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artificialqueens · 6 years

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Playing Cupid: Chapter 2 (Witney & Shalaska) - Rosie

Summary: Overworked and underpaid, two personal assistants meet in an unsuspecting way. Bonding over their hatred for their ridiculous working conditions and cruel bosses, they hatch a plan to solve all their problems, discovering along the way that sometimes… love needs a little assistance.

Chapter Summary: With their plan set in place, Willam and Courtney pull back the strings of their love bow and arrows and aim straight for their respective bosses, Sharon and Alaska, all the while ignoring the hearts forming in their own eyes.

A/N: Thank you for loving chapter one of Playing Cupid! Here’s chapter two which includes some of my favourite scenes I’ve ever written.

Catch Up on Playing Cupid: Chapter One

“Love is in the air,” Courtney sang to herself quietly as she unlocked her apartment door and walked inside, dropping her bags on the floor and shrugging off her coat. She didn’t know how the rest of the song went but she didn’t care – she was on cloud nine after tonight’s absolute success.

She couldn’t stop smiling to herself on the subway ride home, too excited over the thought of playing cupid, pulling her love arrow back, and striking her boss Alaska right in the heart. Alright, perhaps that was a bit far, but she couldn’t wait to get everything underway. She had traded numbers and emails with Willam and the pair had decided to meet tomorrow to compare schedules in order to pencil in the perfect moment. The more time she spent with Willam, the more the woman intrigued her, so the thought of seeing her again so soon sent a flutter through her stomach.

In the meantime, Courtney had ordered them to think of a dreamy way for Sharon and Alaska to ‘accidentally’ meet. It was a bit of a reach, but Courtney was already fantasizing about the two of them somehow running into each other outside a luxurious Tiffany & Co. window display before laughing over a brunch of croissants and coffee, or seeing each other across the crowd at a rooftop bar, something tropical in both their hands while the sun set behind them.

Turning the corner, she jumped back in mild shock at the sight of seeing her roommate and her girlfriend intertwined on the couch, half their clothes thrown around the room.

“Farrah!” Courtney exclaimed.

“Courtney!” The pastel pink haired girl replied in shock, pulling her lips away from her girlfriend lying underneath her.

“Aja,” Courtney waved as she walked past them to get to the kitchen.

“Hi Courtney!” Aja replied, her voice breathy from kissing Farrah, or maybe because Farrah’s weight was on top of her.

Their legs were a tangle of limbs, Aja’s skirt was completely gone, and Farrah’s bra looked like it was 4 seconds off joining other garments on the floor.

“Sorry,” Farrah apologized sheepishly, grabbing her blouse from between the couch cushions and holding it against her chest. “We can move into the bedroom?”

“Oh, I don’t mind! I won’t be here long, you two can have the living room back in a second,” Courtney said genuinely, opening the fridge to grab the Vegemite and vegan cheese in order to make a late night toasted sandwich.

Both Farrah and Aja looked at her in shock. They had a habit of loosing track of things in the living room when Farrah had a perfectly good bed in her room. But Courtney’s late hours meant they always forgot and felt like the apartment was their own. After Courtney had walked in on them fully naked on three separate occasions, she hit the roof, announcing there had to be some rule changes. Expecting to be deservedly scolded, Farrah had braced herself for Courtney’s annoyance. To hear that she ‘didn’t mind’ was astounding.

“How was work?” Farrah asked, frowning at her friend.

“Fantastic!” Courtney said, throwing her dinner into the sandwich press with a ridiculously toothy grin on her face.

Farrah and Aja exchanged a look. Courtney wasn’t one to whine, Farrah did enough for the three of them, but Courtney’s job was incredibly grueling. Farrah couldn’t remember the last time she had returned home from a 12-hour day with a giant smile on her face.

