InsaneJournal

Who: Cindy(erella) and Rachel(Rarity)
When: Monday, Sept 8, 2014
Where: Shoegasm
What: Girl Talk
Rating/Warnings: Low/None - Sassy girls talking about shoes, boys and fashion
Status: Complete


So, Rachel had an interesting weekend. There was some sort of bizarre sleeping something-or-other on the land (Orange County, so not surprising) and she’d woken her husband with a True Love’s Kiss. At least, that’s what was going around on the Internet. Valarnet. The only place to get real news about the bizarre stuff that happened around the county.

She was excited to get in to work this morning, Monday, so she could ask Cindy about it--and about the handsome guy who brought Cindy’s cell phone to work last week. The two hadn’t had much chance to talk over the last few days, as Cindy was still hiring people and taking interviews, phone calls, all that sort of thing. Then the weekend. Rachel brought a couple of pumpkin spice lattes and got to work a few minutes early, then knocked on Cindy’s office door.

Geez, last week kind of sucked. After leaving her cell phone at the grocery store and having to be grateful to Smarmy Tom for dropping it off, she just was in a mood. For some reason. Not to mention the bad dreams she was having - distinctly different from the ones that had already crept up on her. These were all about Prince Not-Charming. Her failed marriage. Her mistakes. The hurt and anguish she felt after learning of yet another affair, how desolate and alone she was, how betrayed and worthless. Worthless. That was how Charming made her feel, and she’d vowed to never let that happen. Ever again. Not with any man.

At least she managed to catch up on sleep a little. And was in her office, doing some paperwork, looking through catalogues and seeing when the next runway shows would be. Might help to send someone. Probably Rachel, she’d like that. The knock startled her a bit but she set down the catalogue and rubbed her eyes briefly, calling, “Come on in!”

“Good morning!” Rachel entoned, stepping through the doorway. Rachel was a bit of a morning person. Almost irritatingly so. Especially when she wasn’t having strange dreams of Unicorns and rainbows. Honestly, if Cindy could see what Rachel dreamed, she’d probably throw up in her mouth a little. Rachel broke into a bright smile at the sight of her boss and offered up the latte. “I thought we should start the week off right, hmm?”

Cindy broke into a smile when she saw the latte offering. “Nectar of the gods,” she sighed, taking the paper cup. “Thank you.” Then she motioned for the girl to take a seat. Somewhere, anywhere. Rachel had her own quasi-office in the back too (nothing luxurious, with a penthouse view but this was a shoe store, okay) though the company was never minded.

“How are you?” she asked, taking the first sip of autumn from her cup and closing her eyes in bliss. “I hope the craziness from the weekend wasn’t too annoying.” Good thing they were all back on track now. Just another manic Monday.

"Oh, I'm good." Rachel said, and her smile actually brightened. She was normally much less chipper, much more calm. But today she was nearly bubbling with love and excitement. It was disgusting, honestly, and she would hate herself for it later. But for now...

"My husband was caught by that sleeping whateveritwas, and I kissed him and he woke up. Just like Snow White or something." Rachel moved to sit on one of the chairs in the office, perching on the edge. She'd go to her own office in a bit, but for now a little small talk.

Cindy’s eyebrows rose over the lip of her coffee cup, because, wow, what the hell? The Valar network had been a confusing mess the past few days, and for good reason - she tried to avoid it as much as possible, because she was having enough problems concentrating thanks to creepy way her nightmares made her feel - all defeated and emotionally abused. It wasn’t something she enjoyed at all.

“That’s a thing?” she asked skeptically but if Rachel said so, hey, good for her. Cindy didn’t want to piss on anyone’s love and unicorns parade. The idea of being so terrible at finding love soured her, but she thought everyone should have a shot at it for their own selves. “Kinda cute though. I doubt I’ll ever find myself in that situation.” She shrugged, and rummaged in her desk drawer for the box of granola bars she had. Something to go with her coffee. “I kinda know of Snow White though. She was my ex-husband’s first wife.” Awkward.

“Hey, there’s been worse.” Rachel explained. Nothing was going to break her high today. Talking about the weirdness in Orange County was, for the first time, fairly exciting. “Wait, you know Snow White? Like, the real Snow White?” Rachel blinked as that sank in. She gave a little gasp. “Shutthefrontdoor. What’s she like?”

Was there such thing as the real Snow White? As opposed to fake Snow White? Cindy laughed a little, ripping into her granola bar and taking a bite. “She’s not so bad. And is the Deputy Mayor of our little town, called Fabletown. Everyone knows that’s where the real power lies...with her.” Snow was also married to Cindy’s employer, big boss man spy Bigby Wolf, and he was so disgustingly in love with her. But Cindy also knew that the marriage to Charming had soured Snow as well, and yet she had managed to love again when it was all said and done.

How nice for her. Bitter, perhaps? Lonely table for one?

