Chapter Nine
Ella
When Katy and I stepped back into the office, Andrea had the rest of the team lined up for a catch-up meeting. As soon as we clocked the firing squad, our chatty giggles subsided and we wedged ourselves in beside Zola.
‘Nice of you to finally join us, ladies.’ Andrea darted us a sharp glance with her beady eyes, and I felt my insides curl.
Why does this woman make me so nervous? ‘Continue where you were, Catherine, please, prior to the interruption,’ she added, just to make us even more uncomfortable.
I knew I’d emailed her a copy of my morning schedule at the gym with Katy.
Why was she pretending I went rogue? If she had an issue she could have replied and said she’d rather I stayed in the office.
Catherine, who worked on PR crisis control, continued, bright and bubbly as always.
‘Yes, as I was saying – I managed to get them in most of the press doing some charity work, and I even got them trending on TikTok. So, the story of the unsolicited pictures he sent has been totally forgotten about!’ Catherine smiled widely for a job well done.
She seemed to be waiting for a way to go!
, which I knew would never come from Andrea.
‘Not forgotten by his wife,’ Zola mumbled.
‘Zola?’ Andrea said, raising an eyebrow.
Zola didn’t miss a beat. ‘Yes, so, I created the three new websites sent over last week, linked all their social media accounts, and they’ve all received way more interactions already.’
Andrea nodded. ‘And Katy?’
Katy immediately straightened next to me. ‘Yes, today I was at David Lloyd’s, and we handed out samples of Blaze Boost to fitness freaks or erm .?.?. gym goers. We also shot lots of content. I’ll put it together today and pop a teaser on the Blaze Boost socials.’
‘Uh-huh.’ Andrea sighed. ‘And finally, Ella? Who is looking very casual today, isn’t she, everyone?’
I watched the line of my colleagues nodding back, agreeing with Andrea judgementally. Jesus, last time I checked, there was no uniform policy here. Bastards. And what about Katy? She was in bobbly leggings and a hoodie, yet a pristine matching combo gets called out.
‘Yes, well, I helped out Katy this morning with her Blaze Boost campaign and—’
‘Sorry. Sorry. I have to stop you there. I must have misheard you.’ Andrea stepped closer to me. ‘You .?.?. what?’ She turned her right ear round to face me, but I wasn’t sure if she genuinely wanted me to speak up or if it was another intimidation method she was practising.
‘I helped Katy this—’
‘You helped out?’ Andrea interrupted again, sounding sterner this time. Her eyes were bulging and fixed on me now.
The room turned completely silent, and my legs felt like lead.
Say something , I thought. Apologise for helping or stick your ground.
I could make up a story of how Katy was struggling, but I didn’t want to get her in trouble.
Shit, speak, speak! But nothing. I said nothing.
Instead, I opted to have a staring contest with my boss.
I could almost feel the heat radiating off her face with the anger that was no doubt bubbling inside her.
Eventually she said, ‘That was a question, Ella.’
‘Erm .?.?. yeah, I helped out.’ I tried to act confidently, but my hands were trembling. ‘I emailed you a copy of my schedule,’ I added.
‘Wow. How kind of you. She is so kind, isn’t she?’
Andrea motioned to my colleagues, and again, everyone agreed.
I wondered how far these clones would actually back her up.
The way they were going, if she asked them to take a shit in their mothers’ mouths, they’d all probably drop their drawers and start squeezing.
Besides, apart from Zola and Katy, I had never really socialised with any other of the Smart Reputations crew.
I would of course help them on campaigns or with general work chat, but outside of the office they seemed a lot more reserved than our little group.
‘Well, I take it your Alexander Cambi art exhibition is finalised? If you have all this time to help Katy, that is. We can’t wait to hear where you’re hosting it, can we?’ She spoke in her usual dull, dragged-out way, then darted a glance at the others for a reaction.
‘Can’t wait!’ and ‘So exciting!’ came from my colleagues.
