Chapter Text
Andrea
The Runway office was unusually quiet.
Miranda Priestly was elsewhere, which meant nobody was currently being psychologically damaged for professional reasons.
Emily Charlton, unfortunately, remained.
She moved through the office at full speed, answering calls, sending emails and carrying enough paperwork to qualify as a workplace hazard.
Andy looked up.
Emily was already halfway through three conversations.
Her red hair was down. Her blue eyeshadow somehow still looked perfect despite the fact she'd clearly been working since dawn.
Andy watched her for a second too long.
Then another.
Which was exactly how she got caught.
Emily looked up.
Their eyes met.
Andy immediately regretted looking.
"What now!" Emily scolded, rolling her eyes as if dealing with Andy today was taking up her entire life force.
"Umm, I- ... Nothing" Andy stuttered before rushing back to working, focusing her eyes on the monitor, refusing to look back at Emily.
"Whatever" Emily mumbled before turning quickly and leaving with a heavy load of papers in hand.
Emily seemed to pause a second at her desk "Try not to be completely useless whilst I'm out Andrea" she added before continuing in her stride.
It took everything in Andy to not turn to look at her or watch her leave. She couldn't keep this up.
How many times was she going to get caught staring?
How long before Emily noticed?
This crush had become genuinely embarrassing.
And of course non of this was helped by the fact Emily would practically hold the door open if Andy messed up this job and Miranda fired her.
She would probably push her through it and slam the door in her face.
She sighed and slumped in her chair. She just needed to last the year.
One year.
Then she would be able to do the work she was passionate about, journalism.
What irritated her most was that she couldn't work Emily out.
Emily acted like talking to Andy was a personal inconvenience. Most days Andy assumed she genuinely disliked her.
Then Emily would smile.
Or laugh at something when she thought nobody was paying attention.
And suddenly Andy wasn't sure anymore.
Maybe she was imagining it.
Maybe not.
She sighed, rubbed the daze from her eyes and continued with her day, avoiding Emily at all costs.
But still thoughts of Emily stuck in the back of her mind.
-
Emily
It was getting late now and Emily quickly returned to collect her coat and bag, heading out for the day.
Not that she had much to rush for. An empty penthouse apartment with an empty fridge and an empty cold bed.
She glanced over at Andrea, still sitting at her desk.
Unsurprising. Andrea did everything at a glacial pace.
It was a wonder anything got done.
Andrea was leaving in six months.
Emily immediately reached for her pen.
She didn't examine that thought any further.
Last week Andrea had fixed a courier disaster by accidentally befriending the courier.
The week before that she'd somehow convinced a furious designer to calm down by discussing baseball.
Emily still didn't understand how either outcome had occurred.
She appeared every morning carrying coffee and unnecessary optimism.
She also knew Andrea took two sugars in her coffee.
Which was irritating in entirely different ways.
Andrea was also irritatingly nice.
Nobody should be that enthusiastic before nine in the morning.
Emily distrusted it on principle.
Another thing, her wardrobe remained an ongoing crisis.
Emily glanced down at the hideous skirt Andrea was wearing. It was made of thick wool that was clearly well aged and was the kind of sad grey that made Emily nauseous.
Emily briefly imagined an entire convention full of people dressed exactly like Andrea.
The thought was genuinely horrifying.
There would be cardigans.
She couldn't help chuckle mentally, physically stoic of course.
Her thoughts were interrupted as obviously Andrea attempted to talk to her.
"You have any big plans this evening?"
Emily scoffed "Yes" a little too quickly.
"Ah, nice. Me and my friend Lily are going out for drinks today, let off some steam and all that. It usually always ends with Lily leaving with a random hot guy and me sat drinking alone."
Andrea waffled on.
"It's fun though, we usually do drinks or game night or whatever really."
Without thinking and before she could understand why she even cared Emily asked "Don't you leave with any 'hot guys' too" mocking Andrea's words with air quotes.
"Nooooooo" she laughed "Not me, I am single but I don't date anymore".
She paused a second seeming to realise how much she was saying.
"Why?" Emily was now looking at her.
Really looking.
Colour had appeared in Andrea's face.
Emily found herself watching it.
Irritating.
She could see how nervous Andrea became at the question.
Andrea's eyes darting anywhere but Emily.
"I don't really date anymore."
"Why?"
Andy froze.
"I just don't."
Emily continued looking at her.
Which somehow made it worse.
Emily wanted to mock her again.
Instead she kept looking.
Andrea suddenly seemed incapable of meeting her eyes.
"That wasn't an answer."
Eventually Emily let the question pass.
"Well don't get too drunk. I'm not covering if you're late tomorrow".
Andrea quickly glanced in Emily's direction before looking away again.
Emily blinked.
Huh.
Was she having a hallucination?
Andrea opened her mouth. Nothing emerged.
"Interesting" was all Emily replied.
Andrea still remained silent, her embarrassment continuing to grow by each passing second.
Finally Emily began to leave breaking the moment.
She gathered herself and walked elegantly towards the exit. Andrea stared at the wall, frozen. What had taken over her?
Emily could have fun with this. She could watch Andrea blush all day.
She paused at the door before turning her head slightly over her shoulder to speak.
"Goodnight, Andrea." She purred slowly smirking before adding in a whisper.
"Don't stay up too late, darling".
It was loud enough Andrea could hear and Emily knew it.
Then as if nothing happened, she strolled off out the door to the elevator.
The elevator doors closed.
Emily stood there for a second.
Then sighed.
"Well," she muttered.
That had been unnecessary.
Unfortunately she suspected tomorrow might be marginally less annoying.