Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. I like to apologize for taking so long between chapters. Because I took so long, the original plot line of this chapter has been overtaken by events and I had to come up with a new plot device.
Chapter 24: Murphy's Law as it Applies to Weddings, Magazines, and Evil Plans.
Justin was running around his aunt's former room, trying to get his aunt ready for her official engagement breakfast at one of the best restaurants in town as the Suzuki St Pierre Wedding of the Summer Season Countdown special played on in the background. The wardrobe that his aunt came with was much more conducive to his creative needs than what she usually has (he is sure Daniel picked out everything). Unfortunately, she wasn't working with him. They were currently arguing about the necessity of a curling iron.
Really he wasn't that surprised that he was rushing around again or that she was fighting his efforts. Last night didn't go that well either, even if she was more cooperative. At least he had more time this morning. They did not need to be at the exclusive James Café until 10 and it was only eight now. Although, considering they did not arrive back at the house until 2AM it seemed too early. His mother is not going to be happy when she finds out that he used emotional blackmail to convince Daniel to let him go to the Mode after party even if it was just for an hour. They would've been backed by one but there was traffic.
He barely had time to get her ready for the MAMA awards after they returned from the disaster that was the rehearsal lunch/pre awards celebration. He was there as the official blogger for the wedding and Mode. The outfits were fabulous and the cuisine was exquisite at the party. So was the chaos. There was a lot to tweed about including Gio's ex girlfriend trying to throw various things at the limo. (He was riding with Monique so she could interrogate him about 'he who knocked up her future sister in law'. She was not happy.)
Monique punched out her father during the first 30 minutes. Then there was the argument that Monique got into with Marc when he showed up slightly late with Wilhelmina as his guest. Apparently, Wilhelmina was there as protection because Marc's slightly insane now ex boyfriend was out on bail and already making threatening phone calls. He sincerely regrets convincing Marc to get back together with Troy. In his defense, Justin had no idea that the man stalked Marc previously. That is the sort of thing you should tell your friends.
Unfortunately, he was not allowed to post anything related to the various altercations, especially anything involving Marc's crazy ex boyfriend. He did get to write about his conversation with fashion designer Briana West Hartley. He even got a preview of the flower girl outfit although she did ask him a lot of strange questions about his boyfriend. Then again, she also interrogated his boyfriend as they watched the rehearsal. Austin was invited there by Monique for reasons unknown.
The actual rehearsal contained other things that he could not talk about publicly including Amanda throwing up on stage and baby Lexis asking to go pee during the middle of it. There were also some more uncomfortable arguments between members of various families. From what he gathered, Alexis Meade was very sick and everyone in the family was mad at her for keeping it quiet. Everyone was also mad about Brianna West-Hartley keeping the existence of Alexis junior a secret. Internally, Justin was screaming about how in a roundabout way, through pending marriage and illegitimate children, he was sort of related to one of his favorite designers. His aunt was apparently close to Miss West-Hartley because they were always talking to each other about some planned to keep Amanda safe but he was not entirely sure of the details.
Because of all that, the rehearsal went an hour later than it should have, which meant that they did not have time to go back to Queens to get ready. However, this meant he had full run of the Mode closet. It was Christmas in July but a month early. He spent so much time making sure that his aunt was completely presentable that he barely had time to get ready himself. Although after she picked up her award for fashion article of the year she mentioned that he was her personal stylus which was all the thanks he needed. He was so happy that he got to go this year even if he was sort of working.
"I don't understand why you are spending so much time on my hair. Your mom is just going to change it for the wedding in two hours." His aunt's repeated complaint broke him out of his thoughts. Sometimes he wonders why he tries.
"Because we are going to your official engagement brunch since we don't have time to do a formal engagement party before you go back to London." Justin chided his aunt with hands on hips. "Don't you want to look good for all the pictures and video that we're going to be sending to the family in Mexico?" he smiled sweetly at that point.
"But it's just family. They don't care how I look." Aunt Betty said trying to push him away again.
"I personally think you are beautiful no matter what you wear or what you are not wearing." Daniel told his fiancée. Really he didn't need to know that last part. He wants to stay ignorant about that until he gets a baby cousin. The noises of last night were bad enough.