Cunts! They all knew I still needed to secure a venue.
I could feel my palms sticky with sweat.
Until now, I was usually on the ball with my work; I am organised, great at time management, and genuinely fantastic at marketing.
I really thought I could pull off the coolest, most elaborate art exhibition Scotland had ever seen, but I had well and truly fucked up.
No one seemed to care, not even the press.
Not to mention all the fancier venues were completely out of budget and, realistically, even if I managed to secure a top-notch place, I had no idea who the target market would be.
I’d promised Andrea I would be the right woman for this campaign as I fancied a new challenge in the office.
All of my previous marketing experience was in the beauty or fashion division, and I really wanted to expand into various sectors.
I’d pitched myself to Alexander when I heard he needed a Glasgow lead to handle his event north of the border, following one of our monthly zoom meetings we shared with the London office.
Some posh twat from down there had pitched to him for the London exhibition and Alexander was a huge fan of his exquisite art knowledge, so much so that he had put his trust in Smart Reputations as a whole and I’d got the job.
Although, ever since, I have seriously been missing the beauty industry.
‘Well .?.?. is it finalised?’ she repeated.
‘I mean .?.?.’ I paused, taking a breath for bravery. ‘Not exactly .?.?.’
Andrea’s sharp bob swung back around to face me. Fuck. Was I about to get sacked? In front of my friends and these people I’d worked with for years?
‘Sorry? I don’t quite understand.’ She held her thick black designer glasses in her hand, the tip of one leg resting on her lip. ‘But you were galivanting with Katy this morning, working on another project, yes? That wasn’t your assigned project. Correct?’
I lowered my head. Why the fuck did I say I’d help Katy when I knew how much work I still had to do?
‘Yes,’ I responded quietly.
‘But,’ Katy interjected, ‘Ella killed two birds with one stone – didn’t you, Ella?
’ She was nodding her head towards me, encouraging me to join in.
‘Ella only came along this morning because she had already arranged a meeting with Philip Khan at the same gym. She spoke to him about the exhibition, and he’s really interested in hosting it in one of his hotels.
Tell them, Ella.’ Katy nudged me forward as I tried desperately to hide the look of confusion on my face.
‘Yeah, uh-huh, he seemed pretty enthusiastic, I guess,’ I added.
‘Philip Khan?’ Andrea sounded more positive, more inquisitive all of a sudden. ‘And you met with him personally?’
‘I sure did,’ I said, forcing some energy into my voice.
‘And? What was the outcome?’
‘Well, I have to .?.?.’ My mind was going blank. Speak, Ella, fucking speak!!
‘She has to arrange a follow-up meeting, to get more in-depth details pinned down about the proposal. But he seemed very keen,’ Katy lied through her teeth.
Andrea began pacing the floor again. ‘I like the idea. We’ve never worked with Khan before; he normally has his own PR team.
’ She began speaking more quietly, almost as if to herself.
‘But if we could get Philip on board with this, then maybe he’ll hire us in future.
’ Andrea snapped out of her demonic world-domination trance.
‘Have the deal wrapped up by the end of the week. Alexander’s team needs dates and times for tickets to be released.
I’m fed up with that little Italian man filling my inbox. ’
I smiled enthusiastically. ‘Sure, I was planning on it.’
‘OK, back to work, everyone.’ Andrea began strutting back to her office but stopped, turning to me. ‘And Ella?’
I felt my neck stiffen. ‘Yeah?’
‘Arrange the meeting with Philip here. I would love to meet him.’ She smirked, then retreated.
I turned to Katy, feeling clammy.
‘How do we fix this?’ I hissed under my breath. ‘Fix this!’
She looked as terrified as me, holding her hand to her mouth in shock. ‘Honestly, I have no idea.’
I felt dizzy and agitated, like my life was spiralling. How had I gotten into this mess? I stumbled over to my seat and flopped down.
