14 days since Emily left
Thomas, Pandora and Freddie sat around what used to be JJ and Emily's desks, looking at the closed door to Effy's office.
"What d'you think's going on in there?" Freddie said, rolling a pen between his fingers as though it were a spliff, not even noticing he was doing it.
"I don't know, but Naomi looked very, very serious," Thomas said. "I think she must be sad about Emily not being here."
"Of course, Thomas! I mean, just think about that time you went back to Congo for two weeks and I bawled my bleedin' eyes out every night like a frippin' ning-nong crybaby. This is way worse than that!"
Thomas smiled and slipped his arm around Pandora's shoulder, giving her a kiss on the top of the head. Pandora smiled blissfully.
Suddenly, the sound of cheering came from behind the closed door. "Fuckin' brilliant, blondie, brilliant!" Cook's booming voice could be heard.
Thomas, Pandora and Freddie looked at one another. The door opened and Effy popped her head out. "Panda?"
"Yes Eff?" Pandora hopped down off the desk quickly and bounced on the balls of her feet.
"Would you mind sorting us something to eat? And drinks. Lots of drinks. We're going to be in here a while."
"I'm on it!" Pandora saluted and ran off down the hall. "Thomaaaas! Come help me!" She shouted over her shoulder, still running.
Thomas shrugged at Freddie with a smile, then took off after Panda. He quickly caught up with her and gave her a tickle as they screeched off towards the kitchen.
"Is everything okay, Eff?" Freddie enquired.
"I don't know, Freds," Effy replied. "But we're going to try make it okay."
Freddie laughed. "That's a bit cryptic, isn't it?"
"Yeah. I guess it is. But we'll know it when we find it." She turned back to her office and went inside. Freddie shook his head, more confused, then got up and loped away down the hallway. He should know better than to expect a simple answer from Effy.
Back in Effy's office, Cook was leaning on Katie's chair as she talked on the phone. JJ sat scribbling furiously on a zeta pad. And Naomi was standing at the window, her head leaning against the glass as she gazed outside.
"Yeah, yeah, great. Thanks babes, I'll be in touch soon with some details. Work your magic." Katie hung up the phone. "I am a fucking genius."
Cook gave Katie's shoulders a squeeze. "That's my girl." He looked up at Effy. "Alright, Eff?"
"Panda's getting some food and drink in." Effy sat down gracefully behind her desk.
"Tops, man, tops." He glanced around at Naomi and back to Effy. "So where do we begin with this winning Emily back thing? Katiekins here has already been on the phone to some of her media contacts."
"Just letting them know I'll be pulling in a few favours, you know?" Katie added. "And they owe me some major favours."
"We begin with Naomi," said Effy.
"What?" Naomi turned away from the window. "I thought the whole point of asking you to create an ad campaign to win Emily back was just that… you create an ad campaign."
"Naomi. How could we ever hope to create something that resonates with Emily without something from you being at the heart of it?" Effy's eyes revealed her amusement.
"But why can't I just brief you on what I want to say, and you make it sound better?"
"Don't be dumb. It would be obvious it didn't come from you."
"She does have a point," JJ added, looking up from his pad.
"Yeah, Naomi, don't be a pussy," Katie piped in.
Naomi looked around at them all, incredulous. "Are you serious?"
"'Fraid so, Naomikins. Even I can see that," said Cook, going over to her and putting an arm around her shoulder.
"So I have to do this all by myself? What good are you lot then?"
"Oh we'll help you, Naomi. We'll do the campaign. But first you need to do your part," said Effy.
Naomi sighed, and looked out the window again. "No more hiding," she said eventually.
Effy nodded, and picked up a pad and pen from the desk, holding it out to Naomi. "No more hiding. You'd best get writing."
Naomi nodded and reached out for the paper. She cradled it to her chest and made her way slowly to the door.
"And Naomi?" She turned back to Effy. "The whole truth this time, okay? Don't leave anything out."
Naomi stared at Effy before giving a small nod and turning away, just as Pandora came rattling along with a trolley loaded full of food and booze.
