Courtney's POV (06/15/2016)

Today was the day. Today was the day that I get to shadow Heather's mom, Paula Stevens. She was an icon, comparable to Anna Wintour almost. Almost but still amazing nonetheless. She was liked by everyone but her sometimes blunt statements did hurt people feelings. However it always benefited who she was criticizing in the long run. She happened to be in her LA office for awhile so I was lucky to catch her at the dinner. It was located not too far from Beverly Glove, which means not too far from me. It took me less than 10 minutes to pull up. Paula had already arranged for them to park my car so I gave my keys to the valet and walked into the building. I make my way over to the elevator and hit the top floor where she was located as they had it all to themselves As soon as I get off, I'm in somewhat sizable room with nothing but a lady sitting down at the reception in front of the doors to my dream day. The door was covered in STEVENS in huge letters across it, spreading to the walls.

"Hi, welcome to Stevens magazine. How can I help you today?" the perky blonde greeted me as I walked over.

"Hello, I'm meeting Paula Stevens today. She said to be here at 10am." I quickly look at my phone to make sure I'm not late. 9:53am. Just in time.

"And what is the name?"

"Courtney Gonzales."

"Okay, give me one second." She picks up the phone and begins speaking to someone for about 10 seconds before turning back to me. "You're all set, you can wait right here until she comes out."

"Thank you," I say as I walk over to the couch. I wore a loose cream colored cami silk top, dark blue culottes and gold strappy heels. I put my hair in a loose bun with a few strands hanging out on the side. I wore a nude lip, my everyday necklace and brought my mini gold box clutch. After about two minutes, Paula walks out to greet me. She, of course, was dressed to impressed as always and I was in awe. She had straightened her hair to go down her back but had her reading glasses on top of her head. She wore a light purple turtle neck cropped sweater with black high waistwide leg straight pants. Underneath, were none other than her favorite YSL black heels peeking out.

"Hola mi amor," she says as she greets me with a hug.

"Hola tía," I respond. I already know I have the brightest smile on my face.

"Thank you Sonia," she says to the receptionist who beams as soon as her name is mentioned. "Okay, follow me," she directs at me. As soon as the door opens, it looks the a dream. There were people everywhere and they all looked as if they were doing tasks that their life depended on. "I'll have Heather give you the tour after she finishes her tasks but for now, you can come with-," she says before being cut off by petite woman. She looked frantic holding papers and her tablet. She was a bit taller than me, had a light olive skin tone, bright blue eyes and her curly black hair up in a messy bun.

"Sorry to interrupt but Stacy mixed up the ads from this month's magazine and put them in the next one."

"Aubrey, that's an easy fix. You can handle that," she responds confused.

"I would except she sent them out already," she says. "I tried to halt the process at all points but she told me too late. I even tried calling downstairs to get them to send it back up but you know all of them don't listen to anyone but you."

"You're kidding me. Tell Stacy to meet me in my office in 20 minutes and a not a minute off. I'll call downstairs to fix this. And can you prep the new pages? I don't want anyone to touch this spread except you. You can pick one person to help you if need be. But if they mess it up, it will be both of your faults."

"You got it boss," she responds as she walks away.

"And Aubrey," she says and the girl immediately turns around. "Find Heather and tell her to come to my office. She should be done picking out those fabrics by now," she finishes as Aubrey nods back.

"Sorry about that. I really need to make this call but you can sit in my office while I handle this problem."

"Does stuff like this happen a lot?" I ask as we walk to her office.

"No, but things can go wrong at any moment. Being an editor isn't just about picking what's good for your magazine, it's also about your tactics and handling problems that can happen." As she opens the door so we can walk in, I stand in awe at the layout. It was a complete rectangle with glass covering the front and back wall then bright red on the side walls. Off to the back right corner was a clothing rack with her own clothes on it, I believed. Next to it was a white female mannequin stand with fabric draped around it. On the back left corner was a case with magazines, awards and some pictures of her alone, with other respected people in the industry and with family. The front right had a couch up against the red wall with a small coffee table in front of it. And the front left, had a TV branched off the wall. In the middle of the room was her grand clear desk that reflected the light from the back window. It was clustered but neatly filed and sectioned off. Paula had picked up her solid white phone and dialed the extension to downstairs.

"Hello, is this Tim?" "Yes, this is Paula." "One of my workers accidentally sent down the incorrect pages so I need them to be scratched from the project and immediately sent back up." "I know, it is frustrating but Aubrey is going to bring the new ones down within the hour, I believe." "Oh yes, of course." "Okay, I'll see you at the meeting tomorrow. Thank you," she finished before putting the phone back down. "Problem diverted."

As soon as she spoke, there was a knock on the glass and I turned to see Heather standing in the door way. I immediately smile at seeing my best friend at work. She was wearing a red v-neck jumpsuit with culotte leg and the nude Christian Louboutin Iriza with the red sole. She wore her in a slick high ponytail. She had on a on her Alex & Ani bracelets and her favorite necklace, a simple gold chain with her name on it just like mine. We had gotten them for each other for Christmas one year. Except, mine said Princess instead of Courtney. A name my mom first gave me and Duncan later picked up on.

