branching out l.s.

six

During the final week at her internship, she and the other interns had been called into a conference room to discuss 'their roles with the company.'

"I wish that the news was better, but at this time, Caldwell is unable to keep any of you on at the completion of your internship. I'm very sorry."

Perrie understood what that meant: that they wouldn't be getting offered jobs at Caldwell. At first, she'd had mixed feelings about the whole thing.

Working at photo shoots and editing advertising had been a lot of fun, and while it would've been a relief to have a job lined up, it wasn't what Perrie really wanted to do.

After she thought about it some more, she was sort of happy that she wouldn't be getting a job there. It left her free to explore her options.

"Well, after I heard that news, Zayn helped me submit an application to... Marvel."

"Seriously?" Liam gasped.

Harry's eyes also widened. He wasn't really into comic books himself, but Louis obsessed over them, so he knew what a huge deal this was.

"Did you hear back from them?" Eleanor wanted to know.

"Not yet. But, this is the seventh day since I applied, and I was reading some forums online that were saying that people who got interviews heard from the company within a week, so..."

"They might be contacting you today," Sophia finished with a big smile on her face. "Perrie, that's so exciting. No wonder you're not paying attention to our stupid conversation."

"No, I'm sorry," Perrie apologized. "I'm totally listening, "What was that about a trip? Where are we going?"

"Nowhere's been chosen yet," Zayn assured. "It was just an idea."

"Well I like somewhere warm. Maybe some island somewhere."

"My family and I went to Barbados a few years back," Sophia suggested. "That was really nice."

"Can we go to Hawaii?" Zayn grinned. "I want to see a volcano. Maybe one that spits out lava or something."

"Or we could see Pearl Harbor," Harry said slowly. "You know. Whatever."

"What about Miami?" Eleanor wondered. "That would be a lot of fun; and we've never been there."

"No, I want to use my passport," Perrie vetoed.

"Wait, doesn't Florida get hurricanes?"

"Only in certain times of the year, I think," Liam guessed. "I think like, August?"

"So no trips in August then," Harry rationalized. "All right, let's just pick July."

"Ooh, a birthday trip," Sophia's face lit up, as she turned to Eleanor and Perrie. "Birthdays on the beach?"

"I like the sound of that," Eleanor smiled.

Perrie nodded, too.

"Well let's definitely go somewhere none of us have been before," Liam proposed. "How's that?"

The others could at least agree on that.

"Can we invite Niall and Amy, too?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, Niall has to come," Zayn enthused. "It wouldn't be right if he didn't."

"Wow, this'll be like a regular couples retreat, won't it?" Liam asked.

He looked around the circle that his friends had made at their table, but stopped when he looked at El.