“Anyway, we don’t have any of that True Love stuff where I dream about,” she added hastily. “It’s all kind of...weird.”

“I don’t… I mean, in my Dream World? Like, there’s this thing called Heart and Hooves day.” Rachel explained. “It’s a lot like Valentine’s Day. But I’ve never had a Special SomePony. I’ve always wanted one. A prince, maybe.” She blushed a little and shrugged her shoulders, then lifted the latte to sip from it, almost embarrassed. “It’s all I can talk about in the dreams,” she added quickly before she sipped.

A somepony. That was adorable. Even for someone as jaded as Cindy. She still believed in things like love and romance, but it was easier to pretend like they didn’t exist on occasion, that was all. “Well, you found your somepony now, right?” she grinned, offering the box of granola bars to Rachel, in case she wanted one, before it was put away. Back in the depths of the drawer. “Maybe it just took a little longer to get there, but totally worth it.”

However, the thought of wanting a prince made her roll her eyes. “Trust me, you don’t want one of those,” she shook her head. “I had one. An actual prince. He was anything but.”

“Oh, yes.” Rachel beamed at the mention of her husband. He was such a goof-ball, so in love with her, and she was just as in love with him. It was almost disgusting. Hopefully it was more adorable than disgusting. “I’d much rather have him here than in my Dreams, anyway.” She grinned.

“Really? A prince? Was it…” Rachel leaned in a little and raised her eyebrows. “Was it that amazinglyhandsome guy who brought you back your phone the other day?”

Then Cindy just about choked on her granola bar. A hand smacked over her mouth to avoid the spray of cinnamon crunchy junk - not very professional, or friendly. Quickly, she took a long sip from her coffee, as if that would help wash it all down along with the suddenly bitter taste in her mouth.

“No,” she coughed. “No, it wasn’t him.” But they acted similar, didn’t they? Her dream ex-husband and Tom the rich, smarmy CEO. You just couldn’t trust guys like that - their charm was a front for a whole closet’s worth of skeletons, and Cindy was about ten-thousand shades of done with that. Besides, they tended to be impatient and would move on to the next pair of breasts at the buffet easily enough, if they got bored. “He’s...I don’t know what he is. Something,” she huffed, blowing a strand of hair from her face.

It almost made her excitement fade when Cindy said that he wasn't the prince. And the coughing, too... that was alarming. But then the smile came back. He was Something, was he? Rachel could work with that. It set her little match-maker gears turning inside that thick skull of hers.

"Oh, really? That's a shame. He was really handsome." Rach said, breaking into a little smirk. "He's got some pretty amazing eyes," she added, suggestively. "Maybe you should figure out what he is?"

Yeah, okay. Cindy supposed Tom was handsome. He probably knew it too. And built a shrine to himself in his house of mirrors. “Whatever,” she muttered, wadding up her granola bar wrapper and chucking it - with unnecessary force - into the wastebasket. “He probably dreams he’s Patrick Bateman or something.” The dude seemed pretty ‘American Psycho’ to her.

And really, figure out what he is? Really? “He’s...” She paused. “Someone I shouldn’t be mixed up with.” There, that settled it. “Bad things would happen. It’s best if I just keep my distance.”

Rachel gave a laugh. “Probably. The way he winked at you? It was absolutely adorable, but shows he knows he’s hot stuff.” The rest of the world knew it, too. All she had to do was look at him to know he was hot stuff. And he probably worked hard to keep himself that way.

At that, Rachel nodded. “Well, yeah. He’s someone no one should get mixed up with, that’s obvious.” She chuckled softly. “Emotional distance or physical distance? Because… well, it’s hard to imagine wanting to keep physical distance from that guy, if you know what I’m saying.”

It was possible that Rachel’s husband had turned her into a bit of a sex kitten. Possible.

Please. Like Cindy wanted remnants of a thousand whores if she happened to lie in Tom’s likely-Egyptian cotton 1,000 thread-count sheets. “Both,” she said hastily, busying herself with organizing the catalogues on her desk, in alphabetical order. “I’m more than just a fling. He doesn’t want more than a fling. Ergo.” It would never work, right?

Subject change, an emergency one. “So,” she faced Rachel, smiling brightly. “LA Fashion Week is in October, beginning of. I’ll be sending you, alright?” Because she had shit to do. Other things. And most importantly, needed to - right now - focus on other crap besides Tom.

Yeah, that made sense. Rachel didn’t have a chance to respond, though, because the new conversation topic was that much more interesting. She gasped. “I would love to go!” Honestly, she was planning on buying, begging, borrowing or stealing to get herself in there. But now that she worked for a legit shoe store? (And not just her own haute couture etsy shop…) She was in.

“Absolutely, boss. I’ve already done my research. I know who to watch and what colors are in and what styles, I put that report on the winter fashion trends on your desk yesterday morning.” Rachel started babbling as if the latte had about six shots of espresso in it.