Chapter Text
The hum of a sweet melody flowed through the small New York City apartment from its kitchen. Steady sounds of a city waking up outside leaked into the private space via its windows, but could not be heard by Chloe Beale.
Chloe was basking with her back turned to the morning sun bursting through the un-blinded kitchen window. Headphones in her ears, small smile gently placed on her lips, and hands diligently spreading jam on a slice of toast - Chloe was full stride in her morning routine and humming along.
Good music, sweet food, and warmth on her back was exactly what Chloe needed to start the day on sure footing. They were the recipe to quelling her nerves from last night regarding today being the day she would be starting her new job. All nerve wracking concerns had been washed away, or at least set aside, in major part by the upbeat electronic bass beat pumping in her ears.
“Not saying I’m some genius, but I’m smart enough to know I’m worth fighting for~”
Chloe softly sang the chorus of the song filling her ears. She twisted on the cap of the jar of strawberry jam she had been using. Head nodding, she walked to her pantry and placed the jar away.
“Ready to go?” Aubrey, Chloe’s roommate and best friend, spoke loudly into the kitchen space, grabbing the redhead’s attention.
“Yes, let’s do it!” The response was a little louder than conversational volume.
Chloe grabbed her toast and did a quick one-handed smooth down of her white blouse, further tucking it into her black skirt, before she walked to the front door. She took bites from her toast on her way. Head endlessly bobbing to the music in her ears, Chloe didn’t hear the ‘click’ of her heels crossing the wooden floor. They almost matched the same beat as the one playing in her ears.
Aubrey smiled seeing the rhythm practically oozing from her best friend as they exited their apartment. She was glad to see the nervous mess she was consoling from last night had been replaced by a bass thumping ball of sunshine.
For as long as they had been friends, Aubrey had enough experiences under her belt of seeing how music had a way of commanding Chloe’s mood. The redhead’s mood and energy could easily be brought to explosion or dip from a simple changing of a song.
The two women exited their apartment building and walked the three blocks to the nearest subway entrance. Throughout the journey, the best friends kept their arms hooked. The physical connection ensured the two stayed side-by-side despite both being lost within their own morning commute soundtracks.
---
“Hi there!”
Chloe’s eyebrows raised in amusement, but also as a reaction to soak in all the energy bursting from the young brunette standing before her.
“My name is Emily.” The ecstatic greeting was given with the widest of smiles, and garnered a smile from Chloe in return.
“So your Aubrey’s friend whom she referred for the job, huh? Aubrey, you are such a great friend.” Emily directed the compliment towards the blonde standing nearby. “Feel free to go on about your day. I can take Chloe from here. I promise she will be taken care of.” Emily smiled and winked.
“Alright then,” Aubrey smiled back at Emily. She quickly grabbed Chloe’s hands and gave them a tight squeeze. “You’re in good hands. I’ll be back later to go through some paperwork with you. See you later, Chloe!” Aubrey’s shoulders shrugged in contained excitement before turning and walked further into the office.
Chloe’s eyes followed her friend, soaking in the impressive glossy wood floor covering the entirety of the vast office floor plan. Her eyes traced large panes of glass and metal supports within the tall, wide building. At the right side of the office, Chloe spotted the only thing intruding on the open air and cutting into the almost boundless space - a wide metal staircase attached to a second floor loft area.
The office before her was expansive - held within the red brick skeleton of a large abandoned and reworked fire station. Translucent glass walls were used to section areas into what Chloe deemed to likely be meeting room spaces - though there were not many. More attractive to her eye were collected pieces of plush and colorful furniture spread throughout the office. They were gathered in purposefully designated lounge areas. The splashes of vibrant paintings and photographs lining the walls added to the notion that this was a modern, laidback and creative safe space.
Chloe turned back to Emily. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. “I’m all yours.” she grinned excitedly.
Emily’s hands clasped together in front of her. “Great! Let me grace you with a tour of our humble abode.”
