I was dead tired when my alarm went off the morning after the concert. You know that tired where your eyes feel really dry and going back to sleep is all you have ever wanted. That kind of tired. It was Friday morning so I only had to get through one more day before I could sleep the entire weekend. I dragged myself to work that morning and by the time I got there I had already drunken 3 cups of coffee. "I feel like shit." I said with fake enthusiasm as I walked into my office. Me and India shared a really large office together, her desk was at one end and mine directly opposite. There was a huge glass window opposite the entrance/ between India's desk and mine with a view of London.
"Ugh same." India said almost falling asleep at her desk.
"Alright lets get shit done so we can get out of here. I opened up my planner and called Rachel in, our assistant. "Rachel can you please bring me the list Grace left us and also get Mark on the phone and tell him the shoe designs we spoke of are... actually just get him on the phone, i'll speak to him." I said. Yes I was the Miranda, she was the Emily. "Ooh and can you get me a vanilla latte?" India added.
"Make that two please Rachel." I smiled at her but I could tell she hated my guts. She handed me the list of things Grace wanted us to do and left. The list was filled with bullshit that I would put off for as long as possible but paper clipped to it was the card Janet from One Direction's management had given us. "Hey are we going to call this Janet lady?" I asked India who was definitely half asleep.
"Who?"
"The short woman, from 1D?"
"Ohh. Um she seemed annoying."
"I know right. 'I have a proposal' like no, I don't want to marry you." I mimicked her annoying nasally voice when I quoted her and India laughed. "Grace wants us to. She circled the number and wrote 'big deal, call most?... Mast? Must? Must! Call must!'"I said excited that I decoded her really slant script.
"'Big deal, call must?' What the hell does that even mean?" India asked, slumping in her chair.
"Who cares. This is an opportunity to see 1D. And maybe get someedat D."
"You just said that out loud Saz."
"Yeah. Hey has Niall called yah?"
"It's been one night."
"Oh yeah we met them yesterday."
"Anyway. I kinda don't want to associate them with work. Whatever this proposal is, I'm sure it has something to do with our work and theirs and I just don't want to go there."
"What? What do you mean, if you and Niall become a thing wouldn't working with him be great!?"
"Yeah but if it doesn't it will just be awkward."
"That is true but they are One Direction! This would be big money!"
"We don't even know what it is yet. Look lets give her a call and see what she wants. But not until our coffee gets here, I'll need something to distract me from her annoying voice ugh."
"Alright cool." Grace attached a schedule for New York which was in 2 weeks now. As I was going through it I noticed India fell asleep again. I threw a pen at her but my aim is really shit so completely missed and hit her lamp which fell and hit her head. Woops. She miraculously didn't wake up. "OI INDIA GET THE HELL UP I AIN'T DOIN' ALL THE WORK, HEY RACHEL'S HERE I'LL DRINK YOUR COFFEE,"
"NO I WANT MY COFFEE!" She abruptly awoke screaming at me and the lamp fell to the floor. She looked at it with a really confused face and then leaned over her desk to look down the hall. "Rachel's not here you lied!" She said sitting back down and folding her arms.
"Oh really I totally thought she was here." I said and she flipped me off and picked up her lamp. Then Rachel really did arrive with our coffee and it was time to call Janet. India called and put her on speaker. "Hi this is India and Sahara from Dutchery calling, may we speak to Janet." We were put on hold, listening to Gotta Be You, perfect hold tune in my opinion.
"Hi girls, I'm glad you called." Ugh her voice was more annoying than I remembered. "I'll get straight to it." Thank God. Okay i'll stop interrupting the convo."We love your brand here and think that your men's line would really suit the boys. How do you feel about dressing the boys for the next 2 months. Just for the European leg of the tour and main public events. You are in your prime and association with One Direction will definitely boost that. Your name would also boost them. It would give them an older edge and push away from their past younger reputation. If you're interested we can talk money." We both were speechless. Dressing One Direction? I want to be undressing One Direction not the other way around. "Hello?" She asked.
"Err wow we are, um we will definitely call you back bye." India hung up and stared at the phone like it was a dead rat. She turned to me and took a sip of her coffee. "But I want to undress One Direction." I said sadly and India spat her coffee out and started laughing so hard. I stop holding back these comments from her now, she enjoys it. "Hey do you think the boys know?" I asked after she cleaned herself up.
"I don't know lets call them!"
"Okay you call Niall!"
"No I don't want to seem keen!" She refused.
"Yeah because, 'Niall was always my favourite' isn't keen at all." I said sarcastically.
"Shut up and call Harry."
"Fine." I dialled his number and put it on speaker.
