The Wrong Girl

by Foster, Zoe

  ‘Should we go out tonight, Al?’ Lily asked with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes, anticipating the next ten hours morphing into a mosaic of getting ready together, drinking cocktails, dancing and nightclub floor pashes.

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry Lil,’ Alice said with a pained expression, scrunching up her muffin wrapper into a small ball and then lobbing it into a nearby bin, which she missed entirely.

  ‘Sven’s cooking and it’d be rude to cancel now.’

  ‘Sven?’

  ‘Sven, you know: monstrously tall, works at the port, breathtaking head of hair.’

  ‘I’ve never heard of Sven,’ Lily said definitively, trying not to feel deflated that they wouldn’t be heading out for a night of fun and being fun and embracing fun and drinking fun-flavoured cocktails.

  ‘He is just as a Sven should be. Gives great massages and when he goes down on me he does this thing where he —’

  ‘All right, all right, I get it.’ Lily stood up and sighed. It was fitting, she supposed, that the very same person lecturing her on not having enough fun or dating enough boys was too busy having fun and dating boys to hang out with her tonight. She needed to change things. And with Eliza’s replacement being announced next week, she had a feeling change was about to arrive, whether she was ready for it or not.

  24

  Lily put down the remainder of her tart – Jack’s latest pastry triumph, a creamy roasted coconut custard – and stared at her computer screen in disbelief. She read the offending paragraph once more, trying to make the words sink in.

  . . . The Daily is pleased and excited to announce that Eliza’s replacement is Nikkii Steadman, long-time reporter with the show and valuable team member. Nikkii’s move into a senior role will not inhibit her famous rapport with celebrities or diminish her huge fan base, however. Her title will be Series Producer and Entertainment Executive.

  What the fuck?!

  Everything about this email was wrong. First of all, it was Wednesday afternoon, and the announcement wasn’t due until Friday. Lily was utterly unprepared for this news. Second, why didn’t Sasha or Eliza tell Lily or any of the candidates that they hadn’t got the role? And finally, NIKKII? Nikkii, who cared more about her fucking pedicure than her scripts? Nikkii, who made the work experience kids and runners type up her web content? Nikkii, who had the News at Six hair and make-up girls touch her up before she left the office of a night in case she got papped? She was now going to be whom Lily reported to? And Alice? And Dale? Laura? Gabby? All of them? How the fuck had this happened?

  Lily urgently popped her head up over her partition to see Alice, but she wasn’t there. Nor was Dale. It was lunchtime; the office was skeletal.

  She sat back down, forehead creased in confusion, heart pounding, skin tingling in rage, and read the email from start to end again. She was shattered. Not only had Lily not received the promotion, but she had been passed over for a twit with the management intelligence of a pinecone. It was so, so unfair! It was hard enough dealing with Eliza’s ineffective dithering, but having to put up with Nikkii’s ego and inexperience: that was unthinkable.

  Lily had to speak to Sasha about this. She was hazardously close to quitting her job, today, this very afternoon, and needed someone to talk her off the ledge, and explain to her WHY and HOW Nikkii was given this role over her, and make her see the sense of it. If Sasha honestly thought Nikkii was more talented and capable than Lily, then Lily needed to hear it for herself. And then quit. She’d thought about it, she wasn’t afraid to do it. She’d work in Mimi’s shop if she had to. Get into event management. Sell lemonade in the street. There were four million things she could think of that were better than staying here under the watch of Nikkii’s heavily lined eye.

  The protocol with Sasha, and any EP, Lily imagined, was to email for a meeting, but this was an entirely different circumstance. This was life-changing stuff, deal-breaking gear. Dammit, where was Alice? Lily called her mobile from her desk phone but there was no answer. She was probably on location shooting, she realised, with her phone on silent.

  But Lily knew Alice wouldn’t give her the reaction she wanted. She would just shake her head, make a joke about Nikkii changing the name of the show to the The Daily, Literally, and then get on with life. Plus, she was young, she could afford to loll around in an assistant producer role for a couple more years. But Lily; Lily needed to move onwards and upwards.

