Lust, Lies, and Forbidden Ties ✵ h.s.

✵ five ✵

     Friday was not nearly as horrible, and I felt like it was because I didn't have to deal with Harry, or have coffee spilled all over me. I was glad that when I arrived, I didn't have to talk to that many people.  Per usual, I tidied up Mrs. Woods' desk, placed her coffee in the regular spot, and then sat and looked at my email until my boss came in.  She seemed a little more chipper than normal, which was always a delight considering it made things for me much easier. 

For the first couple of hours together, we made sure that everything from the week had been finished up.  If there was anything that was incomplete, I attempted to either make note of what needed to be done so that the item could be marked as complete, or then we decided as a team to leave it for a priority next week.  It wasn't until after lunch that Mrs. Woods began to rant to me about people she truly disliked.  It was normal for her to do this, especially when it came to other fashion branches and their presidents.  She apparently had a huge distaste for someone from Tom Ford, and while I wanted to laugh at some of her reasons, I simply nodded along to her boisterous rhetoric.  Though, after a while she began to talk about how she truly didn't understand why people were always so nervous to talk to her and I found myself asking a question almost immediately.

"Have you ever though, oh I don't know, that maybe they think you're scary?"

"Scary?" she asked.  "I'm not scary."

"I agree with that.  However, I also have gotten to know you on a personal basis.  People who simply work with you just see you as the boss and someone to be afraid of, honestly."

Mrs. Woods looked like she was thinking about what I had said to her.  I figured she didn't plan on me giving my two cents, though it was clear that it was probably close to the truth.  There were some people in the building who would purposely make sure they handed me certain files simply because they didn't want to endure a conversation with my boss.  It wasn't because she was annoying, but because they were intimidated by her in every sense of the word.  To me, it was somewhat amusing, but I knew that Mrs. Woods didn't really see it like that.  She simply wanted to understand why people were so nervous anytime they had to speak with her.

"Well, enough of that.  Are you excited for tomorrow?" she asked me.  "Do you know what you want to wear?"

"Tomorrow? What do we have—? oh! That's right! Yeah, I guess I'm excited.  I still don't really like those parties that much, but I guess I need to get used to them."

"You definitely do.  I was hoping that you would start to come to more so that you get more comfortable and then hopefully I can list you as one of the coordinators for these types of events."

It was a surprise, to say the least.  After all, the thought of being chosen to coordinate such large events was something that I never expected Mrs. Woods would want me to do.  Then again, it wasn't like it was completely out of my grasp.  Plus, if I could get into doing more large-scale events, I would probably have more business opportunities come my way.

"That could be fun," I told her.  "I don't know.  It has taken me a while to get used to even talking to celebrities.  I feel like I don't belong in the same room as them."

Mrs. Woods shook her head.  "Nonsense, darling.  You have every right to be in the same room as them.  I expect you to be the head of a fashion branch yourself at some point in your life, Miss Amato.  You have absolutely no reason to doubt yourself."

Thanking her, we moved on to discuss what we would be wearing to the event tomorrow evening.  I told her that I was still deciding between a long dress and a short dress, Mrs. Woods telling me that I should definitely opt for the short dress since that was what she was probably going to do.  Though, she also continued by telling me that I pulled anything off well, so whatever I chose would be a great option.