Happiness Is for Other People, Part 2 of Chapter 2
Title: Happiness Is for Other People
Author: ficburd
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Miranda/Andy
Summary: It's Mirandy. It's not AU. The story picks up a couple of months after the point where the movie ended. Wanna know more? Well, that's just hard cheese, cause I ain't giving you more. For now, at least...
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in the movie the Devil Wears Prada; sadly, they belong to someone else. I make no money out of writing this story and therefore there's absolutely no reason to sue me.
A/N: This is my first Mirandy fic and also my very first time posting a story on lj so please be nice. The text hasn't been beta-ed and all the mistakes, which are numerous I'm sure, are mine and mine alone. While cringing at all the grammar mishaps and snickering at my amateurish use of the English language, please bear in mind that it is not, in fact, my mother tongue.
I feel terrible for not having had more time for the lj in the last couple of weeks. RL is really weighing on me heavily at the moment. I see new stories sprout up almost every day, and every day I cry for not having time to read all of them. Maybe during Christmas break... What I have had time to do, however, is write the next chapter of my story. So, without further ado - enjoy!
Part 2 (of Chapter 2)
Finding herself alone for the first time since entering the party, Andy took a deep breath and tried to clear her head of the frantic thoughts bouncing backwards and forwards in her brain. What a clusterfuck.
Deciding that there was no way she would be able to sort it all out right there and then, Andy forced her mind to focus on work. Circling between the masses of glitsy people, she managed to get a few quotes that could be qualified as usable. She was even lucky enough to snap a somewhat scandalous photo of some politician's wife with her cell phone camera when nobody was looking. The woman would be sorry she didn't wear a bra when she read tomorrow's paper.
A half an hour and two more champagnes later, Andy was feeling a little tipsy. Her brilliant idea to skip lunch to be able to fit into her dress (one of the rare remnants from her days at Runway) didn't feel so brilliant anymore. Spotting the toilets, she made her way to them. A splash of cold water would be welcome right now. However, on entering the room, a decrease in temperature was not what Andy received.
Standing in front of the mirror with her back to Andy was Miranda Priestly. Nothing could have prepared Andy for the myriad of emotions that all of a sudden invaded her body. Anger and frustration mixed with inexplicable want. Before she knew it, she was standing directly behind the older woman. It was like she had somehow levitated towards Miranda without having any say on her own body's functions. Strange.
Their eyes met in the mirror; icy blue ones narrowed with threat versus big, brown and innocent ones.
For a moment that seemed it would never end they just stared at each other in silence. Then, feeling as if possessed, Andy spoke.
”You don't always have to be so mean, Miranda.” The icy glare sharpened even more. ”I was giving you a compliment - no ulterior motives intended.”
”There are always ulterior motives, Andrea. People do not say such things without having some hidden agenda,” Miranda huffed disbelievingly.
”Well, maybe I have one,” Andy replied bravely, refusing to break the eye contact she had with the silver-haired woman. Wherever she was getting this courage, she didn't know. All she knew was that the scent of the woman standing mere inches from her was making her feel slightly light-headed and that the temptation to touch the naked back in front of her was almost unbearable.
Then, entirely outside the context came a sharp question of, ”Who was that woman you were talking with?”
”Huh?” Andy really had no idea what Miranda was talking about. Still, she felt she couldn't be really blamed for not being able to concentrate when there was so much loveliness on offer for her eyes to devour.
”The frumpy-looking redhead with the ridiculous H&M creation some people would call a dress.” The tone of her voice indicated she was feeling extremely pissed and wanted an answer yesterday.
”Oh, you mean, Bre,” Andy said, feeling victorious for actually being able to join the conversation again. ”I used to work with her before she left to work for the New Yorker.”
”You seemed awfully...close...with her,” Miranda said, and for some reason she looked most uncomfortable and even squirmed a little under Andy's careful perusal.
”Well, we were really tight before and I think I can still call her a friend if that's what you mean,” Andy said, not a little puzzled by Miranda's uncharacteristic behavior. The editor didn't squirm - ever.
”A friend?” Miranda asked sharply, and suddenly her eyes weren't just filled with ice anymore. The look in the blue eyes was so intense that Andy feared she might melt into a puddle or burst into flames if Miranda didn't stop looking at her like that. Could it be that--No, the thought was ridiculous. What could the woman possibly see in someone like Andy?
But the more she thought about it, the less ridiculous it seemed. Random flashes of memories kept rushing through her mind. Miranda's eyes devouring her from head to toe on more than one occasion during her tenure as the editor's assistant. Miranda willingly sharing an elevator with Andy. A bathrobe-clad Miranda sitting on an expensive piece of furniture in a Parisian hotel suite, her face free of make-up, confiding in Andy in her time of distress. Andy's feeling of elation upon hearing the words 'You are very fetching' fall from the older woman's lips. Miranda blushing at a compliment Andy had made. Miranda Priestly, Queen of Cool, actually blushing like a schoolgirl. And the latest addition to the list; Miranda with her blue eyes aflame with murderous jealousy.
