Page 89 of What Happens in Dubai

Tom smirked. ‘Look at the screen.’

I hurried around to the iMac, and a Zoom call was in progress. It was my three friends from Dubai, and I exploded with happiness.

‘Oh my god, girls, hi!’ I screamed. I almost covered my ears with the volume of excitement I received back. ‘How the hell?’ I yelled.

‘So, Andy from Juju DM’d us last night. He told us about how much of an awesome businesswoman you are. He sent us the pictures, but we had to see your reaction. Your clinic is fucking beaut, babe,’ Laureen said.

‘Oh my god, so beaut!’ Skylar added.

‘He told us all about your ideas, and we love it, Zara. We all love it.’ The three girls were nodding, and I suddenly missed their wild energy.

‘By the way, is that the same Tom you were talking about from Dubai, though?’ Indie interrupted, looking confused.

I made a face for her to be quiet and quickly said, ‘Thank you all so much. Please, please come and visit us when you’re home.’

‘We promise! Don’t we, girls?’ The three of them nodded simultaneously.

‘Tell us when we can share this clinic on our socials, Zara. We want to spread the female empowerment message!’ Indie said, and my stomach flipped. Each of these models had over one million followers. With this sort of promotion, the opportunities and coverage were endless for the clinic.

I burst out laughing as my jaw dropped. ‘What, for real?’

‘YES!’ they screamed.

‘What you guys are doing is amazing!’ Indie said.

‘Plus, our faces look so hot on your fucking desk!’ Skylar added.

‘Eh … well, I’ll do the post today and tag you girls. I don’t even know what to say. Thank you so much. This call has made my day, no, my week, honestly!’ I gushed.

‘We love you, Zara!’ The girls blew kisses goodbye, and I clicked out of the call.

‘They’re going to share the clinic!’

Ashley and Emily squealed and wrapped their arms around me.

When the buzz simmered down, Ashley showed me more things she had added to the clinic. The treatment menu had grown, describing the new technique we were practising. The coffee mugs were all distinct shapes of women, and the selfie wall was hung with the image of Tom kissing my cheek in the centre, where he had suggested.

My friends had utterly outdone themselves.

We sat for a minute on the sofa and caught our breath.

‘Do you ever get the feeling something big is about to happen?’ Ashley asked.

‘Yes!’ I admitted, feeling a burst of butterflies.

Ashley’s face lit up. ‘I’m totally getting that feeling right now. Like, the way this place looks is insane.’

‘Completely down to you girls,’ Tom said.

‘And you too, Tom,’ I said. ‘And Andy. He started this whole thing. It would never have happened without him finding my notebook!’

Tom squeezed my hand gratefully. Then he jumped to his feet. ‘Let’s stop this soppy shit and get some work done, huh, ladies?’

Ashley finished up taking photos of the clinic’s new interior and finally prepared her launch post of our unique concept of aesthetics and treatments to the Individualise Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds. We huddled together and watched her large acrylic nails as they hit ‘post’. I felt sick with nerves in case anyone disliked the idea. It was a risk, completely ditching our high-end reputation for a fresh take on the beauty world. Tom and I had back-to-back clients booked in for the rest of the afternoon. We didn’t have time to check up on our phones or chat to Ashley about what was happening on our socials; instead, we kept our head down and stuck to our new three-step process.

The positive energy remained the entire day, and I felt butterflies swarm my stomach each time I heard the phone ring, wondering what was happening outside of my treatment room.

We finished with our clients at around five and came out to an unusually dishevelled-looking Ashley.

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