Andy groans as her alarm goes off. "Noooo, it's too early." She rolls over and smacks her hand down on her alarm clock, only she is met with the cold wood of her bed side table. She growls as the memory of moving her alarm clock to the other side of the room returns. "Why did I do that to myself? I slept in one time, and now I torture myself every morning." She grumbles as she gets out of bed to turn off the alarm. "What 25 year old gets up at 4:00 in the morning anyway? Oh right I do. I had to go and get a good job where I am expected to act responsibly." Andy pauses, "and apparently I talk to myself now." She shakes her head and walking into the bathroom to take her morning shower.
An hour and a half later, dressed, pressed and ready to go, Andy calls Roy to pick her up. She sits on the steps outside her townhouse and reviews the Book looking for anything she missed last night.
"If you keep sitting outside like that, someone might think you are human." A male voice cuts through the quiet morning.
Andy looks up with a smile, "and what would people think when they hear one of Andrea Sachs employees talking to her so informally?"
"The press wouldn't know what to do." Roy says with a smile.
"Good morning Roy."
"Morning Andy. Ready to go?" He opens the car door and wait for Andy to get in.
"Ready as I will every be." Andy says with a sigh.
When they reach the front of the building Andy waits for Roy to do his normal morning text to Emily to let them know she is here. While she may seem harsh in the office, Andy tries to do everything she can to help out her employees. She hates being so harsh, but what is a young woman supposed to do in the world of fashion? If she wasn't harsh she wouldn't have lasted as long as she has. With a sigh Andy puts on her sunglasses and climbs out of the car. 'Another day in my paradise' she thinks sarcastically.
Andy is met with the usual when she gets out of the elevator, Emily waiting for instructions and peoples backs as they walk away from her. 'Gotta love being on top.' She shakes her head, 'and I have to get out of my head.' Andy rolls her eyes at herself, "Emily, coffee, Donatella in ten minutes, Nigel in thirty, tell Richard to redo those photos." She pauses, "that's all."
"Yes, Andrea" Emily says then rushes off to get things done.
Andy sighs, 'wow I really need to stop sighing. And I really have to stop this internal monologue.' Her thoughts are interrupted by her phone ringing, "Yes."
—
Miranda woke up feeling only slightly rested. Yesterday keep replaying in her mind over and over. She was still in awe that Miss Sachs, 'Andrea' a small voice whispers in the back of her head, had taken a chance on her and given her the job. "If Andrea was willing to take a chance on me, then I'm going to prove that she made the right choice." With that thought she says goodbye to the girls and is off. She makes it to the office bright and early. She sits at her desk and fiddles with her computer while observing the office with keen eyes. She watches as clothes seems to appear and disappear in a constant flow.
Soon, just like yesterday, Emily receives her warning text that Andrea is on her way up. The same man, who she learned is Nigel, walks in to drop something off at Emily's desk and gave the same warning as yesterday. Everything stilled, then ding, everything goes back to its chaos after Andrea makes her morning appearance.
Miranda was sitting at her desk answering calls with the same line, when she heard a quiet call for Emily from Andrea's office. She looks up and over to Emily.
"Emily" Andrea called louder this time.
"She means you idiot!" Emily hisses at Miranda.
"Oh," Miranda grabs her pen and notepad just like she had seen Emily do yesterday, took a deep breath and walks into the inner office, "yes Andrea?"
She watches as Andrea stiffened for a second then relaxes back into her normal posture. 'I wonder what that was?' Miranda thought.
"Miranda I need coffee. Emily will tell you my order. I want it here in five minutes."
Miranda waits to see if there was anything else. Andrea looks up at her with a devilish smirk, "four minutes and forty five seconds, better hurry."
Miranda scrambles out of Andrea's office as fast as she could, the sound of a soft laugh following her all the way out of the office.
Back with one no-foam skimmed latte with an extra shot and three drops of coffee with room for milk at the temperature of the center of the sun and fifteen seconds to spare, Miranda walks into Andrea's office slightly out of breath and a little flushed from the running, "here is your coffee Andrea."
Andrea raises her eyebrow and glances at her clock, she looks back over to a flushed Miranda and smirks just a little, "that's all." With that Miranda is dismissed.
Miranda returns to her desk and sits down with a huff, 'I'm going to have to start exercising again.' She rolls her neck and tries to get her breathing under control. 'God when did I get old?'
