Career Girls (10 page)

The editorial rooms of Westside were quieter by 8 p.m.; there were still a few journalists hunched over their consoles, t’acs lit by the flickering screens, who might well be slaving over their pieces till one or two in the morning. Topaz heard a telephone ring in the art dcpartmeut, a fax machiue whirr on the newsdesk. But basically the place was emptying out. She felt slightly sick with excitement as she looked at the editor’s office, still flooded with golden light. She was exhausted after another gruelling day; the job left her feeliug like a human puuchbag.

Better check myself out first, Topaz told herself, slipping into the ladies. Hardly the most luxurious restrooms in the universe, at least they had adequate supplies of what she needed most right now: lights and mirrors.

She glanced at her reflection, da.bbiug a little coverup over the shadows under her eyes. Pretty. good. Her black I)onna Karan tunic emphasized her large bust and tiny waist, the latest stack mules made her calves look thinner, there were a few loug curly red strands which had escaped from her swept-back look, but that was cool; they looked sexy, and they looked like she’d been working.

‘Yes. I am a working girl. I am going to get a promotion,’ Topaz told herself, theu she took a deep breath, left the

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ladies, and strode across the floor to Nathan Rosen’s office.

Rosen watched her coming. She excited him every way he looked at it. Day-to-day, she was a free-range magazine improver and staff-energizer. Mentally, he felt a rush ofjoy as one print man discovering another; looking at her, he saw a female version of his younger self: all journalistic brilliance and brass balls wrapped up in an intense love of the story and how to tell it. She would make it in spades, and he would be her guru. But physically - damn it! - he had distinctly unpaternal feelings which refused to go away. He watched the tight muscles of her ass rolling under her clothes as she came across the room, her breasts rising and falling, her legs clicking and pumping.., he felt that treacherous tickle in his groin … God, look at the way she moved when she walked! It was poetry, it was a symphony to the beauty of the human female.

Stop it! Right now! Rosen lectured himself. She’s

twenty-one years old, I’m thirty-nine. I could be her father. Topaz knocked and came in, smiling.

My God, she’s attractive, thought Rosen. ‘Sit down,’ he said coldly. Topaz sat.

‘You’re coming up with some good stuff, Topaz,’ he said, leaning forward. ‘Really good. And I know you realize this. I also know you realize that you’re outperforming your job description, and that you deserve a pay rise and a promotion.’

Topaz nodded intently. This is it. I did it. He’s gonna make me a reporter.

‘Well, you can have the pay rie,’ Rosen said. ‘But I’m not gonna make you a reporter. That, you can forget. You’ve only been here a month. You got five months to go before I’ll even consider it. And I don’t want you making any waves around the office - all the assistants are jealous enough of you as it is and I can tell you right now, some of

the junior reporters feel threatened.’

‘What?’ said Topaz, bewildered.

‘You gotta pay your dues and that’s just the way it is. I’m

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sorry if you don’t like it. That’s all. Congratulations on your pay rise,’ said Nathan bluntly, and turned to a file on his desk in dismissal.

For a second there was silence, as Topaz was suffocated with fury. But only for a second.

‘Fuck that! Andfick you,’ she spat. ‘So that’s it, huh? Six months of typing from seven a.m. to eight p.m. so the other secretaries can feel comfortable! How can you sit there and tell me talent means nothing, pay your dues? You’re scared of your junior reporters? I’ll tell you why they’re threatened - because I prove every day out there that I can do what they do better. You practically said so yourself. Who’s the editor here? You or them?’

‘I am!’ roared Rosen, out of his chair now and incensed. The , not you! And don’t you ever forget it!’

He sat down again heavily, enraged. ‘You listen to me, Rossi,’ he said. ‘You’re lucky I don’t fire you on the spot’ Topaz went white- ‘for the way you just spoke to me. I’ve been running this ship for ten years and you’ve been here five minutes. I’ve seen hotshots like you before, you come in the door, put in long hours, come up with a couple of snappy lines and you think you’re RalphJ. Gleason. Well, coming up with a title or a caption does not make a reporter. You know what it makes? An advertising copywriter!’ he bellowed again. ‘You wanna sell ice cream? Take a cab to Madison Avenue!’

Topaz trembled. It was like standing directly in the path of a ballistic missile.

