Warnings: None?
Words: 2658
A/N: Back at it with an update!! Y'all are so lucky I write in bulk cause it's the only reason this part exists, lol. I've been having a busy few weeks and this weekend was brutal. I wrote 4 research papers in 4 days. I've been reading and typing so much my brain is turning to mush. The coming weeks are going to be even crazier so please, bear with me. How crazy is it that I can read fanfics like they're nothing but the moment I need to read academic sources I simply wanna pass away? Anyways - I'm doing my best to stay consistent but school will forever take precedence, keep that in mind. As always, thank you for reading my garbage and for sending constructive criticism to help me improve said garbage :) feedbacks are appreciated (this user's love language is: words of affirmation). Enough of me, time for the pièce de résistance!
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A month had passed since that evening and my last interaction with the actress. By the time I woke up, she was gone and if it weren't for the folded clothes I had lent her sitting at the foot of my made-up bed, I would've thought that I had dreamed the whole thing. I didn't take the time to dwell on it before getting ready for the day.
Once I got to the office, a floral arrangement was sitting at my desk. A card told me who it was from.
'Thank you. -SJ'
2 words that to anyone else would mean nothing, but I knew were filled with meaning. I felt myself getting angry and quickly put the card in a drawer and brought the bouquet to the break room, not wanting to stare at it any longer. I felt used and confused and planned on pushing the entire encounter to the back of my mind.
That was pretty easy since, for the weeks that followed, I didn't interact with her once. She seemed to be more out of the office than in. I'd only see the back of her head occasionally and since Lily was back, I was working more ordinary hours, which meant no late-night meetings. Word got around pretty quickly and soon her divorce was the talk of the office. I didn't try to get more information than I had been forced to hear. All in all, I'd forgotten about that night until this very moment when I heard a knock on my office door.
Imagine my surprise once I saw none other than the actress standing there. She'd never been here, and we never had to directly interact at work before.
"Hey Y/n, can I bother you for a second?" I nodded my head and she stepped in, closing the glass door behind her. That did little to give us privacy as it felt like the entire department had their eyes trained on my little cubicle.
"What can I do for you, Ms. Johansson?" I ask with no emotions. I saw her flinch slightly, and I would've missed it, were I not paying attention.
"Ms. Johansson, uh?" She tried to play it off, but I didn't give her the satisfaction of an answer. "You've been avoiding me." She said once I didn't answer
"Hardly. I've done what I've been doing since I got here. You just haven't been around." I say as I lean back on my chair.
"Right. I wanted to apologize for that. I didn't mean to pull a vanishing act on you, but some things required my attention. I'd like to make it up to you. Can I take you out for lunch today?" she asked hopefully, and I almost agreed.
"I'm sorry, but I already have plans." She looked ready to argue, but thankfully both of our phones went off. An emergency demanded our attention this instant. I got up and left my office, effectively ending the conversation.
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I was back to not being able to avoid her as I had planned. She was everywhere and I had to work more closely with her than before. I was currently sitting in a room no bigger than a closet - a comfortable bench, a small desk and a chair were all it could fit - putting things together for an Instagram live that she was about to do. It was pretty basic, no technician was needed and since it was right up my alley, the task had fallen on me. All I had to do was sit in the room with her, monitor the chat and help her with any technical difficulties she might encounter.
"-So you don't need to do much. All you have to do is talk about whatever is relevant to the campaign and read the questions that will come up. We already had graphics promoting the live, so we're expecting lots of people to show up. If you run into any trouble I'm right there. The only issue is that I can't do much when it comes to the chat. I mean I could report and block anyone who makes offensive remarks, but I can't stop the comments from showing up. If that helps, I can read out interesting questions for you so it feels like a laid-back interview." she nodded at that. "I know lots of people will ask personal and invasive questions, so try to ignore those as best as you can. Other than that, feel free to answer whatever." I explained as I sat next to her so I could point out things on the computer that was sitting on the desk.
"Sounds easy enough. I mean, I know I can be clueless when it comes to social media, but I'm not a complete lost cause, you know," she says, rolling her eyes with a smile. I rewarded her with a small smile. After reflection, I decided that I would be professional. Nothing less or more.
