บท 24: Hangover
I felt extremely warm as I awoke from my slumber. My head was pounding loudly in my ears, causing me to groan in pain. My whole body felt stiff. But despite what I felt like, I smelled clean and unlike the alcohol I was downing last night. I must have somehow managed to shower before I headed to bed. Which was unlike me. I honestly can't remember much after playing the piano. I do remember their being lots of drinks and Bastion of course egging me on like the child he could be.
I decided to risk opening my eyes, knowing that the windows in my room would be open, and the light was going to hurt. But as I opened them, I was surprised to learn that they were shut tightly. I sat up stunned. I was never this thoughtful when I came home drunk. So, the only other explanation would be that Aaron brought me home and took care of me. Aaron saw a whole side of me last night that only Bastion knew. To think that he would even take care of me after my awkward behavior was astounding. It really was good to have a friend like Aaron.
As I went to stretch out my stiff muscles, my phone rang, shrill and angry. With each and every annoying buzz, I could feel my headache throb to the jingle. Wincing in pain, I reached over to my night stand and read the caller I.D. Aaron was calling me, and there was at least ten missed phone calls and 5 text messages. Groaning, I hit answer on my phone. Before I could even greet him, he went off into a huge raging fit.
"I don't care what you are doing right now Rose, but you need to turn the tv on right now." He said angrily. Without a word, I threw the blankets off my body and marched myself down the stairs. I could hear a muffled man talk in the background as I made my way to the living room. Leo, dutifully followed, meowing persistently as he flopped down the stairs behind me. Picking up the tv remote, I turned on the tv. There sat a man in a navy-blue suit with a red tie. He had shaggy blonde hair that stuck up everywhere. His face was cast into a serious face as he began reporting his bit of news.
"Over the weekend, there seems to be quite a bit of an uproar as the President of the Dragon's Eye makeup industry signs a contract with Phoenix Designs. People are feeling uneasy about this pairing because of last year's display, or I should say, lack of display of clothes." Seriously? I know that we are a big corporation, but people make mistakes. It's not like Illia and Lilah haven't had unsuccessful days.
"Well Andrew, from what I hear, Phoenix's Designs head female designer has a huge surprise in store for us, and everyone is getting excited for the showing of their new line of products. From what Director Bastion Welling stated yearly yesterday morning, he is very proud of his hard-working crew, working day in and day out to make their products a hit." A female reporter stated as the screen switched to her face. She was a long haired, blue eyed, blond with a tight-fitting black dress. Despite the praise, I could still feel the sneer behind her words and shook my head.
"Well, so far she landed another year at Many Wishes Venue, but who couldn't see that coming. After all, we all know that Miss Rita White favors Rosaline Freed. She always has nothing but good things to say about this favorable fashionista, even despite that Ms. Freed made herself and her company into a huge laughing stock." Andrew stated an open sneer on his face. Now the two of their heads where in the picture, both laughing their heinous fake laughs. I gritted my teeth, not wanting to watch any more.
"Let's not forget the infamous Aaron Blake. He was the co-host for that horrendous and boring display of attire to grace it's presence during last year's show. I even heard they suffered a huge loss of money and reputation. People have slowly started to pull away from Phoenix Designs, and are making their way to second runner up, Illia and Lilah designs." I growled angrily listening to Martha slander our design company. I turned the tv off, rubbing the space between my eyes to elevate the pressure that was building up.
I knew this day would come that I would be faced with slander for a mistake that we had made, but I didn't think that it would affect me so deeply. I mean they were even dragging Miss Rita through the mud as well. Despite what Aaron and Bastion said, I needed to get to the office to make sure that this show would go off without a hitch. I could no longer sit by and watch as our company continued to get beaten up. Especially when it was building excitement towards our rivals and not ourselves.
"Aaron, I need you to come pick me up and bring me to the office. Before you start protesting, I don't really care. We need to sit down and shut these idiots up. I will do whatever it takes to build the suspension of our show, no matter what." I said angrily standing from the couch.
"I would like you to get better, but I don't disagree that we need to change the opinions of our company before the show coming up. Otherwise, it will flop, and all our hard work will be for not. I'll be by in thirty minutes to come grab you." Aaron said before disconnecting. With a new set of rage, I started formulating a plan. Clearly Illia and Lilah where behind the people who were slandering our company, and I could not have that. Despite our years of rivals, we always played things clean. I don't know what changed recently, but I do know that this kind of rivalry would get the sisters nowhere, especially when we dominated them.
With a heavy sigh, I called Bastion. I might as well have him get Damien into the office today so we could have a meeting. Especially since I was going to begrudgingly have to use his expertise in makeup. I wanted to go ahead and use our ad idea to promote the show. I wouldn't get the prettiest dress we had made already, but I would use something along the lines. If we could get people talking and maybe get conversations started towards a more positive light, we might just be able to pull it off.
"I could only assume you saw the news." Bastion greeted coolly. I grunted angrily as I climbed the stairs back up to my room. I heard him take a long deep sigh and pictured him rubbing his face with his hands. He sounded tired, nearly exhausted from the poor press.
"Hear me out, Aaron is coming to pick me up and bring me to the office. I want to pitch some ideas that might spin the outcome to our favor." I walked into my walk-in closet and started searching through my tightly packed wardrobe of clothes.
"I'll allow it, only because I know that you are able to get us out of this mess. The damn press won't know what they have done till it's already too late." Bastion grumbled. I heard a slight creaking noise in the background and assumed he was already in the office.
"As much as I really hate this idea, but I can't think of a better idea, we need Damien in on this meeting as well. He will need to be in attendance if my idea is to work." I decided on a one shoulder long black dress. It was both fashionable, and elegant. A design from our earlier years at Phoenix Designs.
"Look at you, it's like you help run the company." I could hear the teasing tone in Bastion's voice and rolled my eyes.
"Just get what I need ready please. I'll be there in an hour." Bastion dutifully agreed and hung up. Feeling the frustration and anger building up in me, I went and took a shower, trying to calm down my nerves. If Illia and Lilah wanted to play dirty games, I would indulge in them as well. I worked too hard for too many years to let someone walk all over us, especially when they dragged other innocent people through the mud. Miss Rita should not be slandered like that, because in the end, she does favor me as a human but even she was ready to let our business go. She would never favor our work if it did not benefit her. That's just how business goes.
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