Tm sorry,’ she mumbled, and was appalled to hear her voice quiver. Oh God, she panicked, I think I’m going to

cry.

Rosen looked at his prot6g6e, staring at her lap and obviously terrified. He had been violently angry, but that had passed and now he kind of admired her spirit. And she looked so vulnerable. Part of him wanted to soothe her, kiss her, stroke her hair. Part of him wanted to throw her over the desk and fuck her right here in the office. Don’t think about that! Be fair. But be just.

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‘OK, look,’ he said. ‘I can’t go ou with you like this, it’s disruptive. But you think I’m holding you back, you’re as good as the junior reporters … so. I’m giving you a chance to prove it. David Levine has a meeting at the GE building at three o’clock tomorrow, I got a tip-off, nobody else knows. You know nobody’s been able to get a comment from him on this story that he hit a teacher at his kid’s school. Get a comment. You know where he’ll be, follow him, get a comment. You do, you get a promotion and a secretary. Screw up, and you’re out on your ass. Understood?’

‘Understood,’ said Topaz, and now she was glowing.

David Levine emerged out of the General Electric building, and across the street Topaz felt time, her heartbeat and the revolution of the planets ground to a resounding halt. She sucked in her breath. He was unmistakable even at this distance; the golden hair that had introduced a generation of American pubescent girls to their own sexuality glinted in the thin winter light, and she could see his broad, tall frame and arrogantjawline from here. David Levine combined an fitense, Jewish, Richard Gere-type sensuality with the looks and physique of a Viking. Topaz had seen ten of his movies herself. He was one of a handful of stars who could ‘open’ a movie nationwide; and now ugly rumours were surfacing which could wreck his career if they were true. Certain sussed journalists had heard that America’s Mr Romantic was a woman-beater, and had broken the nose of his mistress, a young teacher at his son’s primary school. Not a word had appeared in priut. The woman was too scared to talk. Levine was too powerful to libel.

Topaz felt for her Dictaphone recorder, securely in her pocket, and dashed through the traffic. ‘Mr Levine!’ she gasped, running up to him. ‘Excuse me, sir?’

Levinc turned round, noticed a girl with a great-looking bod’y in shades and a baseball cap, blushing furiously. He gave hcra lazy smile. ‘Hcy, swccthcart,’ he said. ‘Not too loud. I don’t want to get mobbed. Who shall I sign it to?’

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He thinks I’m an autograph-hunter!

‘Oh no, I’m not a fan,’ she blurted. ‘Well, I am a fan. It’s just-I mean, I’m a reporter.., you know, there’s a story going round that you hit a teacher. I was wondering if you had any comment, you know, to clear your name?’

David Levine’s greeu eyes had crystallized into chips of

‘Get lost, you cheap whore,’ he slurred. ‘And you can tell that tramp from me, if she’s been talking…’

‘What?’ demanded Topaz. ‘You’ll finish the job?’

All of her nervousness had evaporated. She was right in the middle of a breaking story, and this bastard was high.

Levine glared at her. ‘Print a word of this, slut, and I’ll sue

you to,kingdom come. I don’t see a tape recorder.’

And he stepped into a swooping cab.

Topaz barely had time to register that he was right, she hadn’t had the Dictaphone switched on. She hailed the next taxi in line. an you follow that car? And don’t let the guy

know. ‘

‘No problem, lady,’ said the driver, pleased to have his boring day livened up.

The cars tore through glittering Manhattan, weaving through the traffic like it was water. Topaz stared out of the window, at the mirrored skyscrapers jabbing into the sky like accusing fingers, and raced through her information. Number one, he was guilty as hell. Number two, he was on some kind of drugs, and not totally together-maybe she could get something past him. Number three, the way he spoke, she’d bet her last dime the teacher was not the only woman he’d hit …

Topaz thought for a second. Thn she took off her cap and shades and stuffed them in her bag, unbuttoned her jacket and unpinned her hair so that it fell round her shoulders like a blazing waterfall. She loosened the top three buttons on her shirt, took out her lipstick…

David Levinc relaxed some more. It was good cognac, good coke and a nice club, the kind where people were too cool to

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bother him. He’d screwed three more points on the gross from them in the meeting today, and told a dyke reporter where she could get off. And now he was here, talking to Jo-Ann, some Texan chick with wide baby eyes, soft lips and awesome tits. She had a good attitude, too. She appreciated her luck in getting to sit with him. She was the type that liked a strong man. He could hardly wait to stick it to her.