"Naomi! I've got a whammo load of snacks here, and drinks."
"Thanks Pandora, I'll get some later," Naomi said absentmindedly.
"Right, okay." Pandora rolled into Effy's office. "Who wants some of these sausage rolls?"
…
18 days since Emily left
Naomi looked down at the sheets of paper in her hands. She let out a sigh, scanning the words for the millionth time. It would have to do. Naomi felt utterly drained. She'd poured her heart onto those pages, and while it was probably overwritten and full of overwrought emotion, and rambled in places, she thought this was it. Imperfect, just like her. Hopefully Emily would appreciate that she'd tried. She'd tried to be not so… Naomi, for once. Had tried to be more like Emily, honest about how she felt and what she wanted. Brave. That was it, brave. Just like Emily.
Glancing at her watch, Naomi swore under her breath when she saw the time. She had to get to a meeting with Honda and had been dropping the ball recently, ever since Emily had gone. Not so much that the clients would complain, but her work definitely hadn't been up to her usual standard. Naomi slipped her laptop into her bag and grabbed the pieces of paper. She'd drop these off to the guys before the meeting. It was a good thing that she had somewhere else to be – she didn't want to see their reactions when they read what she'd written. Ha. Naomi snorted to herself. I'm about to declare my love for a woman for the world to see, and I'm worried about what my friends will think? Naomi could appreciate the absurdity.
….
19 days since Emily left
Naomi took a deep breath, steeling herself. She couldn't put off going to the creative department any longer. She knew they would have read it by now. Naomi threw her pen down and pushed her chair back from her desk. As she passed the reception desk, Pandora, who was talking on the phone, stopped mid-sentence to smile at her fondly and give her a thumbs up. Naomi furrowed her eyebrows and kept walking.
She made her way along the long walkway that ran through studio, then past the interactive department. Thomas was leaning over the shoulder of one of the tech geeks with a headphone pressed to one ear, looking at a screen, but he straightened as she approached. "Very nice words, Naomi. Beautiful," he said, flashing her his white toothed grin.
Naomi gave him a half smile and continued walking. Shit. How many people had Effy shown it to? She increased her pace.
Freddie came out of a side corridor as she powered along. "Oh hey, Naomi, great piece of wri–"
"Save it!" Naomi pointed a warning finger at him as she passed, and he held his hands up in defence, chuckling.
Finally she reached the creative department, heading straight to Effy's office. She flung open the door and four sets of eyes rose to meet hers. JJ, Effy, Katie and Cook were gathered around the lightbox, and Naomi could spy her letter on the top, illuminated from underneath.
"Effy! How many people hav–" Naomi stopped and put her hands on her hips, but was interrupted from speaking further.
"Awwwwwwww!" The others chorused, coming towards her with arms outstretched.
"Get away from me!" Naomi's protests were futile.
"You love her," Effy teased, wrapping her arms around Naomi. Katie wrapped her arms around Naomi from the other side. "Yeah. You actually love her. The ice queen does have a heart."
"Oof!" Naomi exclaimed as Cook joined the group hug and squeezed tightly.
"Mmm, multiple lady hug," he said happily. "Gay Jay, get in here!"
JJ smiled and joined the hug. Cook gave him a rough kiss on the cheek. "There's the love."
Naomi smiled despite herself. This is what real friendship felt like.
"Cook." Effy said calmly. "That had better be your belt buckle."
Cook gave them all a tighter squeeze. "Nope."
Amidst groans and giggles, the hug broke apart. "Cook, you perve!" Katie whacked him one.
"It was all too good!" He protested.
Effy went over and carefully picked up the sheets of paper off the lightbox. "Come on, then. We need to figure out how to make this–" she held the page up in consideration, "Into a campaign that will win the love of Naomi's life back."
…
21 days since Emily left
"Isn't this, I dunno, a bit stalkerish?" Naomi asked, chewing on her thumbnail as she looked at the Facebook page on the screen in front of her.
