nine

"You got everything?" I asked, scanning the apartment for any last things belonging to Becca.

"I think so," she replied, setting her bags down in a heap beside the doorway.

"I mean if you don't, it's not like it's the end of the world," I laughed. "I'll be seeing you again when I come back for Jake's wedding."

"Very true," she nodded her head, looking around the place. "I'm gonna miss it here."

"What's there to miss?" I joked. "The leaking tap? The shower that takes years to warm up? Don't even get me started on the rock-hard mattress."

"That's half the magic of the place, though," she smiled. "If it were perfect then life would be boring."

"Very true," I mimicked her earlier response, smiling warmly at me best friend. "It won't be the same without you."

"I know," she grinned. "At least you'll have the couch to yourself now."

"Come on," I chuckled making my way towards her pile of bags. "Let's get you home."

The two of us carried the heavy bags down the hallway, into the elevator, and eventually out to the lobby, where Rico's canary coloured cab sat patiently waiting out front. It was only fitting that he be the one to take us back to the airport for Becca's farewell, a sort of symbol of the end of the journey for her; finishing it exactly how it had begun.

Becca thanked the elderly receptionist, who had been kind enough to let her out of her half of the lease without dumping all of the expense on me. Of course some of it had transferred over, but not nearly as much as should have been moved. The woman wishes Becca luck as we headed out to the waiting car.

"Bit of a full circle moment, isn't it," Rico commented as he drove us back to JFK.

"Certainly is," Becca looked out her window at the passing traffic. "I'm glad it's ending this way, though."

"I hope you enjoyed your time here," he continued, "although I'd also understand it if you didn't."

"I loved every minute of it," she replied honestly. "It just wasn't the home I was searching for. Let's call it a prolonged holiday."

"Alright," he laughed. "I like the sound of that."

As the airport came into sight, Empire State of Mind started playing on the radio, causing me to smile.

"New Yooooooork," the three of us sang, cranking up the volume to let Alicia Keys drown out our horrendous vocals. "Concrete Jungle where dreams are maaaade of, there's nothing you caaaan't do. Now you're in New Yooork."

"Make your dreams come true, Al," Becca said, turning to face me in the back of the cab. "I don't think you need me to tell you that this is your place."

"I knew it the moment I touched down," I smiled. "I'll live my dreams here, Becs. I'll make you all proud."

"I'm counting on it."

As Rico closed in on the taxi bay, I heard Becca exhale deeply. I grabbed her hand, squeezing it to reassure her that she was making the right decision and that we would both be more than okay.

"Thanks, Rico," Becca thanked him as we came to a stop. "How much do we owe."

"It's on the house," he smiled, turning to look at Becca one last time. I was certain that I would see him again, but she might never have that pleasure. "Safe travels, kid."

Once we'd grabbed her bags from the trunk, Becca and I headed for the international departure gates, which were luckily not too far from where we'd been dropped off. The last thing we wanted was to be forced to walk a mile with these heavy bags in tow.

We came to a stop outside the terminal, knowing that this was as far as I could go. For both of us, we would be on our own from here. Not literally, of course; we both had incredible support behind us. But we were no longer heading in the same direction, something that was equally as scary as it was exciting.

"Always follow your heart," Becca smiled, a happy tear forming in her eye as she pulled me into a tight hug. "I know that it's led you here."

"Same to you, Becca," I too was becoming choked up with emotion, holding her close to me. "I know that yours has led you home."

———

The office seemed busier than usual when I arrived at work for the day. I had to keep in mind that it was over three hours later than my customary starting time, which meant that business was at its peak.

When I reached the top floor, I was greeted by Mr Baird, a man who I'd had very little to do with in my short time working here. He was one of the men who resided in the offices that Nikki had shown me on my first day. He was a big man, but extremely kind, exactly as my friend had described.

"Ahh Miss Carson," he grinned, making his way towards me from where he was standing off to the side. "I hear you were the hero last night."

