It Started that Night

Part 2

"Morning, Mil!" chirped Sophie, the receptionist with a ridiculously big smile for that time of day.

"Morning," mumbled Millie, barely lifting her head to acknowledge Sophie as she walked through the door of the office building of the fashion labels headquarters where she worked.

Monday morning always came too soon! Millie was not a morning person. Not even a mid-morning person, barely even a lunchtime person. Especially on a Monday. She was anti-social at the best of times but on a dreary April morning Sophie's annoyingly cheerful face was more than she could deal with. As she breezed past Sophie's desk she made sure not to make eye contact or she would be certain to be forced into listening to a very long, detailed account of what wonderful, exciting, happy things Sophie had got up to at the weekend. Millie was pretty sure Sophie had to be related to Father Christmas or Mickey Mouse; there was no other rational explanation for someone to be so happy so early on a Monday morning... at work... on a miserable, rainy day! Millie did her best to avoid her each day. Her happy little round chubby face and neat strawberry blonde ponytail irritated Millie, she was just one of those people! Millie knew really she was harmless, most likely lacked friends and was just looking for a bit of attention. Millie often felt a bit sorry for Sophie and thought perhaps she should make a little more effort with her, she was only 19 and working in such a fast-paced office must be tough for her, but today of all days Millie just didn't have the patience for her.

Stepping out of the elevator on the second floor, Millie opened the door to her office. Instantly the phone rang and Millie jumped.

"MAN! That's loud today!" she groaned, rubbing her ears. She felt severely hungover, yet she'd not had a drink all weekend. She had definitely not woken up yet. Barely finding the energy to pick up the phone, she answered.

"Hiiii, Millie!" said an excited little voice on the other end.

"Yesssss, Sophie?" she sighed.

"Mr Salvatore is here to see your designs and he...."

"Fuuuuuck!" Millie interrupted. "He's early!" A feeling of panic came over her. Millie was a junior fashion designer and had been working in the design office of her favourite high street fashion retailer for the past five years; it was her first fashion job out of design college. The company was owned by world-famous Italian designer Franco Salvatore. After the gig Friday night and a busy weekend she totally forgot that she was supposed to be presenting her designs to Mr Salvatore this morning!

"FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!" she muttered to herself as she scrambled around on her desk trying to sift through a mountain of unorganised paperwork to find her portfolio for the meeting, forgetting Sophie was still on the other end of the phone.

"Millie, shall I show Mr Salvatore to the boardroom?" asked Sophie, trying to sound calm and professional in front of him and trying to drown out the sound of Millie's cursing in her ear in case he could hear.

"Uhhhhh yes, please," replied Millie, still frantically searching through papers. "BINGOOOO!" she shouted in Sophie's ear as she put the phone down and brushed piles of paper off her shiny black plastic folder.

She rushed towards the door, then stopped and looked in the mirrored door of the stationery cupboard to take a minute to compose herself and mentally prepare. Although she had taken big meetings like this many times, before every one of them, inside, she still turned into the shy little girl she was at school. If someone had told her when she was at school that she would be doing this in years to come, she'd never have believed it. She was the quiet one, she got nervous talking in front of her class, she got nervous if a boy spoke to her and here she was just a few years on, about to chair a meeting and share her own designs with the head of a major international fashion brand.