"Well, that's a matter of opinion, although the progression of the internet and social media in particular has not only made privacy extremely difficult, it's also lowered expectations of what should be private – primarily in the 15 to 24 year-old age category." JJ responded, looking up at Naomi from the office chair.
"Yeah, well, society's fucked, isn't it?" Naomi said. "But that aside, I don't know if Emily will appreciate strangers around the world trying to take pictures of her and uploading them to the internet."
JJ turned and looked at the Facebook page he had set up, 'Where in the world is Emily Fitch?' It featured a profile pic of Emily, photoshopped to show her wearing the red trench coat and full-brimmed hat made famous by the character in the 1990's video game, "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" Readers of Naomi's letter would be driven here, where they could browse photos of Emily and upload their own sightings of her from wherever they were in the world.
"I always thought that Sandiego bird was right fit…" Cook said, leaning over JJ to peer at the screen and taking a crunching bite from an apple. JJ clapped his hand to his ear and pushed Cook away.
"Cook!" He turned back to the screen. "Well… I do think that this has a high probability of finding out where Emily is. It's got engagement, intrigue, social sharing, the gaming factor. I've even built in an incentive – if someone tracks her down, we'll film your reunion and post it for participants to see."
"No!" Naomi said, horrified. "No, no way!"
JJ looked at her, confused.
"Look JJ, there's a difference between going public with my feelings for her – public on a worldwide scale like we're doing – and in completely invading her privacy. I do want her back, but I'm not going to do a Liam Neeson in 'Taken', hunt her down in some nowhere corner of the world!"
"Let's hope she hasn't been taken by an Albanian human trafficking ring," Effy added dryly.
Naomi rolled her eyes.
"It's not that I don't appreciate all this effort," Naomi softened her tone to address JJ. "But I need her to come home of her own volition. We just have to hope she sees what we put out there and that it's enough to convince her I've changed, that I'm ready for a real relationship."
JJ's shoulders slumped, but he nodded. "You're right, you're absolutely right. I'm so stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid…" He slapped himself in the head with an open palm repeatedly.
"Hey mate, you're not stupid, alright?" said Cook, pulling JJ's hands away from his hair. "You've done a genius job with Naomi's letter – and that was your idea to keep it in one piece, authentic."
"I even left the tear marks in," said JJ, looking brighter.
"Oh god," said Naomi, rolling her eyes.
Effy raised her eyebrows in agreement.
"Hey–" Naomi smacked her.
"Actually…" said Effy, absentmindedly rubbing her arm where Naomi had punched her. "I think you're on the right track, J."
"I am?" JJ looked around from his computer again.
"We've got this heartfelt piece from Naomi to Emily, which is great, and it may be enough to convince her to come home – if she sees it. But what if she doesn't? JJ's got the right idea, using social media to spread the word. We need help from the public. It's just the idea that's off."
"What are we talking about?" Katie appeared from the direction of the PR department. Perhaps "appeared" is the wrong word, as her stiletto heels on the wooden floor of Ogilvy could be heard a mile away.
"We're discussing the function of social media in our campaign, and seem to have come to the conclusion that it needs to be inclusive–" JJ looked at Effy for approval, "… and infectious…"
"But not stalkerish," added Naomi.
"Yes, not invasive," said JJ.
"We still need the core idea," Effy summarised.
"Okay! Cool!" said Katie, pulling up a chair. She sat down and looked around expectantly at the others. JJ was sucking on a pencil, deep in thought. Effy was staring upwards, her mind gone to wherever place she got all her ideas from. After 30 seconds of silence Cook, bored, began waggling his tongue and eyebrows at Katie. She stifled a giggle.
Naomi frowned at them without really noticing she was doing. Her thoughts were elsewhere. She just had to approach this like she approached any advertising brief – strategically. She needed to think about the target audience, how best to get their attention, and what type of message would resonate best.
Katie and Cook had started chatting away, getting louder and louder as they fooled around. Naomi put her hands over her ears and tried to keep thinking.
"Do you mind?" She erupted. "I'm trying to think here!"
"Sorry Naomi." Katie looked uncharacteristically contrite. Naomi flapped her hand at her, pulling her thoughts together.
