The easiest assignment ever?, Bianca and Marissa

[Marissa Cooper]

Marissa couldn't believe her luck when she got her first assignment from Elle magazine. The Editor-in-Chief had found out that Marissa and Bianca were childhood friends, and so he figured that it would be the perfect opportunity to get an exclusive interview with the hip, new fashion designer. Not only would this article be a good way to ease into her new job and give her a jump start in status with Elle but she had a real reason to call up her old friend, now.

"I can do it in one minute, Kyle," Marissa told her son who was asking if she could make him and Sydney some soup. "Mommy has to make a call for work, kay?" Kyle set the soup can on the table in front of Marissa before running off towards Sydney, the two heading off for their room. It hit Marissa as she looked through her cell phone numbers that Bianca might have changed her cell phone number since the last time they had talked, but she decided she'd deal with that problem only if it came to that. She hit send and paced around the room, hoping that Bianca would pick up.

To Marissa's surprise, Bianca picked up the phone on the second ring. "Hey Bianca, its Marissa... wow, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to reach you or not! How are you?" she asked, a little relieved she wouldn't have to search online for a way to contact her.

[Bianca Williams]

bianca sat comfortably on her king sized bed, surrounded by an endless amount of papers, files, and folders. when had her life become one jumbled mess? she'd never been the most organized girl in the world, but this was borderline ridiculous. hearing her cell phone ring, bianca was almost glad for the distraction. it wasn't like talking to suppliers could be much more fun than sorting through this paperwork, but it was a slight step up, at least. she searched through the papers to find her small cell phone, grinning in triumph when she noticed it sticking out underneath a folder. "hah!" she exclaimed in excitement. "gotcha!"

with that, she flipped the phone open and held it to her ear, fully expecting it to be somebody that she simply didn't want to speak to. "bianca williams," she muttered as professionally as she could. here she was, wearing pajamas and surrounded by papers that she couldn't understand. at least she had the professional-girl lingo down. sure enough, it was marissa. bianca was taken back for a moment, but smiled nonetheless. "wow, hey coop," she greeted her old friend, not thinking twice before she stood from the bed and skipped around the room excitedly. "i'm pretty fabulous. what about you?"

[Marissa Cooper]

"i'm pretty fabulous. what about you?"

Having reached Bianca, which was the only thing that Marissa thought might be hard about the interview, Marissa decided she could multitask and start getting the soup ready for her kids. "Actually, I'm pretty fabulous, too," she said, grabbing the can and heading for the kitchen. She definitely had no complaints--she had a great new job, her kids were doing well, and she and Ryan were working their relationship out. How could it get better? "I actually just got a job with Elle, which is amazing since working with my mom was... not always so good." Marissa shifted the phone over to her other ear, balancing it on her shoulder so she could open the can. "Actually, I was kind of hoping I could interview you for an article. We can catch up, let our kids play... you interested?"

[Bianca Williams]

oh, an interview? bianca cocked an eyebrow and nodded her head. a good thirty seconds of silence later, she remembered that they were talking over the phone and marissa couldn't actually see her action. "oh!" she exclaimed dumbly, opening the door to the bedroom and walking into the living room. "yeah, totally. when do you want to do it?" she asked as she made her way towards brooklyn, who was watching some random nickelodeon show on the plasma television. "despite the fact that i'm supposed to be super busy, i basically have no life and spend most days at home in my pajamas being a mom," she explained with a laugh as she threw one of brooklyn's stuffed animals at the little girl, causing her to laugh.

[Marissa Cooper]

At first, when Marissa heard no response she thought that Bianca was thinking it over... maybe Bianca was reluctant to be interviewed or something. Had it been a bad idea to ask for an interview so soon? After a while, though, Marissa thought that maybe the call had been lost, because she hadn't heard so much as a "hmmm." She pulled the phone away from her ear and checked the screen to see if they were still connected. They were. What? Marissa poured the can of soup into a bowl. "Bianca?" she asked, not sure if she was still there.

"oh!" "yeah, totally. when do you want to do it?" Well, at least now Marissa knew that the silence wasn't because Bianca didn't want to see her. "despite the fact that i'm supposed to be super busy, i basically have no life and spend most days at home in my pajamas being a mom,"

Marissa filled up the empty can with water and added it to the condensed soup. "Um... well pretty much any time works for me, too," sje explained as she set the bowl in the microwave and started it up. "The good thing about my job is I get to do pretty much the same thing." She liked that she got to stay home for her work... she liked knowig that she and Ryan didn't have to hire a sitter or a nanny to take care of the kids. "Maybe sometime today if you don't have plans?"