  She stood up, tucked her navy-blue collared shirt into her jeans, and pulled her hair back into a low ponytail so she looked more serious and impressive.

  She inhaled, pushed her chair in, cursed Alice, double cursed Nikkii while simultaneously praying she wouldn’t run into her, and began the walk to Sasha’s office, up the hallway and past the kitchen. She glanced in there and saw Dale eating his usual homemade sandwich from a brown paper bag and stopped.

  ‘So . . .’ Lily said, a knowing look on her face. ‘Big news, huh?’

  Dale looked up at Lily in confusion, mostly because someone was actually talking to him, she presumed. He finished his mouthful and rested his large brown eyes on Lily’s face.

  ‘What news?’

  ‘Oh, you didn’t see Sasha’s email yet?’

  His face indicated he had not.

  ‘It’s about Eliza’s replacement.’

  ‘Oh,’ Dale said, seemingly already knowing it wasn’t him, but not interested enough in the situation or conversation to probe further.

  ‘Do you want to know who got it?’ Lily asked, slightly irritated he hadn’t asked, and annoyed that he clearly knew it wasn’t her, and probably never thought she was a chance.

  ‘Okay,’ he said vaguely, one hand suspended in the air with half a sandwich in it. It was Vegemite and cheese, from the look of it. His mum probably made it for him.

  ‘Nikkii. Nikkii got the role.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Don’t you think tha—’ but Lily was distracted by the sight of Sasha walking past the kitchen towards her office.

  ‘Gotta go,’ she said and darted after her. Waiting a moment until Sasha had disappeared into her office, she gingerly knocked on her door.

  Sasha looked up, mild surprise on her face. Her lips were flaming red, and she looked to have had a kind of undercut; her top layer of hair fell forward and over her left eye, like she was Rihanna, but thirty years down the track, and with an impressive Dinosaur Designs necklace collection.

  ‘Lily, hi, what’s up?’

  Lily paused. She hadn’t actually got as far as this part in her brilliant plan of interrogating the EP. Facing Sasha, looking all composed and cheerful and completely oblivious to what Lily might want to chat about, simultaneously incensed and intimidated her.

  ‘Do you, could we chat for a moment, if you have time?’

  ‘Of course, pull up a chair. And close the door behind you.’

  Lily did so, taking deep, secret breaths as quietly as she could. She needed to be a professional, not petulant, she reminded herself. Be cool.

  ‘I just read your email about, uh, Eliza’s replacement.’

  ‘Yes, it was quite the highly contested role in the end.’

  ‘I, I just thought that maybe . . .’

  ‘Yes?’

  Lily grappled for something that didn’t sound whiney.

  ‘That maybe, well, those who didn’t get the role would be informed before, you know, the announcement.’

  Sasha read between the lines.

  ‘I’m sorry you missed out, Lily.’ Her eyes were kind, her voice consolatory.

  Lily was horrified to feel tears begin to well in her eyes. She immediately pretended to gaze around the office, while thinking of what she was going to say next. She hated anyone being kind to her when she was angry, as it almost always produced tears, tears that were pointless and embarrassing. Lily wasn’t a crier. She was tougher than that.

  ‘Can I ask, if it’s not too rude, why I didn’t make the cut? Just, so, you know, I know which areas I can improve and where I l
ack skills and what I can do so that I can move up in the company?’ And have a solid reason to slide my resignation under your door this Friday, she thought as a silent full stop.

  Sasha looked at Lily with interest, even curiosity.

  ‘I’ve never had anyone ask that, you know,’ she said, and Lily instantly regretted speaking. Who did she think she was, barging into her EP’s office and demanding answers as to why she didn’t get the job? What a little snot.

  ‘But it’s a good idea, because it can only help you in the long term. Also, obviously, it can help assuage any feelings of disappointment you might be experiencing.’

  She took a breath.