"Unfortunately, every reporter in this country and a few others are following us at the moment. Images from the bad Betty outfit website are already everywhere. Do you really want to add more?" Daniel asked.
"Do you want to sleep on the couch?" Betty replied quickly. She did not look happy about that comment.
"I'm sure grandpa will be happy about that." Justin joked to relieve the tension.
"Again, I personally think that you look good in anything and especially nothing." Daniel said leaning over to kiss Betty in a way was a little too much for him. If he kissed Austin like that in front of his mom, she would kill him. If they were alone, they probably would do that one thing they haven't done yet. After what happened to his friend, he wasn't sure if he was ready for sex even if he didn't have to worry about pregnancy. There were still STIs and he and Austin were only virgins by the "Bill Clinton definition". (That's how his mom put it when they had the 'talk'.)
"Please step away from my aunt before you mess up her hair again. I love that you two are together. It's adorable but I heard you guys this morning. There are some things I don't want to know and I'm sure neither does grandpa." Justin said smirking. Justin spent the night in his mom's old bedroom because DJ was in his and he didn't want to kick him out because he knew DJ was having a really hard time with everything going on with his other mother. Unfortunately, that room was much closer to where his aunt and Daniel were sleeping. He heard everything.
"Where is your father? More importantly where's my nephew." Daniel asked, turning to his aunt most likely not wanting to comment on what Justin said.
"DJ is still sleeping. He said he needs his strength for everything. I think dad is at work. He got some phone call about a problem at the restaurant and he left right away. He said he would meet us at the hotel." Betty said just as he tried to work on her hair again. "I give up. Justin, do whatever you want."
"Thank you. It will be a lot easier if you just cooperate." Justin said as he continued working.
"Sourdough girl strikes again." Daniel mumbled under breath. Justin knew that was one of the nicer names that Monique had for her boyfriend's former girlfriend. She called her there during the limo ride instead of yesterday along with several other expletives.
"You don't know that. Things go wrong in restaurants all the time. They could just be a coincidence." His aunt said, looking directly at her fiancé.
"I'm sure it's an accident that Mo's flowers ended up in Connecticut this morning." Daniel told her poignantly. When Justin went into the room to pick out his aunt's outfit, Daniel was screaming at the florists to just fix it. Afterwards, he was mumbling something about the merits of Vegas. If his aunt snuck off somewhere to get married without him Justin will kill her.
"What are you talking about?" Justin asked as he went back to his aunt's hair.
"Gio's insane former girlfriend and current business partner is sabotaging the wedding by any means necessary including telling sob stories to Gio's Cousins." Daniel then went onto retell all that the crazy one has done so far including trying to cancel the catering. He was most upset about the woman that did not even know his aunt spreading nasty rumors about her. Even though Justin and everyone else knew that Betty was in love with Daniel last year she would have never done anything to undermine his marriage to Molly. Actually, Justin is 100% sure she got back together with Matt because she thought it was too soon to make a move on Daniel.
"Antonella told me all about the crazy bi-person." He said, correcting himself because he knew that his aunt would not like him to use that word in that context. "She never liked her at all and was happy when Gio realized that he didn't love sourdough girl anymore. Monique tried to buy her out but she refuses to sell. She even resorted to throwing eggs at Monique yesterday."
"This is why I don't think the thing at your father's restaurant is just a coincidence. Considering that the culinary arts are her specialty, I could see her sabotaging the kitchen equipment or something along those lines just to ruin the reception. I am personally surprised that she didn't go that route with the bakery making the wedding cake." Justin already had his phone ready when Daniel took it out of his hands.
"You can't post about that." He chided.
"What's the point of having this job when you guys won't let me write anything good?" Justin said in annoyance. Details about the wedding going wrong would be fabulous.
"Your job is to make Mode looked good. This does not make your boss looked good and if she doesn't look good, Mode does not look good. If you're not mature enough for this responsibility yet, I'm sure Monique can find something else for you to do. There's always the receptionist job at the food magazine. I worked there for two summers in high school." Daniel said with a smiled that was completely terrifying.