"Far from it, Sir," I humbly smiled. "It was nothing more than a coincidence."

"A coincidence that you discovered," he laughed, "and fixed."

I wasn't really sure how to respond, not really the type to enjoy being praised.

"Just take the complement, Ally," he smiled kindly. "Success doesn't come as often as failure, so it's worth celebrating whenever it does."

"Thank you, Mr Baird," I nodded my head in gratitude. "You're very kind."

I made my way into my office, shutting the door behind me and opening up my computer as I always did. Mr Gray had excused me from bringing him his coffee this morning due to my taking the morning off, which had actually saved me a lot of time compared to my usual routine.

Scrolling through my recent emails, I couldn't seem to find one from Mr Gray. I searched my deleted mail, and the spam folder, hoping that I would find it there, but there was still no sight of my daily tasks. I groaned internally, knowing full well that there was only one way to resolve this.

I knocked on his door, waiting for his soft reply before crossing the threshold into his impressive office.

"Mr Gray," I hesitantly spoke, fully aware of the fact that he didn't like having me ask him for work. It was the reason he'd set up the emailing system in the first place, which he had managed to maintain until today.

"If I'm not mistaken, I asked you to call me Tyler," he smirked, putting me slightly at ease knowing that he was in one of his playful moods.

"And if I'm not mistaken," I replied sassily, "we are currently in a packed office so that rule doesn't apply."

He sent me a challenging look, before easing off into an evil smirk.

"What can I do for you then, Miss Carson."

He knew exactly how much his calling my name affected me, and was practically mocking me by reverting to my formal title. However, I knew that I couldn't have it both ways, and that it was much safer to stick with the full names from now on.

"I couldn't find your email this morning, and was wondering if you sent it?" I inquired.

"Why would I send you an email?" He seemed legitimately confused, as though he had no memory of our previous arrangements.

"To send me my work?" I attempted to jog his memory. "The same way you always do?"

"Ahhh yes, Miss Carson," he still had that damn sparkle in his eyes as he spoke. "We're changing that. You will now meet me in my office each morning and I will give you your work from there."

"O- okay?" I wasn't sure why I was caught so off guard by that. This man seemed to have me in the palm of his hands, and he knew it. "So what's on today's list then?"

"Well first you've got to bask in the glory of yesterday's triumph," he grinned widely. "Our website is now live because of you, and earning raving reviews as well."

"And after that?" I laughed. "What are my actual jobs for the day?"

"You're going to hate me," he had a guilty grin on his face.

"You've messed up the cabinet already?" I asked the question, but his expression was such that I already knew the answer. "You're right, Mr Gray. I do hate you."

———

"Ready for part two of your makeover?" Nikki asked, excitement clear in her voice.

"Definitely more ready than I was for part one," I laughed, earning a chuckle from my friend.

We were currently in a rather large mall, surrounded by the biggest names in fashion and cosmetic retailers, ready to tackle the second part of my aesthetic: the clothes and the makeup. This was the stuff that was more in my control, but also the part that I was the worst at. I was pretty horrible when it came to pairing outfits, and entirely clueless when it came to makeup. Once again, I would be heavily relying on Nikki's guidance to lead me in the right direction.

"Here," she threw me what looked to be a black blazer. "Try this on while I find you some pants."

I did as she said, pulling the blazer on over the top that I was already wearing. It fit pretty snugly, but I assumed that it was meant to be that way.

"Yes," Nikki nodded her head in approval as she looked me over. "I can see it coming together already."

She handed me a pair of black pants, directing me towards the change rooms as she headed back to find some more items. As soon as I'd pulled on the pants, which were also extremely fitted, she had located my cubicle and was handing me a white turtleneck and a pair of stiletto heels. I had never seen, let alone walked, in heels that high, which definitely scared me slightly.

