Dirty White Candy, The Beginning, Book 1 (18 page)

“Since you’re all familiar with Trina’s product, I’ll move right in to the ideas I have.
 
First, I’ve been using the product and can vouch for everything she claims.
 
My skin feels more nourished and my brush glides through my hair now.
 
My nail beds are looking healthier and the shave gel left me with zero razor bumps, especially in the difficult bikini area.”

Trina beamed with pride.

“So now you have your first customer,” I pointed out.

“But beauty products are modeled to us – to women.
 
Today’s campaign ads portray us as sexual beings, with perfect taught bodies, pulsating sexuality and a size zero waist.
 
It’s porn for prepubescent boys.
 
Guess who we won’t be marketing to.”

“I don’t understand,” Trina interrupted.

“We won’t be marketing to fifteen year old boys.
 
We’ll be marketing to real women.
 
Real women are intelligent.
 
We are wives, mothers, grandmothers, office assistants, executives.
 
We’re intelligent women who don’t want a porn star selling us beauty products we know damned well the model isn’t wearing.”
 
I pulled the cover off the first board.
 
“Let’s sell to real women.
 
Your models should look real, normal and professional.
 
No model under a size five or six.
 
I’d prefer to use women who do not model at all.
 
Have them use the products for three weeks before the photo shoot.
 
Then we’ll do real time video clips of them, along with progressive photos of skin and hair condition.
 
Real women selling to real women.”

I pulled the cover off the second board.
 
“But we shouldn’t just market to women.
 
If you can change the scent of your shampoos, conditioners, moisturizers and shave gels so that we can market to men as well, doubling your demographic.
 
We take photos of construction workers, people who work in the sun with their hands as well as those who work in an office.”

I finally pulled the cover off the last board.
 
These are the stores who have agreed to give you a three month run across the country.
 

“Get out!”
 
Trina yelled.
 
“All those?”

I smiled, “Yes Trina.
 
I have a good relationship with the buyers in each of these stores.
 
When I talked to them about your product, they were more than excited to give you a shot.
 
Your price point is good, and if we do some free samples or get people to try them for a short while, they’ll be as addicted as I am now.
 
As a case in point, I think it would be a great idea to send them some free samples so that they get behind you like I am.”

“We’ll have to step up production in order to meet demand just for the first run,” the surly gentleman in the suit said.
 
“We can probably meet that kind of demand within three months.
 
Can you get this marketing campaign up in that time?”

“I sure can, we’ll get some buzz started online first and when we’re ready to launch, we’ll go to print and maybe a short time on T.V. if we can handle the demand.”
 
I took a seat and sipped at my coffee, trying to remain calm.
 
This account was going to be enormous.
 
“I’ll need to vet your dermatologists before we use names of course.
 
We don’t need someone else’s bad reputation mucking up yours.”

“Not a problem.
 
Their information was in the files I left you.”
 
Trina looked around at her investors.
 
“Can you give us a moment of privacy?”

Olivia and I left the room and stood in the hall.

“Is this normal?” she asked.

“Not at all, but they’re on the hook.
 
Trina couldn’t contain her excitement and the grumpy old man was already calculating production.
 
They just want to get a consensus without the pressure of me there to hear it.”

Olivia nodded and bit her lip.
 
“I’m so nervous for you.
 
I mean, we wouldn’t have done boards for a group presentation.”

“It was a first meeting.
 
We’ll do a formal one before launch.”
 
I took a deep breath to calm my nerves.

Trina opened the door and waved us in.

“I can’t wait.
 
I’m so excited.
 
Thank you Ms. Kavana.
 
I knew I’d made the right decision.”

“Contracts are on the table.
 
I’ll leave you to them.
 
When you and your party are done reviewing them, please leave them with Olivia.
 
I have another appointment this afternoon I must finish preparing for.
 
Thank you for coming.
 
I look forward to working with you.”
 
I smiled and excused myself from the room.

Fighting to walk and not run I made my way to my office, closed the door, kicked off my heels and jumped up and down, squealing as quietly as I could.
 
Trina’s account was a huge one.
 

I wanted to celebrate.
 
I wanted to call David and have crazy wild drunken sex.
 
Not having his phone number or last name was going to keep that from happening.
 
I did the only thing I could do and called Stacy to tell her the big news.

“I haven’t heard you this excited about work in a long time!”
 
She laughed quietly on the other end of the phone, not wanting to alert her staff she was taking a private call.