"Do not even joke about that." Justin said with a shiver. "I know there are certain things I cannot write about. I'm not going to tell anybody about Antonella being pregnant or your sister's health problems. That stuff is personal. But the wedding is in the public domain anyway. Suzuki has done nothing but talk about it for the last 2 hours. Can I write about it anonymously on my own personal blog?" He asked slightly frustrated.
"This is personal too. Besides, there is no such thing as anonymous." Daniel said with a sigh.
Daniel was probably going to talk about that time Betty wrote an angry rant about him, and it went viral but he was interrupted by Aunt Betty pointing to the television screen where a dark haired woman was running around with a candle lighter, lighting everything but the candles. She looked familiar but he couldn't exactly remember where he saw her before. Suzuki look shocked for a moment before the tone of his voice changed completely and he started yelling for security.
"What does Gio's ex girlfriend look like?" Betty asked causing Justin to remember exactly where he saw the woman before. She was the woman throwing eggs at Monique before she was tackled by security. "I'm pretty sure that that's her trying to light the entire wedding hall on fire." Betty said in open mouth shock. The beautiful handcrafted silk that adorned the hall was already going up in smoke. It was a travesty of fashion.
"She was the angry girl that always screwed up your order. She doesn't like you that much either because you're also a fellow ex girlfriend. I think that's her. What is it with crazy girlfriends and fire?" Daniel said just as the girl was tackled by security. Unfortunately, this sent the lighter into a highly flammable piece of drapery. Just like that the venue for the wedding of the summer fashion season literally when up in flames. The only consolation was that the wedding dress was not there yet. It would be ruined by sprinklers now drenching the room.
Daniel has been dreading the first anniversary of Molly's death probably since it happened. Of course he wasn't expecting to also be worrying about a very sick sister but it just happened. He was hoping for a distraction but he didn't think it would be in the form of a crazy woman trying to ruin his friend's wedding. On the bright side, at least he would get out of a very dysfunctional family breakfast.
"There's no point for you to continue using your aunt as your personal Barbie." Daniel told his almost nephew who was having a little too much fun with getting his aunt ready for this crazy brunch that he was being forced to go to. The only positive thing out of this becoming their engagement brunch was now Betty's family would be there too. Unlike his family, her family was actually tolerable and non-homicidal. For example, he loved Justin. He should have started interning at Mode in diapers. He probably knew as much about fashion as Daniel did.
"I'm pretty sure brunch has just been canceled. The wedding was being held at the same hotel as the James cafe. As you can see, firefighters are now at the scene." Daniel said just as his phone started to buzz. "That's probably mom now."
"I don't think that's your mom's ring tone." Betty said with a frown.
"No, that is the ring tone I assigned to any of the official Meade publishing phone numbers including my mom's blackberry." Daniel said opening his phone without looking at the number.
"Hi mom." He answered quickly.
"I may be a mum, but I'm not your mother." The voice of his Senior Editor said.
"Sorry Sumreen. I thought you were my mother calling to cancel this ridiculous family brunch I am being forced to go to supposedly because of my engagement. The new EIC of Mode America just had her wedding venue torched by her fiancé's crazy ex girlfriend on national television at the hotel where the restaurant is. I'm hoping that she will cancel but that's asking for too much." He explained in a rush.
"I could understand not wanting to spend any time with certain family members, especially with a family like yours. I still can't believe your sister kept that from you for so long." Sumreen said sympathetically. She understood what he was going through. She had her own very ill father in Pakistan who adamantly refuses to come to the UK for treatment. "I'm not calling about that but I am going to provide you with an excuse not to go if it doesn't get canceled." She seems very nervous as she spoke.
"What happened?" He asked knowing and his heart that something was wrong.
"Diana just handed in her resignation because she got the editor job at a new non-fashion publication and Mr. Pratt just got his revenge on us. The offices are in shambles." She spat out in so much of a rush that Daniel was not entirely sure what she said.
"Diana quit?" Daniel asked because that was the most shocking and most detrimental. David wasn't that competent but Diane leaving would be bad even if she wasn't going to a competing magazine.
"She was going to wait until you got back but after Mr. Pratt took a cricket bat or possibly a sledgehammer to her desk, she just didn't want to deal with it any longer. Your office is even worse. A few others quit as well fortunately our art director William did not." Considering all the things that have been going on at Mode UK in the last six months, he couldn't blame her for quitting. He would want to quit to even if the creative director's job was dangling in front of him like a carrot. Thank god they had a competent art director.