‘Good work, Ella. You never told me you had a meeting today as well.’ Zola looked up at me, impressed, as she sat at her desk.
‘I fucking didn’t,’ I murmured.
‘What?’ She grunted, holding her hand to her face; I wasn’t sure if she was genuinely shocked or hiding a nervous laugh.
‘I’m sorry, Ella,’ Katy said, looking really worried now. ‘I had to do damage control. I was trying to save you from being sacked!’
‘Wait, what?’ Zola flung her hands up in the air, utterly confused.
I allowed Katy to divulge the entire story of my chance encounter with Scotland’s biggest entrepreneur of the past ten fucking years, Mr Philip Khan.
She started from the beginning and then explained everything from the new Dicktionary Club members to the content we captured in the gym to our brief discussion with Khan.
Zola sank back in her chair, flabbergasted.
‘OK, so .?.?.’ Zola finally said after being stuck in thought for a few minutes. ‘I think the only way out of this is to contact Philip Khan directly?’
I rolled my eyes. ‘Yeah, he’s only one of the busiest men in the country, apparently. I’ll just call him now, eh? Oh, wait, I don’t have a phone number!’ I spat back.
Katy hummed. ‘Wait, wait! What did he say again?’ She sat up excitedly. ‘The woman at House of Fitness, he said you should contact her. Can we start there?’
I threw my head back; my whole body felt pained with dread. ‘Well, I suppose it’s something,’ I said, clicking on my computer and googling the number, then dialling the gym without really thinking what I was doing.
As the phone rang in my ear, I could feel the handset shake.
This was a long shot, and even I knew it.
‘Hello, House of Fitness gym and spa, Patricia speaking,’ a posh older woman’s voice said on the other end of the line.
I cleared my throat. ‘Oh! Good morning, Patricia. You’re the very lady I was hoping to track down.’
‘Ah, lovely. And how so, dear?’
‘Well, the thing is, I just bumped into Mr Khan and he was telling me you were his right-hand woman,’ I said with an awkward titter.
Katy scrunched up her face, knowing those words did not come out of that man’s mouth, but I wasn’t opposed to a bit of flattery considering my career was on the line.
‘You see,’ I went on, gathering my confidence, ‘I was just discussing possible plans for my marketing firm with Philip and I have a few follow-up questions to ask. But I seem to have completely misplaced his business card. I don’t suppose you could remind me of his personal number just now, and I’ll give him a call? ’
A polite chuckle followed. ‘I’m sorry, miss. I couldn’t possibly pass on that information.’
I sighed, noticing my two friends crowding around me to hear the call.
‘I do realise it’s unusual, but he does know me; I was speaking to him only an hour ago at David Lloyd’s and .?.?.’
‘I’m sorry. I could never share any private information, but if you leave your name and telephone number, I’ll be sure to pass it on to Mr Khan when I see him.’
‘And will that be soon?’ I questioned, feeling a sudden wave of desperation.
‘I’m not sure, he is a very busy gentleman, you see.’
I could feel my heart rate begin to pick up again. ‘I totally understand that. But .?.?. eh .?.?. roughly, on average, if you had to give an estimate, how often do you see Mr Khan?’
A sigh echoed through the line. I could tell poor Patricia was losing patience. ‘Mr Khan doesn’t personally frequent the premises very often at all, miss. If I had to give an average it would be once a month.’
I felt my body slump on the chair in defeat.
‘Now, what is your name?’
I glanced between my two friends and lowered my voice. ‘It’s Pilates.’
Grunts of muffled laughter came from either side of me, and I shooed them both away, covering the handset, urging them to be quiet.
‘Pilates?’ Patricia questioned delicately.
‘Yip. He’ll know who I am. And can I pass on my personal telephone number? He can call day or night, whichever suits him best.’
Patricia cleared her throat. ‘Of course.’
I finished up the call as graciously as I could.
‘I’m screwed,’ I sighed as soon as I’d hung up. ‘Totally fucking screwed!’