"Shit!"
Piper stepped outside from the typical yellow taxi in the middle of Fifth Avenue.
"Shit!"
Piper had lived in New York for two years now. She loved the city, everything about it, but if there was one thing she was not a fan of, it was the occasional spring showers. She thought by now she'd be used to typical warm spring taking a sudden turn and changing to continuous pouring. But no, right now she was not amused by taking more than five steps under the rumbling sky.
Piper held her messenger bag over her head, trying to keep the few still dry spots of her clothes and hair from getting wet. She took her phone and dialled her friend.
"Shit! Shit, shit, shit… Polly! Hi! Where the fuck am I supposed to go?"
Polly couldn't help but chuckle at her friend. "Just come inside the main entrance and they'll lead you further. Ask for Visual Studio."
"Visual Studio. Right. Got it." Piper hung up the phone and took a sight of the building in front of her. Wow, she thought. The blonde was used to walking around Manhattan streets, being surrounded by seemingly infinite skyscrapers, but never had she had business in walking into one of them. Piper hoped that someday her and Polly's PoPi soap business would be as successful as any other business that could afford their offices to resident in such estates.
Piper stepped out of her imaginary bubble and took her steps towards the entrance. The foyer was outstanding – white marble floors surrounded by ivory walls, occasional glass sculptured fountains accompanied by different slightly exotic looking green trees. The room was filled with white leather sofas which were sided by black marble console tables. Piper found herself once again drifting off in her imaginary bubble, which was soon burst by a good-looking and annoyingly uptight receptionist.
"Good afternoon, ma'am! How may I help you?". Piper eyed the blond model-like receptionist for a second before finding her words.
Ma'am. She was a ma'am now? Seriously, Piper wasn't old enough to be called ma'am.
"Yes. Hi! I'm looking for Visual Studios, I'm here for the PoPi product shoot," Piper found herself slightly stammering, having still not quite left her bubble.
"Certainly, ma'am. Follow me." The 'definitely too good looking to be a receptionist' woman led the blonde to the elevator. As Piper stepped in, the other women pushed button 50. "You will be greeted there and led to studio, ma'am. Enjoy your stay!" The receptionist seemed to perky for Piper's liking.
The elevator doors closed. Piper was stunned, to say the least. Floor 50? A penthouse office?
The woman couldn't even start pondering about the success of the photo and video studio before the elevator doors opened and she was greeted by a breath-taking office. The workplace offered magnificent views on the city through its vast floor to ceiling windows.
"Hello dear! Piper, if I'm correct. For PoPi shoot?" The blond was approached by a handsome young man, who seemed to be in quite a hurry.
"Yes, that's me," Piper said, slightly smiling to the young man.
"Come on, follow me. They've already started. It's our last major shoot today and well, everbody's hyped to start their weekend, you know." The man chuckled lightly, smiled politely yet sincerely to Piper as she they walked through the office.
Piper felt more comfortable as the office and the people working there seemed more loose comparing to the uptight and clearly too polite receptionist. She enjoyed herself while she was being led to studio of their product shoot. There were a lot of people around, most of them smiling, chatting each other up and holding a genuinely open and casual attitude. Every single photographer passing her smiled at her, greeted her or threw an occasional compliment towards her.
They entered their own studio. The shoot had already started and Piper saw Polly talking to her 'almost' boyfriend Pete aka the director of their project. Polly and Pete had known each other for a couple of weeks which had included one or two times they actually went out, but by Polly's body language Piper could be sure her friend was head over heels into their director.
Additionally to fresh lovebirds there were two photographers in the room, standing behind the videographer, who has currently filming their products from different angles.
"Piper! Oh good you made it!" Polly hurriedly approached the blonde and gave her a quick hug.
"This looks amazing," Piper was still stunned. "I mean, the whole studio and how they've set up our stuff".
"And the people! They're amazing here." Piper's friend seemed to be astonished as the blonde herself. "They're supposed to be one of the best. Well, that's according to Pete's boasting and bragging".