"Yet, you're still here." He said quietly not knowing what to think.
"I have teenagers and a mortgage. Property prices are worse here than in New York. I expect premium compensation for dealing with this crisis while you are in New York posing for the cameras with your new fiancée." For one person to just quit and the other one to demand a bonus the situation must be worse than property damage.
"How bad is the damage for you to feel that you deserve premium compensation?"
"Did you know that Mr. Pratt has a cousin who apparently is a computer genius? Supposedly, he was able to create a smart virus that can destroy any file related to a certain subject. This cousin was in charge of IT at Meade Publications London until 24 hours ago." Sumreen explained. This did not sound good at all.
"How bad?" Daniel asked remembering the entire fiasco right after his father's death when Wilhelmina released a virus that completely decimated the entire system and the most recent issue of the magazine. There's no way it could be that bad this time around. First of all, Damien is no Wilhelmina Slater. Second, they took a lot of precautions after that including moving to cloud computing and keeping backups in multiple places. Of course, Daniel was not completely sure if the London office was on the new system.
"The good news is the computers are intact but we can't touch anything until they're decontaminated and IT can guarantee that there are no other surprises on the network. The virus was designed to get rid of any Mode related file on the entire network including the backup server. Of course the virus wasn't that smart and wiped a lot of files from some of the other magazines but fortunately most of the damage was confined to just us. Unfortunately, we go to print Monday and we don't have a magazine anymore. The tech people think that the virus was planted from inside because nobody found it, most likely by the cousin that just quit." Sumreen sounded furious at this point.
"Fuck!" He exclaimed because really there was only one word you can say at a time like this.
"Daniel what's going on?" Betty asked with concern.
"David's revenge and Diane just quit. Somehow he got a hold of a virus that wiped out everything Mode related from the network. The Next issue is gone." Daniel said repressing the urge to throw something.
"Doesn't the magazine go to the printer tomorrow?" Betty asked.
"Monday technically, but it's so early that you might as well say Sunday." Daniel said falling down on his girlfriend's old bed. Everything was going so good and then this happened. He should have known something bad was going to happen. "This is the last time I ever go on vacation or a business trip right before the magazine is supposed to go to the publisher."
"Put me on speaker, it will be faster for me to explain because unlike you I am not in shock anymore." He heard Sumreen tell him before he did what she told him. Sumreen went on to explain everything to Betty as Daniel fought the urge to cry. At some point, he had to remind Justin not to tweet anything about this. He almost had a moment of hope when Betty reminded him about their new practice of saving a near final draft of the magazine to memory stick and locked it in a safe.
"The pieces of the memory stick were scattered on your desk along with another unpleasant surprise. Tech may be able to salvage the magazine from the pieces but it's going to take time." Sumreen told the group in frustration.
"That we don't have." Mode UK could not handle the issue coming out late. They're already teetering at the edge due to recent events.
"Exactly which is why in the next 34 hours we are going to recreate the magazine from scratch. I've called in everybody that doesn't have a religious objection about working on the weekend. Will, Kathleen from Features, and Victoria from graphics are already here working and they've called in as many underlings as possible. Unfortunately no one from the style department is willing and/or able to come in. Two members of that team quit. Also working in our favor, is that I have a nasty habit of saving all the articles I edit on my home computer." That was one of the few pieces of good news. Also unlike the Wilhelmina catastrophe years ago, a good portion of the staff would not be tempted to go to a computing magazine.
"You should also be able to get everything from the freelancers." Betty added.
"Unfortunately there were not many freelance articles in the latest issue. We're still missing a lot of stuff but we're working on it. We're currently taking over the British cuisine offices because they are the only magazine that's clean." Sumreen explain.
"Of course Mr. Pratt would hate to destroy his favorite magazine. Chances are Monique's wedding has been canceled or postponed therefore I have lots of free time. I think I save some of the drafts on my laptop. I could head back." He would not let this magazine fall apart. He wasn't going to fail his first time on his own.
"I am not going to say no to your help because we need it. However I think you will be more efficient if you work from the American offices. At least we know those computers are working properly." Sumreen suggested.
