"You aren't working fast enough."
"Yes, I am."
Averie was now sure she had enough of the famous Draco Malfoy.
He had been scrutinizing Averie and Zara's work closely over the past few weeks. Particularly closer with Averie's. She had no idea what the reason behind him criticizing her work was, but she couldn't stand it. She had only met him a little over two weeks ago, and every day he gets more infuriating.
"No," he grabbed the pen out of her hand. "You're fucking not."
Averie picked her head up from where it was resting easily in her palm, annoyed with his behavior. She had been nonstop working on finishing this illustration for a dress, only for Draco to tell her she wasn't working hard enough. She could have scoffed.
He always had something to say. Always teased her work outfits, "too short, too bright, not fit for an office, too fringy," he would say.
Averie didn't even know what fringy meant.
And the most annoying part was that he never ridiculed Zara's. He praised hers, and she was good—Averie had to admit. She wouldn't have been here if she wasn't, but Averie knew she understood the assignments better. She was a better asset for the brand, and yet she was the one who was getting belittled by her boss. And she didn't even do anything to deserve it, he was just simply an ass.
But still she came back to work to do what needed to be done.
The days were sometimes repetitive, which Averie didn't mind as much as some would. As adventurous as she always was, she liked some stability, predictability. Liked to know what was going to happen before it actually did. School had been her stability before this. With Camila too, but it turned out she wasn't as predictable as Averie thought she was.
"Are you even listening to me?" the blonde snapped from behind her.
"Of course I'm listening," Averie bit back. "But I am working hard enough. I've been planning these for weeks," she picked up her sketch book to hold up. "What more could I even do?" she shrugged her shoulders and turned back to draw with a new pen.
"Olsen is already finished. She's been picking out the fabrics for days," Draco sneered. "You've been doing nothing but sulking here doodling with your stupid pencil."
Irritation was evident in his tone, it always was.
"It's not a pencil, it's a pen, and I haven't been doodling either. In case you haven't noticed it's called designing."
"It's called slacking off."
She rolled her eyes again, though he couldn't see it from where he was standing behind her.
Zara was currently with Lucas in the main room going over some fabric pieces. Now that a few weeks have passed and they were supposed to be done sketching the designs, they had to search for the perfect piece of fabric to accompany the idea.
Draco had been watching them like a hawk whenever he wasn't locked in his office—which was most of the time. He watched them like a hawk, but never once tried to glance at their unfinished designs.
Averie couldn't ever figure out what he was thinking. It was something she had realized the day she had a conversation with him, as a boss—he was completely unreadable. His face was always stoic, statue like Never had an inch of readable emotion. This wasn't an ideal thing for her, she liked to read people, because most of the time her assumptions were right.
"You're aware this is a competition, yeah? Do better," is all he says before he strides out of the intern's room and into his, slamming the sleek black door on the way.
Averie had already known she would be done with the first part of the project by the end of the day. She had been working on it for weeks, wanting everything to be perfect down to the last stitch. Averie and Zara had both been designing a piece of every clothing. A complete set including a top, pants, dress, lingerie, and shoes. Draco told them to have a theme and go around it, and Averie had decided on basing everything on the theme of lavender, since it was her favorite color.
They only had to sew together the dress, since it was the easiest to sew as a beginner.
Half an hour after Draco had reprimanded her, she was finally finished with the first part.
She sighed and stood up from her desk, which she had kept very organized in the past week. Walking over to the main room, Averie took note of the sight in front of her. Zara was sitting with Lucas at his desk, both sifting through different fabric samples—all in the same specific shade of pink.
The boy was blushing a little, his cheeks painted a faint pink which seemed to go unnoticed by Zara—but Averie thought it to be cute.
Draco was standing just to the side of his door, but not inside his office. He was talking with Pansy in a hushed manner, but Averie could hear some of the conversation.
"She's insufferable, I should fire her now before she ruins the image of this company—my company," his deep voice echoed.
"But even you must admit, Draco, she hasn't done anything for you to hate her the way you do. Did she do something to you?" Pansy inquired.
Averie knew she was talking about her just by the tone of his voice.
She heard Draco scoff lowly, "It's not a matter of what she's done—I should never have picked her to work under me in the first place."
"Why not?"
"Because out of all of the thousands of applicants that applied, I had to pick hers. And now she's here and I would rather gouge my fucking eyes out than have a conversation with her—she's like wet bread. There's nothing even remotely interesting about her."
Pansy chuckled at that. "That is true."
Averie rolled her eyes and bit her tongue to remind herself not to make herself known. They didn't know one thing about her.
And honestly being called wet bread insulted her.
"Olsen is more talented," he continued. "She finished faster and works better with everyone in the office," his eyes darted to Zara as he spoke of her. "And if Wet bread Wilson doesn't step it up then I already know who is going to win this little competition. And it's only the first of many."
