Chapter 10 #2
Before I could ask what she meant, Barbara’s office door burst open to reveal a slender six-foot-tall chestnut-brown woman wearing low-slung white jeans tucked into Fendi boots and a white fur bomber.
She sauntered in and sat on the edge of Barbara’s desk, tapping her red talon-like acrylics on the shiny surface.
Her bright green contact lenses and butt-length blond weave were gilding the lily, as Luna was drop-dead gorgeous.
“Is the buzz going around the office true?” she said in a loud voice, then stood to deliver a dramatic curtsy. “Is this the great Nicole Rose?”
“Watch it, Luna.” Barbara’s tone held a stern warning. “Nikki, meet Luna Baxter.”
The tension in the air and the wrathful look on Luna’s face made sense now. Trying again for peace, I stuck out my hand. “So nice to meet you. I’d love to talk to you about Sugar’s editorial calendar and the next issue you have planned.”
Luna looked down at my hand and turned to Barbara.
“What, you didn’t warn Miss StyleList about me?
You’re slipping.” Luna turned back to me and declared, “Girl, you on your own with my staff and my magazine. Nothing is planned so you’ll be starting from scratch on Monday.
But come on, let me introduce you to the Sugar team. ”
I wasn’t exactly eager to be left alone with Lunatic, but it didn’t seem that I had much choice.
Luna led me out and down the hall without a backward glance.
We rounded a corner, and she opened a door to a conference room where the Sugar staff had already gathered.
The sixteen people seated around the large glass table were mostly Black, with a couple Latinas, one Asian guy in a Public Enemy snapback, and a lone white woman.
“Well, team, our great”—Luna paused to glance at me and shrug with exaggerated confusion—“I’m-not-sure-what savior has arrived.
This is the famous Nicole Rose.” She turned to me and said in a saccharine tone that didn’t match her smirk or the dead fury in her eyes, “I’ve already informed my Sugar staff that you have graciously decided to step down from your perch at StyleList to come to lowly NuVoices Media to save us from ourselves. ”
“I’d hardly say all that,” I replied, chafing at her great white savior reference.
“Oh, I would,” Luna retorted. “And I’m sure the staff is so very grateful.
Aren’t you?” Luna beamed a huge, shit-eating, I’m-taking-you-down-with-me-bitch smile.
She’d obviously planned this little exchange in advance.
Before I could think of an appropriate comeback, Luna tried to nail my coffin shut.
“Sure you are. Everyone knows we Black folks can’t manage on our own, so we need a StyleList princess to tell us how it’s gonna go down.
And, from what I’ve been hearing, you have plenty of experience going down. ”
It was dead quiet until I broke the silence. “Excuse me, what did you say?” It was a real question, but I could tell from all the averted eyes in the room that Luna was referencing the rumors Alonzo had spread about me.
“Don’t be ashamed, Nikki,” she carefully articulated, laying on fake empathy as thick as a double-decker club sandwich.
“I mean, you must be very skilled at what—or who—you do to be an editor in chief so young.” Luna looked expectantly around the room, waiting for the pile on.
“Come on, y’all. Gather round, introduce yourselves.
This phenom obviously has loads of things to teach you, and possibly show you.
” She giggled and looked around. “Just be careful not to spill anything on her swanky suit.”
Luna giggled some more. And the staff started to laugh with her, at first behind their hands, then outright, obviously not giving a damn what I thought.
There were a few folks who weren’t laughing, but they weren’t looking at me either.
Only one person regarded me with any real sympathy: a slender guy with a russet Afro and a solar system of freckles on his bronze cheeks.
His arms stayed crossed across his untucked white button-down as he slowly shook his head and rolled his eyes.
I was momentarily distracted by his chic leather sports jacket, waxed jeans, and polished Doc Martens.
He looked like he could have been equally comfortable at StyleList, which I was missing quite a bit just then.
It was at that moment that the gods of digestion let me down. I could feel the rumblings beneath my suit jacket and, though I wanted to have it out with Lunatic then and there, I had to make a quick exit to find a ladies’ room. I could hear the laughter get louder as I hurried away.
I was in a bathroom stall, licking my wounds and wondering how the hell to come back from that humiliation, when I heard two women come in, talking about yours truly.
“I give her a month,” one said, entering the stall next to mine. I tucked my feet up so they would think they were alone. I needn’t have worried; they were so involved in their conversation they didn’t even bother to check if anyone else was in the bathroom.
“Girl, I give her one week. Did you see the way she took off? I couldn’t believe Luna had her on the run like that.”
“Maybe it was because Luna insulted her fancy getup. Did homegirl think she was going to work at Condé Nast or something?”
They both laughed while my cheeks burned.
“Clearly. Is she even Black?”
“Must be. Barbara’s not stupid. But you know massa got up in the field house very recently ’cause she is mad pale.”
“And she was flinging around a lot of hair that I don’t think were bundles.”
“I dunno. You almost can’t tell a weave these days.”