"I'm glad to hear that. We're about to start. Do you need anyone on here for a retouch or something, or are you good to go?" I ask turning to look at her. I was slightly taken aback by our proximity. When I first sat down, there was enough space between us, but somehow we ended up shoulder to shoulder, and now that I was facing her, personal space was even more non-existent. I felt heat rush up to my face and cleared my throat. That seemed to rouse her out of the trance she was in.
"Right! Nope, all good. I don't think too much makeup would be ideal for this. Let's get this party started." she said with a blush, before clearing her throat. I nodded my head and made my way to the chair across from her and started the live after she gave me the go-ahead.
"Hello, friends." She said as I followed the live on my phone and paid close attention to the chat. Fans and celebrities alike were flowing in, and things were going well.
"Someone is asking you to describe 'The Outset' in one sentence," I asked once she was done answering a question. She was doing great, but we needed as much informative content as possible.
"The Outset is a line of clean and effective skincare to elevate your everyday life. I mean yeah, I just feel like skincare has become complicated. You need a Ph.D. to understand what products interact with other products. So you know, we wanted to create products that were sort of like the white t-shirt of skincare. Everyday basics." she answered passionately.
"How long has this project been in the making?" I asked her, reading from the chat.
"I started working on this about 5 years ago, and brought Kate on board 2 years ago, during the pandemic. Which is when things started moving forward, thanks to lots of zoom meetings and FedEx."
"How did you come up with the name for the brand?" I continued
"When we were trying to come up with a name, we kept coming back to something that felt like a fresh beginning, like a brand new start. And actually, it was my co-founder/partner Kate that came up with the name 'The Outset', literally meaning 'the beginning'. The Outset is the start of you." I nodded and smiled, before leaving her to answer questions that captured her attention. That is until she read one that made me look up at her.
"Would you mind showing us a step-by-step routine?" she read, with a laugh. "Uh, I'm wearing makeup right now so I can't apply it on myself. Maybe my little helper can assist?" she directed the last part at me. I silently cursed myself.
It wasn't unusual for me to be used as a guinea pig. So much so, that I had taken to going makeup-less like I did today. It certainly saved me time in the morning. With a sigh, I made my way over and retook my spot next to her.
"Everyone, this is my little helper and our Marketing intern, Y/n. Say 'hi friends'." She told me with a smile. I rolled my eyes at her with a smile doing as she asked.
"Hi, friends," I said with a small wave, making her giggle.
"Okay so, first we're going to start by using a cotton pad to apply the 'Gentle Micellar Antioxidant Cleanser'. This will clean the face of any impurities. So this one differs from other micellar cleansers because it's made of-" I tuned her out after that having heard the list of ingredients many times before, so much that I could recite them in my sleep. I chose to focus on the way her hands felt on my face as I closed my eyes. They were gentle and soft, almost caressing my skin and I could feel her breath on my face. She had one hand under my chin while the other was brushing the cotton pad on my face softly.
"I'll be showing you guys how to do your skincare using the 'Daily Essentials Regimen Bundle' which has three products, the micellar cleanser, the collagen serum and the moisturizer. This bundle is great if you don't know where to start and is pretty affordable as well" she explained softly. I opened my eyes and smiled at her mischievously.
"You know, if this whole actress gig falls through, you could always become a YouTuber or beauty guru." she laughed at that.
"Oh stop it, you. As you can see, Y/n got jokes today. Now, I'll go ahead and apply the 'Firming Vegan Collagen Prep Serum'. Look at this texture, omg! Y/n, does it feel as good on your face as it does on my fingers." I quickly opened my eyes and looked at her, to see a blush on her face. "Before you say anything, let me remind you that we're live." she says quickly, making me glance at the camera with a smirk.
"I was just going to say it feels light on my skin," I say innocently, making her roll her eyes.
