Just Something about You

Part 2 - Back to reality

Pulling into the car park of her office Millie was tired and unprepared for the day ahead.
She'd hardly slept and couldn't find any enthusiasm for a day at work.
She pulled down the sun visor and stared at her reflection in the little mirror.
"Ugh" she sighed, her face matched her mood, her eyes were vacant and slightly blood shot, she had no make-up on, she always wore make up to work, people were going to think she was ill, or perhaps dying based on the reflection staring back at her.
  She had so much to look forward to over the coming weeks, a tonne of wedding stuff ahead of Aria's big day, dress shopping, a hen party and at work London fashion week was coming up, she had lots to prepare. It was something she had been looking forward to all summer but this morning she felt a little unenthusiastic, like a black cloud was following her, refusing to let her see the sun, no matter how hard she tried. She assumed most likely due to the amount of alcohol she had consumed after the show last night or for the disappointing end to her night with Dex.

She sat in her car for a minute, trying to muster the energy to face her colleagues, in particular, Sophie! She knew the second she walked through the office door she was going to be greeted by the ear piercing sound of receptionist Sophie who was far too high a decibel for that time a day!... Or ever!

She closed her eyes for a second, slouching back into her seat her thoughts turned to last night, time with Dex always passed so quickly, she hated having to leave him in bed this morning, she felt like she hadn't had two minutes with him and by the time she finished work he'd be gone again and she didn't even know where!
Already missing him she reached for her phone

'I'm sorry about last night. I love you x'

She typed.
Sent. Slipping her phone back down into her bag.

She sighed heavily, it was no use she was going to have to go into work and face the day. Opening the car door the cool morning air hit her and she shivered, clutching her bag in one arm she put her other sleeve over her mouth in an attempt to feel the warmth of her own breath. It was oddly cold this morning she thought to herself, for early September.

Just as she was about to push open the office door and face the shrillness of Sophie her phone beeped. Perfect! She thought, pulling it out of her bag she kept her head down, eyes fixed intently on the screen as she passed Sophie's desk

"Morning" snapped Millie as she hurried by pretending to barely notice Sophie, completely engrossed in what she was reading on her phone

"Good morning Millie" chirped Sophie but Millie was already half way up the stairs; the wall partition between them took a decibel or two off Sophie's pitch!

Out of sight Millie relaxed and opened the message she'd received

I'm sorry too. I'm headed to Copenhagen this morning. I'll call you later. D x

Doing nothing to lift her mood she dropped her phone back into her bag, he was gone! Again! This whole long distance thing was tougher than she expected. But still, life was pretty good right now, not perfect. But good. For now she was just going to live life day to day and see where it took her.

Walking down the corridor to her office the cold, dreary weather outside had made the dimly lit hallways of the multi-million pound office building seem tired and depressive. Gloomy days in the office were always long and uninspiring! Millie wished Ricco was there but as the bosses son and heir to the fashion house fortune he was forever being sent around the world on jobs. He'd left for Japan a couple of days ago and wouldn't be home for weeks! She hoped he could make back in time for Aria's wedding!

The only silver lining to losing her best friend for so long was that she was house sitting his expensive inner city apartment whilst he was away. Millie loved Ricco's apartment, it was the kind of place she could only dream of owning! It was pure luxury and decadence as soon as you walked through the door, everything was white and smelt new, every room was immaculately furnished with the most stunning pieces of furniture, expensive artwork hung on the walls, even the toilet seats were gold! There was never a thing out of place, well,  except for when Millie was there throwing her things around! Both the master bedroom and open plan living room had an entire wall of floor to ceiling glass with gorgeous views over the city. It had become Millie's second home, it was where she felt most inspired to work, sitting out on the balcony after work with a glass of wine watching the world go by was her favourite thing in the world and with London fashion week coming up Millie needed to be somewhere where she could unwind and fully focus. In career terms she was just dipping her toe into the big leagues and she couldn't mess this up! After a successful launch of her line of bag designs this season she knew her boss Mr Salvatore would be expecting a lot from her now, she needed to not only impress him at London Fashion Week but she needed to shine in front of all of the big fashion names that would be there watching the show.
She was determined to make a name for herself, all the top models would be carrying her bags on the catwalk and for the first time she could call herself a proper fashion designer, it was her dream. She needed to put everything she had into it to make sure it happened, even if that meant putting Dex second for a little while.

She slumped down at her desk, the rain was lashing down on the window, the dull day outside made her office lights seem brighter, too bright for this time of day. She yawned, rubbing her eyes so hard they almost hurt. Despite her determination she knew she wasn't going to excel in anything today!

"JESUS!!" Cursed Millie, jumping, she banged her knees on the underside of her desk as her office phone rang.. loudly! She scrambled to sit up properly, grabbing the phone quickly to stop the noise that penetrated her eardrums!

"Hello, Millie Vine, Design Department" she muttered, unenthusiastically, bracing herself for what was likely to be Sophie's equally loud voice on the other end.

"Mr S is on route to you" squealed Sophie

"Ok, thank you" Millie replied. Sophie was a bit of a suck up to Millie, she always informed Millie if their boss Mr Salvatore was on his way to Millie's office in case she was on the phone, online shopping or doing anything she wasn't supposed to be doing, she rarely was but appreciated the heads up.

"Ah Amelie, you're here. Good" his deep, stern voice always made Millie feel like she was in trouble!

"This is Maisie" he said, as a young curly haired young girl nervously appeared at the door behind him

"Hi" she mumbled quietly, barely looking up from the floor.

"Maisie is a design student, she's going to be learning the ropes, I'd like her to shadow you this week" explained Mr Salvatore

'Great' thought Millie, there goes her quiet week!

"Ok" replied Millie with faked a big fake smile of enthusiasm. She grabbed a spare chair from the other side of the design office and moved it to the side of her desk

Gesturing for Maisie to come and sit down.

"I'll leave you to it then" said Mr Salvatore as he disappeared down the corridor

"Hi, I'm Amelie" smiled Millie, attempting to be nice despite the annoyance of having to have her in the office all week.

"Tell me about yourself" said Millie, encouraging Maisie to talk, still looking at the floor she twiddled her chocolate brown spiral hair between her fingers.

"Uh.." she looked up briefly.

"I'm 17, I'm studying my second year of Fashion design and photography at The Arts College" she replied quietly

"Oh that's cool, I did the same thing" smiled Millie, Maisie barely acknowledged her.

"Let me give you some advice" said Millie attempting to make her relax a little

"Never get on the wrong side of a grumpy Italian! If Mr S is in a bad mood, avoid!! At all costs!" Maisie smiled

"You haven't met Ricco yet, but when you do, 99% of what he says he's winding you up so don't believe a word if it and Sophie, on reception, I recommend you get some ear defenders because the volume of that girl in the mornings is way beyond what any human should have to endure!!" Maisie laughed, loosening up slightly she sat up straight in the chair, straightening out her black suit jacket on her lap.

"Maisie, do you have a collection you've designed at College?" Asked Millie

Maisie nodded 

"Can I see it?, can you sketch it up?" 'That'll keep her quiet' for now, thought Millie.