“This goes without saying, but welcome to Barden Records!” Emily threw her hands out wide. “We are currently the third largest, but most certainly the best, local and independent record label in New York City. Evident with you, among others, joining our ranks, we are ever growing.” Emily led Chloe past the front desk she had greeted Chloe from.
“As you know, the captain of our ship is Jesse Swanson. He inherited the company from his uncle - Drew Barden. Because of him, we are huge fans of the creative office vibe. So even though you will be having a designated desk, most people opt to work in the collaborative spaces.” Emily pointed out some of the lounge-looking areas of the office Chloe had taken earlier note of. “We have round tables for face-to-face communication, bean bag zones, and of course the war room table upstairs.”
Emily pointed toward the second floor loft area on their right. With only a metal railing sectioning the space off from the rest of the high open air, Chloe could make out some large pieces of furniture on the platform raised above their head.
“If you ever feel like you’re in a funk, there’s a game room to vent your frustrations in the back. We have ping pong, an arcade basketball shoot-out machine, and some other arcade games. You can play on your own time, but also highly encouraged to ask anyone for a friendly match!”
Keeping in step with Emily, Chloe nodded her head. Her face was held in awe as they passed the game room, which looked very much like a shrunken down Dave & Busters.
“On the other end of the spectrum for de-stressing, we have a nap nook slash therapy quiet room. Once we get you logged in to your laptop and e-mail access, you will be able to reserve time on the calendar for it.”
Emily motioned for Chloe to follow her through an archway. They had exited what Chloe guessed was originally the garage of the firehouse - gutted and renovated of course.
Now they were walking red brick-lined hallways. The space here was much tighter. Chloe was no longer walking side by side with Emily. Now she was simply following as Emily led them to bathrooms (fully equipped with lockers and shower stalls), a gym, a kitchen, and past a small collection of offices - one of which was Aubrey’s.
Aubrey was on the phone, but at the sight of her best friend threw Chloe a thumbs up with an enthusiastic grin when she and Emily passed by.
“You’ll find that the back offices are used mainly by the department heads. Since their private offices are back here, it’s just easier for them. Everyone else tends to stick to this front area.” Emily explained.
Walking back into the front, open area of the office, Chloe saw that people had trickled in and were beginning their day.
“Upstairs is where we have what is called the ‘War Room Table’. There is also a large sitting area with a TV. We hold our quarterly all-hands meetings and celebration events up there. So obviously, being up there is for serious business only.” Emily finished her statement with a wink, before adding, “Well, serious business outside of the ‘Bullpen’ anyways.”
The young brunette motioned her hand towards a large space on the ground floor walled off by large panes of translucent glass beneath the loft. Instead of a long table to congregate around as what is found in most large meeting rooms, there were three desks. Each one in front of, or rather placed within, areas populated with distinctly different decorations.
There were two people Chloe could make out sitting at the desks in the room. A brown, wavy haired man dressed in a grey sweater and tan slacks sat in what Chloe could see was a fairly organized desk. Behind him were shelves filled with DVDs and framed photographs. The empty desk next to him was drenched in Star Wars memorabilia. The owner of that desk, seemingly not present.
On the opposing wall, Chloe could barely make out the silhouette of a person, a woman it looked like, mostly hidden from Chloe’s view as she was sitting behind a large, wide computer monitor centered on the desk. Beside the monstrous screen, the desk was littered with colorfully lit devices. All of which were rhythmically pulsing to different patterns of a beat Chloe could not hear.
Chloe could also make out a keyboard, guitar and electric guitar placed around the woman’s space.
In the unclaimed area of the room, closest to its entrance, was a large plush couch, low coffee table, and bean bag cushions.
“Unofficial official business happens in the ‘Bullpen’.” Emily finished with a nod of finality and the wave of her hand.
“And looks like we did the tour in good time. You are almost all set to start your first official day!” Emily grinned excitedly.
Chloe smiled as she swept her eyes around the office. She caught sight of the multitude of people taking off coats, unpacking laptops from backpacks, or standing by desks and greeting others. The earlier peace and quiet of the office was replaced with conversation and noise. Chloe could even make out the hints of music being played from an open laptop placed on a meeting desk nearby.