"Good point." He said knowing that she was right. He would lose valuable time by flying back.
"I can be there in 45 minutes and I will see if I can get some help from the international style editor here in the U.S. I'll call you later." He said ending the call.
"We need to head to the mode offices. Can you please get my laptop?" He asked his girlfriend.
"Sure. Anything else I can help you with?" Betty asked. Part of him would love for her to help him like she always did but he took the job in London to prove that he could do this without Wilhelmina, his sister, his mother, or even Betty coming to save him. This was all on him and Sumreen. If they pull this off, he was going to make Sumreen CO-EIC.
"Since you work for the competition, you can't. I have to do this on my own. Besides, I think we're in better shape than last time. At least we know that the computers here are virus free. Also, last time nobody had the good sense to save their rough drafts to an alternate location."
"They say it's always easier the second time around. I can call Becks to get copies of what he had for you guys before I became his boss." Betty already had her cell phone out as she walked up the stairs. "But first I'm going to call a cab."
"This is why I love you." Daniel said smiling.
"Are you sure I can't tweet about this?" Justin asked.
"No, Mr. Pratt destroying the UK offices and computers cannot be public knowledge, especially before I tell Monique about it." He was starting to think it was a bad idea to put a 16 year old in charge of the Twitter feed. Although, unlike Amanda at least he asks if he has a question about if something should go public.
"I met you and Betty. It's adorable." He said smiling.
"Maybe later, although since you enjoy writing so much, you're going to help me. How much do you know about the British fashion scene?"
"A lot, who do you think tutored Aunt Betty before she went to London fashion week last spring?" Justin said smugly. Daniel remembered how good her articles were from that.
"We may pull this off." Daniel said to himself taking a deep breath. To think this morning when he woke up he was worried about spending the entire day dwelling on Molly's death. Thanks to a certain Pratt and Gio's crazy ex girlfriend he had other things to worry about.
After working with Monique Osborn for more years than she cares to remember she does not remember ever seeing the woman cry except for exactly one year ago today when her best friend died. (She found out via a rumor mill massed e-mail). So really it doesn't surprise Candy at all that instead of crying over the fact that the venue for her perfect wedding is no longer usable, she is being held back by Marc to keep her from attacking the one responsible. Candy is 100% sure there's going to be a picture somewhere of the angry fashion editor dressed in only a cream color slip and Marc's suit jacket trying to attack she who will not be named as the looney was dragged off by the police. Why didn't she stay in London? She could be having a nice weekend avoiding a certain guy she shouldn't have slept with as she continued her search for decent London pizza and/or curry. Instead, she flew back for the most insane wedding of all time that will now probably never happen. Dealing with the Becks problem may be preferable.
"It's not going to do any good if you spend your wedding day in lock up." Marc remarked as he tried to calm Monique down. His years as Wilhelmina Slater's guard dog were coming in handy. Monique only looked ready to mien at this point.
"No, but I will feel better when I stab her ice cold heart with my stiletto." She screamed at no one in particular. "What did I do that gives her the right to completely ruin my wedding?"
"You stole her boyfriend." Antonella said flippantly as she slowly drank her ginger ale. Amanda was kind enough to share her pregnancy stash with the teenager.
All things considered the almost 16 year old was handling the pregnancy thing better than Candy thought she would. She only cried for 30 minutes when the doctor confirmed it before they arrived at Mode to break the bad news. She only stopped when Candy offered to go with her to break the news to he who will not be named later that night. Antonella threw her cellphone at the idiot responsible for this mess after he told her he didn't give a fuck that she was pregnant and threw money at her to "get it taken care of'". Again that was better than what she would have done. He would not have a dick now. On the cab ride back to Manhattan, Candy heard the whole story of how this happen. Said boyfriend convinced the teenage girl that if she really loved him she would take their relationship "forward" before she moved to London. He also told her that they were not doing anything that would get her pregnant. Unfortunately, the then 15 year old didn't know that penetration is not necessary for pregnancy. The sperm just needs to be in that general area.
At the pre wedding slumber party Antonella and Monique came to some sort of agreement about the pregnancy. She's going to have the baby but beyond that no one is sure what's going to happen next. Although she did see the adoption pamphlets resurface on Monique's coffee table. They were last spotted in March when Amanda was making the same decision. However, there's a big difference between this happening at age 27 than 16.
