Always You |harry styles| - completed

TWO

The Mamas & The Papas: California Dreamin'

The ruckus of the holiday season drifted away faster than I thought humanly possible, with everyone setting into old routines quickly.

"Doesn't anybody get the January blues around here?", I asked Josh while we walked from the elevator to our office, glancing at people typing hurriedly at their computers, lost in a million phone-calls.

"I guess not. It catches up to you around March. That's around the time you take the first breath after the holidays are over", he joked, but I sensed a smidge of truth in his words. Life was very fast paced in the States, rushing off before you got the chance to say your name three times.

"What's on our agenda for January? Did Lil' say anything to you yesterday?", I turned to face my office buddy as we impatiently waited for the weekly brief to start. The company was structured in a way that you always worked in pairs of executive producers and had a flock of assistants on stand-by, waiting for you to hand over a list of demands from the client. The events we did were never smaller than a couple hundred people, which justified the twenty or so assistants we had at our beck and call. Every Tuesday Jack or Lilian would do the rounds, coming to each of our offices and briefing us on current clients and events.

"Good morning you two! Hope you had a good rest over the past weeks because you'll be heading to sunny California in a couple of days.", Lilian entered our office, smiling as usual, a big coffee cup in her hands.

"California? We usually don't do out of state clients, what's different about this one?", Josh said just as I thought the same thing. Our base was usually in the tristate area, never farther than New York. California is a long way from home.

"The difference between this client and every other is that this one is Bernie Sanders and he asked specifically for our firm. He had his campaign managers do his events, but it all got to be a bit too much for them, having to mend the polls, come up with strategies and organize rallies. So, Jack and I talked it through and concluded that you two are the best fit", after she said Bernie I kind of zoned out, not being able to follow the rest of the story. Could this actually be happening? Bernie Sanders?

"Lil', don't get me wrong I love taking on bigger clients, but – isn't this something you or Jack would like to keep a closer eye on? It's possibly the future POTUS, not a fundraiser or a concert", Josh took the lead, noticing that I had a bit of trouble forming sentences.

"Guys, if I didn't think you could do it I would've given it to someone else. There isn't a better pair of EPs here and I truly mean when I say that you will be perfect. You've done rallies before, and they're all the same. I'll have my assistant forward you all the details and know that you have me on speed dial if you ever get overwhelmed. You got this!", our boss said enthusiastically as she left the two of us standing in the middle of our office, speechless.

"Wow. Okay. A breath. Shake off all the negative thoughts.", Josh instructed, like the time we got Bono Vox as our client, "What's our first step?".

The week went by fairly quickly, as we got lost in hundreds of phone calls to Bernie's management and production teams, checking for potential venues and hand-picking a team of 30 production assistants that would go to California with us. Josh was more of a mess than I thought he'd be. If anything, I was under the premonition that I'd be the one in a constant state of freaking out. Quite proud of myself, I collected the last bits I'd need from the office and closed the door behind me.

I still hadn't told my mom the news about Bernie, so I dialed her number on the walk home.

"Honey! It's so good to hear your voice. You're going home earlier than usual.", my mom noted that she wasn't even in bed and I was already calling. The time difference was a bitch most days.

"Well, there's something exciting happening at work. Josh and I got picked to organize a rally in California. You'll never guess who it's for!"

"I'm pretty sure it's not a Trump rally, you wouldn't be working for a company that gets involved with his kind.", mom joked as I maneuvered between the flocks of people at a crossroad.

"You got me there! It's for Bernie! Can you believe it? Bernie Freaking Sanders!", the excitement in my voice was hard to hide, and I reckon mom was happy to hear that a bit of my love for political science would never die, despite working in an entirely different industry.

"I'm so happy for you darling! Working hard pays off, you see!", and she was completely right, because a month ago I wouldn't have imagined having a task so important and rewarding at my hands. 

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Author's note:

Not every chapter will be this short, I promise! Sometimes I have to cut it where I feel it organically ends... 

What did you think? Vote and comment, please :) 

TPWK, always.

T