Page 128 of Tell Me It’s Right

The office seems to be mostly an open floor plan, and the offices that have walls are made of glass. Girls in dizzyingly tall high heels stream this way and that in a blur of leather, fur, and sparkles. I melt a little at the sight. I might not be super into fashion myself, but I can only imagine how well all those looks would photograph.

“Gracie?”

I jump to my feet as a woman rounds the corner.

“I’m Selena.” She holds out a hand for me to shake, and something about her presence is relaxing. Maybe it’s how wide her smile is, or the simplicity of her outfit compared to everyone else. She still looks like she stepped straight out of a magazine, but the oversize blazer and jeans combo is much easier for my brain to comprehend than some of these other outfits. “I’m the art director here at Bezzels. I’m so excited to have you join our team. Come, come.”

I hurry after her as she heads down the hall, smiling and waving at the cubicles we pass. “I have three other designers on my team, who you’ll meet later today. They’re in a meeting right now. You’ll answer to me for the most part, but when I’m busy, you’ll be under Aria, our senior graphic designer.”

She grabs my wrist and pulls me against the wall as a man and a woman sprint by us with a box full of scraps of fabric.

“Sorry, Selena!” the man calls before they disappear around the corner.

I turn to her with wide eyes, but she looks completely unfazed. “You get used to it. We’ll start slow until you get a better grasp for how things run around here. Your desk is this way. You’ll find a sheet with all of your logins and passwords there. I’m afraid I don’t have too much time for training right now as we’re getting close to the deadline for a major campaign, but Heather, one of my other designers, has quite a few tasks she doesn’t have the time for and would love to pass them on to you. Ah, here they are.”

We pause at a collection of cubicles near the corner as the door to the conference room across from them opens.

“Heather?” calls Selena as people flood into the walkway carrying laptops and folders.

A very tall woman with very black hair and a very deep tan turns to us.

“This is Gracie, our new junior designer.”

Heather offers her hand to shake as Selena checks her watch.

“I have a meeting—can you take over showing her around and getting her started?”

Heather bows her head slightly. “Of course.”

“I’ll swing by again around lunch to see how you’re settling in, Gracie!” says Selena as she takes off, walking much faster than she had with me. “Welcome to Bezzels!”

“Come on,” says Heather. “Your desk is next to mine.”

Mine is entirely plain and devoid of personality, especially in comparison to the ones around me. Just a white L-shaped desk, plain black monitor, and a sheet of paper beside the keyboard with Selena’s welcome instructions.

Heather’s is absolutely covered in plants, bright pink sticky notes, and random trinkets.

“Are you from the Midwest?” she asks suddenly.

I stare at her. “I—no. Why?”

She shrugs one shoulder and boots up her computer.

Do I give off Midwest vibes? What does that even mean?

“You should familiarize yourself with our social media accounts today. Take a look at what we’ve done in the past, our captions, engagement. I’ll email you a list of some upcoming announcements, sales, and whatnot, and you can draft some sample captions and concepts. If I like any of them, I’ll give you the go-ahead to make the posts. It’ll be good practice, and if they’re no good, it’ll help teach you what we’re looking for instead.”

Draft concepts.

If I like them.

Practice.

This is fine. Of course I’m not going to hit the ground running on the first day. Learn the ropes. Pay my dues.

It’s a bit of whiplash coming from Liam’s shop where I started everything from scratch, had complete creative control, and made all of the decisions myself. I can’t help but feel like I’m taking a dozen steps backward.

But this is fine. It’s just going to be an adjustment. And once I show them what I can do, hopefully the training wheels won’t last for long.

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