Piper smiled at her friend. They've thought a long time about lifting their business and sales to another level and decided to stick with Visual Studios. Of course the decision making process wasn't a long one as Pete had suggested the idea to Polly in the first place. But the choice wasn't bad – Visual Studios was one of the leading visual production agencies in New York. They specialised in promotion videos and photographs as well as offering services for capturing events and occasions.
They spent good two hours in the studio, waiting to get pictures of all their products. PoPi was doing pretty well, but Polly thought that marketing their goods through professional still and motion images would give another push to their business.
"So you're sure that letting one of the most expensive agencies basically shape our marketing is a reasonable choice?" Piper wasn't against the given studio, but she couldn't overlook the fact that they were indeed rather costly.
"Piper, what the fuck? We agreed on this and we do want the absolute best, don't we? Plus Pete told me they're giving us a really good deal so cool down, okay?" Polly scowled at her friend. She knew that the blonde has been having second thoughts from the very beginning, but by pushing her persuasion to the next level, Polly still managed to convince Piper to go through with it. "And besides, we're going out tonight, just so you know. On me! If that makes you feel better."
"We're going out?" Piper couldn't help but be surprised to her friend's certain statement.
"Yeah, Pete, told me about this bar nearby that supposedly should 'blow our minds'". We should check it out." Polly couldn't hide her goofy smile from her friend.
Piper remained suspicious. "So 'our' and 'we' being you and Pete or you and me?" The blonde did not seem as amused about the idea as her friend, mainly because she had a hell of a week behind her. Piper went to Connecticut to visit her family in the hope of taking some time off from work and after her breakup with Larry, her now former boyfriend. The boyfriend wasn't the reason for the need of getting out of town, the blonde just felt she needed a time out from her routine. Larry wasn't much of a 'dream guy', well at least not for Piper. The breakup was rather a relief for her as she didn't need another routine-like part to her life besides her work. Larry was what Piper called a "safe choice", but the blonde didn't feel going for safe. She wanted something exciting, something new and something that would sweep her off her feet. Larry wasn't quite that. So Piper decided to go see her family so she would be away from her typical life, where she had time to think about her life. But her trip to Connecticut turned out to be anything but a vocation or 'time-off'. The blonde seemed to have forgotten how her family can be. So now she just wanted to go home, watch TV or read a book, but instead her best friend insisted on taking her to her 'date', as if third-wheeling was enjoyable.
"Come on, don't be such a prude and let's have a little fun." Polly didn't seem to let it go. It didn't seem that Polly was gonna let that one go, so Piper just had to agree.
"Fine, I'll go with you. But I won't stay too long". Piper couldn't help but smile at her friend, who was now giggling like a high school teenager who had a major crush on the school's most unobtainable guy. The blonde rolled her eyes at Polly and set direction outside of the room. "I'll try to find a bathroom in this fancy maze. Try to hold your horses until tonight, okay?" Polly's smile was swiped from her face and replaced by a discontented pout.
Piper found herself roaming through the corridors of the studio. There weren't as many people around comparing to before as the office hours had come to an official end. The workplace was astonishing. There were several other studios, similar to the one they were shooting PoPi products at, but each of them had a slighty different vibe. Piper forgot about her need to go to the bathroom. She peeked inside a couple of studios and small conference rooms, every single one of them holding numerous Mac computers and countless number of cameras, gimbals, tripods and other photographing equipment. The blond was amazed. The office looked fancy, but not too overwhelming. It had a pleasurable atmosphere. She liked it here.
Piper felt her phone vibrate.
Polly: We finished up. I'm gonna run to my hairdresser, please find your way out of the building on your own then because I sure as hell have no idea where you're wondering. See you at Embargo's at 9. Xx
Piper smirked at the text and quickly replied. She indeed didn't know herself where her wonders had taken her. She sent the text and started to put her phone away just as she was about to raise her head and look in front of her.
She was astounded.