[Bianca Williams]

today? well, bianca could totally do that. she looked down at her outfit, which was a tank top, a pair of sweatpants and uggs, before turning towards brooklyn. at least her daughter looked presentable. "yeah, today would be great. do you want us to go there or do you want to come here? brooklyn's watching some horrible movie where they like... sing, so it's going to be hard to tear her away from it. the terror twins can come on over here if they want to and watch it with her," bianca offered out as she moved from the living room and into the kitchen. she grabbed a few ingredients to start making herself a salad, but stopped and rested a hand on her hip. "come over whenever, coopcake," She made a kissy noise into the phone, then hung up. no way in hell was bianca going to go out in public looking this horrible.

[Marissa Cooper]

Marissa listened to Bianca's--or rather her daughter's--situation, and figured that it would be good to give her kids a reason to get out of the house. "Yeah, sure, I'm getting some lunch ready for Kyle and Sydney but I can probably come over right after," she explained, keeping her eye on the microwave timer.

"come over whenever, coopcake,"

"Alright, I'll be by later today," she said, then hanging up the phone. "Sydney, Kyle, can you come here for a moment?" she called out to her kids, who arrived seconds later, giggling. "Is the soup ready?" Sydney asked hopefully, looking over towards the microwave. "Not yet, baby, it will be in a minute. How would you guys like to go visit a friend of mine? She's got a girl your age." Kyle scrunched his face up a little. "Mom! Girls have cooties!""I'm a girl!""You're different.""Boys are the ones with cooties!" Marissa sighed to herself as she watched her kids argue about cooties.

"Guys, there is no such thing as cooties," she itnerrupted as the microwave timer went off. She took the soup out and dropped in a few ice cubes, then pouring it into two separate bowls and setting them on the counter in front of the two stools.

Forty-five minutes later, they had arrived at Bianca's house. Sydney pushed the doorbell, wanting to prove that she was a big girl while Kyle was chasing a little lizard across the driveway. "Kyle, baby, leave that alone for me."

[Bianca Williams]

Bianca had been sitting on the couch, watching the previously mentioned dreadful movie with brooklyn, who was sitting on the couch and eating an ice cream cone. luckily, just as the little creatures were about to break into song, the doorbell rang. bianca eagerly stood up, handed a napkin to brooklyn, and walked towards the large front doors. she swung them open and grinned when she saw two small children and marissa. "coop!" she greeted, wrapping her arms around the much taller blonde to hug her. "wow, they're getting so big!" she laughed a little and ushered all three of them inside, closing the door once everyone had come into the penthouse.

"you haven't seen brooklyn since she was born, have you?" she questioned, unable to wait much longer to introduce the two. "brooklyn, com'ere." she called out. sure enough, within seconds, the little girl who looked just like her mother came running out of the living room, holding her favorite stuffed animal. "brooklyn, this is my friend marissa.. and this is kyle and sidney," she explained, pointing to the two children. "hi i'm brooklyn and this is sasha," she said in reference to her favorite bear.

[Marissa Cooper]

Marissa turned away from Kyle just as the front door opened to reveal Bianca. "Bianca, hey!" she greeted, hugging her friend back.

"wow, they're getting so big!"

"I know," Marissa said with a smile. "I can barely believe how much they've grown this past year." Over a year, they went from being small enough to be able to pick up fairly easily to being big enough that it was fairly hard to do it anymore. Of course, Bianca was probably facing the same realizations--Brooklyn couldn't be that much younger than Kyle and Sydney. She shook her head when Bianca asked if she had seen Brooklyn any time recently. Marissa definitely hadn't seen her since she had been only a few months old.

"brooklyn, this is my friend marissa.. and this is kyle and sidney," There stood a girl that looked remarkably like Bianca had when they had first met back in elementary school. It was a little creepy. "hi i'm brooklyn and this is sasha,"

"Hi Brooklyn, it's nice to meet you," Marissa said, smiling. "I've known your mom since we were about your age, did you know that?" "I've got a bear, too! But she's pink and I named her Lilly," Syndey jumped in proudly. "Well next time you guys get together you can bring your bear and they can be friends, too," Marissa suggested. Kyle just stood back a little, clearly sticking to his belief that Brooklyn had cooties.