—
Andy is staring holes into her desk. She is trying to take deep breaths to calm her racing heart, but it's not really working. 'Pull yourself together Andrea! Just because a very attractive woman walks in here looking delightfully disheveled does not give you the right to completely shut down and stop working!' Andy berates herself, 'it is her second day of work for god sakes! And did I really just Andrea myself? Jeez I really need get out of my head' Andy shakes her head and focuses back on the work in front of her.
Exactly one minutes and thirteen seconds later, Andy groans. "Emily!" She watches with a smirk as her first assistant scrambles around her desk.
"Yes Andrea?" Emily asks.
"These photos will not do. The coloring is off, I have no idea why this even crossed my desk. Clearly someone in the art department thought it would be funny to waste my time with these."
"I'm sorry Andrea, I'll take them down to be redone right now."
"That's all." Andy says with a raised eyebrow. She watches as Emily rushes out of her office, says a few words to Miranda and is off to the art department.
Andy leans back in her chair, and shifts to the right just a little bit to glance at Miranda. As if she senses someone staring, Miranda looks up and meets Andy's gaze. Andy gasps as her eyes connects with the striking blue eyes of her new assistant. She leans her head to the side as if she was trying to unravel the mystery that is Miranda. With a slight nod, Andy looks away and returns to work.
—
Miranda is frozen. She can't move. "She was looking at me. Why was she looking at me?" A myriad thoughts rushed through Miranda's head. "Did I do something wrong? She was looking at me. Is she going to fire me? She has such a lovely shade of brown eyes. Should I ask Emily about it? They are more than brown… They are like a rich dark chocolate. Why am I thinking about Andrea's eyes?" Miranda rolls her eyes at herself. She stretches out her neck and back with a couple of pops. She glances back towards the small window into Andrea's office only to find empty space. With a sigh she gets back to work.
The times flies and soon Andrea leaves with a flourish of Jimmy Choo and Gucci. The office seems to take a deep breath, exhale slowly, and relax. The constant movement dwindled away to the occasional person leaving. Without Andrea there too keep everyone on their toes, the office is a calm, almost peaceful.
Miranda finds herself able to breathe for the first time since her eyes met with Andrea's this morning. She slouches down into her seat and sighs. Emily looks up at her with an almost pitying look, "Working here isn't a piece of cake."
Miranda smiles a little, "You are very right about that. I honestly didn't know what I was expecting when I came to interview. Well I wasn't expecting to get the job, but the work just isn't what I thought it would be. You know?"
Emily laughed, "Well working here isn't like working at any other fashion magazine. Hell it isn't like working at any other magazine. Working here is different. And that is all Andrea."
"She is something." Miranda says with a sigh.
Emily nods, "that she is. Alright get out of here. Go home. I'll see you tomorrow MIranda."
"Night Emily." Miranda says. Soon she is out the door and on her way home. She stops at the convenience store and buys some cheap ice cream for her and her girls. She smiles at the thought of her girls' faces when she shows up with ice cream. She laughs a little and hurries home.
Even though it was past eleven, and way past their bedtime, as soon as Miranda walked into the door she was attacked by two very excited girls. "Hello Bobbseys! I've got a surprise."
"What is it mom?" Caroline and Cassidy ask at the same time with the exact same smirk.
"Well I was walking home and decided I wanted some…. Ice cream!" Miranda says with a laugh. Both girls shrieked excitedly and pulled Miranda into the kitchen.
As the girls finished up their bowls of ice cream Miranda sighed. "These two are a mess. A very loveable mess, but a mess nonetheless."
Miranda stood up, "Alright girls time for bed. Go brush your teeth and get ready for bed."
"But mom,"
"Don't 'but mom' me, I let you stay up late and eat ice cream. No complaining. Bed. Go."
"Yes mom." Caroline says in defeat.
"Night mom." Cassidy says sleepily.
"Yeah, night mom." Caroline says.
Miranda smiles at her girls, "Night Bobbseys." Miranda sighs as she watches her girls climb the stairs up to their bedroom. "I wonder what tomorrow will bring. Only 363 days to go."
Ending notes: Hi guys! Sorry for such a long wait for the update! I am really bad at updating… But I hope you like chapter two! Please leave me a review! ~NinjahMonkey