FIC: The Devil Wears a Size Six (1/2)
Dear readers,
Please read this from the beginning, even if you read the teaser I posted last week, as I made some changes. For those of you who missed it, this is a sequel to the Serena/Emily story "Christmas Miracle" that I wrote for the Secret Santa challenge. That story can be found at http://community.livejournal.com/dvlwears_prada/463642.html
I hope people like it :)
_________________________________________
This relationship, Emily thought with a sense of depressing inevitability, was not going to work.
Serena was the closest person to her in all of America. (Oh sure, Miranda was the one in her dreams, which was why she never had good dreams any more, but given time, Serena could debut as a fan-favorite recurring guest star.) She was absolutely beautiful, her accent made Emily's toes curl, and she had a history of wanting Emily to enjoy life instead of snarling at it. Every night without her just intensified her desire to see this through.
Oh yes, that was the only problem. "Every night without her". It was damnably difficult to go on a date with someone when you both worked a beastly schedule that was likely to get worse at any given time. They still had their fifteen-minute lunches together, but there was only so much you could say or do in that amount of time, surrounded by people.
In a way, those lunches made it worse. Here's the girl you're quite interested in now, and oops! There she goes again. And you won't see her again outside of the office until tomorrow, because you'll be working until one in the morning, and you need the time after that for a few hours of sleep. And if you get a surprise opening in your calendar, she'll be on an assignment of her own. There she goes again, Emily, the girl you can't have.
When had her last day off been? The end of December? And now it was the middle of February? It could make her weep helplessly (and in fact had, on multiple occasions) to think that she'd worked over ninety hours a week, every week, since the new year began. All because Miranda didn't trust anyone to be her new second assistant after what Andrea had pulled in Paris.
Maybe she could hate Andrea after all.
So Serena waited, alone, kept from Emily, like that beautiful gift you opened on Christmas morning, only to have your older, bigger sister take it away and refuse to give it back. Yes, Emily thought she'd received a diamond in her Christmas stocking, but instead someone stole the diamond and left a lump of coal in its place. They were well and truly fucked before they even began. (And well before the good kind of getting fucked could happen.)
"Emily . . ."
Coming, o bane of my love life!
Why couldn't she just quit, Emily thought despairingly half an hour later. It sounded so easy. For fuck's sake, Andrea had quit by throwing her phone in a fountain, and what had Miranda done? Given her a recommendation! But of course, therein lay the rub. With that act, Andrea had well and truly bolloxed it for everyone else. Whatever well of human kindness Miranda had, Andrea had clearly drained it dry. Emily didn't like to think about what would happen if she tried to resign. It wouldn't even matter if she gave two weeks' notice, and returned her phone intact. Miranda would crush her, and then she'd have her deported. To New Zealand. Never mind that she wasn't from there.
This was all Andrea's fault, Emily decided. Andrea hadn't saved her job; she'd sentenced Emily to imprisonment. Miranda was the Dragon Lady, and Andrea was the devil. It was as simple as that.
_________________________________________________
Serena walked briskly out of Miranda's office with her latest orders. As she did, she glanced sadly at Emily's desk and saw that she hadn't returned yet from her latest errand. Perhaps it was for the best. Emily looked awful these days.
Well, not awful in the truest sense of the word. Emily's dress and makeup were still impeccable, and of course there was the fact that Emily was so beautiful that Serena felt her heart tip over every time she saw her. But Serena could see. Emily wasn't sleeping enough, and she wasn't eating enough. Granted, she never ate enough, but at this rate she'd blow past "Goal Weight" and head straight for "Starvation". Most of all, Serena could look into Emily's eyes and know that she felt as unhappy and frustrated as Serena did.
Serena didn't have the workload that Emily had these days, but what good was having free time when the woman she wanted to spend it with - the woman who finally wanted to spend it right back with her - wasn't available? She just sat in her apartment and contemplated the opportunity slipping through her fingers.
