Sonder {COMPLETED}

IV.

beyoncé giselle.
september 9th.
nyc.

Sometimes, when you were looking at things from a broader perspective, you had to take one for the team. I was a team player, and if I could single-handedly raise up my fellow co-workers, that's what I'd do. But I had never experienced this large of a sacrifice.

I wanted to give my boss the benefit of the doubt because it was four in the morning. I would be a bit annoyed too, but she was downright disrespectful. Every simple mistake one of her models made on the runway, she made sure to criticize. She was being difficult with the hair dresser, the makeup artist, the damn light guy if she could get to him.

She was cramping my damn style. My vision had turned out perfectly, but she was so damn unpleasant.

We were lucky that they allowed us into their space so that the models and everyone on the team were on the same page. Being confused or having complications that could have been resolved before we went public was a major problem. It was detrimental to the vision that everything was smooth and controlled.

It was extremely hard to fix kinks when the main woman was so damn annoying. I wanted to check her, but I had to move strategically. Setting her off was not the goal, but she really beginning to piss me off.

I walked down to the end of the runway to get a good look of their walks. There wasn't a single model that was shorter than 5'7, and that was intentional, just like everything else. Onika barely stood at 5'3, but her walk was manufactured perfection. When it all became stripped down and the photographers wanted full model pictures, she would be at the forefront in the last outfit of the day. Yachting pants and faux pearls, anybody that knew anything about Gabrielle's history, would understand.

I'd told her already to be prepared for the general public to tear her apart for wearing fake jewelry. They were not in the room with us, and they were not who I cared about.

"Um..." I tapped along the runway as they walked, "Can the two of you switch? Tiffany, you'll walk before Sierra. I wanna see what that looks like. Onika will go on in between the two of you then at the end. Start it over, y'all are doing a great job. I appreciate you."

I felt like the leader, like my name was on the side of that building. I imagined this kind of power made her the way she was today. Still, that was no way to treat people, and I was not making excuses for her.

I walked to where she was getting her makeup done, complaining about everything with her eyes closed. How was she complaining and all she could see was the darkness of her eyelids?

I asked Gabe how much longer he thought he would be, "We've gotta be out of here by six."

"Give me ten more minutes and I'll send her that way."

"Thank you."

I went to watch the models walk again, looking for minute mistakes. There couldn't be a single hair out of place. This was personal for me. I only had one chance to prove myself in front of the whole entire world, and I knew I could do it. It felt right to lead my team to victory. This was only behind the scenes for now, but I was looking ahead. In a few years, this would be me permanently, leading on a much larger scale.

When Onika was finally finished, she came toward me, standing beside me where I sat. I didn't look her way. I just needed her to jump in.

"Is this what you envisioned?"

"Are you satisfied?" I asked her, because that's what she actually wanted me to ask. Honestly, I wouldn't be able to give her an answer until I'd seen her walk.

"Start from the beginning!"

The entire room sucked their teeth.

"If y'all were doing it right, I wouldn't even have to ask y'all to do it again! Oh I didn't fucking ask! Y'all don't have to walk, you can walk your ass right up outta here and miss Fashion Week! It's on you, I've been to plenty! Have you?!"