Skinny Dipping

by Kaye, Alicia M

  “Just get in.” He slid past the boxes, toward the bedcover and into her bed.

  “Your bed is quite comfortable.”

  She was intrigued by his thought processes. “I’ll see you later. Thanks for going out last night. It was fun.”

  “Saturday, I’ll meet you here.” He mumbled from under the covers.

  She swallowed. “Sure.” She slammed the door, and raced down the stairs.

  Carol had let her father inside, and as Sophie directed her father to the kitchen she saw something from the corner of her eye.

  Matthew. Feck. He’d gotten out of her bed, the safe spot where she’d left him. He stood in the hallway, slightly swaying on the spot. He was watching her curiously, dimples in both cheeks. He put his fist to his face making the shape of a phone. He mouthed.

  “I’ll call you.” Then he stumbled away out of sight. When she heard the outer door click softly, Sophie finally released the breath she hadn’t realised she was holding.

  Chapter 16

  The next day at work Sophie was anxious. She held one thought on the meeting taking place in front of her as Bradley lectured everyone and paraded around the boardroom like a peacock.

  The other thought was on the flurry of emails being sent to her smart phone from Mickey. The Saturday move was on. Sophie had lost control and there was simply nothing she could do about it.

  Sophie furiously typed a message back to Mickey – to stop the insanity. Would that be possibly without looking too desperate to Derek? Surely everyone could see that if she moved her last remaining items from their place, it was all over.

  “Sophie?” she heard a voice filter through her thoughts. She pushed it aside.

  Derek wasn’t the type of guy who simply met a girl like long legged Georgina and just fell in love with her. Especially when he was supposed to have loved Sophie? Love just didn’t evaporate. Not in a heartbeat. Not when he fought for her, basically so they could spend more time together. That’s why he’d given her the ultimatum, wasn’t it? Quit the job so she can spend more time with him. That was the underlying reason why she’d moved out, wasn’t it? Because the love they had together was so great and he thought he was second best to her work.

  “Sophie?” the voice was sharper.

  Another thought stilled her, if he really loved her then why did Georgina exist in his life at all? Could she possibly be an overlap? She sure seemed to be. And why didn’t he try and work it out? People do reconcile. It wasn’t an uncommon practice for couples to breakup and get back together. The couple then lives happily ever after. Separation was good for the soul. Her finger froze on the button. He hadn’t so much as called her and it had been months.

  “Sophie?”

  “Hmmmm,” she said. She wouldn’t send the message. Maybe, just maybe, everyone was right. The fact that he didn’t fight for her. The fact that Georgina existed. Maybe Derek was a douche bag?

  “Sophie! Attention to Sophie,” Bradley barked. She looked up and caught his steely gaze. “What’s happening, the Silver Account?” Bradley’s face was almost the color of a blueberry.

  “Sorry,” she said, briskly. “I just got an important email.”

  “And?” Bradley asked in a stiff voice.

  “Matthew Silver loves the Skinny Dipping idea. He loves it, just like you do,” she started.

  “I need a progress report, I’ve seen a lot of time charged to client codes and can’t have it spiraling out of control.” Bradley looked round the boardroom, he was livid.

  “Of course there’s still quite a lot for us all to do, the location for the commercial has to be found and permits sought. That will take time. But not too much time.”

  “The auditions are scheduled for this afternoon,” Jessica interjected. Bradley shot Jessica an odd look and frowned at Sophie.

  “Thanks Jessica for helping on this account,” he said and visibly sighed. “I’m not sure if you’re all heard but Kelly sealed a new deal. Joey’s Crisps, signed for the entire chip range. The team has done a fabulous effort. Well done, Kelly.” The rest of the management team joined Bradley in applause. Sophie shifted in her chair barely able to concentrate.

  Kelly winked at Sophie and a smug smile spread over her face. “The client really likes me, I knew they would. Bradley and I are taking them out to dinner tonight to celebrate.”

  “Yes, we are going out to dinner tonight.” Bradley looked ecstatic, then his face set back into a frown. “Sophie, what about your other clients? You don’t just work on the Silver Account. How is your business development going? What’s the progress on Barney’s?”

