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They had found the perfect spot: Intimate and surprisingly calm considering the view that was opening up in front of them. The Eiffel Tower stood tall, though seeming smaller than before against the endless darkness of the parisian nightsky.
It was a little chilly - especially to Emily, who had sacrificed the warmth of a jacket in order to show off her impeccable back which "had the whole fashion world in a chokehold" as Andy liked to say. It was one of her rather clumsy attempts at patching together teenage slang from what she had picked up from Bronwyn and Roark.
Despite the cold, it was perfect.
"So here we are!" Andy smiled her big, bright and awfully annoying Andy smile, wildly gesturing towards the big steel structure behind them.
"Well yes. I know that. You've been telling me approximately a 100 times since we got here!" Emily rolled her eyes, trying to distract from the fact that the corners of her mouth started slowly tilting upwards.
"It's a big deal Em!! We have to celebrate!!!!"
"Andrea, i've been to Paris countless times since... the incident. It's not THAT special..."
Andy frowned in disappointment. "But... but it's not the same. It's us, together, here! Our first trip as a couple to the city that almost seperated us forever??? That's like SO romantic and - it's like a movie!!!" Almost stumbling over her words in excitement, Andy had to take a quick breath. She looked at Emily, eyes wide with that goddamn puppy look, that never failed to break down every single wall of composure her girlfriend tried to uphold.
And once again, Emily couldn't stop a soft smile from making its way through her unfazed facade. "Oh you're impossible Andy, you know that?" She pulled her a little closer (simply and only for her body heat of course). Her voice had turned warm and sincere - a tone that was reserved for Andy's ears only. "You're right darling, this is indeed very special... I'm sorry."
Andy's eyes lit up, caused by Emily's words of reassurance of course... but also because of the Eiffel Tower that had just started sparkling brightly behind them. Andy gasped in awe, turning her head to face the sudden spectacle happening right in front of their eyes: "Wow that's-" She was interrupted mid sentence.
Emily Charlton - known to avoid showing affection publicly at all cost - had wrapped her arms tightly around Andy's neck and pulled her into a deep kiss. Andy leaned into it, her heart suddenly beating faster, while a comfortable warmth spread all over her body.
This was the side of Emily noone else got to see. The clingy side, the side that needed to be held and caressed and loved unconditionally, because nobody had ever shown her love in that way before, a love that did not expect anything in return.
They stayed like that for a while, their kiss desperate but soft, arms around one another, with neither of them wanting to let go.
When they eventually did, Andy realised that Emily's bare arms were slightly shivering.
"Oh Baby you're freezing." Her brows furrowed with genuine concern. Without any hesitation she began to take off her coat.
"No Andy, it's okay, really!"
But Emily knew there was no point in arguing, when her girlfriend had decided to be nice... Because that's what Andy was best at: Being impossibly nice, to everyone, but especially to her, no matter how many snarky remarks she had previously shot her way...
Emily inevitably smiled at the thought. And when they walked back to their hotel, fingers tightly locked, she was once again wondering what she had done to deserve being with this woman who had a heart bigger than the world could hold.
When Emily woke up the next morning, the other side of the bed was already empty, bedsheets carelessly crumpled up on the matress.
So Andy was already up...
Faint noises coming from the bathroom confirmed her suspicion.
Emily reached for her glasses on the nightstand, only to then grab her phone. Checking her messages first thing in the morning was only one of the unhealthy habits she had picked up from working in the fashion industry, more precisely from having worked for THE Miranda Priestly, a job that never really granted a break.
The first notification that caught her eye though was not work related at all:
andy.sachs posted a new story
Unlike Emily, who prefered to keep her account professional only, Andy had been eager to share every detail about their trip to Paris online: Pictures of food, sights, cute rats (which - to Emily - was an oxymoron) and lastly... of them.
However - and that was the most important part - it had only ever been pictures showing them as "friends"... even though their relationship had moved way past that term for a couple of months now. Something not everyone needed to know though, as they decided, especially not Miranda... especially not after Emily had become persona non grata to the entirety of Runway. And especially not when revealing their secret could cause Andy to lose her job as feature's editor.
It wasn't that Andy wanted to keep her girlfriend a secret. In fact she had told Emily more than once, that she would be willing to tell Miranda no matter the consequences. But Emily had insisted that "at least one person in this relationship should have their reputation and dignity intact" and that "it would be fatal for runway to lose their best employee and she had done enough damage to that magazine already".
So they decided to wait... to wait until Miranda would forget or forgive (which neither of them believed to be possible).
Emily tried to tell herself she didn't care - which was a lie, obviously. She tried to tell herself, that shoving every negative thought to the back of her mind was worth it, that it wasn't too bad after all, that they had everything they needed. In fact she tried everything to be okay with hiding, because she couldn't bear the thought of Andy risking her career, just to make her stupid little heart feel better.
