InsaneJournal

claire (likesachallenge) wrote in nevermore_logs, @ 2013-01-27 23:51:00

Current mood:	awake
Current music:	Sacha Baron Cohen & Helena Bonham Carter - Master of the House

Who: Monique Reppyi & Piper Addison
What: Just a couple women hanging out. And I want them to be friends. For reasons.
When: Sunday afternoon
Where: Cafe


Nikkie loved having Sundays off. She usually used the time to sleep in, relax, and spend the better part of the day in her pajamas. Or sometimes, like today, she went out and did her shopping, having lunch out if she got hungry along the way. She'd already crossed off about a third of today's list before that happened, and she could smell melted cheese and some kind of soup coming from a nearby cafe. Her stomach rumbled, and that just clenched it. So she headed inside and got soup, a sandwich, a caramel latte, and a cookie. (So sue her, she was hungry.)

Piper was doing much the same today. Ever since she'd mostly take it upon herself to reorganize Charles' kitchen, she'd started doing the shopping on Sundays, since that was the day she had the most free time to devote to it. But she remembered reading somewhere that you shouldn't go grocery shopping on an empty stomach, so it was going to be lunch first, then off to the store. The cafe had a special for loaded baked potato soup, and with the cold, gray weather they'd been having, that sounded delightful to her.

"And...hmm, some hot chocolate too, I think," she said to the girl behind the counter.

Her voice made Monique look up from her sandwich. She hadn't heard another accent like hers, apart from V, in what felt like a really long time. It reminded her a little bit of home, and she wanted to at least say hello to the other woman before one of them left. And, as luck would have it, one of the few open tables was right next to her, and the woman chose to sit there. Perfect!

"Afternoon," Nikkie said. "Heard you talking up there, nice to hear a familiar cadence now and again."

Piper's head jerked up as she looked for the source of the voice. "Oh!" she said, spotting Nikkie. "Hello! And I can't help but agree. I mean, my boss is from England too, but it's not the same as another girl my own age, you know?"

"Cheers," Nikkie said with a grin. "Whereabouts are you from?"

"London," Piper replied, sipping at her hot chocolate. "You?"

"A little town out in the country no one's ever heard of," Nikkie said with a laugh. "I'm Nikkie, by the way."

"Piper," the other girl returned. "Pleasure to meet you, Nikkie."

"Likewise," Nikkie said. "How long have you been in the Big Apple?"

"About...four or five years," Piper said. "I moved here to start Uni. You?"

"Only since May of 2011," Nikkie replied. "My sister and her son live here, and I was ready to see America, so I called and asked if I could come stay with her for a while. When it looked like it might be more long-term, I got a job so I could stay."

"Oh, what do you do?"

"I'm a...secretary/assistant/part-time babysitter," Nikkie laughed. "My boss, Anthony D'Oro, he runs D'Oro Investigations, and up until recently, sometimes he'd just work so much, he forgot to eat. And he's dating my sister, so everyone worries, and he tended to fall off the earth, and it's a really long story. And...I'm rambling," she finished, with an embarrassed giggle. "Talk about yourself, so I don't sound like a blabbermouth."

Piper laughed. "It's OK," she said. "I work at Wonderland Oddities and Antiques. We sell...well, odd things and antiques. My boss hits up flea markets, estate sales, wherever he thinks he'll find something to put in the shop. It's nice, it leaves me quite a bit of time to study, I'm doing graduate work in World Literature. Between the studying and the shop, it's a wonder he sees me out of my room on Sunday at all." She stopped suddenly, because she remembered that most shop girls didn't live with their bosses. Unless they were sleeping with them.

"Oh, do you two live together?" Nikkie asked, her tone not judgmental, just interested. "A 'thing', as I've heard so many Americans say?"

Piper blushed. "No, no, I was just...really unhappy with my current place, and we spend so much time together at the shop anyway. And it's not just us, his friend Cassandra lives there too."