Before her was the panorama of the skyline of New York, surrounded by a picturesque sunset. She had found her way to another spacious office workspace filled with tables which accommodated big screen computers, each table placed in front of a seemingly never-ending glass wall holding the spectacular view. Piper couldn't help but just stand and take in the view in front of her. She was once again closed off in her own bubble.
The blonde didn't even notice there were three other people with her in the room, one of whom was eyeing her closely. She was left as speechless by Piper's amazement as Piper was by the view in front of her. The woman couldn't turn her gaze off Piper and shut the other two people out, completely ignoring what they were telling her.
The woman couldn't get her eyes off of Piper. There was something about her that fascinated her. Maybe it was here calamity or her innosence, or her awe to admire such a seemingly simple thing.
"Hey Pete, who's that," the woman asked, never letting her eyes leave the blonde.
"Well that's the girl who was in here for the product shooting session," said Pete, not showing real interest in Piper or the fact that her co-worker was interested in her.
"Jesus, I thought you were one of the smart ones," the woman rolled her eyes at Pete, who immediately tried to make amends to his previous answer. "Right, umm… Chapman, Piper Chapman. Business partner of the other one, Polly. Got her to come to Embargo with me tonight, her friend's gonna tag along. You wanna join us?"
"I'm working tonight," she answered nonchalantly, already hovering away from the two.
As Pete continued his conversations with the other colleague, the woman took her direction towards the blonde, leaving her co-workers chat by themselves. She was stunned - she had never seen a woman so beautiful, carefree and innocent, not to mention so astounded and taken aback by something so simple as a the city skyline.
She still couldn't turn her gaze away from Piper as she was approaching her.
"You like it?" A rough, husky voice followed by a low chuckle was everything that was needed to bring Piper out of her trance. She turned abruptly and looked at the woman before her. She was dressed all black, in tight pullover and even tighter jeans, which clearly weren't doing her any favours. She had pitch black raven hair and black secretary glasses behind which shined her emerald green eyes. Her stare was confident and her posture conveyed power and superiority, not in a bad a way, but in a rather captivating way.
"Sorry?" Piper was still astonished, not by the previous view, but the one that was in front of here now, smirking, raising an eyebrow at her.
The mysterious woman chuckled lightly, but in a rough, low voice. "By the looks of you I would say you're not new to the city." She let her eyes linger from Piper's head to toes. Piper was well dressed; elegant, but simple. "Although by the looks of the situation I would say you are".
"No… No, I um… I live here. Not here. I mean um… In New York, I mean." Piper was suddenly overcome with even more emotions than before. Looking at the woman in front of her was as stunning as the previous view, and somehow it made her nervous and stutter.
The woman before her raised her eyebrow again, the smirk on her face remaining.
"I've just… I've never seen it so beautiful before". Piper didn't even know if she was talking about the city or the raven-haired girl before here.
"Well, it's something," said the woman as she was walking besides Piper, admiring the city view herself now. Now Piper felt as the one who couldn't take her eyes of off her. She was in awe. The woman was oozing confidence and charm. The blonde had never experienced something or someone like it. "You haven't seen it all yet," she said, looking at Piper again with joy and content in her eyes. They held each other's gaze for a second, standing side by side, keeping their eyes locked to one another's.
They were lost in the moment, until Pete broke the silence from behind them. "Hey, I wouldn't mind if you looked over these motion scripts with me, boss lady." Both women broke their gaze and fell out of their bubble.
She gave Piper one last smirk that seemed to become her own authentic move. "Laters, kid". Her voice was raspy, yet gentle. She started walking towards Pete, giving one last look at Piper over her shoulder, throwing her a wink and then turning away. Piper watched as the woman walked away confidently and assuredly. Piper was still in awe of her.
As the blonde rushed out the building, she couldn't get her mind off the woman she had just met, her green eyes still pierced in her brain and her sexy, rough voice still ringing in her ears. Her confidence was just too overwhelming for Piper to contain herself. The way she she had acted, the way she had smiled or talked.
"Kid". A simple word that took Piper by such a surprise and left her speechless.
Piper couldn't get her out of her mind. Who was she?
