Page 4 of The Dicktionary Club

‘No one in Glasgow seems to care about buying a ridiculously overpriced portrait, though.’

She laughed. ‘And do you blame them? It’s not fuckingBridgerton, babes. It’s the Barras! People nowadays seem to prefer theLive, laugh, loveB&M shit hanging on their walls, not some fancy portrait.’ She laughed. ‘You’ll need to think outside the box with this one.’

I felt my eyes rolling at the suggestion, having wasted countless hours testing new ideas to funk the exhibition up a little. But truthfully, I had never felt so stuck at work. I was always the one coming up with new and innovative ideas formy clients, but this campaign was way out of my league, not to mention Andrea seemed to be on the war path recently and I knew she was looking for an opportunity for me or one of my friends to fuck up.

‘How do you think Katy’s getting on?’ Zola asked.

I flopped back on my chair. ‘Well, she’s still in there. That’s a good sign.’

Zola hummed a little. ‘I think she’ll land them.’

‘Even after one of her wobbles? I don’t think she’s ever had an early-morning pitch straight after a dumping before.’

‘True! But girls, especially after breakups, are unstoppable. That’s when we deliver. I remember my high-school boyfriend dumped me for some skinny blonde white girl with no ass .?.?. no offence.’

I pulled a face, briefly flicking my creamy blonde hair away from my shoulder and her firing line.

‘And the very next day, I applied to university and landed a badass scholarship. Yip, I didn’t allow myself to get stressed or beg forhimback. I even booked up to travel to Bali that entire summer. Bitches be getting PhDs after breaking up while the boys sit around playing video games and chasing the latest girl on Instagram.’ She tittered.

I laughed. ‘Well, firstly, I don’t think your high school boyfriend is the same as Katy’s, what, three-, four-week Tinder situationship, and secondly, I have got a fucking arse!’ I reached over to slap her arm while she dodged out of the way.

‘Ummm.?.?. you think so?’ she teased, glancing down towards my arse. ‘Like, really?’

We turned as we heard the door closing across the office floor and saw Katy trekking through. I sat up apprehensively as she approached us.

‘Well, how did it go?’ I asked, clutching my hands together.

Her straight brown hair was bopping up and down as shenodded. ‘Yeah, I think they liked my ideas. They’re going to talk to the CEO and let me know.’

‘Katy?’ Andrea called her name from her office. She leaned against the doorframe, swinging one leg of her glasses as she summoned her over.

Katy’s shoulders tensed again as she steered herself towards our boss. I averted my gaze back to my desktop.

‘What is she saying?’ I whispered to Zola. ‘Can you hear?’

‘Can’t hear, but she’s not shouting.’

The pair chatted briefly before Katy was dismissed back to her desk. On the way, she pulled out her phone.

‘He’s not texted me. Ella, you said he’d text.’ She plonked her arse down on the chair and turned to me, frustrated and unhappy.

‘I assumed he would.’ I raised an eyebrow. ‘But never mind him, tell us about your pitch. And what did Cruella want?’

Katy shrugged. ‘It was fine, honestly. I spoke a lot about promoting the product in gyms – I made out I was one of the gym girls, like you. And Andrea was surprisingly fine; she said she knew I’d do well. That’s why she chose me to pitch and all that stuff.’

I huffed, knowing an hour earlier she was threatening to sack my friend.

‘So, babe, what happened with Mark? I thought you had planned a nice romantic meal?’ Zola asked, keeping her voice low to spare the half-dozen in the marketing team working beside us.

I watched Katy’s eyes fill once more.

‘Jesus, Katy, don’t cry! Come here,’ I said, shuffling my chair towards her.

‘Honestly, Ella, if you hug me right now, I’ll go full-onNotebooktears.’

I paused immediately, reminding myself that the first time wewatched that movie, she could not talk or breathe appropriately for two days solid.

‘Well, I invited him over. He had been working all day out in the rain, so I ran him a lovely bath with my good Lush bath bomb set, you know, the one you got me for Christmas?’ She scowled at the thought of sharing her sweet Snowfairy scent now.

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