rich, on top of the fashion world, and completely happy. I just scream fulfillment?"
He chortled.
"What's so funny?" I snapped.
"Well...," he said. "Don't you think fulfillment can be different? Like family, marriage?"
I looked at him like he was speaking a foreign language. "I don't believe in love," I stated simply.
He grinned a huge sparkly grin. "Don't believe in love, eh?"
"No," I spat. "Why do you care?"
He shrugged. "How many times do I have to walk past you for you to believe in not only love, but love at first sight."
I popped up, angry with this man. "Excuse me?!" I asked.
He stood up and began to strut in front of me. I snatched my book back.
"I suggest you get whatever you need and then get the hell out," I snapped.
His grin grew into a smirk. "Okay."
As I turned to walk away, he grabbed my shoulder and turned me back towards him.
"I'm Jacob Black. The photographer," he introduced himself.
I was going to kill Edward.
Author's Note: Yup. So I updated fairly quickly, right? What do you think? Leave a review?
Run, baby, run! Don't ever look back. They'll tear us apart if you give them the chance. Don't sell your heart. Don't say we're not meant to be. Run, baby, run. Forever will be you and me... Reviews? Comments? Click that button!
--Lauren :D