Alex's POV

Just over an hour and a half after entering the conference room, we were being dismissed. A very long hour and a half at that. An hour and a half consisting of copious amounts of note taking, being virtually interrogated about my company, questioned about my motives and desires in terms of my business and asked about my history and how Standby Inc. came to be. All that preparation and constant thoughts of questions that could be fired at me and professional, thoughtful answers conjured in my mind every second of every day has not gone to waste. The information and STATs of Larry's company certainly came in handy.

Fortunately, for me, Larry didn't have the sense to research my company to compare himself to. But I did have to hand it to him, his company was doing well. I had also found out some useful information that I will need to share with my co-workers. Red (as we had been instructed to call the head of the conference and decider of whom shall be getting the sponsor - Galina Reznikov) was, what can only be described as a hard, all business, tough, Russian woman. You could tell from just looking into her eyes she meant business and you should not fuck with her or try to pull shit on her or she'd ruin you. She had a very hard face and bright red hair that could have been mistaken for a blazing fire. Despite this, her appearance was very much appropriate for dealing with business – Loose black trousers, a white blouse with a black blazer over the top. Her accent was beyond strong and on some occasions, hard to understand. Especially when you're trying to listen to what she says in detail and being sure not to miss a word, answering her questions with no hesitation and write down every word being shared amongst every other person in the room talking at different intervals.

Thank God I'd always been a quick writer and a good multi-tasker, in more ways than one. She sure had a very short, fiery temper, but it did amuse me to no end in this circumstance as it was at the expense of Mr Bloom. Larry had been the one to light her fuse and get granted the honour of booking himself a first class, one-way ticket to the end of one of her outbursts. But hey, if you're not going to take notes quick enough and ask the woman who is offering you a sponsorship worth a hell of a lot of money from her own pocket to repeat what she said multiple times, she's going to get pissed off.

She's a busy woman and didn't have time for ignorant, unfocused and slow people. Maybe if Larry had been wise enough to do his research, he would have known. Didn't he have any common sense? I almost felt sorry for the guy, feeling the need to bring his assistant with him to hold his hand. I'm surprised he didn't bring his Mom and hide a pacifier in his pocket to suck on. Now I come to think of it, I'm not too sure if the woman he bought along is his assistant. They do seem awfully touchy – linking hands every once in a while. Possibly his girlfriend?

"It's good to know about your competition, both business wise and in relation to their personal lives and relationships", that's what my old investor used to say and it had stuck with me. I walked over to the refreshments table and poured myself a black coffee, needing my caffeine fix. I took one sip and nearly spat it out.

"Typical, shitty office coffee" I grumbled to myself.

"I would save your taste buds the excruciating pain of indulging in the beverage they call coffee here, but it appears I'm too late." I heard an English, masculine voice say from behind me with a slight chuckle.

As I turn around, I'm faced with a 6ft male, roughly in his mid-twenties, muscles bulging out his shirt like he's desperate for feminine attention, paired with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. I recognised him as one of the men from the conference.

"You're Alex Vause, right? The owner of Standby Inc." he inquired.

"Yes, that's me. And you are?" I retort in a friendly manor with a small smile. After all, it's not a wise idea to be rude to one of Red's most valuable members of her organisation.

"Chris Boltem," he replied with a smile showing every one of his, no doubt, whitened chicklet teeth and extending out his hand for me to shake which I accepted to be polite.

"So Chris, how long have you been an employee of Red's for? If you don't mind me asking." I questioned, trying to seem interested and intrigued in him and all his desperateness which had laced itself into his aroma. If I put up with him and with any luck, he'll put in a good word for me which certainly wouldn't hurt.

"I've been working for Red for roughly 5 years now - since I was twenty-one. It's a funny story to how we met. Do you want to know? Of course you do. Well..." and that's when I tuned out his blabbering and just pretended to listen. Putting in a nod or a laugh when deemed appropriate. I looked over his shoulder to see the blonde Larry had bought to accompany him. She was conversing with one of the other people from the panel of interrogators. She seemed to know more about Larry's business than Larry himself. It was ever so slightly amusing and certainly made me feel more confident about this sponsorship but it must have been a little embarrassing for him.

After all, it didn't matter if an employee knew everything about the company, you were the one expected to answer the questions and you should be able to recite every detail of your company in your sleep and then some. That's just common sense. I glanced at Chris to see he was still going with his seemingly never ending story which he apparent hadn't. I gave him a small friendly smile to give him the impression that I was still listening and deeply interested which most certainly was not the case. I don't understand how he can talk so long without feeling the slightest need to stop for breath. Surely his lungs would have been severely deprived of oxygen by now, right? With that, I looked back over his shoulder. Larry had joined in their conversation now. Well, I say joined in. He more or less physically nudged a now frustrated blonde out of the way. She walked over into a corner, her teeth clearly clenched and stood there, sipping at some water.

I've always been one to watch people and analyse them. From her current appearance I can tell she is trying so hard to bite her tongue and is using her water as a way to keep her mouth shut by sipping it evenly and often - as a distraction I guess you could say. She was now sucking her cheeks in furiously and that is a common sign of anger in my opinion. It's an obvious sign of frustration and feeling the need to not say something.

I tuned back into Chris' constant talk just in time. "… he's not an eggplant, he's fucking retarded! And that's how me and Red met," he concluded laughing hysterically at a joke he must have made, even looking a little proud.

"That's an amazing story" I commented, laughing along and not having a clue as to why. I strained to try and put as much enthusiasm in my voice as I possibly could. Apparently he bought it. Hell, if everything goes tits up, I could just become an actress. Just as he was going to start talking again, he got called over by some woman I hadn't previously seen. He gave me a nod and a wave before walking off, explaining how he intends on "putting in a good word" for me with Red. Putting up with his constant talk paid off.

I glanced around the room and see the blonde still stood in the corner, looking like she wanted to tear Larry, limb from limb. Not even I would like to be on the receiving end of that stormy gaze. I walked over to the corner and stood by her.

"Someone piss you off?" I asked with a smirk knowing that was the case. She turned to look at me for the first time.

"You're Alex Vause, the owner of Standby Inc., aren't you?" She asked in a butter-wouldn't-melt type of voice, completely ignoring my previous question.

"Yes," I reply, even though it was more of a statement than a question. "I'm sorry, I didn't get your name" I replied, hinting for her to tell me her name so I didn't have to keep referring to her as 'the blonde'.

"Piper. Piper Chapman." She introduced herself, holding out her right hand to shake. I grasped it in my left and gave it a professional, delicate shake before releasing.

"So, Piper Chapman," I started, moving my glasses up my nose further out of habit, "what do you do?" I concluded, changing my position to lean against the wall facing Piper with my arms crossed over my chest in a non-threatening but relaxed manner.

Piper looked at me and then away as frustration clouded her features once again – there sure was a storm brewing in that head of hers. I followed her gaze to see that the lethal daggers emitting from her ice blue eyes were aimed at no other than Larry.

"How about we go get somthing to eat or drink? There's a nice little Café around the corner that does the best coffee, not like the poor excuse they offer here. It's basically an imposter." I recommend in a friendly tone, chuckling at myself. She took one last glance at Larry before looking at me.

"Don't you have to stay and talk to people or something?" she questioned, looking a little confused.

I smiled. "No, I've spoken to everybody that I needed too and then some. Quite frankly, I want to get the hell out of this place and grab some real, drinkable coffee." I reply.

She gave me a beaming smile. "Then in that case, getting some consumable coffee sounds like an amazing idea."