“Girl, you must be smoking dick if you think Miss Priss is the Brazilian silky type.”
“True true. But speaking of dick…” They both cracked up.
“I bet she didn’t think she was gonna be called out on day one for being a straight ho.”
“Luna may be batshit crazy, but she tells it like it is.”
As my “we are the world” dream dissipated, they laughed some more, washed their hands, and walked out, leaving me to ponder the raging dumpster fire that was my first morning at Sugar.
I wanted to collect my thoughts by myself in the reception area, but the freckled guy was sitting on the leather sofa, waiting for me. He stood up and stuck out his hand. “I don’t believe that counted as a proper introduction. I’m Von.”
I smiled at him, grateful that his tone was professional instead of patronizing, and shook his hand. “Nikki. Very nice to meet you.”
My face must have betrayed how shook I felt because he leaned in and whispered, “Don’t worry about Lunatic. She’s like a cornered rabid dog right now: determined to fight her way out and unafraid to chomp on anyone in her way.”
“I think I got that part.” I shuddered, looking back in the direction of the conference room. “Is everyone still in there?”
“No, darlin’. They’ve dispersed to spread your tale of woe to the far ends of NuVoices.”
“Great,” I blurted, thinking about how embellished my already mortifying intro to the Sugar team would get by the third or fourth retelling. “Well, at least you’re honest.”
“Not to worry,” Von assured me. “Everyone on the floor knows how extreme Luna is. And we are all too aware that she wouldn’t have gotten her ass booted if Sugar had been doing better.
” He linked his arm through mine and led me down the hall back toward Barbara’s office.
“Why not give it a rest for the day? You come back on Monday, right? Maybe let the nonsense die down and talk to the staff again then.”
Von was making sense because I wasn’t feeling up to reintroducing myself to that pack of laughing hyenas ready to eat my innards while I was still alive.
“You know what? Excellent idea. I’m going to say goodbye to Barbara and go have a liquid lunch.
” I inspected him with curiosity, realizing I had no idea what he did.
“So, Von, what is your position at Sugar, anyway? You’re the only person in here aside from Barbara wearing a leather blazer. Let me guess: fashion?”
He grinned and then bowed deeply. “I am your new assistant.”
Barbara was unfazed to see me leave so fast. “Let me know now if you don’t feel like you can handle this job,” she said when she saw my purse in my hand. I wondered if Luna had run off any other EIC candidates.
“Not to worry, Barbara. I’ve got the situation under control,” I said with a lot more confidence than I felt. “See you Monday.”
“Not so fast,” she said, motioning for me to close her office door. “I just got off the phone with Alonzo.”
My heart started beating in my throat as I realized my already shitty day was about to get worse. Barbara stared at me, waiting for a reaction. For once, I decided to play it cool. “Oh yeah? How’s he doing?”
“Well, he’s running the media company that owns the biggest urban magazine in the world, so I think he’s doing all right. He’s always crowing about Groove’s revenue numbers.”
I forced a smile but said nothing, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“So,” Barbara continued after it became apparent that I wasn’t going to take the bait, “he is really not a fan of yours. I am a little surprised that Alonzo Griffin would feel it important enough to call me a second time about an assistant editor at his former magazine.”
“Barbara, I think you know why,” I replied weakly.
She regarded me carefully, then tapped her index finger on her pursed lips.
“He tried to double down on some bullshit about your work ethic, but I already told you that I know the deal.” She leaned across her desk to flick some dark fuzz off my collar.
“Now, I’m not going to hold whatever happened against you, but I want to remind you that I see everything that goes down in this office. ”
I hoped she couldn’t see the sweat creating huge circles under my arms. “I understand.”
“Good. Because we can’t afford any scandals right now.” She walked around her desk to perch on the edge of the sofa where I had sat down. “I mean, we literally cannot afford any scandals at all.”
I hadn’t thought that Barbara would have even been capable of an expression and tone so subdued. “Is there something happening, Barbara?”
“NuVoices is not growing at the rate we need to satisfy our board. If the investors pull their money, we will not be able to survive on our advertising revenue alone. We have six months or so to prove that Sugar can increase its audience and be profitable or I’ll have to shut down the entire company.
” Her matter-of-fact declaration made the words even more alarming.
I was instantly afraid—and also angry. “So you hired me for a six-month trial period knowing the company only has six months to survive?”
Barbara smiled and the fire came back into her eyes. “No. I hired you for the opportunity of a lifetime to turn this ship around. I don’t think you know how to fail, Second Coming. So I need you to do what you do best and overachieve on Sugar’s ass.”
Another backhanded compliment. “I just … I just wish you had told me so I could be more prepared.”
“And how would you have done that?” She snorted. “Look, I brought you here because you know what the best looks like.” She waved dismissively toward the floor outside her office. “Most of them have never seen the best of anything, certainly not in publishing. You have. Show them.”
“I’ll be honest, Barbara, this is really not what I signed up for.”
“It never is. Now go and have a restful weekend. Come in on Monday ready to fight.”