Chapter Text
Paris was not just an option—it was an entitlement, an absolute certainty, reserved for only one assistant. Emily needed to be that assistant.
Andy didn’t need anyone to tell her—she just knew, the way you know things you’ve learned by heart: Paris belonged to one assistant, and Emily intended for it to be her. So when the preliminary schedule landed on Andy’s desk that morning, her and Emily’s names lined up side by side under “Paris Fashion Week,” Andy froze. She didn’t blink, didn’t let her face give anything away. For a moment, she let her mind go blank, holding off the meaning of it all, as if not processing the truth might keep it from being real.
“EM! EM! EM!” Andy started screaming with shaking voice
“Oh bloody hell, What do you want now? why are you screaming a' 7:30 in the morning?” Emily was already done with her.
“did you see this?” her hands trembling, she passed the schedule to Emily.
“You’re joking, right?” eyes wide with disbelief.
“This can’t be right. Only one of us is supposed to go, and obviously the first assistant deserves it—which is me. Not you.” and then she clenched her jaw tight.
“and what do you expect me to do Em?” still shaking
“Emily, Andrea” Miranda cold voice echoed in the office
and again— “Emily, Andrea!” this time more firmly.
Emily bolted into the office and Andy followed her.
With cold expressions and matching, tense breaths, they both answered in unison, “Yes, Miranda?”
“Pack your things, I need both of you at the Paris Fashion Week. Your flight leaves in 2 days”
“Two days?!”
“Yes, Andrea. I also need you two to adjust my schedule for the week. I don’t want to see Jacqueline until the last day of Fashion Week.”
“But Miranda, Fashion Week doesn’t start for another five days—”
“Please bore someone else with your considerations Emily. That’s All”
Emily was furious. She’d expected to be the only one going to Paris, of course, she was the best—she certainly hadn’t anticipated Andy would be there too. To Emily, Andy was someone with no sense of style, almost childish, and in so many ways, unmistakably Andrea.
“So… what will you do before Paris? I think I’ll go to the spa, I want to be relaxed—”
“I’m hearing this, and I wanna hear this,” Emily said, gesturing for her to stop.
From that moment on, Emily simply… stopped considering Andy. No cutting remarks, no sharp corrections—just silence, which somehow felt worse. She moved around Andy as if she weren’t there, rerouting conversations through Nigel or Serena and answering questions with clipped, one-word responses—if she answered at all. Messages went unread. Calls went straight to voicemail. Emily wasn’t arguing or competing. She was shutting her out completely.
Breaking all expectations, Emily called Andy. It was four in the morning, and Andy was sound asleep until her phone rang. She woke up immediately, expecting it to be Miranda—only to see Emily’s name on the screen.
“Em?” she mumbled sleepily, slowly getting out of bed.
“Finally. We have a problem. There are no rooms available at the hotel—they’re insisting we share. One. bloody. bed.”
“oh my god Em… you called me, at 4am just for this thing?”
““No, I woke you at four in the morning because I missed your voice. We have a problem, Andrea and we need to fixt it”. Now, as she thought about what she’d said, Emily realized that deep down, she really did miss Andrea.
Andy’s eyes lit up, a small, sleepy smile tugging at her lips. Did she actually miss my voice, or was that just Emily being sarcastic?
“Em, go back to sleep. If there aren’t any rooms, don’t stress—I can take the couch, or the floor…” she paused, voice still thick with sleep, “or, crazy idea, the bed.”
“You are ridiculous,” Emily muttered as she hung up the phone.
“Em, come on! Em? Emily? Oh great, she hung up…” Andy let the phone drop to her side, a strange ache blooming in her chest. Why did it bother her so much that Emily ended the call? She wasn’t sure what the feeling was, or why it lingered long after the conversation was over. She couldn’t stop replaying the conversation in her mind—especially Emily’s words: “No, I woke you at four in the morning because I missed your voice.” The line echoed in her thoughts, and she couldn’t quite figure out why it mattered so much. Maybe, she admitted to herself, it was because she hoped it was true. After all, as much as she hated to admit it, she really did miss her “friend.”
She went to sleep hoping Emily would talk to her the next day.
On the other hand, Emily was silently scolding herself for letting that line slip. Why had she said it?
“why did i said that, oh my lord. I dont even miss Andrea— or her ridiculous questions, or the way she looks so annoyingly cute when she’s stressed, fumbling with the phone. Why do I even think she’s cute? Bloody hell, I need to sleep”, she thought.