At Nigel's Christmas party she had suggested that the perfect person for a Runway staffer to date was a fellow Runway staffer, since they'd never be able to resent each other for all the nights working late and the cancelled plans. Serena realized now that she'd been almost right - and horribly wrong at the same time. The perfect date was a former Runway staffer - they'd be just as understanding, but they'd also be able to mold their schedule to fit the other person's. Serena, on the other hand, was the worst kind of date, because it was nearly impossible to find time for each other.
The answer to the problem seemed obvious - become a former Runway staff member. But Serena could never ask Emily to quit. It would be selfish to ask that of someone else, and clearly Emily would have quit by now if she thought it was possible. Just as selfishly, however, Serena didn't want to give her job up. She liked her job, and she liked the career path she was on. All that might change if she resigned.
But what would it matter if Serena was alone?
She growled in frustration. If only Miranda would just hire a new second assistant! If only Andy hadn't quit!
And then she paused.
_________________________________________________
Andy yawned as she slung the covers off her bed. It had been a long night, but at least she made her deadline. Of course, it'd be back to the daily grind in the morning. A daily grind which, truth be told, she absolutely loved.
She just wished she still had Nate to share it with.
Andy sighed. The problem was Nate had loved where he was too, and Boston was where he was. And she'd waited too long to get her job at the Mirror. She couldn't walk away from that, even if it meant walking away from him. But at least they'd parted ways a hell of a lot better than the last time, when she still worked at Runway.
She wondered how Nigel and Emily and the others were. Probably more exhausted than she was. February was a big month, what with -
Her doorbell buzzed at that moment.
Andy groaned. Who the hell was bothering her at this hour? She swore, whoever it was, even Lily, would be escorted back out quite politely and VERY firmly. She staggered over to the door and looked through the peephole.
Emily?
Astonished, Andy opened the door. "Emily?" she asked, almost wanting to poke her to see if she was real. "What are you doing here?"
Emily grimaced. "Andrea," she said, gritting her teeth. "I need a favor."
"From me?"
"Of course you! Who else would I be here to see?" Emily snapped. Then she took a deep breath. "I need you to teach me how to quit my job."
To be concluded . . .
Sincerely, Allaine
Please read this from the beginning, even if you read the teaser I posted last week, as I made some changes. For those of you who missed it, this is a sequel to the Serena/Emily story "Christmas Miracle" that I wrote for the Secret Santa challenge. That story can be found at http://community.livejournal.com/dvlwears_prada/463642.html
I hope people like it :)
_________________________________________
This relationship, Emily thought with a sense of depressing inevitability, was not going to work.
Serena was the closest person to her in all of America. (Oh sure, Miranda was the one in her dreams, which was why she never had good dreams any more, but given time, Serena could debut as a fan-favorite recurring guest star.) She was absolutely beautiful, her accent made Emily's toes curl, and she had a history of wanting Emily to enjoy life instead of snarling at it. Every night without her just intensified her desire to see this through.
Oh yes, that was the only problem. "Every night without her". It was damnably difficult to go on a date with someone when you both worked a beastly schedule that was likely to get worse at any given time. They still had their fifteen-minute lunches together, but there was only so much you could say or do in that amount of time, surrounded by people.
In a way, those lunches made it worse. Here's the girl you're quite interested in now, and oops! There she goes again. And you won't see her again outside of the office until tomorrow, because you'll be working until one in the morning, and you need the time after that for a few hours of sleep. And if you get a surprise opening in your calendar, she'll be on an assignment of her own. There she goes again, Emily, the girl you can't have.
When had her last day off been? The end of December? And now it was the middle of February? It could make her weep helplessly (and in fact had, on multiple occasions) to think that she'd worked over ninety hours a week, every week, since the new year began. All because Miranda didn't trust anyone to be her new second assistant after what Andrea had pulled in Paris.
Maybe she could hate Andrea after all.
So Serena waited, alone, kept from Emily, like that beautiful gift you opened on Christmas morning, only to have your older, bigger sister take it away and refuse to give it back. Yes, Emily thought she'd received a diamond in her Christmas stocking, but instead someone stole the diamond and left a lump of coal in its place. They were well and truly fucked before they even began. (And well before the good kind of getting fucked could happen.)