  ‘Lily, I gave the role to Nikkii for a few reasons. One is that she has more experience; she’s worked on two other shows within the station and is a regular on The Night Show. She understands various teams and formats. The other reason is probably more relevant, though, and it’s because The Daily is changing direction. It’s come from above, it wasn’t my initiative’ – she seemed mildly disenchanted, Lily noted – ‘but it’s become apparent we need more celebrity content, more gossip, more flash, more trash . . . We’re competing with so much more these days, not even just websites or blogs, but social media and all of it. So, it’s been determined that in order to stay relevant and exciting, we need to have content that is instantly enticing, and generally, that’s the celeb stuff. We’ll be more E! News and less Today show, put it that way. Almost everything will change in some way, and some segments will sadly make their way to TV heaven. Obviously, as celebrity and immediacy is Nikkii’s world, it makes sense that she leads the charge. And that’s also why she retained her entertainment title. She’s good at that stuff, Lily.’

  As Sasha described the changes, Lily could tell there was a hint of defeat in her voice. It was strangely comforting. But still, Lily could head up that shit, surely. It wasn’t like she was a die-hard foodie, she just wanted to produce. What she produced wasn’t really even of consequence.

  ‘I like entertainment stuff . . . I could do more of that, if you liked.’ Lily was frustrated at her inability to express herself. She shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

  ‘Lily, what I need you to do is what you do, because you do it so well. The food segment is excellent. Your production is exceptional. In the big discussions about this change, it was unanimously agreed that yours was the one genuinely strong segment on the show. Jack’s work, Jack the personality, who you’ve helped him become, is so vital to the success of The Daily. I can’t express that enough. Your food-truck idea is absolutely inspired, and we are spending extra cash to support it, I should let you know.’

  She looked at Lily as though she expected a thank you. Lily gave nothing.

  ‘Lily, I couldn’t take you off food, because we need you there, and we want to support your talent. You’re doing great things, and to bring in someone new to food and move you into what is essentially a glorified personality-management role didn’t seem right.’

  Lily sank a little into her chair, letting Sasha’s words wash over her. She was pleased to know her segment was a success, but a few compliments weren’t going to change the fact that she would now be reporting to Nikkii with two k’s and three i’s. Eliza was appallingly ineffective, but Nikkii was pure megalomaniac.

  ‘Does that makes sense, Lily? A linear promotion isn’t always a step up, and that’s worth remembering. Better to be on the bottom of the right ladder, than the top of the wrong one.’ She smiled with lips closed and made to pick up her phone, indicating her time with Lily was at a close.

  Lily took in a deep breath and exhaled as she stood up. It did kind of make sense, actually. But it was still humiliating.

  ‘Thanks, Sasha. That’s very helpful. And I’m sorry to barge in.’ Lily smiled a sheepish grin and turned to walk out.

  ‘You’re on the right ladder, Lily. I assure you,’ Sasha said as she began tapping away on her phone.

  Lily turned to face her but she didn’t look up, so Lily walked out into the hallway, thinking about what that meant. Was she destined to stay a lowly segment producer forever? Or was she genuinely talented in food, and it would be silly to give it up for a more impressive title somewhere else? Oh God, it was all a bit much. She needed a beer.

  Walking back to her desk, Lily saw the flame of red hair. Alice was back. Good. They were going to the Pig and Barrow for a drink. Now.

  25

  ‘Jeez, who died?’ Simone said, on seeing Lily walk in the front door.

  ‘Didn’t get the promotion.’

  Simone’s expression softened but her high, swingy ponytail and tiny pink singlet and shorts somewhat countered her earnest expression.

  ‘Oh, babe . . . I’m sorry . . .’

  ‘Nikkii, the goose who does all the entertainment stuff, she got the job. The EP reckons the show’s moving in a more celebrity, gossipy direction and told me I wouldn’t want the job anyway. They want me to stay in food, grooming your boyfriend for world domination.’

  ‘Ooh, please do! You two are so great together. I watch the clips online all the time now. Love the new denim apron by the way.’

  ‘Thanks, Sim,’ Lily said, reminding herself to read Simone’s blog more often, or ever. She noticed the table heaving with fresh flowers and several thousand candles. Jack must be coming over. Wonderful.

  ‘Well, you know what they say about one door closing, hun . . .’ A textbook sunny/useless Simone response.

