Stories from New York #3 (7 page)

As the meeting came to an end, I wondered if Miko and Ivy had done as well in their design meeting. I bet Miko had some great ideas to share, if they asked her to contribute. A shiver of excitement ran through me. We weren’t just shadowing people at
City Nation
. We were actually influencing content. Just us four girls.

“I’ve got to go to a meeting with the photographer’s assistant, but I don’t want you girls to starve,” Ivy’s mother told us. “What do you guys think about this dinner plan: We all go downstairs for Chinese—the Wok Emporium is practically part of
City Nation,
so many of us go there. I’ll sit at one table and have my meeting, and you guys can get your own table and order whatever you want off the menu. Miko and Ivy will meet us there. Sound good?”

My stomach growled at exactly that moment. “It sounds amazing,” I said. “I’m really hungry.”

“Me too,” Tally said.

“Garamond texted,” Mrs. Scanlon said. “He’s already waiting for us with Ivy and Miko in the restaurant.”

The Wok Emporium was right next door to
City Nation
. As soon as we walked in, we saw
Ivy and Miko sitting at a big table near the window. Garamond hovered nearby, checking his phone. Almost everything in the restaurant was red and gold. The walls were painted with murals of glimmering dragons, and the ceiling was festooned with bright paper lanterns. I loved it.

“Oh good, you’re here,” Garamond said, hurrying over to meet us. “Karen, they were fabulous, but I can’t stick around to brag about them. If I don’t get upstairs right now, there may be an armed rebellion in the marketing department. Phoebe is here and waiting for you, but she dashed into the ladies’ room. Can’t stop! Running! Dashing!”

“A rebellion? Was he serious?” Tally asked, watching Garamond fly out the door with an expression of appreciation that only one truly dramatic person could have for another.

“Partly,” said Mrs. Scanlon. “Garamond is the managing editor. Part of his job is making sure everything stays on schedule and everyone is doing what they’re supposed to be doing. Sometimes that involves finding the drama and playing peacemaker.”

“You’d be good at that, Tal,” I said. “At least the drama part.”

“Oh, there’s Phoebe. If you need anything, I’ll be right over there.” Mrs. Scanlon waved and headed over to her table.

“Ivy! Miko! How did it go?” I called out when we were almost to the table.

“It was
amazing
,” Miko said excitedly. “They showed us the most beautiful portfolios, plus video of some of the collections from Fashion Week. We saw some gorgeous clothes.”

“And some hideous ones,” Ivy added, handing over a menu. “Sit down, you two, and decide what you want. I’ve been craving Wok Emporium dumplings for months.”

“That’s very cool of your mom to let us have our own table,” I said to Ivy.

“She used to practically live here,” Ivy replied. “Everyone from the magazine comes here for working meals. What are you going to have?”

“I don’t know yet,” I said.

“I want moo goo gai pan because I love the name,” Tally said.

“Guys, guess who came up with a suggestion at the content meeting that they actually took seriously?” I said.

“Oh, Paulie, that’s great!” Ivy exclaimed.

“It wasn’t me. It was Tally,” I announced proudly.

“This I have to hear,” Miko said.

“Paulina, there’s the waiter. Do you know what you want?” Ivy asked. “I’m going to go crazy if I don’t get those dumplings soon.”

I had still not even looked at the menu. “I guess I’ll have the moo goo gai pan, too,” I said, not wanting to keep everyone waiting. I had no idea what it was. I hoped it didn’t turn out to be something gross like squid.

Ivy waved at the waiter and expertly ordered for the table, while Tally explained her idea to Miko.

“So it was really what they had already talked about, but in pairs,” Tally was saying. “Like mother/daughter. Or son/grandmother. Don’t you love it when you see a picture of a famous person with their family? I love seeing if they look alike and how normal it all seems while totally not being normal.”

“Tally, that’s amazing that you had the nerve to speak up,” Miko said. “Good for you.”

“Amazing that Tally had the nerve?” Ivy asked, leaning forward. “You guys should have heard Miko. She was talking like she was a fashion editor herself. I had no idea how much she knows about fashion. At one point Garamond opened this one portfolio, and Miko pointed at the dresses and said, ‘It looks like an early Marimekko print,’ and everybody was agreeing with her and saying how she was exactly right.”

“Well, everyone knows Marimekko,” Miko said.

Tally and Ivy looked at each other.

“Nobody at this table does,” Ivy stated.

“It’s seriously so amazing, though,” Miko said, her face flushed with happiness. “The people at this meeting really knew their designers. I was in awe just listening to them. And they do this thing a couple times a year where they pick a young, basically unknown designer and feature them in the magazine. It can completely change a designer’s life if they get picked, and I sort of…helped.”

“That will make an incredible story for
4 Girls
,” I said. “We can write about the winner, too!”

“Actually, we can’t,” Miko said. “I was careful to check on what we can and can’t use. We can’t write about the winner because it won’t be announced in
City Nation
until December, and we can’t use photographs of any of the designs. Even
City Nation
has to get permission in writing for every design they show.”

I tried not to look disappointed. I’d already been envisioning what a cool montage we could do of designs and the closest contenders to the winner.

“But we did a video log, showing the room, which is where the designers actually come when they bring their collections to show in person, and Miko interviewed Garamond,” Ivy added. “There’s plenty of good stuff to use.”

“Are we going to upload that to the site
tonight?” Tally asked, pulling the wrapper off her chopsticks and folding it into a tiny paper airplane.

“Oh, we definitely should,” I said. “I think that’s part of the really cool aspect of this web issue—it’s kind of unfolding as it happens.”

“Miko, I have to try on that jacket and the dress you said I could borrow,” Tally said. “I can’t keep showing up on video in this.”

