For Radak :D
Happy belated Valentine's Gift Exchange, radak!
This is part one of... well, a few >_>' (don't look at me like that, it's been a wild and crazy ride! It's also dependent on how nicely LJ will play with me :3)
Title: Wait, who did you do in college?
Rating: P/PG-13...ish?
Pairing: Miranda/Andy, Andy/OC
Genre: Fluff, humor,
Summary (from radak's request): An old Andrea's friend comes to NY. And Miranda becomes very jealous. The friend is amazing gorgeous woman. They were lovers at college. Well, Miranda and Andrea are not lovers yet, but they are close and Miranda is going to ask Andy for a date when that friend shows up. Miranda is furious but she steps aside because she thinks that she can't compete with Andy's friend. No relations between Andy and her friend, they are just friends now nothing more. And a happy end for Miranda and Andy.
--
Andrea Sachs, cub reporter for the New York Mirror, took yet another shot from the bartender and downed it, making sure to match the tempo with the woman sitting next to her. She shook her head as she felt the warm liquid burn down her throat, and laughed as her companion ordered another round.
This was NOT how she had expected her evening to turn out.
--
Not even a week ago, she found a gilded invitation to one of the many fashion galas that had been scheduled since one (in)famous Miranda Priestly was named as one of the chief shareholders in Elias-Clarke (and Runway, by extension) a few months ago. At first Andy thought it was a mistake, and checked the envelope to see who the initiation was really supposed to go to. After checking it twice, and finding her own address stamped in the upper left hand corner of the smooth envelope, she decided to open it and find out who sent it.
The invitation itself, while very ornate, with fancy script detailing the venue, time table for important events, and such, was impersonal at best. What really caught Andy's attention was the small, folded piece of paper that slipped out from between the invitation and the RSVP card. She opened it and smiled at the handwritten note.
"I thought maybe I could catch a moment of your time, if you would be so kind as to attend. I trust you'll have something suitable to wear - you haven't been away from my influence THAT long. However, let me know if you need something extra from the Closet; I'm sure Nigel will be able to find something for you. - M"
Andy checked the invitation again, just to confirm the details, and she saw that it was a press invite. "Fair enough," she thought, "it's not like we're out and about, being seen together all the time. Inviting me personally would be like... like asking me to go on a date!"
She blushed at that, and shook her head. As if that would ever happen.
Granted, she had grown closer to Miranda the past few months (after a chance encounter at Starbucks, of all places), but surely not THAT close.
Andy shook her head one more time, more to clear it of those preposterous thoughts than anything else, and filled out the RSVP card. Once she sealed the return envelope and dropped it down the mail chute, she fired up her laptop and logged onto her email account.
"Just dropped the RSVP card in the mail. I ALMOST wrote back, but I realized that you wouldn't be receiving my confirmation directly, so I thought it would be better drop you a quick line via email. I'm pretty sure I have something that will fit the bill, but if not, I still have Nigel's cell. Since this is technically a work event, I'll have to come away with at least ONE sound bite from you, so make sure you come up with something appropriately witty and/or scathing. I'll talk to you soon! ~Andy"
She hit the Send button, put her laptop on sleep mode, and ducked her head in her closet. Five minutes later, she flicked her cell phone open and dialed Nigel's number from memory. Andy had a few classic remnants from her life at Runway, true, but nothing that would be appropriate for an event of this magnitude. Besides, even though it was officially a work function, she knew that Miranda had gone out of her way to get the invite in her hand (even if Miranda's version of "going out of her way" was more or less dictating who was on the invite list, knowing all the while that she’d meet little in the way of resistance)... and it would be the first time in a few weeks that they'd be seeing each other in person again.
And Andy wanted to look her best.
--
When all was said and done, Andy was impressed. Part of her felt like she was out of her league, even in the gown Nigel had nicked from the Closet, but it fit like a glove. A skin-tight one at that, which made her glad she had worked on keeping her Size Four figure (another remnant from Runway she had yet to give up on). So when she walked in through the front doors, she found herself the center of attention in the lenses of a few photographers here and there.
When they found out that she was there for work, just like them, a lot of the cameras turned away, although one or two of the guys asked if she was free later.
Andy laughed and shrugged it off as politely as she could, which she was getting used to. It had been over a year since Nate and she called it quits for good, and she hadn’t really felt like dating random people since then. One of the guys had been a bit more insistent, but quickly backed off when she whipped out her PDA and started focusing on the event itself instead of the people working there. Determined Andy could come across as Scary Andy, she found, and used that to her advantage to avoid romantic entanglements at the work place.
