The Premiere Day

Chapter 4

In the evening, Natalie and Diana went to Natalie's house to get everything ready for the meeting with Ben and Joe. It would happen in a restaurant that Joe had suggested, saying that the food there was "very good," which was not enough for Ben because he said that,  to Joe, any kind of food was "very good." But Joe was determined to eat the spaghetti they made, and in the end everyone agreed to go to that restaurant.

To make things easier, the women decided to go to Natalie's house, which was closer to the restaurant than Diana's. They wanted to prepare everything calmly, so they could have time to show all the ideas they had. If everything was well organized, even if the guys didn't like something, there would be time to discuss changes later.

As they were setting up the paperwork and stored the tablets and laptops, Natalie decided to say something she really wanted to share with her friend.

"I know we're just their assistants, and obviously I've never thought of anything beyond that, but my God, Ben is so gorgeous! What a body, Lord!" she said, with her eyes wide open, looking at the ceiling, as if she was really talking to God or something of that sort.

"I know, right?" Diana answered, smiling and nodding, while putting some photos in a folder. "God only knows how hard I had to concentrate not to boop Joe on the nose or make a stupid comment about his teeth. I mean, I love his teeth, but that's exactly why I would say something silly if I hadn't taken deep breaths from time to time".

"Nose and teeth?" Natalie said and laughed. "Please, my guy has a body that's perfect, not only the nose or the teeth".

Diana sticked her tongue out and smiled. "Hurry up, your guy is waiting".

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After ordering, since Joe was - and those were his exact words - "starving to death", Natalie and Diana decided to begin with the easiest stuff.

"The limo is ok", Diana started talking. "The guy will be available for as much time as you need".

"Limo?" Joe asked. "I thought Ben was kidding when he talked about that".

"Yes, limo", Diana said, smiling. "Our clients deserve the best", she added, trying to sound intense.

"And the makeup artist is ok too", Natalie said. "There's only one problem, we couldn't find a good hairstylist yet", she said, looking at Ben, who smiled.

"Ben and his hair", Joe said, shaking his head. "This", and he grabbed a lock of Ben's hair, "is only hair, not gold. I don't know why you're so picky with this".

"First", Ben said, removing Joe's hand of his head, "my hair is clean, and I don't know where your hands have been". When he heard this, Joe said a very loud 'what', but Ben went on. "Second, I like when my hair looks good, so I have the right to ask for a good hairstylist".

Natalie and Diana just looked, both in awe. But after a while without any comment, Natalie continued. "But I'll find someone, don't worry".

"No, I'm not worried, this is NY, of course you'll find someone", Ben answered and took a sip of Joe's iced tea, which was followed by a slap on Ben's hand. "Drink your disgusting soda, mate", Joe said and smiled.

"Ok, now, to Joe's suits". Now it was Diana's time to talk. "These were the ones your stylist said you could like the most", she said, handing him the photos she had previously printed.

Joe looked at them for a while, and picked the one with a man dressed in a dark blue suit. He put it on the table and looked at Diana, Natalie and Ben, as if saying that it was the one he had chosen.

Ben smiled and shook his head, and Natalie felt she was about to burst in laughs.  Diana wanted to laugh too, but she was Joe's assistant, so she took one more of those deep breaths, tried to think about something really sad, so her face wouldn't show what she was really thinking, and said: "Joe, do you really think this is a good choice?" She tried to sound as much sweet as she could.

"Why not?" Joe asked. And then he looked at Ben. "Wait... What now? Is this going to be a fiasco too?"

Ben couldn't hold up anymore and he laughed out loud. "Oh my God, Joe, when will you ever learn?"

Natalie and Diana smiled at each other, and Joe said "ok, I trust you, Diana. You are the only one that deserves that, because look at these two!" he continued, pointing at Natalie and Ben. "Tell me what's wrong with this suit!"

She couldn't help but smile. He was so cute, and so clumsy at the same time, and that made him look even more adorable. "There's nothing wrong with it, Joe, but maybe it's not the best for the occasion..."

"It makes you look like an old man, mate!" Ben said, almost crying because of the laughing. "An old man with a bad taste".

Joe had that face that we do when we want to look angry but have to hold the laughter. He knew he could trust his friend's opinion, though he was a bit jealous that Ben knew how to dress so well and he didn't. In fact, he didn't mind it that much, but since he began being friends with Ben, he was paying more attention to the clothes he wore and realized that there was no harm in improving things a bit more.

"Ok, Diana", he said, looking at his assistant and ignoring the other two. "I don't know what those knuckle heads are talking about, but I'll follow your instructions. What suit do you think is the best?"

Diana smiled and pointed the one she had imagined Joe would choose because it was her favorite. Joe said he liked that and added, "the experts have something else to say?" looking and Natalie and Ben as if he was mad at them.

"Nothing, mate!" Ben answered. "Me neither!", Natalie said smiling.

"Ok, then!" he said, frowning.

Then, Ben started to laugh again, and Joe couldn't resist. Natalie and Diana joined them, and looked at each other smiling, as if saying "how lucky we are to be here with them!"

The meeting was over thirty minutes later, and everybody headed home. The next day would be a day of much work for Diana and Natalie, and Joe wanted to show Ben some places in NY he hadn't visited yet.

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In the car, Ben was the first one to talk.

"And you thought you didn't need an assistant, huh?"

Joe smiled, "why do you need people to tell you you're right the whole time?"

"I didn't say I wanted that!" Ben replied, leaning back on his seat, "I just wanted you to know that I've always been right".

"Oh, okay, mr. know-it-all", he said, while grabbing his phone. Suddenly, they heard the sound of a message coming.

Joe opened it and said under his breath "I cannot believe that", smiling.

"What?" Ben tried to take a look. "What was it?"

Joe simply handed him the phone. It was a message from Joe's stylist. It said: "I've sent your assistant some ideas you may like, but please, PLEASE, do NOT choose the dark blue one".

"I don't need an assistant, I'm no Kim Kardashian!" Ben said, reminding Joe of his own words when they were talking on the phone.