  “I spoke to Tom Johnson, we’ve got a date to pitch; we’ve also been working on some back up ideas, just in case.”

  Bradley’s eyes went black. Expressionless. “Just a pitch. Isn’t that the same as before?”

  She was feeling urgent. “Yes, he was always interested, but we have a slot now.”

  “Are you ready?”

  “Yes.”

  “Will you win it?”

  She swallowed. “We can only try.”

  Bradley shook his head. “I don’t pay you to try, I pay you to win.”

  ***

  Sophie located her team gathered round the water cooler. Desmond, a coffee in his hand was huddled next to Flora and Harry. Sophie approached, hearing the words “redundancy payout”.

  “Morning, are we all going to discuss Barney’s sometime this morning?” She glanced at her watch. “We’re already ten minutes late from the time in our diary.”

  “What’s the point? Bradley keeps threatening our jobs. How long are we all going to stay here?”

  Sophie shrugged. “Tom Johnson from Barney’s wants us. That’s all of you.” She smiled brightly. “Tom was at the gala, we had quite an in-depth chat about what he wants as part of the Barney’s pitch.”

  “Look Sophie,” Harry drawled. “Haven’t we’ve already done all this work, worked this pitch out. How long is this going to go on for? Isn’t there one step left?”

  “What step would that be?”

  “For you to sell it?” Harry groaned.

  “Well he’s coming in to this office for us to sell it.”

  “Why should we bother doing more work on this? You know as much as we know about the limited resources,” Flora interjected. “We’ve got to prioritise. Can’t we just run with the idea we have?”

  “Yes, the resource issues are concerning,” Sophie admitted. “Impressing Tom Johnson will help secure our positions. It’s a two million pound win.”

  She called the team over to the white board, which was now clean and available.

  “What are we going to do if Tom Johnson hates our idea? Seriously Sophie,” Desmond said.

  “Lose the campaign,” Flora said dryly.

  “No,” Sophie shook her head. “Our idea is excellent, and Tom Johnson’s already excited to see what we’ve got. He told me that at the gala – we’re the front runner, the favourite, I believe. But clients are fickle. I want two fully fleshed-out alternatives in our back pocket, just in case. Barney’s is worth two million pounds in fees. Let’s be ultra prepared.”

  “Really Soph, will it really help? In the scheme of things, Clarks is nearly on the bread line,” Desmond said. “I doubt the firm is even going to stay afloat.”

  Sophie frowned, she had no idea. “It can’t hurt to try and win. Let’s focus. Ideas. Barney’s chocolate, throw them around.” She picked up a whiteboard pen.

  Bradley’s door crashed opened stirring the team like a molten ash cloud. Ideas suddenly flew through the air, people yelled over each other in panicky voices almost too fast for Sophie to write them all down. Everyone hoped Bradley might notice their contributions.

  He swaggered to the whiteboard and a silence descended around the group.

  “Hello,” he said, speaking in his rich voice. Kelly stood beside him. Interesting.

  “We’re just brainstorming a few back up ideas for the Barney’s pitch now,” Sophie s
aid. “We want a few things in our back pocket to be ultra prepared.”

  “Kelly’s also a Junior Executive, the same level as you, Sophie,” Bradley commented.

  Everyone stared at Kelly, and Sophie knew exactly what they were thinking. Kelly recently won the latest client, but she worked with a different team.

  Before self doubt dared to settle on her shoulders, she continued. “I’ll start,” Sophie smiled. “Barney the bear is the mascot–”

  Kelly interrupted. “My team’s process is quite different. I always go into a pitch with a winning idea, I don’t need back up ideas.”

  Sophie felt her heart beating faster. “We’ve got an excellent pitch ready. We’re happy with it.”

  “Then why are you brainstorming further?” Kelly ran her tongue over her teeth. “It sounds like you don’t really think it will win.”

  “We’re being prepared.”

  “You’re wasting valuable time when you could be pitching to more clients, and winning more work,” Kelly said, shaking her head. “Really inefficient.”