Duncan. He was constantly on my mind since that sleepover. I put my thoughts of Duncan aside as Heather walks over to me.

"Hey Court," she said as we hugged and cheek kissed. "Hi mom."

"Hi sweetie," Paula responded

"Hi Ms. Fashionista," I smiled. "I saw you working hard when I first came in here." Seeing Heather in her element was truly a joy.

"Yeah, I had to pick out the fabrics we want to highlight for our Fall trends."

"Did you finish mija?" Paula asked.

"Sí mama. Aubrey said you wanted me to show Court around?"

"Yes. I have to handle some business with Stacy."

"Ooo, have fun with that," she responded like she already knew what that meant. Maybe Stacy was known for messing up. I follow Heather out of the office. Her mom had decorated the whole place with her own vision of what she want it to look like. She showed me the main work area where most people were at but they called it "the field." Only six people had their own offices; Paula, the fashion editor, the advertising / marketing executive, the PR manager, the art director and the finance executive. The executives and managers split their time between their office, watching the field and heading to meetings across town and sometimes out of state. In the field, everyone had their own desk with their own personal touch to it but most time was spent at the group tables across the room that was open for anyone to work on. There were also three work rooms if someone had a project that multiple people were on. After looking around for about 30 minutes, we walked back to her desk and I stole a chair to sit down in

"So what do you think?" she asked.

"It's amazing. You are so lucky to have this."

"Don't worry, we'll be at the top together. But what's been going on? Haven't seen you since the dinner."

"Well I went by the Harris house yesterday," I hesitated.

"Why would you do that?" she questioned. Her face was already scrunched up in confusion.

"I was with Carly after work and she had to stop there. Duncan was there too."

"What did he say this time?"

"Nothing. And I don't know I feel about that. It was like surprising, comforting and annoying all at the same time." I sit there playing with fingers, trying to not make eye contact cause Heather will see right through me.

"You feel upset cause you love him. You get the most angry at those you love. Why don't you just be friends with him if you miss him?"

"That's your worst idea ever. Friends? With Duncan? I think the fuck not," I laugh.

"You obviously don't like the not speaking and you say you don't want to be with him. So whats the happy medium?"

"I mean yeah but he's just so messed up. I mean like what was he expecting for him to get in a fight with Gwen yesterday then be my friend the next day?"

"Oh sweetie, that wasn't a fight. That was their break up. Lauren told me that he said he was done, especially after that comment she made. That girl is dead to him. Even if he wanted to, Carly would kill him in a heartbeat.

"Wait what?" I was shocked.

"You really didn't know?" Heather looks at me puzzled. "You know for a smart girl with such a high goals, you have no common sense. It's like all book smart in there," she adds while pointed to her head.

"Oh shut up," I say playfully pushing her. "But I thought he was trying to make me some side chick"

"He was probably trying to make amends. At the end of the day, I don't really like him but I'll make it work for you."

"I don't even want to make it work for myself." Just as I finish, Paula walks over to Heather's desks.

"Hi girls, sorry for all of that."

"You fired her huh?" Heather immediately says.

"Let's talk about this in my office," she responds as she turns to walk to her office. We follow in and sit down. "Look, in this industry, everything has to be perfect. And I especially feel that way as it is my name on magazine. That girl Stacy has been making mistakes constantly and I tried to let them slide because it wasn't technically brought to my attention but I still knew. But this time, she could of messed up the whole layout and then our backers would be furious about their ads being misplaced and that's money coming out of my business. I keep this place in tip top shape and you should too." She directs the last part at Heather. She takes a second before continuing. "Because it's going to be yours one day."

"Wait what?" Heather immediately responds. It was right between regular tone and a scream.

"Are you serious?" I add.

"Of course I am," she smiles. "When you told me this was the line of work you wanted to do, I was ecstatic. Your sister could never as she succeeds at a a biomedical engineer but you.. you are completing my dreams."

"Wow. I umm.. wow. Thanks mom, I promise I won't let you down."

"I know you won't." After the good news, me and Heather go to get lunch from downtown then walk back to the building. We sit in one of the vacant rooms and her mom joined us for awhile before getting back to work. I spent the rest of the day following Paula around and helping Heather on some of her work before the day was over.

After I got my car from valet, I drove myself back home. I walk into the house to see my dad and Sean at the dinner table.

"Hi love," my dad says.

"Hey pops. What's for dinner?" I ask as I walk up the stairs.

"Pollo y arroz. Mom's favorite," Sean responds. After dropping my stuff off, I walk back downstairs to have dinner with my family. Between me being Downtown for work, my mom at the office, my dad meeting new athletes for his agency and Sean doing his internship, this is what we have for family time. And they were all I have in life.

A/N: Okay so I'm going to start doing more in depth for Duncan and more from his perspective. But majority of this story will be Courtney's.