All the while she kept an eye out for the Guest of Honor. It had been weeks since Andy saw her last, and she couldn’t help but feel a twinge in her heart when she concentrated on that. She knew she’d only be able to grab a few seconds of Miranda's time, but she really had missed the older woman.
The noise in the ballroom petered out suddenly, and the lights dimmed. A lone spotlight focused on the top of the marble staircase, and the Devil herself appeared, as if summoned by Andy's thoughts. The young woman had to stop and catch her breath, and she was pretty sure she wasn't the only one as Miranda descended the staircase.
It wasn't that Andy had never seen this before - she had, numerous times, when she had accompanied Miranda to various evening functions as one of her assistants - but this was different. Andy wasn't sure if it was the custom-made Chanel gown, sheer black with delicate silver filigree work along the seams, the dazzling (yet understated) white gold necklace with a lone teardrop diamond draped around her neck, or just the fact that this was the first time she had seen Miranda in nearly a month, but her heart was thudding heavily in her chest, and she didn't know what to do about it. Her body went on autopilot and dug out her PDA to take some notes as the cameras started flashing, blinding everyone with their presence.
As soon as Miranda made her descent, the movers, shakers, and the wannabes crowded around her. Andy couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, but she sucked it up and made her way to the bar for a bit. She knew it would be a while before Miranda would be able to break away from the mobs; that's how it usually went at events like this. Still, she couldn't help but smile when she saw Emily and another harried looking female trail after Miranda in the wake of the crowds.
She missed Miranda, more than she'd ever admit out loud, but not enough to volunteer for THAT job ever again.
She was in the process of ordering something light when a voice sounded from behind her. "Well, I'll be... Andy? Andy Sachs, is that you?"
Andy's hand paused in mid-air, the glass nearly fumbling as her fingers froze. The bartender hadn't been expecting her sudden impersonation of a statue, and so he too began to drop the drink.
Luckily for both of them, a slender hand darted from behind Andy and neatly caught the stem of it with two long, delicate-looking fingers. "Still as klutzy as ever, I see," the voice said, breathing slightly into her ear. "You haven't changed a bit in that regard, at least."
Andy blinked once. And then she blinked again. It couldn't be, but it had to be - "Karolina?"
"Well, you'll have to turn around and find out for yourself, won't you?" The person's voice was warm and rich, and warmed Andy's heart as soon as she made the connection.
"Why should I turn around when all I have to do is lean back?" she replied, and she leaned backwards. She ended up resting the back of her head on the other person's shoulders, and she smiled as she recognized the bright blue eyes and long blonde hair. "It IS you!"
The woman - Karolina - smiled, her cheeks dimpling as she did so. "I sure hope it's me, darlin'. Otherwise you've made a bad habit of randomly resting your head on the shoulders of strangers."
"A habit that I never picked up on till I met you," Andy quipped, her grin threatening to split her face nearly in half. "Holy hell. How have you been?"
"I've been alright... bored out of my skull here, though, till I saw you from across the room." Karolina stepped back a bit, forcing Andy to lean forward again. "Mind if I buy you a drink?" She sniffed at the contents of the glass and grimaced. "Maybe something that's not watered down ice on the rocks?"
"'Watered-down ice on the'-- Karolina, it's a white wine spritzer. And it's called 'drinking responsibly.'" Despite the fact that Andy hadn't seen this woman for years - since college, really - she couldn't help but fall back into the old patterns she had developed with the woman back then.
The other woman shrugged, and settled her long frame into the stool next to Andy. "I'm sure it is. So, how does the Four Horsemen sound to you?"
"I - uh - what?"
Karolina turned to the bartender, who was trying his best not to be confused. "Well, then, make that two sets of the Four Horsemen, please. And training wheels for my old friend, if you'd be so kind?"
Andy tried to protest, she really did, but it was hard when she was still in shock. Even the clinking of eight shot glasses - four for her, and four for Karolina - couldn't snap her out of it. She gingerly accepted the lime wedges from Karolina as the bartender began to fill their shot glasses, and shook her head in defeat when the other woman lifted the first shot glass and smiled.
"To meeting up with old friends in new places?"
"More like, to meeting up with old friends and landing them in the hospital, but I'll drink to your toast anyway," Andy muttered good-naturedly, and she shook her head. Thoughts of Miranda flitted through her brain, but the shock of seeing Karolina again pushed those aside for a moment.
The burning sensation of four shots downed in a row all but obliterated them. Andy sucked on the lime wedges in her hand, and Karolina laughed as she ordered another round.
"Just like in college, eh, Andy?"
"Except for the part where I'm sucking down lime pulp, yes."
As Karolina chuckled and ordered another round, Andy smiled. Just a few minutes in Karolina's presence made it as though the past few years never existed -
- as if they never broke up.