"So, we have the letter, right?" Naomi started slowly.
"Yes." Effy could tell she was onto something.
"But we need something to drive Emily to read the letter, right? We need to get her attention."
"Yes…" JJ said.
"And we have no idea where in the world she is, do we?"
"No. She hasn't even been in touch with me. Which is like, pretty rude if you ask me," Katie said.
"But we can assume that – given what we know of her, being a traveller type – she'll likely be catching a lot of flights…"
"There is an enhanced probability of that, yes." JJ said. "Not 100%, but I would say fairly likely."
"I have an idea." Naomi pulled out an office chair and sat down. "It's going to need all of you, but especially you, Effy. You're the only writer besides Emily that could do this justice."
Effy nodded and gestured to JJ. He left his chair and Effy sat down, pulling up a fresh page on screen. She put her hands on the keyboard and looked up at Naomi. "I'm ready. Hit me with it."
….
34 days since Emily left
Emily stood on tiptoes and tried to shove her oversized backpack into the overhead locker.
"D'you want a hand?" A female voice said behind her.
"Yeah, thanks, I'm a bit short."
A long arm came into Emily's line of sight, then another. Emily stepped back as the girl shoved her bag into the locker and closed it.
"Thanks," Emily said, preparing to take her seat.
"Oh, ah, actually I think I'm in the middle seat, so…"
"Oh sorry, sure, hop in." Emily looked at the girl for the first time, and she froze. Naomi. The girl had Naomi's hair, Naomi's height, blue eyes even.
"Um, sorry, but I can't get past."
"Oh, right!" Emily stepped back. No, she wasn't quite Naomi. Her nose a little bigger, a sharper jawline. And the accent was different of course… Australian, Emily thought. Still, she was fit though. And looked close enough to Naomi to make Emily's heart hurt.
She settled into her seat with a sigh, and pulled out the flight magazine. This was her fourteenth flight in the last five or so weeks, and she was over them. An interesting page caught her attention as she flicked through the magazine. It was something long copy, handwritten, and as a copywriter Emily was always particularly interested in a long copy ad done well. But then the girl next to her spoke.
"So, travelling alone to Egypt, you're brave."
Emily put the magazine down. She was happy for the distraction, it's not like the magazine was going to keep her entertained for the whole flight. "Yeah well, life's short, right? I've always said, "you shouldn't let political turmoil, men who like to touch your hair without your permission and a risk of death stop a woman from doing what she wants.'"
The girl chuckled. Emily thought she had a nice laugh.
"Anyway, I could say the same to you, unless your travel companions are sitting elsewhere."
"Nope. Just me. I'm Naomi."
Emily stared at the girl, not seeing her outstretched hand. No fucking way. The universe is definitely trying to tell me something. "Sorry," Emily finally grabbed the girl's hand and shook it. "You just remind me of someone. And her name is Naomi, too."
"Fancy that," the not-Naomi Naomi said. "I bet she's awesome, everyone called Naomi is awesome."
"She can be, when she wants to be" Emily replied, looking at the girl again. God, she looks so much like Naomi. "Err, sorry, I don't mean to stare. It's just uncanny, the resemblance."
Not-Naomi Naomi chuckled again. "Sounds interesting. Maybe we'll become friends and one day I can meet this other Naomi."
"Um, yeah," said Emily.
"Sorry, I didn't mean that to be pushy, I know I've only just met you."
"No, no, you're fine. It's just… we have a complicated relationship. We're not talking right now. I haven't seen her in a while."
"Ah, I see…" Not-Naomi looked away, as if considering something. Then back at Emily. "You must love her a lot." Her blue eyes bored into Emily, just like Naomi-Naomi's used to.
"Yeah… how did you know?"
Not-Naomi shrugged. "Just a hunch. I have a good radar for these things. Plus, it would make sense that that's why you're travelling alone to, oh…" Not-Naomi bent and looked at all the badges from different countries stuck onto Emily's knapsack, "Ten or so countries, I'd say? You seem like you're running away from something"
"Very presumptuous." Emily folded her arms, but smiled. "I'm not running away. I'm just taking time out."
