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Elly woke up with a start, and the clock read 4:30. “Shit shit shit! I’m supposed to be there right now!” She’d set her alarm for 3:00 but must have slept through it. She jumps out of bed, pulling her blond curls into a quick ponytail, throwing on black Michael Kors turtleneck and jeans, and Balenciaga riding boots. Standard uniform for a Fashion Week show coordinator. “Don’t fuck this up, Elly. You’ve got this.” She ran out the door, luckily her hotel suite was just a few blocks to the venue.
The rest of the crew was arriving at 6:00 and they would have about 8 hours to prepare the show for a sold-out audience. She’d been imported from the U.K. by Moods of Norway Menswear to run this special charity show during New York Fashion Week. Since it is a fundraiser for Norway’s UNICEF fund, the show would have Norwegian celebrities modeling the looks. Elly was an au pair the summer before for Moods’ CEO, and she liked Elly’s style and attention to detail. She’d done a few shows in Norway for Moods, but never in New York City. Luckily her four interns were ready to go. Literally. She ran them over in the hallway as she shot out of her hotel suite door.
“Why didn’t you guys wake me at 3:00?” Elly screams at them. “Sorry, we thought you were up, but when you didn’t meet us in the lobby at 4:00 we came up to look for you.” said the one with crazy dark curls. Elly was still trying to get their names straight. “OK, Steph, let’s go.” The intern with the massive shock of blond hair, Leah, held open the elevator door for everyone and said quietly, “We aren’t too late, and we should still have an hour to get things ready for the crew.” The super-tall intern, Jessie, sprinted ahead, carrying bags of supplies. The intern with the caramel-colored hair, Cat, sauntered in last, taking it all in, “I can’t believe we’re in New York!” Elly took a look at her motley crew as the elevator began its descent, the four of them leaning against the mirrored wall. “Did anyone ever tell you that you look like…? Oh, never mind, that’s crazy.” The group looked quizzically at her and shrugged.
They made their way to the huge venue. Somehow they were converting this gigantic, plain white tent into a Norwegian fantasy land in about 8 hours. Elly took a look at her eager but disheveled interns, all panting from their run through six city blocks. “We can do this,” she muttered under her breath, then put a big smile on her face. “OK, gang, we’ve got a shitload of work to do. LET’S GO.” She barked out orders to each of the interns and sent them scrambling.
The tent was eerie in the cool, otherwise quiet morning, the construction crews were already assembling the sets, and the building crew was putting out chairs for the 2,000 expected guests. A dark-haired woman in a beautiful yellow dress approached Ellly, “I’m Mino, your set designer. Just want to make sure we’ve placed the backdrop where you want it. The Ylvis guys have requested confetti canons for their part of the show, so that messes things up a bit, but I guess we have to make it work.” Elly’s eyes widened, “Confetti canons?!? They can’t keep changing the plans like this! Damned comedians. Diva supermodels are easier to work with.” “So maybe I won’t tell you the Raske Menn are planning to use Supersoaker guns on the audience? They want three for the show.” Mino smirked. Elly’s hands flew up in disgust and she stormed away, “LEAAAAAAHHHHHHH! “ The intern startled Elly because she was quietly behind her the whole time. “Did you hear that? Get to the toy store!”
“It’s only 5:30 and we’re in the middle of winter. Where do you think I should go for water guns?” Leah’s afraid to ask Elly so she directs her question to Steph. “God, I don’t know. Just put it on the list for later and we can go once stores open. Maybe one of the locals here will have an idea.” “OK, Steph, don’t let me forget!” Leah asks. They proceed with filling gift bags. Leah tells Steph, “Maybe you should follow around Elly for a while. One of us is always supposed to be right there.” “No way, I’m afraid of her. Let’s get Cat to go.” Cat overheard, “No way, I just finished sorting the green m&ms out of 14 bags because Kollectivet doesn’t eat the green ones. Send Jessie over there to take the punishment for a while.” Jessie gets up and heads out of the assembly room, “It is no big deal, guys. We’re interns. We’re supposed to do the shit jobs. But tonight, when I meet Bård Ylvisåker and he realizes we were meant to be together, it will all be worth it!” “Meant to be together, huh?” says Leah with a raised eyebrow. Jessie breaks into a wide smile and everyone bursts into laughter as she heads out to catch up with Elly. Just in time it seems. “OK, I need you to put out the placards on the front row for the VIPs. This first section is for the fashion bloggers, Ziggi, Essie and Julie. “ When the show starts tonight, you need to guard this front row with your life. The Senkveld staff will try to switch their second row places with the front row."