“This account is one of the largest I’ve landed in a very long time.
 
The budget is huge.”
 
I twisted the phone cord in my fingers as I gazed out the window.
 

“Look at you moving up in the world.”
 
She started talking to someone in the background.
 
“Look, I gotta go.
 
How about drinks on Friday?”

“Sounds good.
 
See you after work on Friday.”

I twirled in my chair like a little kid.
 
How odd at my age to do a happy dance and spin in an office chair, but I did it each time I landed an account.

Friday I celebrated with Stacy, leaving Saturday morning a lazy one.
 
I lounged around the house bored and a bit concerned that it was Saturday and I had nothing to do.
 
It was clear that I needed a social life.
 
My current social interaction was Stacy and sex therapy.
 
I needed to get out and live a little.

I opened my laptop and started scanning the social networking sites for events in the area.
 
It shouldn’t be hard for a successful woman to find entertainment.
 
So I started preparing.
 
After lunch I painted my nails.
 
While they were setting, I continued scanning local events.
 
There were three spots I could hit, giving me something to do if one location was not to my liking.

Standing in front of my closet, I gazed at the party clothes I had.
 
Leather pants, a sequined top and knee length high-heeled boots to match my shirt.
 
I may never buy my own clothes again.
 
I ran a bath and soaked, trying to relax my nervousness away.
 
I’d never gone out on my own.
 
Dealing with strangers at work and socially couldn’t be that much different.

I pulled the drain plug and started the shower, making sure everything was clean and impeccably shaved.
 
I took extra care applying my makeup and styling my hair.
 
Happy with the look I had, I phoned a cab.

The first stop was a bar not too far away that had a local rock band.
 
The music was loud, making it okay to sit and enjoy the music and the crowd.
 

“Hey there!” A girl shouted next to me.

“Hi,” I said with a smile.

“I’m Meridith.”

I shook her hand, “Candy.”

Immediately I saw a look of disapproval come over her face.
 
I was puzzled.

“Candy is your real name?”
  
She was uneasy, and it wasn’t hard to tell as her body language completely changed.
 
She completely crossed her legs and arms.

“Yep, says so on my driver’s license.”
 
I laughed.
 
“Did you think it was a stripper name or something?”

Her face burned red.
 
I’d hit the nail on the head.

“I’m sorry.
 
Way to start a conversation, right?”

I waved it off, “It’s okay.
 
I’ve gotten that before.
 
Not a stripper,” I teased.

“Hey, you wanna come sit with us?
 
Our table is back there, and it’s a bit quieter.
 
If you stand here, it won’t take long for the sleaze balls to start stalking you.”

I wanted to be social, turning her down seemed ludicrous.
 
However, it wouldn’t have bothered me to find a sleaze ball for the evening.
 
Logic took over, so I followed her to the table.
 
She politely introduced me to her friends.

“Candy is her real name, so be nice.”
 

Oh great, catty women, just what I was looking for.

They each welcomed me.
 
It was nice to be included by a group of women.
 
Of course, being the new arrival at the table there were questions about my occupation, attachments, hobbies and such.
 
Their nods of approval told me I was qualified to hang out with them.

I needed a social life.
 
I didn’t need a clique.
 
So I politely excused myself and took a cab to the next bar.
 
This one had a DJ, decent crowd and an outdoor smoking area.

I ordered a drink straight away and sucked it down fast.
 
I ordered
 
a second drink and took it to the outdoor smoking area.

“Candy?”
 
I heard from behind me.

“Olivia!”
 
Thank God, a familiar face!

“What are you doing here?”
 
She was with a group of women.

“You know, trying to get a social life.
 
I just left a bar where a clique of Barbie dolls tried to recruit me.”

Olivia laughed.
 
“Let me introduce you to the cool kids.”
 
She stepped back and introduced her friends, “This is Brett, very handsome, but very gay.
 
Next, there’s Lisa, super-hot, a little bi-sexual and very available.
 
Then there is Cheyenne, she’s my on-again-off-again lover.
 
And last, but not least is my cousin, Lexie.
 
Lexie is recently divorced and getting shit faced.”

“Hi everyone, Candy here.”
 
I shook their hands and took a seat.

“So you hired Olivia?”
 
Brett asked.

“Yes, and I have never been so happy with an assistant.
 
She’s a catch.”
 
I lit my smoke, hoping not to offend anyone.
 
Why was smoking such a faux pas anymore?
 
Thankfully, they all followed suit.