“Anyway, this is your desk and it looks like Benji is on his way over now with your laptop. I never have to ask him twice, that one.” There was the slightest sigh of admiration in her voice as Emily threw an affectionate smile toward the guy with sandy brown hair approaching them.
“Hi there, I’m Benji.”
There was a light ‘thud’ as a box containing a Macintosh was placed on Chloe’s desk. Benji held out his hand for Chloe to grasp.
“Hello, I’m Chloe!” she greeted, placing her hand in his.
“Good morning, babe.” Emily quickly leaned in to place a quick kiss on his cheek. As she did so, a slight blush spread.
“Morning,” he responded - a slight duck to his head.
“Benji will help you with your set-up, so I’ll just go quickly grab your welcome swag. Have fun!” the brunette called over her shoulder.
---
After about an hour and a half of Benji assisting Chloe with setting up and making sure her credentials were able to gain access to the laptop and other company software (in which there was some peppered in conversation where Chloe learned that Benji and Emily were dating), Benji finally sat back with arms in the air and a “Great! You’re all done.”
Pushing up from the chair, he looked down at Chloe, “I think I’m meant to be sending you along to Aubrey to sign some paperwork now.”
“Oh okay, thank you!”
“Sure, no problem.” Benji threw her a quick look of uncertainty, “Do you need any assistance getting to her office?” he asked.
“Nope. Emily walked me by her office earlier. I am pretty sure I know how to get back.” Chloe stood and nodded her head affirmatively.
“Awesome. Well then, it was a great pleasure meeting you! If you need anything from me, I just sit in there.” Benji’s thumb pointed over his shoulder in the direction of the ‘Bullpen’. “E-mail or Slack message works too. I hope you have a good rest of your day!”
“Thank you!” Chloe repeated her gratitude before making her way back to her best friend’s office.
---
“Come in,” Aubrey’s voice chirped from the other side of the wooden door Chloe knocked on.
“Hey,” Chloe peeked her head in. “I was told there is some paperwork you need me to sign, Ms. Head of Legal.” Chloe enunciated her best friend’s title, adding weight to each word. She let a wide grin spread on her face as she pushed the door open and fully entered Aubrey’s office.
Chloe looked around the room with awe. Her eyes swept over the shelves filled with books of all sizes lining the walls. On a single shelf, she could see a few framed photographs Aubrey had chosen to place - Aubrey’s grinning family of tall, blonde, blue-eyed perfections, Aubrey and Chloe at college graduation, and a picture of Aubrey with some of her closest high school friends.
Aubrey had her back to the shelf Chloe was eying. Sitting at her desk in a comfortable leather armchair, she watched the redhead soak everything in. She could not help but let an amused smile grace her face.
It was evident Chloe finally finished her visual sweep of the office when her eyes landed on the blonde that had been sitting quietly in the room. Aubrey looked quite proper, sitting straight-backed and thoroughly poised in her chair, canvassed by books behind her.
“Oh my gosh, Bree. I cannot believe this is my first time seeing your office!”
Now standing almost squarely in the middle of the room, Chloe spread her arms, “I know you’ve been here for over a year now, but this really concretes it all for me. My best friend is an aca-amazingly successful lawyer and for an incredibly awesome NYC record label nonetheless.”
Chloe squealed in excitement, unable to contain her emotions.
Aubrey rolled her eyes lightheartedly and chuckled to herself before lifting a shoulder and placing a delicate hand to her chest, “Well, what can I say, I guess.” she batted her eyelashes showcasing her flattery.
“And you decided to bring little old me to ride along your coattails.” Chloe clasped her hands together between her thighs and tucked her chin against her chest to give Aubrey her best look of puppy dog eyes endearment. “What did I ever do to deserve you?”
Aubrey laughed aloud. “Only accompany me through the depths of Alice hell and keep me sane for the better half of a decade.”
“Oh right. What a travesty our college life was, but thank God, that’s all behind us now.” Chloe gave a relieved shiver as her mind quickly left the trip down memory lane.
