A/N: People, you have no idea how happy I am with your response to this story. Seriuosly, every comment made me smile and my days much better. And that's why I tried my best to finish this chapter and post this week.
For every one who left a comment, you people are awesome and I could hug you so strongly it would hurt.
Taking a deep breath she inhaled and offered her hand in greeting. "Hello, my name is Andy Sachs."
Miranda looked at the hand like it had offended her and Andy retrieved it embarrassed.
"I'm sure it is. Now, why do you think you deserve this job, Andrea?" She made sure to enunciate her name properly with a raised eyebrow, daring the girl to try and correct her. "Clearly fashion is not something that you understand much."
Ouch, that hurt. She thought looking to her clothes.
"Well, I think that's relative-" She stopped herself mid sentence seeing the Editor raise both eyebrows as high as they could go.
"I am afraid to ask if you truly believe that, since something" Here she took a pointed look at that horrendous sweater "tells me the answer would be yes."
Andy started to fidget not knowing what to say.
"It seems you are not fit for this job, I'm afraid." A hand gesture and pointed look was her dismissal.
Something inside Andy snapped with all those insults and for the first time she spoke her mind. " If my looks count more than my qualifications maybe we both are right, I'm not fit for the job and this industry is shallow and vain. Have a good day Ms. Priestly." With that she turned around and marched to the elevator leaving the contract on Emily's desk, hands trembling and heart pounding.
That woman was a she devil, honestly, was it so hard to treat people with a minimum of respect? Can you really blame Andy for having an opinion, even if it was a wrong one? Well, she could stay with her fashion and this bullshit job that 'a million girls would kill to have'. Never mind that Miranda smelled like a storm in the woods, wild and relentless, pounding on the earth to destroy what is old and create new life; she smelled like the clean air after such storm too, the one that brought a sense of freedom and peace. It was a contradiction and she should not be thinking about that woman's smell after such encounter.
Miranda was stunned; even though you could not see it on her face; the girl had balls or was really crazy talk to her like that. Without realising she was calling Emily and sending her after that girl. She told herself it was just curiosity, to see how much she could take and if she could stand up for herself again; she would never admit there was something more intriguing about her, the fire in those brown eyes, the change of posture to defend herself, the smell. She just knew it was a mistake, but she lived on hope, didn't she? Exhaling slowly she went back to work, there was too much incompetence and too little time in a day to fix it all.
Emily loved her job. Really, she loved it. That's what she told herself day in and day out. And that is what she was saying while descending to the ground floor after that insipid woman. Why Miranda wanted to hire her was beyond her comprehension, she had no sense of style, no knowledge of fashion industry and didn't even know who Miranda is. So, she kept repeating her mantra even when the elevator' doors opened in the lobby and she ran through the linoleum floor in 5 inches heels.
"Andy! Andy!" She called frantically.
What is it now? She thought stopping a few inches from the glass doors. "Yes?"
"Well, I don't know what kind of witchcraft you did upstairs, but it seems you just got a job." The redhead practically shoved the contract on her hands.
"Uh, what?" That was unexpected.
"What, indeed. Be here tomorrow at 7:45am and please, please find better clothes and burn that sweater. I won't be able to work properly with you looking like some kind of a fashion experiment that went wrong." Was all she said before turning around and marching through the lobby.
One month later and Andy was losing her mind already, wanting to bang her head on the wall or rip her hairs out in frustration and rage. Emily was of no help at all, doing everything in her power to make Andy's life a misery more than Miranda already did.
The Editor seemed hell bent on making Andy pay for her stupid act of bravery on that fateful interview. Her boyfriend, Nate was already losing patience with the calls at random hours of the night disturbing his sleep. The coffee was never hot enough, the calls were never transferred quickly enough, her clothes were never good enough, not even her weight was good enough, she couldn't guess Miranda's thought right. It was hell on earth and Miranda was the devil in charge.
The only person that was of any help was Nigel, the Art Director. He was a very no nonsense person, but let her vent her frustrations once in a while; he tried to give her a few tips on fashion too, but nothing seemed to stick to her pretty head, as he said.
Tonight she was finally able to go out with her friends and boyfriend after countless texts and calls to cancel and reschedule. Being a smart woman, she went to the bar bearing gifts from The Closet to each one of them; she knew Doug and Lilly would love it, Nate was another matter entirely.
She was running a little late, obviously. Miranda had demanded some almost impossible task again far away from the office. It was not the first time she questioned if the little money and possible connections was worth this much trouble.
The bar was crowded and her friends were nowhere to be seen. Walking through a lot of young people drinking and talking loudly made her start to regret coming less than 6 steps in.
"Andy! Andy! Over here!" She barely heard Lilly's voice coming from her left.
"Hey, guys! Sorry I'm late, I had to cross the city on an errand and took more time than I thought to get here." She explained while falling into the booth they were on.
"We're just glad you are actually here tonight." Doug smiled gently.
"Thanks. And I'm really sorry for the other times, it was never my intention to cancel so many times. I even brought gifts as a peace offering." She distributed the gifts.
Lilly squealed in delight with her new Chanel purse, smile so big that hurt. Doug was a little more controlled, but no less happy with his gift. Nate was the only one not that much impressed, but accepted the gift with a polite smile and a kiss on his girlfriend's cheek. Andy decided to let it go.
