Nikki tossed and turned unable to sleep it was midnight and she had a career defining meeting in seven hours that she needed to be prepared for and needed all the sleep she could mind kept wandering back to her conversation with Anthony they hadn't exactly talked about anything but, she just couldn't stop thinking about what he said. 'All I'm missing is a Queen'
***Flashback***
Nikki sat in her reading chaise where she sat curled up reading a cheesy romance novel that Brie had recommended when she heard her phone ring. Luckily it was right on the side table next to her and quickly answered it without looking, expecting it to be a call from Brie so she could tell her how stupid the book was.
"Hey boo"
"Hey gorgeous" Nikki's eyes widened when she heard the deep voice as she took the phone from her ear and looked at the caller I.D and seeing Anthony's name along with a photo of him on the snapped out of her daze when she heard him calling her name and hurried to put the receiver back up to her ear.
"Oh my god I'm so sorry….I thought you were Brie"she began to babble appalled at her own openness wishing desperately that she could rewind time so she would check the damn caller I.D.
"Don't apologize It's ok ,feels kinda nice to be called 'boo' "
Soooooo,why'd you call?"
"just to chat, Tessa's sleep and I'm bored out of my freaking mind"
"So you called me to entertain you" The humor was evident in Nikki's voice
"Yup" That brought forth genuine laughter from Nicole and his heart swelled when he heard it.
"Are you excited?" she asked once she got her laughter under control
"Kinda but,mostly nervous"
"Nervous…..why? You've literally done this dozens of times before"
"Not Because of the opening, because you'll be there" Nikki sat up when she heard that not believing that he'd honestly said that.
" . .what abo-….huh?" she couldn't form a complete sentence and she was getting really sick of becoming tongue tied around this man and hoped that she would get over it one chuckled thoroughly enjoying her current state of tongue tied even more so because he was the reason soon fell into an uncomfortable silence Anthony tried desperately to think of something to keep the ball rolling not wanting her to hang up.
"So….Tessa's been asking about getting a dog ever since she met Gucci" He knew that was a cheap trick to get her to talk but,he was desperate.
"You should get her one….Brie and I had a dogs growing up Bear and Duncan were their names, whenever I was feeling down I would just hug one of them and It made me feel 1000 times better."
"I don't know,there's a lot more important things that Tessa needs other than a dog Like a parent that doesn't neglect her.I feel terrible because she's been clinging to Brie lately I feel like I'm taking advantage of her and Bryan"
"what about what's her name…..Evelyn?"
"I assume you're talking about Eve and she's busy with work too I just need to work for a little while until I get the Chefs at the new place trained then we're going on vacation"
"Ohhhh, where?"
"Disneyland , she's always wanted to go and they have this really great Princess package it's $500.00 but,I know she'd love it"
"you seem like the type to spoil your daughter"
"Yeah she's my princess"
"well it's fitting because she looks at you like a King"
'all I'm missing is a queen' she thought she heard him reply but it was too low for her to comprehend.
"huh?"
"oh...um I gotta go Tessa's calling I think she had a nightmare, sweet dreams"
"goodnight"
***End Flashback***
She needed to know what he meant by that last statement before he got off the her worry transferred into fatigue and soon the hopefully future Junior V.P was fast asleep.
Nikki frantically pushed the button for the sixteenth floor hoping that it would miraculously make the elevator go night ….or this morning rather when she finally DID manage to get to sleep she slept too well and missed her alarm clock and now here it was 7:28 and the elevator chose this day of all days to act as if it were being lifted by a fuckin hampster on a wheel. After what seemed like an eternity the elevator finally reached the executive floor she took off in the direction of 's office as fast as her five inch high six hundred dollar Roberto cavalli's would carry scurried past the receptionist and into his office JUST as 7:30 hit.
"Good morning right on time as usual" Hunter greeted her with a smile as did Stephanie who sat in a chair to his left smiled as well.
"Good morning Mr.& Mrs. Helmsley." Nikki replied trying not to let her voice sound as out of breath as she was.
"Good morning Nicole, Please have a seat" Stephanie offered Nikki nodded a thank you and took a seat in the chair across from them.