  Bradley’s expression turned to stone. “I loathe the word inefficient.”

  ***

  After brainstorming for Barney’s, Sophie went to the casting room, scanned a list of girls sent by the agent who were available to do an audition. She ran her pen along the names of hopefuls, at least forty names. She didn’t want to see all forty girls to find a contender.

  The face of the Silver Swimming Chain needed to be spot on. She needed to attract viewers to Matthew’s pools, all around the nation. The sooner she found the right girl, the sooner she could start shooting, finish the commercial, and bill. Today, her luck was out, the agent had sent sub quality candidates for the position. They just weren’t right.

  She looked up at the pretty figure seated in front of her. Sophie watched as the girl was filled with dread, awkwardly twisting her hands.

  She scanned the girl, petite, pretty, should she even let the girl audition? Everyone knew casting was all about having the right look. Her mind was already made up. It would be a waste of time, and where was Desmond the lazy sod? He probably knew she’d do all the donkey work and then let him have the final say. As the Art Director, it was his responsibility to choose the right person, but Sophie would have to sell the face with Matthew Silver, and that was precisely why she’d even turned up to the casting.

  She made a note next to the girl’s name. “Not confident enough to be the face of anything. Why did the agent send her?”

  Sophie looked at the girl, bewildered at why an actress was so nervous, and began to form her words, a ‘thank you for coming, but no thank you.’ And Sophie would then explain to the agent that the girl didn’t have the ‘right look.’ That’s what the industry always said, getting a part was all about having the right look.

  Then the girl smiled. A radiant beam lit her face, transforming her with a girl next-door type of look, friendly and cheeky all the same. Sophie felt a spark of encouragement, there it was that little sparkle, the extra something Sophie was looking for. Could this girl actually have that something?

  “Don’t be nervous,” Sophie said, softly, flicking the papers in front of her and looking at the girl’s resume. She was green. Fresh. Barely a splash of experience. What if the girl panicked at the time of shooting?

  “You can begin if you like?”

  “I dare you to love your body.” The girl was thin. Tick. Her face was dewy, fresh. Tick. Her voice was rich. Tick. Her smile would probably melt hearts. Sophie gazed at the girl, she needed a second opinion, from Desmond. Bloody Art Director, the one with the experience here, where was he?

  “The answer is easy: get skinny by dipping.” The girl curved her lips up into a lovely smile. But did she have the wow factor to sell a zillion pool memberships across the nation? The experience to pull it off?

  “I dare you to feel confident in your skin.” The girl’s voice was husky, breathy almost.

  “We double dare you to love your body with or without clothes on. Easy,” the girl shrugged naturally, like she really believed the script. “Get skinny by dipping at Sliver Swimming Pools. The dare is on you.”

  The longer Sophie watched the girl, the more fantastic she seemed. She needed a second opinion. She needed Desmond – or she just might hire her on the spot, and be done with the audition process. She was getting hounded from Bradley that she wasn’t being efficient enough, working hard enough. This girl seemed fine.

  A niggling feeling in the pit of her stomach stopped her. The girl was green. Something in her gut told her that maybe for a national commercial they needed someone with experience.

  “Thanks,” Sophie mumbled, giving nothing away, her face blank. “What’s your name again?”

  “Samantha.”

  “Well done, Samantha, you’ll be hearing from your agent, you’re free to go.” Sophie forced herself not to look up from her piece of paper, feeling disturbed. Her father was in the same predicament, redundant and was now trying to get a job, anywhere. People needed to start somewhere didn’t they? Especially in a recession. But in a recession, there were more candidates than jobs, so she could afford to wait for the right mix, the right face, the right experience.

  Was there another star waiting outside? She didn’t have the time to audition everyone. Since Desmond wasn’t around, she’d have to have a call back regardless. She asterisked the girl’s name. She would call her back. Maybe she’d get it. Maybe outside there would be someone else? Someone a little more experienced?

  The world was supposedly full of out of work actresses, but where were they? Probably sleeping-in like Carol…Carol. It was a pity Carol just got her dancing job.

