I'm back with an update for Valentine's Day... Hope everyone had a fantastic day today!
If you haven't already, please check out Peyton's Comet's Breyton story called "Regarding Henry", you won't be disappointed :)
Peyton didn't get nervous.
But for some reason, she'd been up since four that morning. She already had a pot of coffee and was sketching aimlessly on her sketchpad trying to block out everything rolling in her mind.
What was she thinking accepting this job for Brooke? It meant being tied down to this place longer. She always took her work seriously, but was she ready to commit to something other than Jamie? Her dad?
It was all making her so anxious and she really wanted a cigarette.
She glanced over at the clock, she wanted to get a head start and be out before her dad got up for the day. He had been under-going treatment the past few days and he'd been more tired than usual.
It amazed Peyton how much he still kept his spirits up.
"Here goes nothing…" Peyton whispered to herself as she slid in the Comet with her thermos full of coffee.
She was due at Clothes Over Bro's by 8:00 for a team staff meeting to go over the next month's events.
Her mind was elsewhere as she drove, rethinking her decision a million times.
As she pulled up to the Tree Hill office and parked, she flicked the cigarette to the sidewalk and approached the office.
She saw a tall redhead approaching the door, cup of coffee in hand. She knew immediately who she was based off the descriptions she had received from everyone, and she was definitely hot.
Peyton picked up her pace a little to introduce herself, but before she could the redhead turned to her with a smile.
"Peyton Sawyer…" The redhead said with a grin.
"How'd you know?" Peyton responded as they opened the door to Clothes Over Bro's and Rachel led her through to the back office.
"Probably the same way you knew it was me, don't believe everything you've heard about me." She flashed a grin back to Peyton as they sat around the round table, they were the only two there so far, except for Millie who was running around setting up.
"Well, I've heard quite a bit about the legendary Rachel Gatina from Tree Hill…." Peyton laughed back to her taking a sip of her coffee.
"Don't worry; I have a feeling we are going to be fast friends." Rachel replied with a wink.
"No way! Dashboard's newest album is utter crap compared to their first album." Peyton shot back to Rachel; they were engaged in a full-on music conversation. Something Peyton had truly missed talking in-depth with anyone about. They were so involved in the conversation they hadn't even noticed Brooke walk in looking seriously annoyed.
"Okay, okay…. What about Yellowcard though, amazing right? Their new acoustic album is seriously badass." Rachel laughed back to her pointing her finger to make her point.
"Totally agree, okay….. Foo Fighters? Dave Grohl, totally hot, right?" Peyton pointed back with a laugh.
Before Rachel could respond, they were interrupted by a throat clearing.
"Well, great. I see you two have met." Brooke glanced between the two. Of course those two would hit it off, nothing would annoy her more.
"Good morning Brooke!" Rachel gritted out with a smile plastered to her face, Peyton didn't know either of them well, but she could cut the tension with a knife.
"Right, well, everyone should be here in just a minute and we will get started. Lots to discuss." Brooke added back with a fake smile clapping her hands together in a huff and turned on her heels and went back to gather everyone.
In a low tone Peyton leaned over to Rachel, "You gonna tell me what her deal is? Why is she like that?"
Peyton still couldn't figure out why she was trying to dig a little deeper into Brooke Davis's world. It was definitely not something she ever cared about before.
"Girl, there's not enough alcohol in the world to try to figure out the mystery that is Brooke Davis and don't get me started on her mothe….. Victoria, good morning!" Rachel shot up looking up at Victoria who had just entered the room and sat down at the head of the table as Millicent handed her a coffee.
"You must be Victoria; I'm Peyton Sawyer, the new photographer." Peyton said standing and reaching to shake her hand to which Victoria declined.
"Yes, I've heard all about you and looked at your previous work… doesn't seem like you'll be sticking around much longer than Joplin…" She said looking down at her notes.
"Jennifer…" Rachel corrected.
"Oh good, Rachel dear you've arrived. Please let's not have a fiasco like we did at Fashion Week last year, huh?" Victoria gritted out with a smile.
"Seriously, what was with the Davis's being so rude to people?" Peyton added under her breath to herself.
"Fiasco? If you call me getting Brooke designer of the year and me being named top model a fiasco, then I guess it was truly a fiasco, whatever you say Victoria." Rachel gritted back.
"Okay then…." Brooke said sensing the tension as she walked in with a few clients, and sat next to Victoria, "Let's get down to business, shall we?"
The meeting went on for hours as they discussed the new fall line, which Peyton could care less about, and the details surrounding Fashion Week. They had to head to New York for over a week and Peyton was feeling really uneasy about the idea, she wouldn't have taken the job if she realized how much travel would be involved. It made her nervous to be away from her dad for that long.
Peyton had zoned out thinking about all the things she'd rather be doing than sitting in this meeting. She looked over to Rachel and noticed she was started to nod off as well. Seriously, could this get any more boring? She couldn't help but think of Rachel and Brooke's relationship. She knew Lucas had cheated with Rachel, yet Brooke still worked with her, that couldn't be easy. But Rachel seemed sweet…. Maybe she knew what Haley was talking about. Women like Rachel always seemed to get her in trouble.
"So, you two are good with flying out in two weeks for a few days then? And then back a week after that for a week?" Brooke said loudly to regain their attention.
Peyton and Rachel nodded in agreement.