  ‘Maybe. Alice is going to be let go though, which bites. You know, I’m seriously considering leaving.’

  That was the thing Lily was most upset about: Alice had been told that morning they were cutting her segment, and as she wasn’t interested in switching to producing all of the online video – not only the wrong ladder but the lowest weak and wobbling rung of it – she was almost certainly going to be leaving. She didn’t mind; she saw it as exciting. ‘Might change career altogether. Become a baker. Sell artisan vodka. Invent a new balloon shape.’ Lily had half a mind to join her.

  She pulled off her shoes and kicked them towards the stairs, forgetting that Sim had clearly just vacuumed and mopped the sparkling floor til she’d busted a sweat. Not a regular-person sweat, of course, more the kind that appears on models in men’s magazines. It was grossly unfair that Simone got sexier as she did housework, Lily thought.

  ‘Babe, you’re so far from a failure, and you know it. You’ve been given a chance from the universe to find your right path, that’s all. Change and confusion always leads to clarity. It’s a gift. Total gift.’

  ‘Mmm,’ Lily said, pouring herself a glass of water to temper the two beers she’d skolled with Alice.

  ‘It’s all good, babe. It’s meant to be. Whenever I’ve been knocked back from a job, or a guy I ju—’

  ‘When have you ever been knocked back by a guy?’ Lily asked cynically.

  ‘Whenever I am knocked back,’ she continued, ignoring Lily, ‘It’s always because something better is waiting and that door had to be closed so I wouldn’t accidentally go through it and lose the opportunity waiting just around the corner. Plus, Venus is in retrogade, it’s the perfect time to make empowered decisions of the head and heart. You should listen to this podcast by this woman Carrie Faith I’m into, she is amaze.’

  Lily nodded, already forgetting the woman’s name.

  ‘So here’s to whatever awesome, beautiful and perfect thing awaits you, babes.’

  She smiled sincerely at Lily then bent down and popped some gluten-free naan in the oven to warm.

  ‘You’re here for dinner, yes?’

  ‘Love to,’ Lily said, starving as usual. She wasn’t so sure about Simone’s theory – right now it felt like Alice was moving on, Nikkii was moving up, and Lily was going to be left trotting out pesto linguine for all eternity.

  ‘Hey, did Jack say something to you about me being AWOL the other weekend?’ Simone asked as she stood back up.

  ‘Just asked if I had seen you,’ Lily said n
onchalantly, cursing Jack with multiple swearwords in her head.

  Simone nodded. ‘Lil, he was so pissed at me. It was as if I was his daughter or something.’

  ‘Well, you did not answer your phone for like, two days.’

  Simone’s face changed from righteous indignation to defensive. Lily wondered if she had been too quick to take sides.

  ‘It was my friend Abby, she owns the promo agency I do work for sometimes, it was her birthday lunch, and it got messy so I cancelled paella night, which Jack didn’t seem to mind at all; and then my battery died and then we all went out that night and I don’t know, then we all went back to Grace’s afterwards and you know how it gets. I didn’t realise I had to bloody check in.’

  Lily wondered how many women over the years had heard their boyfriends feed them an almost identical tale. It irritated her that Simone couldn’t grasp that Jack was not the kind of guy you messed around like this. He was a keeper. One of the good ones. She didn’t say anything, and Simone resumed chopping up herbs.

  ‘Owww, please stop being so judgy, I feel bad enough already!’

  ‘I’m not judging . . . I just kind of get where Jack’s coming from.’

  ‘I just, it was a bit of a bender, they happen sometimes! And Michael was there, and it was all a bit of a headfuck, to be honest . . .’

  Lily looked at her friend, her eyes squinting involuntarily in disapproval.

  ‘Is that so.’

  ‘Had some young twig with him, and, I kid you not, she was a fucking preschooler. They were making us all sick so we left, but then he came to Dawn without her, and found me, and was off his head and started being really in my face, and so I got upset and left and, yeah, same old story, really.’

  Lily bit her tongue hard.

  ‘What? I can’t help it if he follows me round like a bad smell!’

  Lily considered suggesting that Simone avoid the places Michael frequented but knew better.