[Bianca Williams]

although sydney and brooklyn seemed to get along remarkably well, bianca couldn't help but notice that kyle was shying away from them. smirking, she held out her hand for him to take. she'd gained certain 'mommy skills' over these past few years that brooklyn had been around and now it was like certain things were second nature to her. "hey, kyle.. wanna come into the kitchen and have an ice pop? i've got these really cool spiderman ones," she explained. of course, she had them because she enjoyed them, while brooklyn would only eat the dora the explorer ones. she took a hold of the little boys hand and led the way into the kitchen, laughing when brooklyn and syndey joined hands as well to make the short trip.

bianca grabbed a couple of ice pops from the freezer and handed some to the kids, unwrapping each of them before handing them off to their rightful owners. "now how about you show kyle and syndey your room and then you can go watch your dvds?" bianca suggested to brooklyn, who seemed to be more interested in her popsicle than her mother. still, she nodded her head and kissed bianca's cheek before skipping off and talking the whole entire way, much like her mother used to. bianca grinned for a moment, but soon snapped out of her 'proud mommy' phase and turned back to marissa. "okay, so.. i've never been interviewed by a friend. i'll let you ask me anything you want," she promised, propping herself up onto the counter and eating one of the ice pops herself.

[Marissa Cooper]

Marissa watched Sydney follow Brooklyn excitedly, waving back at Marissa. "Bianca and I will be right in here, okay?" she told her twins, waving back at them. Kyle clearly seemed interested in watching some DVDs, and so wasn't at all reluctant to follow the two girls to Brooklyn's room. "I bet you as soon as Syndey and Brooklyn realize they are both named after cities they are going to become BFFs," she commented as she watched their kids walk away.

"okay, so.. i've never been interviewed by a friend. i'll let you ask me anything you want,"

"Thanks. Honestly I've never interviewed a friend, so this should be more fun than all my other ones," she said as she pulled out a tape recorder. "Mind if I tape this?" she asked, setting it on the counter. She assumed the answer would be 'yes,' but she knew she needed to ask just in case. Having gotten the okay, she hit the play button, fished out an ice pop, and turned to a list of questions she had written down to spark the interview. "How about you start by explaining what we can expect from your line soon. Is there anything coming up that we can look forward to?"

[Bianca Williams]

bianca nodded when marissa asked if she could tape the interview. she began to swing her legs back and forth as they dangled from the counter and busied herself by eating her ice pop. when she realized that marissa didn't have one, she leaned over and grabbed her favorite spiderman type out of the freezer. "first of all, have an ice pop," she started with a giggle, handing it to her friend. "second of all, my line is going to be high-fashion for the girls on a budget," she explained, setting the ice pop down so that she could explain it. "it's going to be something that all girls want to wear, but can't afford. i'm going to try to give the everyday california girl something out of.. their favorite hollywood starlet's closet," she shrugged her shoulders and once again grabbed onto the ice pop, biting off spiderman's head in the process. "i'm also in the process of starting up my own fragrance, which you can look to be out in stores sometime next year," she nodded her head enthusiastically, all too excited about her up-and-coming projects.

[Marissa Cooper]

Marissa nodded, listening to Bianca's response as she unwrapped her ice pop, also a spider man pop. She loved how having kids gave her an excuse to relive some of the sorts of things she hadn't experienced in a long time. "Well since I had kids I pretty much stopped trying to spend money on fragrances... but I might just have to try yours when it comes out," she said, laughing a little. The whole thing that they said about mothers not trying as hard to look and smell good is completely true as far as Marissa's experience has proved. "Many fashion designers have tried in the past to make their clothes more accessible to the public but have ended up either having to hike the prices up more or else change the style of clothes. What was it, exactly, that made you realize that you could actually create high fashion clothes without the high price tags? What makes your line succeed where previous ones fell through?" she asked

[Bianca Williams]

setting her nearly melted ice pop back down onto the napkin, bianca spoke. "i'm not doing it for the money," she said bluntly, continuing to kick her feet back and forth. "i'm still a kid myself in so many different respects. i got married at seventeen.. had a kid at eighteen. but the whole time, i had this really fluffy bank account to support me. not only was i born into a wealthy family, but my husband was born into old money too, which means that i've got more than enough money. i'm doing this line for the women who don't have our bank account. it's not to make money. it's because i love fashion and i really want to share that with the rest of the world," she finally crossed her legs indian style on the counter and once again picked up her ice pop, this time finishing it.

[Marissa Cooper]

Marissa bit into Spiderman's head, trying to keep the ice pop from melting down her fingers as she listened to Bianca's explanation. "That's very admirable to be doing this solely because you enjoy it an are passionate about it and not to make money," Marissa commented, ripping a square of paper towel off the roll on the counter so she wouldn't get the ice pop all over her. How have things been going for you and Nick lately, anyway? The two of you got married and had a kid at a very young age in a very drama-filled town... has that affected you guys at all? Is Nick at all involved in your line?" Marissa knew that part of the same question could be directed towards herself, but she wasn't the one being interviewed, now, was she?