‘Aiden, my man!’ Gus uses the opportunity to sandwich himself into the conversation.
Aiden goes in for a handshake. Gus goes in for some form of ‘fist-bump, high-five, turn, pose’ combo. It’s incredibly cringey and deeply hard to watch, and I desperately need us all to go inside.
‘Where’s Evie? Has she already gone in?’ I ask him, praying it’s enough to end this outdoor charade.
‘Yeah, she’s already in there. So are Oliver and Maxwell,’ Aiden replies. ‘I came out to get you.’
I sigh with relief, using the moment to lead us inside and leave the desperate attention-seeking behind in the street. The others follow, Pippa upping her stride to ensure she enters first, smile plastered on her face ready to greet our bosses.
Clients are often reluctant to do the Abbingtorn midway check-in, insisting it ‘should just be an email’, but Evie welcomed the opportunity with open arms. Her one stipulation? We ‘avoid the stuffy boardroom’.
I figured that probably meant a meeting round hers, but then she booked us in at one of the most prestigious sushi spots in the city. A-list prestigious. Bodyguards-at-the-door prestigious. Strict-formal-dress-code-even-at-one-in-the-afternoon prestigious.
The waiter leads us across the unbearably dark dining-room floor and through a deep-red curtain to a private room. Within it stands a large, emerald circular table, seating Oliver, Maxwell and an impeccably dressed Evie.
‘Oh, my God, you did it, you wore the dress!’ Evie cheers, bypassing Pippa and rushing towards me. ‘Anikaravedabout it after your fitting and I was oh-so hoping that I’d get to see it in person.’
She grabs my hand, twirling me so she can get a 360.
‘Hi, Evie,’ I say as she continues to examine me.
I also do my best to throw Oliver and Maxwell a silent ‘hi’ and a welcoming wave to where they stay sitting at the table. They wave back, observing mine and Evie’s closeness with pleasant surprise. If I still had hope, I would pray that this would make them put me face to face with clients more often.
‘Oh, my God, Evie, Iloveyour jumpsuit.’ Pippa creeps closer to give it an unwelcome stroke. ‘Is that Prada’s Spring collection?’
‘It’s custom, actually,’ Evie answers, doing her best to subtly shuffle away from her. ‘Shall we get seated?’
Evie and Gus sit first, moving towards the back of the booth and leaving one more space near them and two closest to the front of the room. Pippa hovers by the front.
‘After you!’ She waits for me to sit and leave her next to Aiden.
‘Doesn’t it make the most sense for me and Maddison to sit up front? We’ve got the presentation,’ Aiden says.
It’s so satisfying to watch Pippa’s face fall in real time that I almost forget where I am and break into a smile. But I don’t. Instead, I swallow my glee and do my best to nod nonchalantly. She hesitates for a moment, but eventually whacks on a smile, reluctantly sliding in next to Gus.
Evie insists that we do not begin presenting until everyone has sampled at least one bite of each dish. She ordered the special tasting-menu before we got here and says that we have notliveduntil we’ve had a bite of their truffle gold-crusted salmon sashimi. Naturally we obey, spending almost an hour picking at everything and exchanging light-hearted pleasantries.
‘Question. . .’ Aiden whispers, lips pressed to my ear. ‘How does Pippa eat sushi with her mouth so busy kissing everyone’s arse?’
I choke on my tuna roll, rice attempting to fly from my nose as I stifle the laugh that’s rolled up my throat. The entire booth goes quiet, concern washing over everyone’s faces as they turn to watch me suffer in high definition. I can feel my cheeks burning, which only makes the sushi in my mouth fight harder as I attempt to swallow it down without incident. It’s not working. I start to choke some more. I take one long, forced swallow and give a reassuring thumbs-up, hoping it’s enough to keep everyone’s eyes off me again, but I can see Aiden smirking deviously out of the corner of my eye. I make a mental noteto not dare look at him again until my food is safely down my throat.
‘You need to stop,’ I hiss once we’ve both calmed down and the conversation around the table has moved on. ‘You are going to get me in trouble.’
‘You could use a little trouble.’ He pops another roll into his mouth.
Eventually the chopsticks clatter and the plates get swept away, and Evie excitedly gives us the floor. We run through everything, from on-the-day details to our PR plan, to how we’ve managed to still remain in budget, complete with printouts of spreadsheets, further mood boards, my meticulous timelines and Aiden’s brilliantly annotated diagrams. The room fills with chatter as Oliver, Maxwell and Evie praise the detail with which we’ve approached everything.
‘This is top-notch work– well done, you two!’ Oliver says.
Maxwell nods. ‘That’s what we expect from an Abbingtorn girl!’
I can practically see Pippa’s skin turn green as they speak, but she tries to brush it off with a quick, telling flick of her hair.
‘Yes, it’s super impressive,’ she says, her tone sickly sweet. ‘I’m so proud of you, Maddison. I’ve been training you for a moment like this!’
Of course she’d try to take the credit for this when she has done absolutely nothing, training or otherwise. Maxwell and Oliver are eating it up, but I can see Evie’s unimpressed face.
‘That’s so interesting, Pippa,’ she says, much to Pippa’s shock and excitement. ‘Tell me, what have you done to get Maddison to this level? I’d love some tips, manager to manager.’