So when she tapped on the notification andy.sachs posted a new story, and saw the picture her girlfriend had decided to share, her heart skipped a beat... or two... Well to be completely honest: She almost suffered a heart failure.
Glaring up from the screen was a photo of the both of them. However, it wasn't one of the casual selfies they had taken during their sightseeing trip or one of the countless pics of Andy striking a silly pose in front of Paris' most famous monuments. It was a picture of them kissing... in front of the sparkling Eiffel Tower... closely intertwined, looking as though they would never ever want to let eachother go.
For a second Emily had to remind herself to keep breathing.
It was a picture that had been airdropped to them last night, by a young girl who had told them, with a shy smile on her face: "You guys were just the cutest! I had to take a pic, hope that's okay".
It was in fact a very cute picture.
But it was one that belonged in their photo albums, one they would look at some evening in the future, cuddled up on the couch, trying to relive this perfect moment. It was certainly not one that should be shared on an Instagram story for the whole world - and Miranda - to see.
And as if that wasn't bad enough, Andy had put a caption, bold black letters on a white background, perfectly visible against the dark parisian nightsky:
fuck miranda
Emily almost choked on air! "ANDY??"
Andy came rushing in from the bathroom, a towel still wrapped over her wet hair. She looked genuinely worried: "Baby, what's wrong?"
Emily's face was drained of colour. If it weren't for her signature red hair, she would've probably blended in seemlessly with the white wall behind her. And when she tried to speak, not a single word escaped her mouth. She was, in fact, completely frozen with terror, unable to utter a single sound. So instead of answering, she turned her phone's screen towards Andy. "I-"
A mischevious smile spread across the brunette's face. She giggled: "What about it Em? It's just a silly joke, no need to worry!"
"A joke?" Emily's heart was pulsing loudly in her chest. Apparently her girlfriend's definition of funny differed vastly from her own. "You're insane. Were you drunk?? I- I can't - Your job as feature's editor, this is such an important opportunity for you Andrea. You know, we agreed to keep this private, why would you- AND THE CAPTION??? You'll get fired you know that right??" Emily had now arrived at what one might call a "flow state". A "flow state" of sheer panic and words stumbling out her mouth like an avalanche.
It was time to interfere.
"Okay okay, calm down baby! It's on my close friends story. Miranda won't see! I'm not THAT insane... yet." Andy's voice was softer now, her hand gently stroking Emily's still very pale cheek. She felt a little bad now, wondering whether she had taken things too far... considering that the woman sitting in front of her looked like her soul had just left her body forever.
Oh right, the small green icon in the corner, a close friends story. That's the part Emily hadn't noticed... but still: She shook her head in dissaproval. "Andy, you're crazy, what if one of your "close friends" snitches."
What followed was a short moment of silence. Emily seemed tense.
"You know, sometimes friends betray you..." She blushed, slightly ashamed at the thought of her own "screw up".
Andy sighed affectionately, now looking deep into her girlfriend's eyes, which had gone all glossy and vulnerable. "Oh baby, i don't care."
Emily looked up at her with confusion.
"I don't care if anyone snitches! I don't care if Miranda finds out! My god Em, I'm tired of hiding. I feel like we're waiting for some sort of miracle to occur... We don't know when or if Miranda will forgive or forget what happened! Maybe she already has, maybe she never will. And Em, I don't want the maybes anymore. I'm sick of the uncertainty. And i know you're too, no matter how hard you try to pretend you're fine."
Andy lowered her gaze. The mischievous expression had left her face somewhere along those words and revealed something Emily recognized as... guilt.
"I've been a coward Em, I should've just gone up to Miranda and told her from the beginning. I should've made that decision for us. You've been suffering in silence, and I should've done something about it, but I was scared and a fool. So when I posted that story last night, I guess i was being careless on purpose. I guess, deep down, I wanted something to happen, someone to find out, and "spill the tea" just so I wouldn't have to be brave and do it myself... but that's over now."
Andy grabbed both of Emily's hands.
"Em, I want the whole world to know - and if it wouldn't earn me one of your deadly stares, I would scream it out into the streets right now - that I am the luckiest woman in the universe, because I get to know you, love you and be by your side as your incredibly obsessed-with-you girlfriend."
And there it was again: Andy's big bright and awfully annoying Andy smile, paired with those goddamn puppy eyes.
But this time, Emily's walls of composure had been long gone. They had begun to crumble down, the moment Andy had started talking.
In their ruins, she was left quiet, a few silent tears streaming down her face. But not the tears she was used to, not the sad kind, that she had grown to know during her marriage with Frank. These were the tears of a woman who - for the first time in her life - was loved so deeply and loudly that she finally felt like letting go of all the fears and doubts that had been building up inside her for the past few years.
And when she looked at Andy, her vision still blurry from crying, she sent a wish to the heavens above, that this impossible woman with this ginormous heart would stay by her side forever and ever!!
THE END <3333