Not-Naomi smiled knowingly and rolled her eyes. Perhaps this wouldn't be such a boring flight after all, Emily thought.
"Cabin crew, arm your doors." The captain's voice came over the intercom, and Naomi saw the flight attendants getting ready to do the safety briefing. Small screens whirred down from overhead.
Emily leaned back against the headrest. She'd heard these things so many times before, and now they just made her feel dozy.
"Welcome to this Egypt Air flight, part of the Global Star Alliance."
Emily felt herself drifting off.
"Before we take off, we have a few important safety messages for all of you, and one particularly important message for you, Emily Fitch."
Emily jolted awake and alert. She looked up at the screen. "What the fuck?"
"Look, you're on the bloody safety video!"
Emily ignored not-Naomi. That wasn't her up there, that was Katie fucking Fitch. And Effy fucking Stonem, for that matter, speaking to the camera. Both were dressed in flight attendant outfits, red scarves and dumb hats and all. Both were looking at the camera with a smile, as if they could see Emily's reaction.
"Yeah, like, this is really important, so you'd better pay attention." Katie spoke from the screen. "Even if you're one of our regular flyers." Katie smiled a 'butter wouldn't melt' smile.
Now Effy spoke again, walking along the aisle towards the camera, closing overhead lockers as she went. "All baggage should be tucked away in the overhead compartment, or under the seat in front of you. Unless, of course, you've left that most important thing of all behind…" Effy closed a final locker, and it clicked with the finality of a full stop. "In that case, we hope you still find it waiting safely when you return home." She raised one eyebrow at the camera.
Emily felt a rush of anticipation and adrenalin. She could hear the rumbling of other passengers reacting to the video, but couldn't take her eyes off the screen for a moment. She had to know where this was going, what was going on. How did they even get a permission to do this?
Katie picked up where Effy left off. "We require passengers to follow crew member instructions at all times." She leaned into one of the rows, where a guy was talking to two attractive young women in the seat next to him, ignoring her. "Oi, dickhead! Stop chatting up those two and listen."
The guy turned towards the camera. It was Cook. "I don't believe it," Emily shook her head, smiling at the screen.
"Do you know these people?" Not-Naomi's voice piped in, but Emily barely heard her.
"Sorry, love." Cook got up from his seat and gave flight attendant Katie a squeeze on the shoulder. He, too, was wearing a uniform.Emily rolled her eyes at how tight his pants were. How many of them were in this?
Now Cook took up the script, walking towards the camera. "Whenever the lighted seatbelt sign is on, please return to your seat and fasten your seatbelt securely, yeah? Here, love, let me help you."
He leaned over into the lap of yet another attractive young girl, who swooned and giggled as he tightened her seatbelt dangerously close to her crotch. Cook stood up and waggled his eyebrows at the camera, mouth open in his usual grin.
The camera cut and there was Pandora and Thomas, sitting in a row of seats.
"Panda!" Emily whispered excitedly to herself. A passenger across the aisle heard and looked over at Emily, interested. Emily put a hand over her mouth, hiding her smile as she stared at the screen.
"Should oxygen be needed, masks will fall from the panel just above your head. Please, make sure your own mask is correctly fitted…" Thomas pulled the mask over his mouth.
"Before helping children or any ning-nongs like me!" Pandora chirped, smiling as Thomas fitted her mask, then breathing over-dramatically, eyes crossing.
The camera cut back to Katie, standing with a yellow lifejacket around her shoulders. "Your lifejacket is either beside or underneath your seat. Put it over your head, pass the ties around your waist and, like, clip them together in front." Katie looks off-camera. "Do we do these in leopard print?"
Now it cut again to Pandora, this time sitting in a row next to JJ and Freddie. Emily smiled to see her creative partner. She knew he'd have had a hand in this. "If things turn to custard and we need to land real quickly," Pandora said, "Chances are we're screwed." JJ shot Pandora a look. "Sorry, stick to the script, got it. Take the protective brace position, arms against the seat in front of you…" Pandora's voice becomes muffled as she buries her face in her arms. "… and lean forward like this."