"Brooke, how's your new line dear? What should we be expecting?" The client inquired.
"It's new, it's fresh, Rachel actually has a few designs she's going to model for you to get a sneak peek." Brooke replied, and Peyton couldn't help but smile at that genuine smile Brooke had on her face. She loved when she smiled like that… wait, what?
"Oh, come on sweetie, it's not that original." Victoria added back with a huff. Peyton and Rachel looked to each other in shock; did she really just say that in this meeting?
And as soon as Peyton looked to Brooke, that genuine smile that was on her face just moments ago, vanished and was replaced with a sad look of defeat.
"I've seen the designs, trust me, there's going to be nothing like them on the runway." Rachel added back with a slight edge to her voice.
Yes. Rachel and Brooke definitely had their differences, but they had a mutual respect for each other and she could admit that Brooke Davis was definitely a very talented designer. No question.
"We will see about that, dear." Victoria added back fake smile planted on her face.
And then, it came out like word vomit. Peyton couldn't even help herself. So what, it was her first day on the job, no loss if she got fired now.
"Dude, what is your problem? Your daughter's designs are extremely good, you shouldn't cut her down in a meeting full of people, or ever for that matter." Peyton said spitefully. She didn't care. And she didn't care that her and Brooke didn't really see eye-to-eye, no one should be talked to that way.
The room fell completely silent as Victoria and Peyton glared at each other.
"I'm just…. Uh… gonna go try on those dresses." Rachel added getting up from the table heading to change.
The meeting went on about another hour after Rachel modeled the dresses. And Peyton was right, Brooke was definitely talented and her clothes were going to shine on the runway.
As soon as they had walked the clients out, Victoria stood in front of Peyton arms crossed against her chest.
"Well, little missy, I don't know who you think you are coming at me like that in this meeting. You're just a measly photographer." Victoria spat out.
"And Rachel's just a measly model, and Brooke's just a measly designer." Peyton said back with a grin.
"Wha…" Victoria started, but Peyton cut in.
"And you're a…. what, exactly? A bully. You don't scare me." Peyton added as Brooke and Rachel watched the scene play out. Rachel loved that it was this girl's first day and she was already ballsy enough to stand up to Victoria Davis, no one ever did that.
"You should be scared…" Victoria added glaring.
"Of what? If you lost us, you'd be nothing. You don't even own the company. It's a mystery why Brooke even keeps you around." Peyton added back satisfied with herself.
"I'm watching you Sawyer." Victoria said with a point to her face and turned on her heels to exit the meeting room.
"I'm terrrrrified." Peyton yelled after her as she left.
Peyton turned to Brooke and Rachel with a laugh, "Well, she's definitely a charmer."
"What'd I tell you? Not exactly the easiest person to work with, but damn. I've never seen someone put Bitchoria in her place like that. Pretty hot Sawyer." Rachel added glancing at the blonde up and down.
Peyton laughed, "yeah, well. Someone had to. It was pretty uncalled for." She couldn't help but pick up on Brooke's silence.
"Alright, I will see you tonight, I gotta head to the next press meeting. Bye Brooke!" Rachel replied with a wink to Peyton and a wave to Brooke as she walked out. This whole thing pissed Brooke off entirely. What the hell was happening tonight? Didn't they like…. Just meet?
When it was just the two of them standing in the empty meeting room, the air was suddenly desperately quiet.
"So…. Uh…. Guess you're pretty pissed that I said something huh?" Peyton started off.
"Not really. It's always nice to see someone stand up to her, doesn't happen often where I see her deemed speechless." Brooke said with a slight laugh.
"I suppose I have that effect on people… sorry though, it was pretty unprofessional for my first day." Peyton added.
"Consider it forgotten. Thanks for sticking up for me… not sure why you'd do that, I've been such a bitch to you." Brooke said lightly. At least she knew she was being a bitch, Peyton thought.
"You have talent, anyone with eyes can see that. Don't thank me." Peyton said back with sincerity.
"So, you're here not even a full day and you've got friends and enemies already it seems…" Brooke trailed off, not wanting her statement to come across as jealousy. She had no reason to be jealous but she couldn't stop thinking about what the blonde was meant to do with Rachel tonight.
"Ha… yeah. Apparently a group of models are heading to some bar called Tric tonight to drink. She owes me a round for being wrong about how many albums Jimmy Eat World had out…." Peyton responded.
"Sounds fun…" Brooke added a little sadly, Brooke never got invited out, especially not with the models after events because of her and Rachel's history.
"You should totally come though. I had actually mentioned asking you but Rachel said you never went out…" Peyton added sensing Brooke's discomfort.
"I… uh… I don't. Rachel and I aren't exactly on the best of terms…." Brooke trailed off again looking at the carpet.
"Understood. Well, I think I'll go over with Millie the rest of the schedule for the next few weeks." Peyton said walking towards the door.
"Thank you, Peyton. I'm actually supposed to meet Nate and Hales at Tric tonight, so I might end up running into you guys there." Brooke added gathering the rest of her presentation supplies to head to the next meeting.
"See you around, Brooke Davis." Peyton added back before leaving to find Millie.
Brooke had the dumbest smile on her face. She couldn't believe Peyton Sawyer; a girl she barely knew would stand up to one Victoria Davis in her first company meeting.
Maybe she underestimated her… and this hating her thing was getting harder and harder by the hour it seemed…
Read and review my lovies :)