Wet bread Wilson—seriously?
She audibly scoffed, finally stepping out of the room where she had concealed herself for a moment to listen to her boss insultingly gossip about her.
As her heels clicked closer both of their heads turned to meet the intrusion, Draco tauntingly chuckling at her in Pansy's direction.
Rude.
Averie didn't waste time striding over to Lucas's desk instead, pulling up a chair to his other side opposite of Zara.
"Welcome Wilson," he opened the drawers filled with fabric samples, all with different colors, patterns, textures. Averie thought it looked pretty—especially in the way it was organized so neatly by shade. "Feel free to look through. Any specific color you have in mind?"
"No—I'll just look for now," she responded, pushing her hair out of her face.
Averie brushed her fingers over the silk fabrics, each sample kissing her skin with softness. She had always loved silk, it reminded her of her bed in California. The one probably being used by Camila's new roommate now.
Lavender was the main focus for her theme. She picked out any sample of that shade, creating a bouquet of purple in her hands.
"Malfoy seems to like Zara's ideas," Lucas raised his eyebrows. "I think this competition is going to be hard to choose from. The prize is worth it though, getting all of that recognition and only being here a month or two."
Averie kept her gaze on the drawer below her, detecting fabrics still. "He hates me for no reason. Literally none. In fact I think he's jealous of me. I mean why wouldn't he be?" she laughed.
"He does seem to hate you a lot when you're just doing your job," Zara added. "But I doubt that would stop him from choosing the best for his brand, you know?"
"I suppose."
"And anyways there's no way he doesn't like your ideas," she smiled.
"Yeah we'll see about that Zara, I only ever hear him talk about you. He doesn't even listen to me. It's infuriating really."
"Can't help if he likes my brain," she said, flipping her red hair over her shoulder in a teasing manner.
"I just don't understand why I'm still here if he's willing to waste my time insulting me and my work, and then proceed to not tell me what I'm doing wrong."
Isn't he supposed to be her mentor?
"He's just different," Lucas states. "This is the first time he has ever done a 'contest' like this or whatever," he air quoted. "But between us I think he likes it, even if he doesn't show it."
"Likes what? Having me as his little worker to torment?" the brunette said resentfully.
"No—he likes having people to work with," he stressed. "I've known him for a long time, believe me, I can read him."
"He's definitely an interesting one," Averie hummed, getting back to the impossible task of picking out the fabrics.
It had to be perfect.
Averie was a perfectionist, after all. She wouldn't settle for anything less.
Her fingers coasted along a soft material with rough lace and immediately looked down.
Perfect, she thought.
—
It was a lazy afternoon, the weather dreary.
Dreary Thursdays were the worst. All Averie wanted to do was cuddle up in bed and effectively do nothing. She wanted to listen to the rain patter down on the windows, the nature of the droplets bringing her to a state of unmatched calmness.
But instead she was with Lucas and Zara in the office, the three of them being utmost bored.
Bored, tired, and dreary, mostly thanks to the summer weather. It was already late July and the new London weather was unpredictable, but it never got as hot as it did in California. That was for sure. Today wasn't warm though, just dreary and wet.
The two girls had both been using Lucas to help complete the sewing process—since both of them had already selected their desired fabric a week back.
Averie knew how to sew—she did—but it sometimes got a bit hard for her since she didn't know everything. She only took sewing classes in high school and college, but it didn't teach her all she wanted. She craved more. But her knowledge was limited, which is why she was more than happy to accept help from Lucas, who was more than willing to work with her.
The past few days have been filled with just sewing, sewing, more sewing. Averie didn't want to complain, but she could not sew another seam without passing out.
And as she glanced over to her co-worker and friend, she realized Zara was feeling the exact same way. Her eyes were glossy and trained on the sewing machine in front of them, hands in front of the needle. She looked as miserable as Averie felt.
Lucas has been staring at the computer in front of him for what seemed like hours as well. Fingers moving delicately over the keyboard. His eyes were glazed too, mouth in a stern line. The only sound in the room was the keyboard clacking and the popping of his chewing gum.
The office had been quiet today, and unusually sluggish. Draco hadn't shown up once, neither has Pansy. But Averie recalled the latter mentioned something to her the other night about a brand meeting or something. Told her "not to set the building on fire whilst she was away, and not monitoring her every move."
Please.
Averie thought it was quite funny how Pansy thought she was controlling her and Zara—when in reality she was clueless, pining over Draco's every need like the assistant she was. Averie could tell she swooned over him—how could she not, but the way she sometimes caught Pansy following Draco like a lost puppy was utterly pathetic. It was like a silly school girl crush.
"I have an idea," Lucas said suddenly, as if he just had the greatest revelation.