"This isn't the time for you to make smart comments. I still have to break the news to Gio that he may be an uncle in eight months, I am anything but happy about that. God I still have no idea how I'm going to tell your brother. Although, I'm sure he'll feel better about the fact that you got pregnant without penetration. I only believe you because we did an article in Player about that two years ago." Candy was pretty sure somebody mumbled something about putting the article in the teen magazine.
"Antonella, it is in your best interest for me to stay calm and not freak out in front of two million cameras. I hope none of them have microphones. Your brother finding out from Suzuki will not be good for anyone." Monique said shaking. She was definitely furious.
"May I suggest a blow job? Bad news is always better during sex." Amanda suggested and Marc just groaned.
"Again, I hope no one can hear this conversation." Monique mumbled under breath. "Sexual acts should never be used to break bad news caused by sex but if I'm desperate enough I may use it on the honeymoon. However, if we don't come up with some way to still have this wedding there will not be a honeymoon. There is no way in hell I will let that evil woman ruin my big day." Monique shouted at Marc, with resulted in him giving her one of Amanda's emergency chocolate bars.
"There 's always Vegas." Candy suggested. "I'm sure I can get everyone that you actually want to have your wedding on a plane within the next 3 hours.
"That would be so much easier but if I don't want the Meade publications takeover to fall apart it's not an option." Monique said as she crinkled her brow in frustration. She was on the verge of cracking up. Why couldn't Brianna be here for this?
"As much as I enjoy having this conversation in 90° heat with every single camera in the city watching us I suggest we move this conversation somewhere with air conditioning and hair styling products." Marc suggested in candy agreed wholeheartedly. The extreme heat was doing horrible things to her hair.
"We are only a couple of blocks from the Mode offices. It's closer than your apartment and I know you keep a change of clothes there for emergencies and this is an emergency." Candy said pulling her phone out to call for a town car. She doubted certain members of the group, like cousin Tamika, wanted to walk in bunny slippers.
"Fine, do you think we can find everything I need for the perfect wedding there too?" Monique asked with pure sarcasm.
"I know you're being facetious but if I remember correctly, Craft Monthly is doing their annual do it yourself wedding issue. If the rumor mill is to be believed, studio three currently looks like the tackiest wedding ever from yesterday shoot. They haven't had time to break it down yet. We might be able to salvage something." Marc suggested off handily.
"Are you suggesting that we have my wedding on sound stage three?" Monique asked rubbing her forehead, an obvious sign that she had a headache. Just as Candy started looking for something with acetaminophen in it, Tamika already passed a bottle of pills to her cousin.
"That would be absurd. We could use the props for the executive banquet room on the penthouse level if we can get rid of the tackiness." Marc said with a snicker.
"It's not big enough for both and we don't have the resources or time to break everything down between the wedding and reception." Monique said after swallowing the pills dry.
"You can have the ceremony on the roof. You did want an outdoor wedding but your mother said you couldn't." Tamika reminded her.
"Remind me to never listen to my mother again. Okay we have five and half hours to pull off the wedding of this summer season. We're gonna need all the help possible." Monique told the group.
"I'm working on it." Marc said with new iPad in hand.
"Amanda, contact Sherry my wedding planner and tell her to meet me at Mode as soon as she is done with the police. Also call all the vendors and see if they can drop off everything at the Mode offices instead." Monique said already going into leadership mode. The skills that made her the youngest EIC in Mode history were very visible.
"Got it." Amanda said grabbing her phone out of her baby preparedness bag.
"Marc, get a hold of Terry from Craft Monthly to see if we can borrow what we need. Also, can I please steel your assistant for the next 5 hours and 25 minutes?" Monique asked.
"Tamika is your cousin. Family is needed at times like this." Marc said looking sad for a moment. "You don't need to ask permission. It is your damn company or will be as soon as the papers go through. We work for you. We have no choice but to be okay with it."
"I found it easier to work with people if they don't all hate you." Monique said with another smile.
"That's very true. That's why I'm not that upset about leaving the department." Tamika said affirming her cousin.