Chloe and Aubrey had met during their college days when both had tried out for their university’s all-female acapella group. They both wholeheartedly agreed that meeting each other had been a blessing. Without the other, neither girl believed they would have endured the constant and brutal verbal lashings to their self-esteem given by Alice, the acapella group’s leader.
Bonding together over such a natural and ready enemy and so many emotional hardships easily sealed together their friendship as one that would last for a lifetime.
Pulling the empty chair away from Aubrey’s desk, Chloe sat down across her friend.
“So~,” Aubrey drawled out with enthusiastic curiosity dripping in her voice, “How are you liking everything so far?”
“Aubrey, this place is a-mazing. And aca-scuse me, therapy quiet room? What new age hippie magic shit is that?” Chloe’s face was filled with disbelief.
“I know, right?” Aubrey grinned. “I have taken so many naps in there in-between meetings.”
“Oh my gosh, are we allowed to have cuddle naps?”
Aubrey shrugged, “I don’t see why not.”
“I won’t tell HR if you won’t.” a coy voice breached the air from behind them.
Chloe looked over her shoulder, back to Aubrey’s office doorway. There she found a tall, dark-haired woman leaning against the frame. The woman let out a low whistle before she winked at Chloe, “Hi there, Gorgeous.”
The brunette let the words roll off her tongue flirtatiously before lifting the corner of her lip into a smirk and leaving behind an undeniable air of playful mirth in the hanging space.
“Unbelievable,” Aubrey stood up with a gentle shake of her head. She motioned to the newcomer. “Chloe, meet Stacie Conrad. Stacie is the record label’s Human Resources Manager.”
“Oh!” Chloe quickly jumped to her feet. She smoothed out her skirt before covering the short distance to the doorway. Holding out her right hand, Chloe smiled, “I remember speaking to you on the phone. It’s a pleasure to meet you in person.”
Stacie cocked her head to a slight angle. Her eyes were not shy in their attempt to hide their path which wandered from Chloe’s heels back up to her face. There was an appreciative hum pushed through her lips, only solidifying the notion she was not listening to anything Chloe was saying.
Chloe felt the mental assessment being conducted by the woman before her. As she moved to withdraw her outstretched hand, the woman finally took Chloe’s hand in both of hers. Her right hand clasped Chloe’s right and her left anchored their hands together. “The pleasure is all mine.”
Another “Oh!”, but with less of the earlier vigor escaped Chloe’s lips. Her eyes followed Stacie’s left hand, which was gently sliding fingertips across the back of her hand, past her wrist and further up her arm. Chloe was in a state of general shock, causing her to ignore the tickles spreading up her arm due to the slow, fluid motion. The manicured hand gliding against her bare skin did not look like it planned to stop anywhere until an attention-gathering cough broke the air.
“Stacie,” Aubrey’s eyes raised and her tone held a warning, “What did we talk about?”
“Are you referring to my highly welcoming and generous greeting where I feel out all of our lovely new co-workers ? Because I’m just doing my job.” Stacie responded with a batting of her eyelashes and an attempt at innocence.
Chloe’s eyebrows raised in amusement at the exchange occurring before her. Her eyes darted from the new woman, still holding on to her hand, back to her best friend.
“Stacie, if it wasn’t for the fact that I know Chloe isn’t going to issue a sexual harassment suit against us, I would file this away as your third strike in that department.”
Stacie’s jaw dropped in offense and her hands withdrew from Chloe to instead be placed against her chest. “I know nothing of this sexual harassment you speak of, nor do I believe such strikes exist against me.” Her hands dipped slightly to cover her breasts where she gave herself a quick squeeze. And another wink was thrown to Chloe in the process.
“I’m serious, Stace. You are lucky we were able to nip the cases with the interns in the bud -”
“Oh, they were nipped in the bud alright,” Stacie mumbled with a smirk.
It was unsure whether Aubrey had heard as she continued her statement “-Neither of them filed a formal complaint, and I got them to sign confidentiality agreements.”