JJ leaned forward into the brace position, then reached out and pulled a slow-moving Freddie down too, banging his head on the seat. "Ow! JJ!" Freddie moaned.
The camera cut again, to a long shot looking down the aisle at Effy. She was standing near the open aeroplane door. "Once the plane has made its emergency landing, stay calm, but move quickly to the closest exit, leaving your hand luggage behind." Effy watched as Katie struggled past her with arms full of garish-coloured bags and suitcases.
"These are Fendi, I am so not leaving them behind…" Katie warned. Effy looked back to the camera and shrugged.
Emily couldn't keep the smile off her face. She didn't realise how much she missed everyone until she saw them now, on screen.
The camera cut to Cook, still with his uniform on. He does look good in uniform. Even Emily could appreciate that.
"Smoking is not permitted on board this flight, alright?' He leaned over and nipped what looked like a spliff out of a protesting Freddie's hand, tucking it into his own shirt pocket before stepping forward towards the camera. "And portable electronic equipment may interfere with the aircraft systems. Laptops, tablets, games and other electronic equipment must be switched off for take off and landing. He stopped next to JJ, who was tapping away at a laptop.
"Oh, right." JJ closed the laptop, pulled out his earphones and wound them around an iPod, handing them both over. Then he pulled out a phone, a PSP, and another device, handing them all over to Cook. Finally, JJ reached up to Cook's ear and pulled another phone out from thin air, adding it to the pile. He smiled happily at Cook, who tried to keep hold of all the electronic devices in his arms.
The shot changed yet again, to Effy, sitting in one of the special seats for flight attendants that faced back into the cabin. She pulled down the seatbelt and buckled it as she spoke.
"As we prepare for take off, please make sure your tray table is put away, your seat is upright and your armrest is down. We'd like to wish you a pleasant flight with us, and Emily…"
Emily gulped, waiting for one of Effy's blinding comments. She expected something cryptic.
"… we all miss you."
Damn you, Effy. Not cryptic, but of course she knew just what to say. Emily looked away from the screen and rubbed at her forehead. She barely heard Effy's next words.
"And finally, a word from our captain."
On-screen, Effy reached out and swung open the door to the captain's cockpit. Emily looked up and the world tilted, just a little. It was Naomi. HerNaomi. Wearing a crisp white shirt, with a pilot's wings pinned to the breast. She stepped out of the cockpit and fitted the distinctive pilot's hat to her head. Emily gasped.
"Holy shit, she does look like me," Not-Naomi said.
Emily shook her head. No, you look like her. Because it all starts with her. She wanted Not-Naomi to shut up now, thank you very much.
"Emily, I hope you hear this somehow, I know it's a long shot."
Emily closed her eyes for a second, grappling with the emotion of seeing Naomi on screen. She didn't know how to feel about it.
"I know I've been a twat. But I've realised that really…" On-screen, Naomi's eyes glittered with tears, "… I don't want to live without you. You're the love of my life, you see." Around the plane, people murmured in delight. There were even a few "Awww"s. Emily frowned.
"And I know that this could be too little, too late. But I want you to know that I'm ready to give us my all. If there could still be an 'us'." Naomi took her hat off and played with it nervously.
"So I've left you something. You'll find it in the in-flight magazine." On screen, she gestured to the magazine sitting in the pocket of a seat back.
Emily glanced across the aisle and saw all the passengers reach for their magazines eagerly. She looked back up at the screen.
"Part of it will give you the means to come home, to me. And the other part… well, I hope it gives you the motivation." Naomi stared into the camera for a couple of seconds, before sighing and putting her captain's hat back on. She retreated back to the pilot's cockpit, turning to address the camera one last time.
"Now everyone, please sit back, relax… and enjoy the flight."
The screen went dark. A few people cheered. All around her Emily could hear people gossiping excitedly. Pages fluttered, before the cabin grew oddly silent again as people found what Naomi had left.
Emily took a deep breath, and pulled out her own copy of the magazine.