The Fake Girlfriend

Chapter 24

I stood in front of the mirror in my room, practicing deep yoga breaths to calm my twisting stomach. I was about to drive to the Cosmo studio and drop off my article for the position in their office as a fashion journalist and my stomach was doing flip flops.

I released a groan and kicked my heels off of my feet, cringing when they made a smack against the wall. Let's go with the boots.

Grabbing my ankle boots from the closet, I slipped them over my black leggings and straightened out my red skirt. "Okay," I murmured and grabbed my jacket and walked through the door.

Passing through the kitchen, Ruby sat on the counter shoveling cereal into her mouth. "Hot mama," she whistled and I did a little shimmy as I slipped my satchel over my other shoulder. "Good luck!" she sang as I pushed the apartment door closed and walked down the stairs to the garage.

***

When I stopped at a redlight with the music of New York traffic surrounding me, my phone began ringing adding to the noise and stress.

"Hello?" I said, my car creeping forward behind a slow taxi.

"Hey," greeted a familiar gruff voice. "gotten to Cosmo yet?"

A smile sketched onto my face. "On my way right now," I told Nick. "And I'm super nervous."

I listened to his rare chuckle through the fuzzy line of the phone. "Don't be," he assured me. "you'll do fine, I'm sure of it." There was a brief silence. "What are you doing for lunch?"

I turned into the parking garage and pulled into a tight empty area. "Nothing," I sighed.

"Want to me at the at that Vietnamese restaurant by my apartment?" he asked. "We have to be at a fashion show tonight by the way, in case Scarlett didn't remind you."

"What?" I screeched. "How come she never tells me these things? I'm the one that takes four hours to get ready... And yeah I'll meet you there in an hour." I climbed out of my car and started walking to the building, crossing the busy New York street.

"It's okay if you're not ready in time, we can just make the after party," he mumbled and I heard the voices of of other people in the background.

I told Nick that I would see him in an hour and took a deep breath before walking through the reflective doors of the Cosmo office. The image of my jittery figure flashed in front of me as the sensored doors opened, a brief moment of eye contact being made between me and my reflection.

I nodded to her.

"Rayne Stephanie," I told the receptionist, smiling and hoping there was no lipstick on my teeth. I clutched my manila envelope to my side tightly, trying to remember everything I had researched within the past week.

"Yes, ma'am," she said, clicking on the computer. "You're right on time, follow me." With that she stood up and started walking down the sparkling hallway, fashion images adorning the walls on both sides of me and glittery quotes that stated "Always have class." I looked down to the receptionist shoes, thinking that I'd have to buy some navy pumps like that soon.

"In here, Ms. Stephanie," she said, her handing gesturing to the open conference room.

There was a lady who I immediately recognized to be on the staff board of Cosmo seated in the middle of the long red mahogany table. Papers arranged around her, she pressed her hands to the tabletop and stood up to extend her hand.

Her ringed fingers met mine, her grip firm. "Ms. Stephanie, so nice to meet you. I'm Rebecca Milan, a member of the board of directors and editors here at Cosmopolitan. I was so excited to here that you were coming."

I smiled and politely replied to her , remembering to hold my back straight and chin slightly up.

"I hope you're ready to give me a top-notch convincing pitch of this season's new fashions," she said, easing back into her seat and folding her hands into her lap.

"I certainly am," I replied confidently- even though I felt anything but- and flashed her a bright smile. Opening up my envelope on to the table in front of me, I slid her over a picture of a couple of different outfits for New York's winter's style. I began my very precised and practiced speech, showing her various styles of different people. The classy, the hipster, the chic, and the urban. Explaining how we shouldn't try to push ourselves into just one category, blending and bleeding different styles into one another to make our unique self.

"You see readers of Cosmo shouldn't feel pressured to be the style of the front cover to be 'in style'," I told her. "They should be handed the right ideas to paint their own canvas- create their own style." I took a deep breath and finished, "So, what's in style this winter? You. Me. Everyone. We are our own style and this winter we should find ourselves and express that. Express the beautiful, confident, and lovely women that Cosmopolitan readers are."

There was a silence and I clasped my hands together in front of me, indicating that I was finished. Rebecca scribbled some notes onto her notepad in front of her, then looked up and gave me a warm smile with her dark purple lips.

"Thank you so much, Ms. Stephanie," she finally said. "Can I have your written story and research papers?"

I nodded and gathered them up into the folder, handing them to her and hoping my nails didn't look too bad compared to hers.

"Alright then," she confirmed, stacking it up with her papers. "We will definately be getting in touch to let you know if you got the job or not."

I nodded and gave her a goodbye, turning to walk out the door.

"Oh and Rayne!" Rebecca said behind me. "I really like your skirt."

**Not the best chapter but I will upload more. Comment please? I like hearing your comments:D

AND BY THE WAY I MUST CONFESS IVE BEEN READING PSYCHOTIC HARRY STYLES FANFICTION AND ITS SO GOOD AND SHATTER ME BY TAHERA MAFI (is this how you spell it?) IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING OKAY BOOK READERS YOU MUST READ THESE.**