‘ … though you prob’ly don’t approve, being a New Yorker,’ she murmured, eyes downcast. ‘Y’all are prob’ly one of those feminists.’

She pronounced the word with a delicate distaste. Levine roared with laughter. ‘No, ma’am. No way.’ ‘Well, that’s good to hear,’ she said. ‘I know I’m real old fashioned, but I swear that’s the way the good Lord intended it to be. It tells us so in the Bible. I admire a man who keeps discipline in his own house, although you don’t meet too many of those in this day and age.’

Levine wondered if she’d get offon being spanked before

he took her. Well, no matter, he was going to do it anyway. The thought of her delicious Southern ass exposed across his knees started to give him a hard-on.

‘Well, you got one here, Jo-Ann,’ he said. ‘Last time my ex-girlfriend decided to get out of line … let’s just say she never did it again.’

Topaz leant forward, pressing her breasts together, the rolling Dictaphone whirring under her dress.

‘My!’ she purred. ‘Why don’t you tell me all about it?’

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The subway car was crammed, absolutely full to the brim. Smart businessmen in crisp linen suits stood shoulder-to shoulder with maintenance men in their overalls and joggers in tight Lycra on their way home. Topaz didn’t mind; not even the fat Italian housewives clutching shopping bags bothered her any more. For the first couple of weeks, she’d felt uncomfortable, wondering if all these big-city slickers could see through her no-nonsensE jeans and trainers, her tight little skirts and black briefcase. She’d felt transparent, like everybody could tell by looking at her she shouldn’t be here: Topaz Rossi, a pushy kid from New Jersey, playing at being a journalist on a big magazine. She imagined that everybody could tell she was earning slave wages, living in a scuzzy walk-up on the Lower East Side. Who was she kidding? Nobody’d be fooled because she’d learnt to dress right. She was bound to look gauche and awkward. To make a fool of herself.

Three weeks after that, she’d become neutral, tuning out like everybody else.

Today, she was loving every minute of it.

The David Levine article, typed,, neatly laid out and over eight thousand words long, was safely folded in her briefcase, together with a copy of the tape of her interview. She felt as though it must be burning a hole right through the leather, this thing was so hot. It had taken her all night to write it up, and it was worth every second. She didn’t feel tired. She felt young, and terrific, and bursting with energy. She was on her way.

Topaz smoothed her skirt down on her hips,.oblivious to

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the admiring glances of the men around her. Her mind was racing with plans, with exactly how she should present this

to her editor, with what she could get out of him in return. Because this was it. This was her big break.

Nathan Rosen had given her Mission Impossible, and against all the odds she’d come through. Yeah, she mused, he won’t be expecting this. He wanted to punish me, show me I’d been getting too big for my boots, that I couldn’t handle the stuffI was asking for. He probably expected me to come see him a couple of days later, in tears, begging him not to sack me. Topaz shook her beautiful head, sending her earrings jangling about her throat. The scene wasn’t gonna play that way.

The train pulled up at 53rd Street and 7th, and Topaz pushed out of the doors, looking forward to the walk to the office. Several bored commuters admired her ass as she strode purposefully up the escalator, enjoying the rare sight of a girl with curves. Topaz had an hourglass figure, and she refused to starve it into waiflike submission. If Kate Moss wanted to look like a boy, fine. She doubted men like ‘Nathan Rosen would look twice at Kate Moss.

Broadway glittered in the early morning sun as Topaz stepped out of the station. The air was faintly humid and warm, promising a baking hot day later on. She shivered with pleasure, feeling enthusiasm and energy beat up out of the streets towards her. Her sneakers seemed to bounce off the pavement. Midtown Manhattan! Why shouldn’t she love it?

All the way to the American Magazines tower, Topaz Rossi was bubbling with excitement. When you were young and on your way, New York was the only place to be, paying no attention to where you were from, just where you were going.

And I, Topaz thought, pushing through the revolving doors into the marble lobby, am going straight to the top. No more Gino putting me down. No more Rowena Gordon, stamping on me with her blue-blooded feet. No