Chloe had to bite back her grin threatening to escape. She was afraid any showing leak of the entertainment she was getting from this moment would surely cause her best friend to be upset at her for condoning the brunette’s behavior.
“Oh, my hero,” Stacie gushed.
Aubrey exasperatedly sighed. “You will be the death of me, woman.”
“Would you like to explore the possibilities?” Stacie wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
“What now?” Chloe asked with keen interest.
“Oh my gosh, no. Stacie, you really should not be making sexually suggestive remarks or actions to or about your co-workers during working hours or on company property.”
Stacie waved her hand dismissively. “Oh come on, we don’t have to meet up during working hours or on company property. I’m game for the bar, club, my place…” A sly smile crept to Stacie’s lips as she paused for effect, “yours?”
Another exasperated sigh and a shake of a head of blonde hair. “Stacie, this will be the last time I talk to you about your attempt at casual inter-office sexual relationships.”
“Fine fine.” Pinching together her index finger and thumb, the brunette drew a line across her lips as if zipping them and turning to a lock. Throwing the imaginary key over her shoulder, she pursed her lips at Aubrey. “You’re really no fun.”
“Well, it’s hard to find time for fun when I’m still receiving paperwork over your Bologna Barb incident.”
At hearing a phrase like ‘Bologna Barb’, Chloe could not hold back her incredulous expression.
“I can’t help it if I’m a foodie.” Stacie said with a lazy shrug of her shoulders. “It’s hard not to be one living in this great city of ours. There are tasty delights at every corner.”
Stacie’s eyes flicked once again over Chloe as she sounded another appreciative hum.
The redhead gave a light-hearted giggle in reply, which earned her a third wink from the dark-haired woman.
As though a switch had turned at wringing as much fun as she could from the situation before her, Stacie directed her attention back to Aubrey. “Anyway, Aubrey, I was just fluttering by to see if our lovely new hire has filled out her paperwork. Flo and I are ready to take her off your hands. We have to begin her new hire training.”
“Ah sorry, one second.”
Aubrey walked to the printer in the corner of her office. She grabbed the stack of papers from the printer tray. “I was just printing these out when you came to my office.” The statement was directed at Chloe.
“Most of this is just physical copies of the paperwork we already sent to you beforehand. All I need from you is for you to fill out some emergency contact and payroll information, verify what we have on your offer letter, and sign the confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement.” Aubrey separated the stack of papers in her hand into three piles on the desk.
Chloe sat back at Aubrey’s desk. She grabbed a pen from the pencil case and started going through the paperwork before her. Her hand signed her signature whenever it was required.
---
Stacie walked with Chloe down the hallway where she introduced Chloe to Florencia Fuentes or ‘Flo’ as she preferred to be called.
Flo was, or had been, the sole in-house publicist for Barden Records for the past three years.
Stacie detailed to Chloe how Flo managed the press, media and overall music industry relations and networking for the record label. Flo had recently started to outsource public relations work more often due to the label’s continued growing popularity and increasing roster of signed artists. As a result, she made a request that she desperately needed assistance. They could not expect her to handle all the various publicity campaigns and communications to get out word on the new artists as well as keep up the record label’s public standing and appeal.
In Flo’s words, Chloe was going to be her ‘Godsend’ with ‘all praise to Santa Maria’.
However, before Flo could let Chloe flap her heavenly life-saving wings, Chloe was informed of how she would be taken through a two week-long training course. It would be a 101 crash course on all things Barden Records. Chloe would have to learn everything from critical pieces of public knowledge to in-house secrets (“Don’t forget you signed an NDA.”) throughout the 25 years of the company’s existence.
Then, and only after Chloe gained a grasp of the history of the company and the general approach to public communications, would they begin to outline the label’s current public reputation, goals and direction. This would involve Chloe having to learn the hierarchy of existing staff, the label’s style preference of artists, on-going publicity campaigns, and anything else they deemed necessary information like network connections and important networking events.
“I know this sounds like a lot to go through, but I once had to navigate crossing the Pacific Ocean aboard a single floating piece of driftwood with nothing other than the occasional raw fish to eat for a year.” Flo pulled down the edge of her jacket suit and gave Chloe an encouraging nod. “I know you will be able to succeed in this. No problem.”
