Meredith was woken up by a very loud alarm that Taylor had set by the bed. She groaned and rolled around but she knew she had to get up because the big day had finally arrived. She padded out Sarah's bedroom and into the the living room following the smell of coffee into the kitchen.
"Morning!" Taylor said as she flitted around the kitchen and paused to hand Meredith a mug. "I made a light breakfast just in case you're nervous. Also don't want you bloated or anything when you're supposed to look sexy."
"Thanks." Meredith responded grumpily, half sarcastically and half actual gratitude. She was actually kind of hungry she had forgotten to eat dinner the night before. She finished pouring her cup of coffee and adding three spoons of sugar with a splash of two percent milk while Taylor set their dishes on the other side of the island in front of two bar stools.
They had toast and jam with fresh fruit. When they were done Meredith got washed and dressed while Taylor did the same. Meredith waited for Taylor to finish her own makeup and hair before attacking her. Taylor took Meredith's towel off her head and using a large round brush began to blow dry her hair. She clipped the front of her hair back and started on her makeup.
"Your oval face structure is perfect. I'm very square so I have to soften my features but you just need a little accenting. And your complexion is amazing." Taylor was mumbling to herself mostly and she applied moisturizer and began working on Meredith's eyes. "I know you hate your eye color but those specks of gold are gorgeous. I'm going to add just a little bronzer to bring them out more but keep it fresh and simple. We want a subtle sexy. Something to have Edward do a double take."
"Hmm." Was all Meredith could muster as a response. She had no idea what Taylor was talking about really. Once her makeup was done Meredith looked in the mirror and smiled. She could see the subtle sexy and her confidence level was rising. She knew her project was well polished and would be a winner but even more so she was well polished and would help push it the extra step. She borrowed an expensive handbag and flipped her bag upside down letting her chaos fall into the fancy leather bag. She slipped on her shoes and walked around the living room a few times. While she didn't often wear heels she didn't feel too clumsy and was confident in them.
"Uber's here." Taylor called out to her on her way to the door. They headed out and were going to arrive with plenty of time for Meredith to hunt for her badge. Which she needed as she had literally dumped the contents of her bag into the borrowed bag thus creating even more chaos than before.
"You look great today. Is your meeting for your important project today?" Ben asked as Meredith hunted for her badge.
"She does look great doesn't she?!" Taylor responded before Meredith had a chance to.
"Oh. Found it!" Meredith scanned her badge. "Yep super important meeting today." She finally responded to Ben. "Thank you." She added with a large genuine smile and followed Taylor to the elevator.
"Wow." Mr. Hubert said when he saw Meredith get off the elevator and walk to her desk. She was wearing the outfit that her mother had bought her. A cropped red satin short sleeve blouse over a black camisole that was only noticable if you were Mr. Hubert trying to catch a glimpse of under boob. She wore a high waisted black pencil skirt with a gold zipper that ran up the back and she had on nude platform pumps adding several inches to her already tall height. She would be eye level with any of the Davids in those shoes. Mr. Hubert eyed her slowly then added, "If your project weren't amazing already I'd say we have it in the bag based on your looks alone."
"Umm… Thanks, Sir." Meredith wasn't really sure if that was appropriate but she understood what he was trying to say albeit in a creepy I want to eat you for a light midnight snack sort of way.
"And you're early to boot. Meeting is in an hour make sure we have everything we need before we head up."
"Yes, sir." Meredith got to work double checking that everything was there and in proper order. Karen arrived shortly after Meredith also dressed to win. She wore sexy black suede pumps, a pinstriped pencil skirt and a black long sleeve blouse. She didn't want to get too cold in the office. Meredith hadn't thought about that but Taylor had. Taylor specifically picked out an outfit that would cause Meredith to become chilly and show off her nipple buds. When Taylor explained this to Meredith on the elevator earlier all Meredith could do was sigh. After today she would hopefully get a raise and go back to her regularly scheduled routine.
It was finally time to head up to the thirty-fifth floor to Edward Maxwell's offices and present their ad campaign. Meredith followed Mr. Hubert and Karen into the elevator with their portfolios and laptop bags and headed up to their meeting. The entire ride up Mr. Hubert kept pulling out his mustache comb and swiping it through his mustache.
"Sir." Karen finally said and handed her palm out.
"Hmm?" He looked at her confused.
"Your comb, sir. I'll return it after the meeting."
"Oh. Right, right. Of course." He handed it to her sheepishly and then proceeded to fidget twidling his thumbs before finally placing his hands in his pockets and rocking on his heels. Meredith glanced to the side at him once or twice but for the most part she ignored him and focused on remaining confident.
There were five main graphic design departments within the building and three of them were tasked with this project. Each department had assigned their top designers to present to Edward Maxwell's office. He would choose two of the best designs to present to the client and which ever design the client chose would be deemed the winner. It wasn't necessarily a competition in that the business as a whole would benefit from any design chosen as that meant the client would do business with Maxwell Sharpe. But whoevers design was chosen would receive an increase in budget for their design department.
Generally each department focused on a different niche of marketing and Meredith's department was responsible for anything related to science and technology. They provided marketing campaigns and ads for upcoming advanced technology equipment anywhere from 3D scanners to new cell phones. They never dealt with automotive. However, Edward Maxwell really wanted this deal with the Luxury car company as it would improve his chances of becoming CEO once his father stepped down. So he petitioned for other graphic design departments to work on it in an attempt to step outside the box for the win. At least that was how he worded it when he told his assistant Henry to set it all up.
All three departments were present in the meeting room. Each had two designerrs and their department manager present, Edward was present, he arrived last and ignored everyone as he took his seat at the head of the room, and his assistant Henry who arrived first. Edward wore an expensive looking navy suit with a grey tie. He had on shiny black oxford shoes. His dark brown hair was billowing on top his head in a floppy fashion and hung over his piercing green eyes until he used his fingers to brush it back out of the way. His beard looked as though he had just swiped his own comb through it before entering the room. It was perfectly groomed.
Once Edward took his seat each team presented a packet to the others and took turn presenting their campaigns. The other two teams had backup campaigns. The automotive team had three design campaigns and the apparel team had two.
Meredith's team was the only design team that prepared one campaign without a backup. The others whispered at how unusually and foolish this was until they saw it and then they were quickly silenced. Meredith as the lead presented it as Karen handed oth the packets. Edward seemed bored during the whole meeting until that point when he perked up momentarily then went back to looking bored again. Meredith assumed he didn't want anyone to know what he was really thinking and while Henry asked questions and made comments Edward said nothing the entirety of the meeting.
Once everyone had presented Edward quickly got up and left without a word. Henry explained that they would announce the two they would present to the client at the end of day. Everyone packed up to leave. Karen had asked Meredith if she could pack up the things alone because she wanted to head out a little early to meet her husband for lunch. Meredith had no issues with that and as such was the last one in the office. Henry paused before shutting the door to compliment her.
"I don't know what Mr. Maxwell's decisions will be but I personally think your campaign presentation was phenomenal."
"Thank you."
"I was surprised your team chose no backup but I can see why. You put everything into that one design and it really paid off."
"It was a risk but I felt it was the best descion. We don't normally work in automotive so we wanted to present the best possible design."
"It was worth the risk."
"Thank you."
"I'll contact you before the end of day." He told her and headed towards his office.
Meredith stood at the elevator not having won the title of Mrs. Maxwell but possibly having won the campaign presentation for her department. All in all she felt accomplished and she smiled to herself as the elevator doors opened to take her down to her floor. Standing in the corner of the elevator alone was a David.