Part 2 will be up tomorrow :D
/ashes
This is part one of... well, a few >_>' (don't look at me like that, it's been a wild and crazy ride! It's also dependent on how nicely LJ will play with me :3)
Title: Wait, who did you do in college?
Rating: P/PG-13...ish?
Pairing: Miranda/Andy, Andy/OC
Genre: Fluff, humor,
Summary (from radak's request): An old Andrea's friend comes to NY. And Miranda becomes very jealous. The friend is amazing gorgeous woman. They were lovers at college. Well, Miranda and Andrea are not lovers yet, but they are close and Miranda is going to ask Andy for a date when that friend shows up. Miranda is furious but she steps aside because she thinks that she can't compete with Andy's friend. No relations between Andy and her friend, they are just friends now nothing more. And a happy end for Miranda and Andy.
--
Andrea Sachs, cub reporter for the New York Mirror, took yet another shot from the bartender and downed it, making sure to match the tempo with the woman sitting next to her. She shook her head as she felt the warm liquid burn down her throat, and laughed as her companion ordered another round.
This was NOT how she had expected her evening to turn out.
--
Not even a week ago, she found a gilded invitation to one of the many fashion galas that had been scheduled since one (in)famous Miranda Priestly was named as one of the chief shareholders in Elias-Clarke (and Runway, by extension) a few months ago. At first Andy thought it was a mistake, and checked the envelope to see who the initiation was really supposed to go to. After checking it twice, and finding her own address stamped in the upper left hand corner of the smooth envelope, she decided to open it and find out who sent it.
The invitation itself, while very ornate, with fancy script detailing the venue, time table for important events, and such, was impersonal at best. What really caught Andy's attention was the small, folded piece of paper that slipped out from between the invitation and the RSVP card. She opened it and smiled at the handwritten note.
"I thought maybe I could catch a moment of your time, if you would be so kind as to attend. I trust you'll have something suitable to wear - you haven't been away from my influence THAT long. However, let me know if you need something extra from the Closet; I'm sure Nigel will be able to find something for you. - M"
Andy checked the invitation again, just to confirm the details, and she saw that it was a press invite. "Fair enough," she thought, "it's not like we're out and about, being seen together all the time. Inviting me personally would be like... like asking me to go on a date!"
She blushed at that, and shook her head. As if that would ever happen.
Granted, she had grown closer to Miranda the past few months (after a chance encounter at Starbucks, of all places), but surely not THAT close.
Andy shook her head one more time, more to clear it of those preposterous thoughts than anything else, and filled out the RSVP card. Once she sealed the return envelope and dropped it down the mail chute, she fired up her laptop and logged onto her email account.
"Just dropped the RSVP card in the mail. I ALMOST wrote back, but I realized that you wouldn't be receiving my confirmation directly, so I thought it would be better drop you a quick line via email. I'm pretty sure I have something that will fit the bill, but if not, I still have Nigel's cell. Since this is technically a work event, I'll have to come away with at least ONE sound bite from you, so make sure you come up with something appropriately witty and/or scathing. I'll talk to you soon! ~Andy"
She hit the Send button, put her laptop on sleep mode, and ducked her head in her closet. Five minutes later, she flicked her cell phone open and dialed Nigel's number from memory. Andy had a few classic remnants from her life at Runway, true, but nothing that would be appropriate for an event of this magnitude. Besides, even though it was officially a work function, she knew that Miranda had gone out of her way to get the invite in her hand (even if Miranda's version of "going out of her way" was more or less dictating who was on the invite list, knowing all the while that she’d meet little in the way of resistance)... and it would be the first time in a few weeks that they'd be seeing each other in person again.
And Andy wanted to look her best.
--
When all was said and done, Andy was impressed. Part of her felt like she was out of her league, even in the gown Nigel had nicked from the Closet, but it fit like a glove. A skin-tight one at that, which made her glad she had worked on keeping her Size Four figure (another remnant from Runway she had yet to give up on). So when she walked in through the front doors, she found herself the center of attention in the lenses of a few photographers here and there.
When they found out that she was there for work, just like them, a lot of the cameras turned away, although one or two of the guys asked if she was free later.
Andy laughed and shrugged it off as politely as she could, which she was getting used to. It had been over a year since Nate and she called it quits for good, and she hadn’t really felt like dating random people since then. One of the guys had been a bit more insistent, but quickly backed off when she whipped out her PDA and started focusing on the event itself instead of the people working there. Determined Andy could come across as Scary Andy, she found, and used that to her advantage to avoid romantic entanglements at the work place.
All the while she kept an eye out for the Guest of Honor. It had been weeks since Andy saw her last, and she couldn’t help but feel a twinge in her heart when she concentrated on that. She knew she’d only be able to grab a few seconds of Miranda's time, but she really had missed the older woman.