  Sophie leaned back in her chair, hearing the click of the door closing. Carol would be perfect. She definitely held people’s attention, from the moment people laid eyes on her. She was captivating, she had sex appeal – Josh almost fell all over himself trying to talk to her last night in the bar. Carol could at least audition, if she wanted to, that wouldn’t hurt would it? It would be an excellent opportunity, the face of a national commercial. But should she mix friendship with business? What if it didn’t work out? Would Carol be angry at her? Would she kick her out? Sophie pushed the thought aside.

  Picking up her smart phone, Sophie dialled. “How’s the rehearsal going?”

  “Just watching the lead have some sort of tantrum, I can’t speak right now. The tension’s so thick, there’s not much time for us to get the production in order. What’s up? I don’t have long before the director has us back on stage.” Her voice was a whisper.

  “I was just seeing how much time you have, can you pop out for lunch or anything? Thirty minutes?” Sophie tried to feel Carol out, to see whether there was any possibility of her coming in to audition.

  “Soph, I’d love to, but I’ve just started at this dance company. I’ve got so much catch up to do as the only reason they hired me was because another girl had to leave, last minute. It’s really hard to get work. The company also do loads of training. I’ve got this ballet training schedule. It’s like Big Brother. They know where I am at every moment of every day. I can’t just pop out. It’s too early in the piece. I’m so sorry, I can’t leave,” Carol exclaimed.

  “Sure, sure, no problem.” It was probably better to not mention it to her. There was no guarantee that Carol would get the job either, she’d still have to be approved by Desmond. Sophie pushed the thought aside. “Not to worry, I’ll see you later.”

  Sophie focused back on the list, it was better to use professional actresses, rather than a dancer, wasn’t it? She pushed the image of Carol from her mind.

  She walked to the doorway, poking her head out of the audition room, her eyes glued to her notebook.

  “Felicity Snow,” she called, loudly. “Felicity?” Sophie raised her voice, looking up from her list. The waiting room was full of models, gaunt hopefuls wanting to be right for the commercial. “Felicity?” Sophie paced the corridor looking into e
ach girl’s face.

  Sophie stopped, halting in front of Desmond. So he’d finally decided to turn up, but of course he was simply chatting to the ladies. What was wrong with this picture? “Are you Felicity Snow?” Sophie demanded, tapping her foot as she stood in front of him.

  He was leaning over a scrawny red head, and Desmond didn’t bother to glance at Sophie as he pressed a business card into her palm.

  “Karen, isn’t it?” he asked. The model nodded enthusiastically, she was about twenty years old with short hair cut in a fashionable style. “I’m an Art Director at Clarks. Just call my office to set something up as I have something I think just might be perfect for you.” The model beamed at him. God Desmond was intolerable.

  Next to Desmond, sitting at the end of the row of was Bradley, impeccably dressed in a pressed white shirt and slicked black hair. He stared up at Sophie, a mock grin on his face. The corners of Sophie’s mouth twitched, she struggled to keep her expression flat, serious, she raised a questioning eyebrow. He surely wasn’t becoming like Desmond, was he? Bradley was too much of a professional, wasn’t he? Although, Sophie had heard rumours about him sleeping with some of the temp staff. And he’d definitely looked down her top on occasions, she was sure of it.

  “You’re clearly not Felicity Snow either.” Sophie shook her head and folded her arms. “What are you doing here? You know I can’t afford your time charged to my client code so you better not be billing?”

  “I need to speak to you for a moment. Can you leave Desmond in charge for a bit?”

  She shot Desmond an irate glare. “Of course I can leave him in charge, since he should have been here for the last hour.” She thrust the list of names into Desmond’s hand. “We’re up to Felicity Snow and there are a few candidates we might want to call back. I’ve marked with asterisks.”

  Desmond was talking to his next victim; he certainly wasn’t worried. “Yeah, okay Soph, whatever you want.” He didn’t even bother to meet her eye. Lazy. If he weren’t so talented, Sophie would never use him as part of her team. But when crunch time came, he seemed to come out with the goods, pull everyone and everything together.