"Prey tell," Zara said offhandedly, his voice snapping her out of the little trance.
He leaned back in his chair, putting one leg over the other and leant forward. "So..." he started. "I can't deal with today, so let's play a game."
"A game?" Averie laughed dryly. At the same time Zara perks up and says, "I like games."
"Let's play truth or dare," the same tall ginger suggested.
"Truth or dare—what are we, ten?" Averie chided, making the other roll her eyes.
Averie was never a real fan of these little games.
"No, I like that idea," Lucas smiled. "But dares are stupid. We aren't teenagers, so let's just do truths."
Averie giggled, feeling lighter on the glum day. "So truth or truth then?"
"I have nothing to hide so let's do it," Zara smirked.
And so the trio neglected their work duties for the rest of one day- they were the only ones there anyway.
Averie thought it was nice to get to know the two better. She had only ever talked to them in the office, and they all clicked well. It was actually a wonder why they haven't seen each other out of the work building, it's been weeks after all.
And Averie had to admit that sometimes she felt lonely.
How could she not?
She barely went out to the city—only regularly went to the office a few streets down and her apartment, along with a couple restaurants here and there. She found it hard to find anyone to be friends with. Averie liked to believe her and Zara were friends though, considering all of the time they spent together.
Still, she never had anyone but herself after hours.
And though she may act proud and strong, she just wanted someone to talk to. Because despite her immensely liking her alone time, she wanted someone to care for her. It's all she really wanted deep down. But she had to focus on her career for now, there was no time to search for friends if they don't appear to her, let alone a significant other. That was way past her agenda. She did like to dream though, as any hopeless romantic would.
The three were currently sprawled out on the floor in the lounge room—Averie and Zara's undisturbed workroom. Laughing about one of the confessions told during the game.
"You—you what," Averie laughed at how mortified Zara appeared, cheeks flushed and eyes cast downwards.
"It was a long time ago," she rolled her eyes, face still stained pink.
But Lucas continued to laugh, causing her to muster up a glare. "Sorry, sorry it's funny," he tries to defend.
"Ok my turn," Zara puts a finger to her chin thoughtfully, sliding her eyes to the girl to her left. "Ah. Well you're young and hot, when did you lose the card?"
Averie's throat went dry, suddenly feeling embarrassed. "I uh—" she cleared her throat. "I haven't actually done anything..." she left hanging.
"No way."
Averie quickly rushed to explain herself. "I just—I want the first time to be with someone who actually cares about me and not just for my body. You know?"
Zara nodded her head understandingly, "Good. Keep it that way until you know for sure you want it."
"Oh believe me...I want it," Averie chuckled to herself.
They had no idea.
"Don't be ashamed about it Wilson, You're honoring yourself like that," Lucas chimed in.
And she knew they were right—that virginity was a fragile and delicate thing that could only be taken once. All Averie wanted was for it to be more intimate.
She's only gone as far as a kiss, always backed out in past relationships because she didn't have enough trust for them to take her fully. Insecurity was a monster that tore her up sometimes. It was all she wanted though—for her first time to be worth it.
Because she knew it would be worth it to the one she was sharing the moment with.
"Okay!" Averie clapped her hands as to shake off tension. "Lucas? Same question."
The raven haired buffed his shoulders out, looking proud. "Ok, so I was 16 and it was at a high school party. Very casual, but we didn't even talk after, she just like avoided me," he babbled. "Which really was rude like you would think she would have at least said hi, we did have some of the same classes after all."
The two girls shared a look, and Zara was the one to speak up. "Were you um... good?"
He scoffed, "No, I was 16. I was an idiot," he said as if it was painfully obvious.
"Then that's probably why she avoided you after."
"Yeah I know. Believe me I've gotten better."
Averie grimaced, "Gross. I don't need to hear that."
Zara laughed at that, as did the boy. "Oh hush, you're just scared because you've never been downtown before."
"Whatever," Averie crossed her arms.
"Leave her alone Lucas, you were basically a child when you did it and you weren't even good—"
"Shut up."
"No."
"Guys!" Averie interrupted, picking herself up and walking to the window. "Look it's hailing."
"Yeah," Zara bluntly stated. "That is some nice hail," she said sarcastically after looking out the window.
"Well I've never seen hail before. It's strange."
"It's just hail."
"Let her be excited about hail, Zara."
"No."
And Averie laughed at the adults acting like children because she felt closer to these friends now that they've shared a day to let loose together. They had also learned new things about each other, some Averie would have never guessed. It was the most laid back few hours she had in a while.
She almost—almost felt less alone for the day, and that was enough for now.
A/N
ew boring filler sorry
not really sure if i like this chapter, i had a different vision of it but whatever
averie is my baby she's so adorable just thought i would say that
anyways vote if u want to, i adore u muah
-hay