The noise in the ballroom petered out suddenly, and the lights dimmed. A lone spotlight focused on the top of the marble staircase, and the Devil herself appeared, as if summoned by Andy's thoughts. The young woman had to stop and catch her breath, and she was pretty sure she wasn't the only one as Miranda descended the staircase.
It wasn't that Andy had never seen this before - she had, numerous times, when she had accompanied Miranda to various evening functions as one of her assistants - but this was different. Andy wasn't sure if it was the custom-made Chanel gown, sheer black with delicate silver filigree work along the seams, the dazzling (yet understated) white gold necklace with a lone teardrop diamond draped around her neck, or just the fact that this was the first time she had seen Miranda in nearly a month, but her heart was thudding heavily in her chest, and she didn't know what to do about it. Her body went on autopilot and dug out her PDA to take some notes as the cameras started flashing, blinding everyone with their presence.
As soon as Miranda made her descent, the movers, shakers, and the wannabes crowded around her. Andy couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, but she sucked it up and made her way to the bar for a bit. She knew it would be a while before Miranda would be able to break away from the mobs; that's how it usually went at events like this. Still, she couldn't help but smile when she saw Emily and another harried looking female trail after Miranda in the wake of the crowds.
She missed Miranda, more than she'd ever admit out loud, but not enough to volunteer for THAT job ever again.
She was in the process of ordering something light when a voice sounded from behind her. "Well, I'll be... Andy? Andy Sachs, is that you?"
Andy's hand paused in mid-air, the glass nearly fumbling as her fingers froze. The bartender hadn't been expecting her sudden impersonation of a statue, and so he too began to drop the drink.
Luckily for both of them, a slender hand darted from behind Andy and neatly caught the stem of it with two long, delicate-looking fingers. "Still as klutzy as ever, I see," the voice said, breathing slightly into her ear. "You haven't changed a bit in that regard, at least."
Andy blinked once. And then she blinked again. It couldn't be, but it had to be - "Karolina?"
"Well, you'll have to turn around and find out for yourself, won't you?" The person's voice was warm and rich, and warmed Andy's heart as soon as she made the connection.
"Why should I turn around when all I have to do is lean back?" she replied, and she leaned backwards. She ended up resting the back of her head on the other person's shoulders, and she smiled as she recognized the bright blue eyes and long blonde hair. "It IS you!"
The woman - Karolina - smiled, her cheeks dimpling as she did so. "I sure hope it's me, darlin'. Otherwise you've made a bad habit of randomly resting your head on the shoulders of strangers."
"A habit that I never picked up on till I met you," Andy quipped, her grin threatening to split her face nearly in half. "Holy hell. How have you been?"
"I've been alright... bored out of my skull here, though, till I saw you from across the room." Karolina stepped back a bit, forcing Andy to lean forward again. "Mind if I buy you a drink?" She sniffed at the contents of the glass and grimaced. "Maybe something that's not watered down ice on the rocks?"
"'Watered-down ice on the'-- Karolina, it's a white wine spritzer. And it's called 'drinking responsibly.'" Despite the fact that Andy hadn't seen this woman for years - since college, really - she couldn't help but fall back into the old patterns she had developed with the woman back then.
The other woman shrugged, and settled her long frame into the stool next to Andy. "I'm sure it is. So, how does the Four Horsemen sound to you?"
"I - uh - what?"
Karolina turned to the bartender, who was trying his best not to be confused. "Well, then, make that two sets of the Four Horsemen, please. And training wheels for my old friend, if you'd be so kind?"
Andy tried to protest, she really did, but it was hard when she was still in shock. Even the clinking of eight shot glasses - four for her, and four for Karolina - couldn't snap her out of it. She gingerly accepted the lime wedges from Karolina as the bartender began to fill their shot glasses, and shook her head in defeat when the other woman lifted the first shot glass and smiled.
"To meeting up with old friends in new places?"
"More like, to meeting up with old friends and landing them in the hospital, but I'll drink to your toast anyway," Andy muttered good-naturedly, and she shook her head. Thoughts of Miranda flitted through her brain, but the shock of seeing Karolina again pushed those aside for a moment.
The burning sensation of four shots downed in a row all but obliterated them. Andy sucked on the lime wedges in her hand, and Karolina laughed as she ordered another round.
"Just like in college, eh, Andy?"
"Except for the part where I'm sucking down lime pulp, yes."
As Karolina chuckled and ordered another round, Andy smiled. Just a few minutes in Karolina's presence made it as though the past few years never existed -
- as if they never broke up.
Part 2 will be up tomorrow :D
/ashes