---
It was 6PM before Stacie announced loudly to the room that she had to go get ready for a date.
“Ay dios mio,” Flo had whispered when she became cognizant of the time. They had started off Chloe’s crash course training right after lunch and had only stopped for two bathroom breaks in-between.
“As you can see, we have barely scratched the company history. Now we all go home and get some sleep. Be prepared for even more knowledge stuffing tomorrow.” Flo dismissed Chloe with an enthusiastic smile and a push out of the back office meeting room. “I cannot wait to see you again tomorrow. For if I see your face, it will have meant you survived the night.”
Now standing back at her desk, Chloe let out a deep breath. It was an attempt to release the exhaustion she could feel wearing down from her head through to the rest of her body. Her hands lightly traced the neatly folded yellow t-shirt stamped with “Barden Records” sitting squarely on her desk. She eyed the other record label branded goodies Emily had left for her. Her eyes lingered particularly long on a small, vinyl-player shaped stress ball. It looked pretty useful right about now.
“Long day?” Aubrey came up to Chloe’s side and gave a gentle nudge of her hip against Chloe’s.
“One of the longest,” Chloe responded to Aubrey. “Sorry, you didn’t have to wait for me you know.”
Aubrey brushed off the apology. “Not an issue at all, Chlo. I have been trying to beat my own high score of Mrs. Pac Man on the arcade machine for the past week now. It was hardly a wait, because I still haven’t managed that.”
Aubrey sighed in defeat before replacing her expression with one of enthusiasm. “Ready to go then?” the blonde quickly jerked her head toward the office’s front exit.
“Mmhm,” Chloe placed her laptop into her tote-sized purse and slid into her suit jacket. After quickly adjusting her hair over the jacket’s collar, she lifted her purse from her desk. She made her way to follow her friend, but found Aubrey was eyeing the ‘Bullpen’ and its occupants.
Chloe was surprised to see at least 6 people in the room even though it was past the record label’s general working hours.
“Busy time for the record label?” Chloe asked.
“Well, we’re really never not busy. But everyone in there is probably waiting for whatever artist booked studio time tonight.”
“Studio?” Chloe was confused. Emily had not mentioned anything about a studio during their office tour.
“Ah, right. I guess you would not have learned about the recording studio in Barden Records 101.” Though Chloe knew Aubrey was speaking to her, the blonde was directing her attention upward as though she were voicing aloud a mental thought.
“We are lucky enough to have our own studio. Well,” Aubrey paused, “two actually. They’re attached to the building. You just have to go back past Emily’s desk to get to the entrance.”
Chloe’s eyes followed as Aubrey pointed toward the direction she was speaking. The redhead vaguely recalled how a hallway branched to the right of the receptionist desk when she was greeted by Emily that morning.
“You were probably not made aware of it, because the studio is technically a separate entity from the record label. They want to manage the full creative process whenever they can I guess,” Aubrey gave a shrug.
“That’s pretty neat.”
“Oh!” Aubrey abruptly clapped her hands together. “Did you meet any of the head honchos in the ‘Bullpen’ today?” she asked.
“Err,” Chloe’s mouth formed a distorted angular shape - a reflexive habit when she was uncertain or uncomfortable. “Benji?” Chloe offered.
Aubrey grinned.
“Benji Applebaum is Jesse Swanson’s cousin, which explains why he gets to sit in the ‘Bullpen’ but he isn’t a head honcho in the slightest. He is one half of the record label’s IT department, though. The second half of that is Donald. You will meet him eventually. He sits around here somewhere.” Aubrey made a vague motion with her hand towards a clump of currently empty desks.
“I believe Benji also works as an Audio Technician for the studio. I mean, in general, he’s just an overall tech wizard. He is an insanely sweet guy, too. So of course he is dating our enthusiastic and sweetheart receptionist Emily.”
Catching on to the quizzical expression crossing Chloe’s face at her statement, Aubrey continued, “Yes, I know what you heard this morning about inter-office relations.”
