It will pass. It will pass. It will pass,I tell myself as I focus my eyes on a spot on the table. I’m still sitting there motionless as Charlie practically leaps up to stand and nod goodbye to Garrett who leaves the meeting room with a long and unnecessarily dramatic sigh.
“Shit,” I say as the pain sharpens, but it doesn’t spread, and so far, I am still seeing one of everything.
It will pass. It will pass. It will pass.
“You could say that,” Charlie says jovially as he flops back in the chair next to me.
I stay silent, hoping he’ll take that as an invitation to leave me alone. Not that I’d be alone. I am never completely alone when I have the threat of a migraine attack hanging over me. Indeed, it feels like having your worst enemy peering over your shoulder waiting for you to trip up only for them to then push their foot down on your back as you try to get up again.
It will pass. It will pass. It will pass.
Charlie shifts in his chair to face me, but still, I don’t look up from the table. I shouldn’t have gotten so worked up. Stress is my number one trigger and I was already feeling crappy and tired after moving all my stuff out at the weekend. I let this meeting get to me. I let those stupid things that Garrett said crawl under my skin and stress me out. I let the pressure of needing to prove myself, to be the lead for my first big campaign, the chance to prove myself as the right choice to be Creative Director cause me to get a fucking migraine attack. How could I be so stupid?
No.
It will pass. It will pass. It will pass.
“Listen, Mina. I know this is less than ideal,” Charlie says and his tone is less affected now Garrett has left the room. That said, it’s still annoyingly cheerful. “But I think we’d make a pretty good Creative Team, and hey, I guess with such limited time, two brains may well be better than one.”
“Even if one of those brains is yours?” I deadpan, still not looking at him.
“Haha!” Charlie actually laughs at the insult, laughs out loud. “Very funny. But seriously, you’re super good at what you do, and in many ways, it makes sense to have input from both a copy guy and an art girl on this project from the outset considering how visual a brand they are.”
I shudder a little at the way he calls me a girl. I’m twenty-nine for fuck’s sake. Ihatebeing called a girl.
“But Garrett said only one of us will actually get the lead, should the campaign come in.” I remind him. “And we both know leading a project like this will help determine who becomes the new Creative Director.”
“You want that role?” Charlie blinks at me incredulously, which pushes all my buttons. Does he not think I’m qualified? Does he think just because he’s older, and a man, he has more right to it than me?
“Yes, I want that role,” I say slowly, enunciating each word.
“Right,” Charlie drags the word out and because the pain above my eye isn’t worsening, it’s possibly subsiding, in fact, I turn my head towards him to try and ascertain what he meant by that.
“You know I'd be a very capable Creative Director,” I tell him forcefully. “Better than you, possibly.”
Charlie laughs again, and again it sounds genuine if a little less hearty. “I know you could,” he says simply.
I don’t know what to say to that, so I don’t say anything.
“Listen, I know you could do it. I justwantto it,” Charlie adds.
“Well, so do I.”
“No, but Ireallywant it. I have had a shitty few weeks and it would be nice to have a new client, a new campaign and a new role to focus—”
“Well, I really want it too,” I interrupt with a clenched jaw. “For similar reasons,” I mumble.
Seriously, does he think I’m just going to give it to him because he really,reallywants it? Does he think I’m going to give it to him that easily because everything else comes so easily to him?
“I see that, so I guess we just have to both work as hard as we can to try and secure the lead and maybe the Creative Director role although I daresay we’ll also have to interview and there will be external candidates too,”
“Duh,” I cut in and I only regret saying it when it echoes as a childish sound in my ears.
“But I think the best thing we can do right now is focus on coming up with a winning pitch that impresses Garrett enough that he picks the right man, oops, I mean, person for the job.” Charlie blushes a little as he stumbles over his words and if I was a kind person, I would almost describe it as cute.
But I’m not a kind person.
“But that will also mean working together, just us, as a Creative Team,” I remind him. “Don’t tell me you don’t think it will be an absolute nightmare?”