"I have Mark!" Rachel called from outside the office.
"Yeah tell him I'll call him back." I dissmissed to her. I know she greased me off, she thinks I don't see these things. "We are not going to get any work done today." India said. She's got that right.
"Hey Sahara." Harry answered in his yummy British accent. Wait a minute, I'm a Zayn girl.
"Aloha." I was awake now so yes I'm in a good mood.
"What's up?"
"Me and India just got a call from Janet about dressing you, did you know."
"Yeah of course, we all did. Please don't make us ugly," he laughed.
"Shut up you said our work was good!"
"I lied."
"Well we technically haven't said yes yet. We wanted to know what you guys thought."
"Well yeah we're all cool with it! Actually Janet's right here if you wanna talk to her?"
"Nope, bye!" And I hung up quickly.
"Now what?" India asked.
"Now we go on our lunch break!" This is why I own this label with my best friend.
After a long lunch break we were forced to return back to work. We had a conference meeting to discuss New York fashion week and other matters and Grace arrived to attend. Sitting around the large table were all the heads of each department as well as Grace, India and I. "So we have Anna Wintours offer on American Vogue cover. She needs an answer by Monday and oh would you look at that Monday is in 3 days wow." I said trying to hide the fact that I forgot to mention the offer earlier. I'm only 18 remember. "What exactly was the offer?" Grace asked and I explained to her what Anna had said. "Ok well it seems like great exposure, especially internationally so call her and confirm we will be doing it." She stated, scribbling notes down as she spoke.
"We also have the offer from Janet of One Direction." India commenced with hesitation, watching Grace's reaction. "They want us to dress them for all their major events and concerts in the upcoming 2 months, the European leg of the tour."
"That's great. Rick, what do you think?" Grace asked, turning to the head of our mens department. He had light brown hair and a scruffy face, hey Rick you're super attractive, why have I not noticed before???
"Yeah, I think our mens line would suit their age." He said, nodding his head.
"But, don't you think they will, in a way, degrade us? Them being a boy band and having young fans, if they begin buying our label we will seem almost common. We are a high couture label not their merch!" India exclaimed, trying to stop this from happening without mentioning that she was having a 'thing' with a member of the band. "Not at all! How will these young fans have the money to buy our clothing? If anything, we will help the boys lose their young reputation." Grace responded.
"Their parents?" India suggested, though she knew it wasn't a great argument.
"Sahara what do you think?" Grace turned to me and I was a little stunned. Honestly, I wanted to work with them but I didn't want to betray India, who was looking at me like I held all the hope in the world. "Ugh, well I think that either way we win and we lose so... may aswell?" I said the last part quietly but sensed India slump in the corner, defeated. "That's settled then, have Rachel call them up too and confirm. However, we won't commence until after New York fashion week, make that clear. We have a lot to do from now until then. Here is the revised schedule," Grace said handing them out to everyone at the table, "we all need to stick to it to make sure we get everything sorted on time. Everyone needs to be in at 7am sharp every morning from now on so that we get it all done, tell your departments." We concluded the conference and returned to our officies.
"Sorry Inds." I said nudging her arm as we left.
"Whatever. I'm just hoping nothing awkward happens between me and Niall." She muttered, I could tell I had to make it up to her. "Come over tonight! We can do mani pedi's! I really need one after this week ugh." I said, examining my nail beds.
"Alright!" That cheered her up easily. I called in Rachel and told her to confirm to both Janet and Anna Wintour that we would be accepting their proposals. Moments later she returned. "India, Sahara, Anna needs you in on Monday to discuss dates for the shoot as well sign some paperwork and Janet needs you on Monday to sign the contract and get things sorted. Both said they cannot delay this any longer." She moved her eyes, from me to India, her poker face was terrible because I knew our problems gave her joy. "Thank you Rachel." India nodded her head towards her, a 'get the fuck out of our office now' signal and Rachel left. "Well thats great, who will go to who?" I asked her.
"Um, can you please go to Janet, just incase Niall decided not to call me back or something and bumping into him will just be awkward please!" India spoke quickly as she admited her worries and I sighed. "Of course, and don't over think it all Inds!" I said trying to boost her self esteem.
"It's Niall Horan Saz! Niall Horan is interested in me! How can I not overthink everything? One wrong move and I'm out, he could easily find someone better."
"What no he couldn't! Don't forget who you are India! You are beautiful, funny, fashionable, smart, successful. You guys click and thats not something he can find in 'any' girl. Stop telling yourself he is famous, tell yourself he is just a regular guy, because that's all he is and that's how he'd want you to see him!" She nodded her head in obedience and I smiled at her. Though I did worry, how far could her insecurites take her?