The blonde gave a roll of her eyes.
“You can thank Stacie actually for scheming to get them together. Not one of her worse ones where questionable sexual harassment is involved though - at least that I know of anyway. Everything seemed proper enough. They mutually filed the mandatory disclosure paperwork and have been smooth sailing ever since.”
Aubrey dismissed the topic with a shrug from her shoulders before continuing with giving Chloe the rundown to the ‘Bullpen’.
“That there is Jesse Swanson. He is Barden Records’ CEO.” Aubrey’s face squished together in thought, “I believe he is also the principal studio manager for the two in-house studios. I’m really not as knowledgeable about what goes on in the studios to be honest.”
With Aubrey’s help, Chloe was able to match the name to the man she had observed earlier that day. The one with the organized desk and vast collection of DVDs.
Aubrey continued to point out more people to Chloe. Luke, the blonde male in the room, was one of the record label’s senior music producers. Aubrey spoke in heavy detail about the tight, bicep-hugging t-shirts he wore every day, which made Chloe throw a suspicious glance at her friend. Aubrey brushed off her attempts to pry further about the level of attention given to Luke's outfits.
The asian female donning a red beanie was Lilly. Chloe learned she was a common session musician invited to collaborate with artists during their session recordings. “Great beat boxer. Not much of a talker, or at least a very silent talker.”
“Sitting in the beanbag is CR, stands for Cynthia Rose.” Aubrey described the woman with long, tight braids flowing down her backside. “She’s an artist manager for the record label. She handles only one artist at the moment, and don’t tell anyone I said this,” Aubrey brought her voice down to a whisper, “it’s the only artist we really should be bothered with.”
Aubrey straightened up and her head lifted almost as though she took pride in being able to say her next statement, “There in the leather chair and the only other significant mind in the ‘Bullpen’ is our Chief Music Engineer, who also happens to be an award-winning DJ - Beca Mitchell.”
“The woman is literally a thorn in my side for how lax she is about releasing media before I have filed the proper copyrights, but I’ll be damned if the talent oozing out of that brunette is not the reason all of us have jobs.”
Chloe’s eyes fell on the smiling brunette, casually hanging out with her co-workers and unknowingly the object of Aubrey’s admiration and Chloe’s attention.
“That tiny terror of talent is the record label’s most notable signed artist, but somehow she makes the time to also be the record label’s primary music producer. A majority, if not all, of Barden Records’ most popular songs on the radio and streaming services right now have Beca’s fingerprints all over them.”
Looking at the music producer comfortably leaned back in her leather armchair, a guitar loosely cradled in her lap, and her fingers absently, but expertly strumming the instrument’s strings as she laughed at whatever was being said within the walls of the ‘Bullpen’, Chloe could just feel the waves of unassuming talent wafting from Beca Mitchell. For whatever reason, it turned her on.
“Mmm,” Chloe hummed appreciatively. “I wonder what else she likes to leave her fingerprints all over.”
“Dear Lord, Chloe.” Aubrey halted. “Did Stacie loop you into her ‘Seduce the new coworker into seducing Beca Mitchell and take bets on finding out her sexuality’ game?”
Chloe burst out an uninhibited laugh. “Excuse me, what?” she turned to ask her friend with genuine interest after gathering herself together.
Aubrey huffed. “It’s just - well - Stacie has this weird thing and it’s - you know what... nevermind.” Aubrey waved her hands in the air in front of her as though the action would erase the past few minutes of their conversation.
“Chlo, just promise me you will say no to Stacie if she asks you to attempt to seduce Beca Mitchell. And you will absolutely not take part in any running bet Stacie has on what Beca’s sexual preference may be.”
A look of bewilderment and surprise crossed Chloe’s face. Wherever she thought the bounds of Stacie Conrad’s playful sexual antics to reach, even if having just met her today, she did not expect it to reach here. Though she felt like she understood where Stacie was coming from, because her interests were certainly piqued when hearing Aubrey mention Beca’s sexual ambiguity.