Surprisingly, the drama was low for the next few hours. Everyone worked hard on their tasks and there were no other surprises. Leah even found the water pistols for Raske Menn. All of this calm worried Elly. The closer showtime came, the more nervous she got that some glaring detail was missing. “I feel like we’re forgetting something, Cat. I just can’t put my finger on it.” “It looks like you have everything covered, Elly” said intern Cat. “I don’t know what you’re worried about.” The famous hair and makeup artist Lise Viola strides in with her assistant, Emilyann, who’s trying to cart about 8 bags of supplies through the grand hall. “Where should I set up? And I need to see the outfits for tonight so I can make sure I have the right colors set up for the models.” Elly drops her iced coffee and it spills to the ground. “THE CLOOOOOOOTHES!
We forgot the fucking CLOOOOOOOOOTHES!” Elly’s cries could be heard echoing through the tent. All four interns sprang into action and gathered ‘round: “Where are they, Elly? Just tell us what we can do.” Elly looked a bit shell-shocked. “They are still at the customs office by the airport. I was supposed to send for them this morning, and now I think the office is only open for another hour. I am so fucked. We can’t have a fashion show without the fashion!” “Hello, ladies, how are things?” Everyone turns around and there’s a beautiful sight to behold. The Ylvisåker brothers (all three!), Magnus Devold, Anders Hoff, Øyvind Rafto, and Calle Hellevang-Larsen appear before the group. It’s almost like a gauntlet, the fashion show crew in one line and the smiling, hot Norwegian comedians facing them in another line. The interns’ jaws drop at the beauty and talent set before them. They are starstruck.
“Hi guys,” Elly is too devastated at the developments to be starstruck and she’s still trying to make everything work. “We just have one slight complication we’re trying to fix. The clothes are at the customs office by the airport, and we are now two hours to showtime.” Elly was determined not to cry, but her quivering chin and bottom lip didn’t get the memo. Calle steps over to give her a hug. “Don’t cry, everything will work out.”
Vegard shouts, “I’ve got it!” his curls bouncing as he jumps in the air. “Bjarte just gave us a ride in a helicopter from LaGuardia. You can take a few of them back over there, right?” Bjarte gets an excited look on his face as he nods in agreement. “Then you only have to fight traffic to get the clothes back here.” “For a change you have a brilliant idea, Vegard,” says Bård “It is BRILLIANT!” says Elly, shocking Vegard and herself by giving him a big hug and a kiss.
Elly assigns Leah and Steph to go with Bjarte on the clothing run. As Elly goes to get the customs paperwork and call the car service, there’s an awkward silence among all assembled. Anders gets a look at the intern crew and remarks, “Øyvind, do you notice anything unusual about these interns?” The four girls get uncomfortable looks on their faces. The two-thirds of the Raske Menn stare harder for a moment, looking everyone up and down, then back at their colleagues. They first pull Vegard to stand with Steph, Magnus to stand with Jessie, Bård next to Cat, and, last but not least, Calle next to Leah. “Uncanny resemblance, don’t you think?” Anders asks. The four comedians look at their doppelgangers: “This is really creepy, but in a good way,” says Calle, smiling at his twin, putting an arm around her.
As the comedians get acquainted with their lookalikes, Bjarte and Øyvind get out their phones to snap pictures. “Wait till I tweet this!” says Bjarte. “All those crazy fangirls on tumblr will go wild!” Lise and Emilyann burst into laughter, “what do you know about that?” “More than you think, liten-solsikke” Bjarte says with a devilish grin.