The combination of clothes seemed a little odd to me; the idea of a casual turtleneck with an extremely formal pant suit set not really making too much sense in my head. But as I put it all on, I was quickly made aware of Nikki's true genius. There was no denying it. When it came to styling, the girl was a wizard.

"Was this what you had in mind?" I pulled back the curtain to reveal the outfit that she had chosen out for me.

"It's even better," her eyes were wide with excitement. "You're such a boss bitch, Al."

I took a hesitant step forward, stumbling slightly in me heels but managing to stay upright.

"I might need some practice with these shoes though."

We made our way out of that shop with three massive bags of clothes. We'd, of course, picked up the outfit that I had tried on, as well as the same thing in its inverse. Nikki had also found a number of other pieces, which she'd insisted we buy without even trying on. I definitely wasn't going to protest, as the try-on process was already wearing me out.

As we moved from shop to shop, buying shoes and clothes and all sorts of strange makeup products, we chatted about anything and everything. Something that came up a lot, due to the fact that it honestly intrigued me, was Nikki's love life, and her unique opinion on relationships.

"I've only ever been in one long-term relationship," she explained, "which was enough to let me know that they weren't for me."

Ever since that particular breakup, she'd been slowly making her way around the male population of New York. And she wasn't ashamed of it.

"I know that a lot of women find me quite intimidating, or even think they have to hide their dudes from me," she admitted, "but I'm definitely not the type to ever go for another woman's man."

"Why do so many people fear women like you?" I asked, wanting to know how she viewed it all.

"Most of them believe that we don't have any self-respect," she answered simply. "They think we go around looking for someone to love us, and would go to any length to find that."

"So what's the truth then?" I continued. "Why do you do it?"

"Because I know what I'm worth," she replied. "I don't open my legs to a new guy every night because I have a low self-esteem, but rather because I have an exceedingly high one."

I nodded my head, thinking about what she'd just said. I had definitely been guilty on a number of occasions of holding that same belief about desperate 'sluts'. It physically hurt me to even say that word now; now that I'd seen the other side.

As we did our final round of window shopping on the top level of the mall, lugging our countless bags around tirelessly, Nikki was telling me all about some of the more notable guys she had slept with. There were a lot of businessmen for somewhat obvious reasons, but also several celebrities and higher profile people, where it'd just been a case of 'right place, right time'.

"What about Mr Gray," I asked curiously. "You ever slept with him?"

"Nah," she chuckled, shaking her head. "I've never gone in that direction. Don't get me wrong, it's certainly played through my mind a couple times, but I rather not go for guys who I know I'll see again. He's bloody hot, though. I'll give him that."

I laughed at her her reply, so typical to Nikki's character.

"What about you, Al?" She turned it around on me. "Would you ever go for the boss?"

"To be completely honest, I'm not sure I'm in the mood to be interested in anyone after the breakup," I told her, earning a small nod in understanding. "But even if I was ready to get back into it, I'm a relationship girl and I need commitment."

"God, if someone could get that man to settle down," Nikki thought out loud, "he'd be practically perfect."

"I reckon he'd do it," I pitched in, "for the right girl, that is."

"Elaborate..," she urged me to explain my reasoning.

"I don't know," I sighed. "It doesn't happen often, but he's shown me that he's capable of being vulnerable."

"It's the starting of loooooove," she sang, making me roll my eyes.

"Trust me," I scoffed, "with the amount of girls I see walking in and out of his office daily, I'm pretty sure that the man isn't even capable of having feelings."

Nikki chuckled, looking around at the few stores that were left ahead of us. She seemed to spot one that she liked, leading me towards it. As we got closer, I could see that the displays were showcasing outfits that were a little more revealing than some of the others we had been to. It wasn't Victoria's Secret or anything like that; we had already made that stop along the way. Instead, by the looks of the mannequins in the window, this place specialised in sexy outfits, which were more 'appropriate' for everyday wear.

"If the man is stupid enough not to feel anything for you already," Nikki grinned evilly as we entered the store, "then we'll make sure that he does tomorrow."