Andy felt like she had done as a little kid when her homework from school had been to solve a puzzle of connect the dots. At first it had just looked like a bunch of stupid ink blots on the paper and Andy had been almost sure that there was no way in hell that the blots could actually come together to form a unified picture but lo and behold when she'd finally managed to draw the last line, a beautiful butterfly had been staring up at her from the surface of the paper.
Oh boy was the picture turning out to be beautiful this time around as well.
Scrambling together every last thread of courage she could find within herself, Andy decided to forgo replying in words, and instead tugged at the editor's waist to get her to turn around. Taking in a surprised breath, the older woman obeyed Andy's silent request and in a matter of seconds the two women stood facing each other with barely an inch separating them from each other.
Before Andy gave into what her body had been screaming for the entire evening, she stopped briefly to search Miranda's eyes with her own, looking for any signs of hesitation or indeed reluctance to go forward with what they both knew was about to happen. Finding no traces of either, Andy bravely let herself travel the remaining distance which separated her from the beautiful lips in front of her.
Upon the very first contact their lips made, Andy felt like there were fireworks exploding in her brain, sending little jolts of pleasure to every part of her sensitive body. The kiss was incredibly soft and light at first, each woman savoring the taste of the other's lips, not wanting to spoil the moment by trying to take too much too soon. After what seemed like hours but in reality was probably only less than a minute, Andy felt bold enough to let her tongue trace the lush surface of Miranda's lower lip, thereby asking permission for entrance. A low moan escaped the recesses of the silver-haired woman's throat as she readily granted Andy that permission.
Is this actually happening? Andy found herself thinking in the midst of their passionate clinch. Kissing Miranda. Kissing. Miranda.
That was just about as far as she got in her thoughts, for soon her brain became too preoccupied with the sensations Miranda's body and lips, and the way they felt pressed so close to Andy's, were creating, to be partaking in any kind of thought processes.
Andy's hands, which seemed to have developed a mind of their own, had begun to wander across the skin of the woman in her arms; starting from the base of the editor's back, the eager hands found their way up along the naked spine towards the delicate neck and all the way to the silky white tresses of hair. Andy had always wanted to touch Miranda's hair, even when she had been still blissfully ignorant as to the nature of her fascination with the older woman. And fascinated she had been. Oh yes, from the first day onwards, Miranda Priestly had been, in Andy's mind, the most fascinating woman she had ever met.
Miranda had her arms secured tightly around Andy's waist and she was panting hard through her nose. Letting go of the editor's lips to be able to look at her, Andy felt a gush of wetness between her legs at the powerful image in front of her. Never before had she seen Miranda look so out of control, so unlike herself. It was obvious Andy wasn't alone in feeling a desire that was almost painful surging through her veins. Miranda felt it too. The look within the deep blue ocean of her eyes with her eyelids lowered to half mast was one of unadulterated lust.
Miranda Priestly wanted to be fucked, pure and simple.
Just as Andy was about to grant her her wish, the door to the restroom swung open to reveal - just Andy's luck - Breanna West, looking more than a little stunned by what she saw.
Miranda was the first of the three to recover from the shock, and only for a brief second she wore a look of absolute terror before her features once again settled themselves into their customary haughtiness upon her face. Without a word, she glided glacially from the room, leaving behind the two journalists; one with a jaw hanging open in disbelief and the other...well, suffice to say, a complete and utter mess.
Oh shit. Oh no. Oh shit. Andy felt a panic so immense wash over her that she was sure she'd pass out from it.
“Bre...” She breathed out, her voice draining to a pitiful squeak.
“Andy,” the redhead gasped in turn, “Was that--Did you just--”
“You can't write about this, Bre,” Andy interrupted hotly. “I mean it. Not one word, do you hear me?”
Shaking her head as if still in a daze, the other journalist repeated dumbly, “Not write about this...? Andy, you can't be serious. This story is huge. It's gigantic! This kind of material can make your career. You can't expect me to--”
“I do expect you to,” Andy said, keeping her voice low and very serious. “And besides there is no story. Not yet anyway. Not if you ruin it all by writing about it.”
As if seeing her colleague for the first time ever, the redhead tilted her head to the side and regarded Andy with a contemplative look. “You really care for her, don't you?”
Deciding she had nothing left to lose, Andy replied truthfully: “Yes.”
Nodding solemnly, the petite reporter took a deep breath before releasing it and saying, “Okay.”
“Okay?” Andy immediately asked, not daring to get her hopes up too soon.
“Okay, I won't write the story,” the other woman confirmed.
Sending her quiet thanks up to the heavens, Andy said, relieved, “Thank you, Bre. Thank you so much. You don't know what this means to me.”
“I think I do. But Andy - if this thing leads to something, I wanna have the rights to the exclusive.”
Miranda wouldn't like that. No sir-rey, she would not. But what was Andy to do? She wasn't exactly equipped with a great hand here.
“Of course. It's yours, Bre. No one else gets their grubby little hands on it. And that's including the Mirror.”
“I'm gonna hold you to that,” Bre said with a deadly tone to her voice. Then, letting the look in her eyes soften just a little, she added, “See you around, Andy.”
For a long time after the door to the toilets had swung closed, Andy remained standing in the same spot where she'd been when Miranda had left. If there was a coherent thought in her head, she couldn't really tell afterwards. All she remembered thinking was that the world had gone insane, and her with it.