Page 46 of All the Drama from New York

On the screen there was a series of avatars with names underneath. Camille’s avatar image was a pair of scissors. Ryan’s was Thor’s hammer. She stifled a laugh. There were three other blank spaces without names.

“I’ve been putting both of our roles into the program. Once I have a better grasp of what has to happen in the lead up to and on the actual show day, I’ll start to fill out one of the other profiles. We might need to hire some extra people around fashion week, and I figure if we have a job spec already sorted, we can go to market and find the right candidates in plenty of time.”

“This might sound horrible, but I think your old boss was right in firing you. You’re organizational skills were wasted making coffee.”

“Being a barista wasn’t the issue. I really enjoy making coffee. I just wasn’t happy staying a grunt for the rest of my life.”

Camille clicked on her own avatar, and repeated her earlier words, “Absolutely wasted.”

Ryan had set up and mostly completed a full job description for her role, then gone ahead and linked it into the planning side of the app. He’d done the same for his current tasks, with some pieces added.

Her old PA, Hope had been good, but Ryan was next level.

She turned to face him. “Once again, Mister Collins, I’m beyond impressed. We have an appointment to see the show space in an hour, so if you would like to grab whatever you might need for our trip, we can start to head over to West 26thStreet.”

Knowing Ryan once he’d seen the location for the runway show, he’d have a million ideas he would want to discuss with her.

Ryan nodded. “I’ll grab an iPad. I can jot down some notes and hopefully take lots of photos.”

The main showcase venue for fashion week was a cavernous, empty space on the top floor of a building on West 26thStreet. After their IDs had been checked and they were allowed onto the floor, Ryan stood for a long while doing his best to envisage what this place would look like during fashion week.

He tried to imagine crowds of people all seated watching as models walked the runway accompanied by the music from chart topping tunes. But when it came to the notion of atmosphere he was entirely lost. What might be a blank canvas for designers was just a big soulless space to him.

He turned to Camille, ready to ask for her opinion, but was caught off guard by the bewildered expression which sat on her face. Her designer tote bag was gripped tightly in her hands, and she held it against her body.

I thought I was intimidated by this place. She looks positively terrified.

This was his first time in an exhibition space, so he’d expected to feel a little lost. But Camille who’d grown up among the fashion scene in France seemed just as daunted by the warehouse as he was. When Camille began to worry her bottom lip, Ryan’s heart went out to her.

Tempted as he was to offer her his hand, Ryan resisted. This was a business meeting. Up and coming fashion designers didn’t need their hands held.

“It’s not like the show spaces I’ve been to in Paris. There they are grand old buildings and former palaces. Elegant chandeliers and marble flooring. But with this, I don’t…” she waved a hand in the air. “I don’t know where to start. I mean.”

She rummaged frantically in her bag and pulled out the paper copy of the main email the organizers had sent. The creased four page document was covered front and back in Camille’s notes.

“The theme is meant to be Cinderella in the City. Whatever that means. I just thought I would have more to work with at the start, than just part of an empty warehouse.”

There was a hint of panic in her voice. As if she was having serious doubts about whether she could actually pull the show off.

Ryan moved closer. “I have all the designs for the clothes you are showcasing scanned into the planning app. Let’s take a look at them and then you might have a clearer idea as to how they would fit into a fairy tale type theme. And what this space might need.”

At least it would give them somewhere to start. He’d only been working for Camille for a short time, but already Ryan had begun to figure out how her mind worked. Sometimes she just needed a nudge in the right direction and then things would start to flow. He spied a nearby empty table and headed for it. “Come with me.”

Camille followed, and as she came to stand alongside him, Ryan flipped open the cover of his iPad, and logged into the planning app. He caught the look of relief on Camille’s face as the design flats of all the garments in her new collection filledthe screen. When she clicked on the photos of the full colored forms, he could have sworn she let out a sob of relief.

Cocktail dresses. Pant suits. Summer frocks. Apparently floral dresses were known as frocks in fashion circles, which Ryan found to be a bit quaint and old fashioned. But no matter what you called them, Camille Royal certainly had a gift for design. The cream blazer with its small blue and yellow flowers dotted up the sleeves and across the lapel was nothing short of fantastic. He could just imagine the excited response it would receive at fashion week when it appeared on the runway.

The loud click of heels on the tiled floor had them both glancing up from the iPad. A woman in a killer black pant suit, carrying her own electronic tablet, approached them with efficient speed. “I take it you are my eleven o’clock appointment,” she said.

Camille stuffed her papers back into her tote bag and went to greet the event manager. “Hi, yes, I am Camille Royal. This is Ryan Collins my assistant.”

As the two women shook hands, the other woman introduced herself. “I’m Julia Spence, the director for runway shows. Welcome to the Really Big Space. Ridiculous name for a function venue, but don’t let it overwhelm you.”

A nervous laugh escaped Camille’s lips. “I think it might be a bit late for that. Ryan and I were talking about how we might look to fit my collection to the theme.”

Ryan offered Julia his hand, but she simply looked down her nose at him. He caught the message plain and clear. He was too far down the pecking order for her to be bothered dealing directly with him.

Ok, I have been put in my place.

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