"Nicole, we and the rest of the shareholders are VERY impressed with how you handling the Del Rio account,It's only been two days since we've launched your campaign and he's already turning a large profit. thanks to you we have some of the biggest designers beating down our doors and not just to work with our company….they want YOU Nicole we got a call from Heyman enterprises this morning , the biggest MMA promoter in the world , a man worth 6 billion dollars wants YOU and he won't accept anyone Less " Hunter stopped and looked at the young executive , letting his words sink into his head.
"And That's why we were going to ask you to be our new Junior V.P"
"we-were?" her eyes widened seeing her future slipping through the cracks.
"Yes were ….but, we discussed it and we thought It best to make you a Partner instead, you're worth way too much to us to make you settle for that." Before she could stop it Nikki let out a squeal of joy and quickly covered her mouth her cheeks burning red with Hunter and Stephanie laughed at her show of excitement.
"Thank you both so much" Nikki managed to get out as she wiped the tears of joy from her face.
"Thank you for being such an asset to this company," Stephanie stood from her chair and rounded the large desk and pulling her into a hug which she graciously returned. The ladies pulled away when Hunter came over and handed Nikki a set of keys .
"what are these for?" The couple smirked before leading her out of the office and onto the elevator , once there Stephanie pushed the button for the fifteenth the elevator stopped and the doors opened they stepped out onto a Beautifully decorated Lobby the calming blues and oaks were heaven on the eyes what caught her eye was a large semi circle desk with two assistants sitting at it one was a petite woman with near waist length black hair , her bright red wonder woman glasses brought a smile to Nikki's face and the other had the tell tale dyed blue ends that she'd grown to love over the last four years. The small blonde looked up and offered big smile and waved.
"Nikki you obviously know Alexa but you're both going to need some help so we're giving you another assistant...this is April Brooks" April stood and held her hand out and Nikki gladly took it.
"Nice to meet you Nikki, you can call me AJ"
"It's wonderful to meet you as well AJ"
Well now that the introductions are finished let's get back to this key" Stephanie led her towards a set of double doors. She carefully inserted the key ,freed the lock and pushed on the doors trying to get them to open but , it they wouldn't budge.
"they slide" She heard Hunter's voice from behind her and slid the doors out of the way and stepped into what was the most amazing office she'd ever seen the floors were covered in a rich slate the wall unit behind the large cherry wood desk held all of her books and files that once sat in her sixth floor corner office and a beautiful white cloud like area rug sat beneath it and she couldn't wait to kick her heels off and walk on it.
"This is amazing guys...I don't know what to say"
"Only the best for a partner...besides everything in here will pay for itself in a month"
Hunter tossed over his shoulder having busied himself with the remote controlled window treatments she also had an amazing view of the city from there.
"Come on honey Lets leave to her work"
Stephanie took the remote and sat it on the desk before escorting her husband out of the room. She walked over and took a seat behind her new desk and was soon joined by both Alexa and AJ.
"Sweet digs Nickster" Aj compliments as she took in the lavished surroundings
"Yeah, we did good huh Lexi?" she turned towards her blue haired helper whom she had no problem giving 50% of the credit to. Alexa nodded before walking over and setting a manila folder in front of her.
"This is the heyman file, he wants to expand his brand into workout gear and he wants US to introduce it to the world this folder contains everything we'll need to get going"
"Sounds good" Next it was Aj's turn to approach her Dropping a green folder next to the beige one alexa had presented her with
"And Nikki, we also have Maryse Oulette ,the french canadian fashion designer begging for your attention on HER new line of handbags."
"Set her up for next Thursday and Heyman for Friday that way we have time to plan and we're not fumbling over each other with information and we have time to show the proper attention to each client. I'm thinking we get the biggest name under Heyman's brand and have him as the spokesmodel VS hiring someone ,It'll save him more money in the long as far as Maryse goes we need to start find a way to present them so people know they're affordable AND fashionable Take a seat ladies we're in for a long day" Both ladies nodded and took a seat and soon they were all engrossed in work.
After nine long hours Nikki, AJ and Alexa had managed to get a rough draft of the Ad outlines for both accounts now all that was left was for them to organize them and get everything finalized which would be the hard part. They headed out of the building together talking and laughing before separating at their cars. Nikki couldn't wait to tell her Mother, Brie and Bryan the good news.