"Dear cousin, call the family and let them know about the new location and see if any will be willing to help with the setup. Don't call anybody Gio's signed because they all think I'm a whore." The bitterness was easily heard in her words.
"Got it. Mom should be willing. She would do anything for family and she's good with the glue gun. So is your biological mom for that matter. She is here."
"That's good because mommy Windom-West doesn't like to lift anything heavier than a martini glass. Antonella please tell the same thing to the family members that haven't been poisoned against me on your side. They're more likely to believe you. Also are any of your friends good with a glue gun?" Monique asked.
"Justin is the only friend I have that is still speaking to me and they don't even know about this." She said pointing to her stomach. "Everyone already hates me because I'm moving to Manhattan." Monique quickly put her arm around her and whispered something to her that no one else could hear.
"You only need one real friend." He said pointing to Amanda. "Fortunately for you, Justin is very good with the glue gun and color coordination. I've already sent him an email." Marc said quickly. "Also Terry said that she would be happy to help with the current plan. She will meet us in the studio in 30 minutes." Marc said looking up from his iPad just as the limo arrived. I'm currently emailing anyone I know that can help."
"How did you do that so fast?" Tamika asked in absolute surprise.
"That's a trade secret of a former assistant of Wilhelmina Slater. Because you are my new assistant I may share." Marc said smirking as they walked to the car.
"That's one less thing to worry about." Monique said just as her phone rang. It was heard Daniel's ring tone.
"Thank god you called." Monique said as she slid into the back of the limo. Everyone else quickly followed in behind her. "The wedding is still on we are just moving everything to the Mode offices. I will explain when you get there. How crafty is your girlfriend?" Monique asked not letting Daniel speak until she was ready. She became silent for a while before exploding once Daniel was able to talk.
"What the fuck do you mean the UK issue is lost?" Thankfully Marc just closed the door to the soundproof vehicle before the explosion. That was not something that should go public. Considering she had three emergency text messages from Sumreen, she knew the situation must be serious. "Let me put you on speaker phone now that we're in the car so that everyone can hear."
"What's going on Daniel?" Candy asked. That's when Daniel explained about Mr. Pratt's revenge involving a computer virus and a cricket bat. If she ever saw that bastard again she was going to kill him. She calmed down as Daniel explained a plan to recreate the magazine.
"I know she is your bridesmaid but I really need Candy right now. Betty said she would help you with the wedding stuff." He offered.
"The magazine is more important than how cute my wedding is. The only reason why I agreed to have this spectacle of a wedding was to help the magazine. You have full run of the U.S. Mode offices and I will try to get you some help for my people." Monique said with a sigh.
"Thank you." Daniel said gratefully.
"Candy when we get upstairs call Gina from graphics and see if she's willing to come in today for double overtime and an extra day off for the winter holiday of her choice. Also look in my contacts for Natalia Winters cell phone number." Monique told her as they got out of the car in the parking garage of the Mode offices. Thankfully for her she still had a copy of all Monique's contacts saved on her blackberry. "Considering Diana quit and Mode UK no longer has an acting creative director, you really do need to fill the position quickly. I will talk to her about the option and send her over."
"Got it, I am sending her a text message now about the new location for the wedding and to see if she can meet you here to help." She said not even looking up from her phone
"You are brilliant." Daniel said in praise.
"I know." She said smirking as she started walking to the elevator.
"I need one more thing from you. As much as I don't want you to have an excuse to call him, I need you to call Becks to see if he can e-mail us his proofs. Betty tried but he didn't pick up. They don't like each other very well." Daniel said hesitantly.
"Why do you think he will pick up for me?" She asked not wanting to call the guy. She has been dodging his phone calls ever since she did that stupid thing.
"Because he never ignores someone that he wants to have sex with again."
"What do you mean again?" Monique said in open mouth shock. Why does she have a feeling that Mo knew about the reputation of the person that Daniel was talking about. Let's just hope it wasn't in the Biblical sense. I have to go." She said quickly ending the call before she threw the phone back at Monique. She then proceeded to run to the elevator, the doors closed in right in front of her friend. Candy only hoped that Monique would be too distracted by the wedding to ask questions. She already had another disaster to worry about.
To be continued.