One hour and a half later they were chatting happily, the drinks having loosened the tension and tongue. Andy was leaning on Nate while Lilly and Doug seated across from them. They talked about the life in the big city, their jobs, the new friends and the romantic life, well, Lilly and Doug's romantic life. Nate was just telling them about something funny that happened at the restaurant he worked, when Andy's phone started ringing, and it wasn't the personal one.
The moment she went to answer it, her best friend stole it from her hands.
"Lilly, give it back." She asked politely.
"No, this is your night with us, your boss have more than one assistant, she can call the other one." She pressed the button to ignore the call.
"Lilly, I can lose my job for this, please give it back." Suddenly, it started ringing again.
"She's not your owner, Andy. And somebody must say that to her." There was mischief on those coffee brown eyes.
"I'm going to ask one more time and you are going to place it in my hand, without doing anything stupid. Give. It. Back. Right now." Andy was furious, her voice turning ice cold, her eyes darkening and jaw clenching. There was something inside Andy urging her to answer the call and the thought of not doing it was powerful enough to make her demeanor change entirely.
Lilly almost dropped the phone with the sudden change. That girl was not her best friend, it was someone else. Scared of Andy for the first time, she gave back the phone and said nothing more. The other two occupants sat stunned into silence, watching the exchange. Taking the phone, she gathered her purse and jacket and exited the bar immediately. The phone stopped ringing the moment she got out on the street, her heart sinking with every second that passed without a new call.
"Please, please. Call back, damn it!" Now she was pacing, looking like a mad woman on a poor illuminated alley.
Five minutes later it started to ring again and her heart almost burst from her chest, her trembling hands made her almost let the phone meet the ground.
"Miranda." She breathed into the speaker, voice full of guilt and regret.
"Save it, Andrea. I do not want or need to hear whatever nonsense you think is a suitable excuse. This better be the last time this happens or you'll find yourself out of a job the next time."
It was like a punch to the stomach. "Yes, Miranda." She murmured holding back tears, her voice showing submission.
The Editor then proceeded to rattle of a list of things that 'must' be done first thing in the morning the next day, finishing the call with "Do not disappoint me again, Andrea. That's all."
The call ended and she was feeling awful. Turning around she touched her forehead against the cold wall of the bar, breathing deeply to keep the tears at bay. This was proving to be harder than she ever could've imagined; and the feeling of sadness for being a disappointment was getting bigger everyday.
If Miranda thought her life was hard before, she was sorely mistaken. Her first mistake was to send Emily chase that insolent girl after she thought wise to say a piece of her mind to Miranda; she should have blacklisted the brunette then and there. Her second mistake was to think she would break the girl on the first week. Oh, how mistaken she was.
She put Andrea through hell that first week, going so far as throwing a perfectly 'center of the sun' coffee into the trash bin just to prove a point. If she couldn't fire the girl she was damn well going to make her quit. But alas, that did not happen and was one of the few times in her life that she did not got what she wanted. Even though she did her best to make her distaste known every time possible, and every day she took pleasure in seeing tears brimming in those deep brown eyes, but every morning when she got to the office she was displeased to see her attempts were for nothing. By Friday she had decided to take the damn coffee; there was no point in wasting it if the brunette was not leaving anytime soon.
And it was her fault, anyway. She was the one that called her back, hired her 'again'. She was the one that got distracted by the smell of flowers and summer, she was the one enticed by that spark of something behind the naivety, challenged by a girl half her age with some misguided concept of life; she lived for the thrill of challenges since they were so hard to come back these days.
Well, she made the bed, might as well lay on it already. That first month she had a sample of how the rest of the brunette's tenure would go. She had to find the balance between the want to throttle the girl or being soothed by that unique smell. That was a first in her life, to find herself even remotely liking someone's smell - at least someone that weren't her Bobbseys. She was indifferent to James' smell and at most, tolerated Stephen's. No matter, she just needed a little time to adjust to this new smell, nothing had to change until then. Nothing at all.
Until the day she called and Andrea did not answered on the second ring like it was customary, the call actually was ignored by the second ring, going straight to voicemail. That was a bad move and Andrea should have known better than to ignore her calls at any time. Immediately she called back, but this time it rang until it went to voicemail normally. That got her into a bad mood in a matter of seconds; it was not a normal reaction, if it was any other assistant she would simply go to bed or to work on The Book and the next day she would fire the girl first thing in the morning; instead she was looking at the phone screen and after five minutes debating she called again.
"Miranda." The amount of regret on that single word, her name, threw her off guard; a small voice in the back of her head telling her to help the distressed brunette in some way; she ignored it completely, breathing deeply and composing herself, voice void of any emotion.
The submission in Andrea's voice sent little shivers through her spine. It seemed somethings were changing after all; she just wasn't sure how to deal with it all besides ignoring it.
A/N: Yey, that was it guys, not much, I know, but I hope to show them interacting more soon. I have one line written down so far on the next chapter, as the month progress my life is going to be more chaotic than ever, but I'll do my best to post something before the month ends. Hope you guys liked! Any ideas, opinions, constructive criticism are welcome here. See you guys next chapter :3