"Emily . . ."
Coming, o bane of my love life!
Why couldn't she just quit, Emily thought despairingly half an hour later. It sounded so easy. For fuck's sake, Andrea had quit by throwing her phone in a fountain, and what had Miranda done? Given her a recommendation! But of course, therein lay the rub. With that act, Andrea had well and truly bolloxed it for everyone else. Whatever well of human kindness Miranda had, Andrea had clearly drained it dry. Emily didn't like to think about what would happen if she tried to resign. It wouldn't even matter if she gave two weeks' notice, and returned her phone intact. Miranda would crush her, and then she'd have her deported. To New Zealand. Never mind that she wasn't from there.
This was all Andrea's fault, Emily decided. Andrea hadn't saved her job; she'd sentenced Emily to imprisonment. Miranda was the Dragon Lady, and Andrea was the devil. It was as simple as that.
_________________________________________________
Serena walked briskly out of Miranda's office with her latest orders. As she did, she glanced sadly at Emily's desk and saw that she hadn't returned yet from her latest errand. Perhaps it was for the best. Emily looked awful these days.
Well, not awful in the truest sense of the word. Emily's dress and makeup were still impeccable, and of course there was the fact that Emily was so beautiful that Serena felt her heart tip over every time she saw her. But Serena could see. Emily wasn't sleeping enough, and she wasn't eating enough. Granted, she never ate enough, but at this rate she'd blow past "Goal Weight" and head straight for "Starvation". Most of all, Serena could look into Emily's eyes and know that she felt as unhappy and frustrated as Serena did.
Serena didn't have the workload that Emily had these days, but what good was having free time when the woman she wanted to spend it with - the woman who finally wanted to spend it right back with her - wasn't available? She just sat in her apartment and contemplated the opportunity slipping through her fingers.
At Nigel's Christmas party she had suggested that the perfect person for a Runway staffer to date was a fellow Runway staffer, since they'd never be able to resent each other for all the nights working late and the cancelled plans. Serena realized now that she'd been almost right - and horribly wrong at the same time. The perfect date was a former Runway staffer - they'd be just as understanding, but they'd also be able to mold their schedule to fit the other person's. Serena, on the other hand, was the worst kind of date, because it was nearly impossible to find time for each other.
The answer to the problem seemed obvious - become a former Runway staff member. But Serena could never ask Emily to quit. It would be selfish to ask that of someone else, and clearly Emily would have quit by now if she thought it was possible. Just as selfishly, however, Serena didn't want to give her job up. She liked her job, and she liked the career path she was on. All that might change if she resigned.
But what would it matter if Serena was alone?
She growled in frustration. If only Miranda would just hire a new second assistant! If only Andy hadn't quit!
And then she paused.
_________________________________________________
Andy yawned as she slung the covers off her bed. It had been a long night, but at least she made her deadline. Of course, it'd be back to the daily grind in the morning. A daily grind which, truth be told, she absolutely loved.
She just wished she still had Nate to share it with.
Andy sighed. The problem was Nate had loved where he was too, and Boston was where he was. And she'd waited too long to get her job at the Mirror. She couldn't walk away from that, even if it meant walking away from him. But at least they'd parted ways a hell of a lot better than the last time, when she still worked at Runway.
She wondered how Nigel and Emily and the others were. Probably more exhausted than she was. February was a big month, what with -
Her doorbell buzzed at that moment.
Andy groaned. Who the hell was bothering her at this hour? She swore, whoever it was, even Lily, would be escorted back out quite politely and VERY firmly. She staggered over to the door and looked through the peephole.
Emily?
Astonished, Andy opened the door. "Emily?" she asked, almost wanting to poke her to see if she was real. "What are you doing here?"
Emily grimaced. "Andrea," she said, gritting her teeth. "I need a favor."
"From me?"
"Of course you! Who else would I be here to see?" Emily snapped. Then she took a deep breath. "I need you to teach me how to quit my job."
To be concluded . . .
Sincerely, Allaine