"Right. The third and last step of the routine is completed with the 'Nourishing Squalane Daily Moisturizer'. Once again, a small pump goes a long way." I felt her gently apply the product on my skin and massage it with slight pressure so it would be absorbed. "So that's it for the daily routine. You can follow these three with our 'Smoothing Vitamin C Eye + Expression Lines Cream', and then put on your everyday makeup with no issue. Just use your forefinger to tap a pea-sized amount to the eye area - like so."
She followed her words with the actions and gently applied the eye cream
"This will do wonders for your eyebags Y/n. Guys, I don't know anyone around who works as hard as Y/n here does. She's holding the place down." she complimented, making me blush.
"Hardly," I say making her scoff, I could almost feel her rolling her eyes.
"Now, for a night routine, you'd replace the moisturizer with this 'Restorative Niacinamide Night Cream' right here and that's it! So yeah, those are our five products and a complimentary skincare routine and pampering session for Y/n. You're welcome by the way." She directed the last part at me, making me laugh.
"Thanks, Ms. Johansson," I say. I see something pass through her eyes before it's gone.
"Someone in the chat is asking what it smells like. How about you answer that?" she says leaning back in her seat.
"It honestly doesn't have a pungent smell. It's more subtle and herbal, I'd say? It's really pleasant and not nauseating unlike many of the products I've used in the past." I say with a frown.
"There you have it! I didn't even have to pay her to say that" she says with a grin.
"I mean, technically you are paying me since I work for you," I say, and she tries to cover my mouth, making me laugh and lean away from her.
"I think that's enough from you lady. Thanks for the help. Ladies and gentlemen, say bye to our special guest. I'd like to take credit for her beautiful face, but I only enhanced her beauty. For a small price, you could get the same result from the comfort of your home. Although the Johansson pampering isn't included." she added with a laugh. I smiled and waved at the camera before taking my previous seat in front of her. I opened my phone and disregarded the texts and notifications from my friends and new followers.
"I think this is as good a place as any to end this live session. Thank you all for coming and supporting us. Bye friends!" she says blowing a kiss, and I reached out to end the live.
"You did well," I say with a quick smile thrown her way. Now that we didn't have an audience to entertain, I felt myself closing off.
"All thanks to you. Sorry for putting you on the spot like that, by the way. But thanks for being a good sport." she says, squeezing my hand.
"No worries, Ms. Johansson." I saw that same emotion flash through her eyes.
"Why do you keep calling me that?" she asks with a frown, which I mirror.
"I mean, it's your name, and you're my boss so I-" she interrupts me.
"Okay first of all you don't call Kate or Lily by their last name, and neither did you call me that before that night. And second, I never thought of myself as your boss or you as a simple employee. I hope you know that." she says softly but with intent.
Before I could think of something to say, Kate opened the door, poking her head in.
"Hey ladies! That was an amazing insta live. Just wanted to tell you we have a meeting in 5 so if you could please wrap it up here and meet us in the main meeting room, that would be great." We agreed and she left with a smile. I picked up the stuff before I felt a hand on my arm making me face the actress.
"This conversation isn't over," she said before leaving me in the room.
Things were starting to get complicated and the worst part is that I wasn't too bothered by the attention I was getting from her, if I was being honest.
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"First thing first, let's give it up for Scarlett and Y/n, who did a fire job with our first Instagram live!" Lily said, leading to the team cheering, making me blush in embarrassment and pride. "Y/n, you've been a great help to us and we actually would like to give you more meaningful responsibilities as you've proven to be more than capable. One of the things we'd like you to do, is become responsible for social media marketing." Once again cheers could be heard all around, I briefly met Scarlett's eyes and she smiled and winked at me.
"Which leads us to our next point." Kate took over once everyone settled down. "Next week Scarlett and I were supposed to be travelling to London for the Professional Beauty event. This is particularly important as it is the UK's largest trade show for beauty and spa professionals." Kate took a moment to survey the room, before continuing. "This will be the perfect opportunity to get contracts and branch out. However, we need to prepare for September when we'll have the New York, London and Milan fashion weeks, back to back. So what I'm trying to say is that we'll need to separate the tasks. I will be keeping Lily with me to finalize some things for September here in New York and Milan; and you, Y/n will be going with Scarlett to London for a week.
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Thanks for reading!