Nikkie nodded. "Hey, no judgment here. Whatever works for you guys. Life's too short, you know?"

Piper nodded too. "I was actually just thinking that the other day, we had a friend of Charles'-that's my boss-over for dinner, and I was listening to them talk about Paris in the 50's, and it just reminded me, pretty forcefully, that we only get one go-round, and we should really make it count."

"Some of us only get one go-round, anyway," Nikkie muttered into her latte.

Piper had been about to eat some more soup, but stopped when Nikkie spoke. "I am really tempted to ask what you mean by that, but something tells me that I both already know, and don't want to know."

Nikkie set her latte down. "If I told you my boss was a Saint...what would that mean to you?" she asked, folding her hands on the table and looking Piper in the eye.

"I'm going to go out on a limb here, and assume you don't just mean he has a good heart and is exceptionally kind," Piper said, lowering her voice.

"Well, he is both those things," Nikkie admitted, lowering her own voice. "But you would also be correct. And judging from how calm you seem right now, I'm going to guess this isn't the first you've heard of things like this."

Piper shook her head. "It's really, really not. My boss, Charles? He's someone you might recognize. I assume you've heard of Lewis Carroll?"

Nikkie's eyes got huge. "Shut up," she breathed. "Really? Wicked."

"Says the girl who works for a real live Saint," Piper said. "Which one, if I can ask?"

"Anthony of Padua," Nikkie told her. "Patron Saint of lost things and a bunch of others I can't recall right now. But how awesome is it that Lewis Carroll runs a shop called Wonderland?"

"I know, right?" Piper said with a smile. "I bought a pendant off Etsy that said 'We're all mad here' to wear to work, before I even knew who he really was. Looking back on it now, I imagine he might have gotten a chuckle out of it."

Nikkie snorted. "The first time I shouted 'goddammit!' in the office after he told me who he was, I thought I was going to get struck by lightning. Turns out, God apparently has other things to worry about than the fact that I curse like I breathe. He doesn't, which sort of figures once I found out, but he doesn't really care that I do. Plus, I think V is helping him to relax a little."

"I thought Saints took vows of celibacy?" Piper asked. "Or is that just nuns and priests. Agnostic asking, here."

"I thought so too, and I asked, turns out that's not always the case," Nikkie replied, taking another bite of sandwich, chewing and swallowing before continuing. "A couple of them have steady girlfriends, apparently, and one's married. There are some that are celibate, sworn virgins, etc., but that's not standard, apparently."

Piper nodded, continuing to eat as Nikkie talked. "The more you know, I guess. At least you know your sister's boyfriend isn't secretly an arsehole, or something."

"Right?" Nikkie said. "They're so happy, it almost makes me gag. Diabetic levels of sweet. But it's nice to see V smile, you know? If she's happy, I'm happy. Plus, he signs my checks, so, you know. Everybody wins."

"Always good to have a boss that likes you."

"Especially when you're roommates," Nikkie said, wriggling her eyebrows.

Piper laughed and swatted at her shoulder. "Shut up, it's really not like that."

"Sorry," Nikkie said. "I swear, I absorb innuendo from the air I breathe, I'm terrible sometimes. Although I would love to come and see your shop sometime, where are you guys?"

"Hang on, I'll write it down for you," Piper said, grabbing one of her napkins, and, finding a pen in her pocket, she jotted down the address. "My mobile's on there too. If you wanted to do this again sometime."

"I'd like that," Nikkie said, smiling. She scribbled down her own number and passed it to Piper. Then she caught sight of the time. "Bloody hell, is it really that late? Not that I mind, of course, I just didn't expect so much time to have passed."

"And I still have grocery shopping to do," Piper said. "But hey, I made a new friend. The chicken will still be there when I get there."

Nikkie laughed, and the two of them threw out their trash, leaving the cafe with a lighter step, and promising to call soon.