“First of all, I’m offended, Bree. Do I look like a slut to you? But second of all, why does this actually sound fun as hell. Where do I sign up?”
“Chlo!” Aubrey was starting to look like she was a few nerves away from becoming a tea kettle boiling over.
Chloe giggled, “Bree.” Reaching over to her friend, Chloe placed her hands on Aubrey’s upper arms. “Relax.” She hummed as she soothingly rubbed the blonde’s arms.
“Seriously, Chloe. If you assist Stacie in putting Beca through an unwanted, sexual harassment scenario just to see which way she swings and not only contribute to my work life becoming hell, but also if you put the job I worked so hard to refer you for at risk, I will murder you in your sleep.”
“I don’t doubt that at all, sweetie.” Chloe brought her left hand to cup Aubrey’s chin and gave a quick squeeze of the blonde woman’s cheeks. “Let’s go home. Before I succumb to my curiosity and march into the ‘Bullpen’ and see what gets Beca Mitchell’s bulls really going.” Chloe added a grin and a mischievous wiggle of her eyebrows.
Aubrey groaned and let her head hang back, making her current displeasure for her best friend evident.
“Are you even listening to me, woman? Or is your toner that loud right now?” However, Aubrey seemed to be asking a rhetorical question, because she allowed her laughing best friend to push, hands on her back, toward the front of the office.
“Oops! Wait! I want to bring home my new Barden Records Yeti.” Chloe stopped pushing Aubrey and quickly ran back to her desk. She picked up the little insulated bottle, which came as part of her ‘Welcome Swag’ courtesy of Barden Records and arranged on her desk by one Emily Junk.
“I am so excited to put my tea in you.” She sighed admiringly before cupping the bottle excitedly to her cheek. With a satisfied smile, Chloe dropped the bottle into her leather tote.
“Ok, now I’m ready to go.” Chloe declared, catching back up to where Aubrey had been waiting for her.
“You know I have never been in the office this late,” Aubrey remarked, “and I’m starving now.”
“If you would let me stay later, I have a feeling we could both find something to eat right in here tonight. Seems like the record label has an in-house ‘meat’ pen, with some choice meats, if you catch my drift.” Chloe winked teasingly. “Let me just call a woman about a bet first.”
An unamused Aubrey blinked back at Chloe with a deadpan expression. Then she caved to another exasperated groan, which elicited a giggle from Chloe.
As the two best friends neared the front of the office, the ‘Bullpen’, re-dubbed ‘meat’ pen by Chloe, came up on their left. Chloe watched as Aubrey gave cursory waves to the room’s occupants.
For humor’s sake, Chloe decided to throw a final glance into the room. But instead of finding something to continue teasing Aubrey with, Chloe was met with a surprise. She had happened to lock eyes with a pair of mesmerizing steel blue irises, which she could feel herself mentally and physically get drawn toward.
With the near-immediate realization of their connection, a slight warmth grew in her cheeks and a quick ‘hic’ caught in her throat. Chloe hastily turned away from Beca Mitchell’s unexpected and imposing gaze. She was shocked with herself. She had never gotten jumpy over something as simple as eye contact before.
Maybe it was the unfamiliar edge of nervousness, but suddenly Aubrey’s weight pushing back against her was no longer funny. “Move that toned ass of yours faster, you bitch!” Chloe exclaimed. She gave one final shove to get the laughing and unsuspecting Aubrey out and over the office door’s threshold.
With the cool night air calming the heat that had filled her cheeks and refreshing her lungs with clean oxygen, Chloe let free a fleeting thought - maybe she would like to play Stacie’s game and find out where Beca’s interests lie? If at least to find out for herself what more there is to drown in besides Beca’s deep pools of blue eyes.
Chloe gently shook her head, quietly dismissing her inner voice. She retrieved her earphones from her tote bag and placed them into her ears. She quickly pressed ‘Play’, continuing her morning playlist as she hooked herself onto Aubrey’s left arm.
The two started their way home and Chloe let the falsetto male voice washing over her body from her ears free her spirit.
“Pour a little me on you.”