“Well, you can’t do that until we get back to the hotel,” I said. “Anyway, you don’t have to worry. No more cameras for now.”

“Don’t be too sure,” Ivy said, pointing at the door. I turned to see what Ivy was pointing at.

Bob the Camera Guy and Vicky the Producer were coming through the door. Vicky made a beeline for the counter, but Bob noticed us and came over.

“Hey, it’s the four magazine girls,” he said.

“Are we being taped?” Tally asked.

Bob laughed and patted a large bag slung over his shoulder. “Nope. Both my cameras are packed up in here,” he said. “We just came by for takeout. Everybody recommended this place. Although actually, it would make a nice shot—the four of you sitting in here waiting for dinner and talking about your day at the magazine. Can you guys look like that’s what you’re doing?”

“That IS what we’re doing,” I told him. He was
nice enough, I guess, but Bob was kind of an odd duck. I wondered how the footage for
One Week
would come out.

“Even better,” Bob said. “I’m going to go place my order, then I’ll be right back to set up the shot.”

Tally was trying to check her reflection in the window, making sure she was camera-ready. “Oh look, Whit and Dakota are walking by!” Tally exclaimed. She leaned over to the window and started banging on the glass and waving.

“Oh, Tally, don’t. Stop it,” Ivy said, looking dismayed.

“They’re coming in,” Tally said, turning to us with a smile. Then she saw our faces. “I’m sorry. Should I not have done that?”

Ivy glanced at me, then looked away and shrugged. “Whatever. They’re here now.”

They were, and they were already headed for our table. Whit was dressed in the same beige Dockers and blue sweater he’d been wearing earlier, but Dakota had changed into a stretchy knit dress of rose- and cream-colored swirls and high suede boots. I envied both her outfit and the self-assured manner in which she carried it off.

“Thanks for keeping us in suspense,” Whit said, plopping down in the empty chair next to Ivy. “What did Helvetica want?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Whit. I should have texted to let you know,” Ivy said.

“We went straight from her office to our meetings,” I explained. “Tally and I went to a content meeting, and Ivy and Miko went to a design meeting. Anyway, she just asked if we’d be okay with appearing on this documentary they’re doing, for that show—”

Dakota’s mouth dropped open. “Wait. They asked
you
to be on
One Week
?” she asked.

“They said it would be nice to have some young people on it because they have readers our age and they thought they could relate,” Tally explained. “I—”

“I
know
that,” Dakota interrupted. “They were supposed to be putting me and Whit on the show. We’re the actual interns.” She glared at Ivy.

“Well, maybe they still will,” Ivy said.

Dakota shook her head, looking angry. “No. All the releases had to be requested and signed by today.
I
know that because
I
had to type up the in-house memo about it. Garamond said they’d almost definitely be asking us, then you guys show up and we’re history. I can’t believe this!”

“Look, that isn’t fair, I’ll agree,” Miko said. “I’d be disappointed, too, but it’s not like we asked. We didn’t even know about it.”

“It’s only a stupid TV show, Dakota,” Whit said.

“I’m only saying—” Dakota’s voice dropped off suddenly. Bob had paid for his dinner and was walking toward us, camera in hand and the red light illuminated.

We were all sitting there staring at him.

“Don’t look at me,” Bob said. “Don’t look at the camera. Just act natural. Wait a minute, where did those other two come from? I wanted just the
City Nation
shot.”

Dakota gave a gasp of irritation. “Just the
City Nation
shot? I can’t believe you guys. I don’t know why they invited you in the first place, unless your mother begged them to, Ivy. I’ve seen your stupid magazine. For the life of me I can’t figure out what the big deal is. I’m out of here.”

Dakota stood up and turned to grab her purse, and for just a moment I thought I saw tears in her eyes. It did seem kind of unfair that we had apparently replaced the real interns as the representative young faces of the magazine.

“Whit, come on,” Dakota said. He showed no signs of getting up.

Bob was impatiently shifting from one foot to the other.

“Oh, I uh…I thought I might…” Whit glanced uncertainly at Ivy.

Hey,
I thought.
What is up with that?

“You said you’d let me borrow your MetroCard. I left mine at home,” Dakota pressed.

“It’s okay. We’ll see you tomorrow,” Ivy told Whit.

“People? I don’t mean to be rude, but are we doing this or not?” Bob asked.

As soon as Whit stood up, Dakota stalked off to the door.

“Sorry about that,” Whit said. “She can be kind of touchy. Catch you guys tomorrow.”

As soon as Whit walked away from the table, Bob snapped the camera up and pointed it right at us. “Okay,” Bob said. “Look like you’re having fun.”

Even Tally didn’t seem to know how to spontaneously do that. Fortunately the waiter chose that moment to arrive with our dinner.

“Oh, those dumplings smell amazing!” I exclaimed. Ivy had ordered enough for all of us. And as I removed the little dome from the plate put in front of me, I saw a delicious steaming concoction of chicken and mushrooms and vegetables.

“Everybody has to use chopsticks. It’s good luck!” Tally announced.

I tried to pick up a piece of chicken with mine, but every time I got it just about to my lips, it dropped back onto the plate.

“Give her a fork,” Ivy said, laughing.

“No, no forks!” Tally insisted.

“Paulina, look. Watch me,” Miko said. “Hold the chopsticks like this.”

I mimicked what Miko was doing, picked up a piece of chicken, and could almost taste it when it slipped out of the chopsticks again. I groaned as Miko chuckled, and Tally protested as Ivy handed me a fork.

“Perfect!” Bob said. “That’s exactly what I needed. You guys look like you’re just unwinding after a long day of work and having some fun.”

It was no act. That was
exactly
what we were doing.