“Alrighty, I’m all done, I’ll be in my room if you need me, you kids have fun,” Courtney rambled, balancing her sandwich, a drink, her bag and her phone as she walked past the girls again and retreated to her room, not realising they could hear her humming ‘love is in the air.’

Willam Belli: S got a 1h lunch meeting @ 12 I don’t have 2 b @ – u free ?

Courtney Act: Yes! I’ll come to your office, there are too many people at mine :)

At midday exactly and not a minute later Courtney took the elevator up four extra stories and made her way into Willam’s office. It was just as vast and grand as it had been last night, but instead of the cozy, lamp lit lighting that cast shadows around the place the previous time she was here, during the day it was brilliantly white, with sunlight bouncing around its exceptionally clean walls.

Like a drop of vivid nail polish on clean white jeans, Willam sat at her desk in the middle of the room, her loud choice of a fiery red, orange and yellow ombre body con dress screaming against the minimalistic interiors.

She was scribbling something down in her planner, but her head snapped up when she heard Courtney’s heels click against the tiled floor.

“Hello Ms Act,” Willam said, shooting Courtney a smile before finishing up her notes.

“Hi,” Courtney said, suddenly feeling terribly plain in comparison in her black skirt and baby pink blouse.

Willam opened her mouth to speak, but a loud ring from her desk phone swallowed her sentence. She picked up the receiver, gesturing to Courtney to have a seat and that she would only be a moment.

“No, we’re not letting Valentina wear a full face mask on the red carpet of the premier next month. She’s our main star, she’s selling our movie. If you don’t tell her to get that fucking thing off of her face, Darienne, and organize something else stat, I’ll rip it off her myself.”

As Willam barked orders down the phone, Courtney let herself subtly look at the other woman. She noticed how her blown out eyeshadow mimicked the colours in her dress, a beautiful mess of warm shades intensified with glitter and defined by black eyeliner. She noticed how her lipstick was a metallic shade of deep purple, and how her high heels were bright red and glossy. If Courtney wore the same outfit, she’d look like a drag queen on their first night out. But somehow on Willam, with her razor sharp tongue and take-no-shit attitude, all the chaos and colours just worked.

“Sorry,” Willam said sweetly, slamming the phone down before clearing her throat. “People can be just so pushy. Now, we said we were gonna try and find a free slot of time somewhere, right?”

“Yes,” Courtney said, unlocking her iPad to view Alaska’s schedule for the week ahead, a perfectly colour-coordinated wall of meetings, events and appointments staring back at her.

Willam pulled up Sharon’s on her desktop, which was just as jam-packed.

“Alright, I’m just gonna yell out times Sharon has free. 9:30am tomorrow?“

“Nope, we have the Her January cover shoot all day,” Courtney said. “What about 11am next Monday?”

“No luck, Sharon reads screenplays for like 3 hours a day. 4pm Tuesday?”

“Nail appointment. Alaska has 45 minutes in the afternoon though on Wednesday?”

“Nope, Sharon’s out of town until Friday morning then takes the afternoon off to be with Aquaria. This is like a shit game of Battleships,” Willam sighed.

Courtney bit her lip. Having to wait over a week to get their bosses in the same room together would eat her alive. She just wanted it to happen now.

“What about 2pm this afternoon?” Willam asked in a bored voice, the fun of this plan gone now that it looked impossible.

“Today… Thursday… 2pm…” Courtney searched her iPad. “Oh, wow, yeah Alaska is actually free.”

Willam immediately perked up. “Perfect. Let’s do that, then.”

Courtney blinked.

“Whoa, today? Now?"

“Yes.”

“But that’s… today.”

“I’m aware,” Willam said, typing away on her keyboard. “What? You suddenly scared? Little Miss Love not prepared?”

“Well,” Courtney stammered. Willam was right. She didn’t feel prepared. “It’s just all so sudden. And so soon.”

“Love can be like that sometimes,” Willam concluded nonchalantly before smiling to herself. “Oh, by the way, I thought they could meet in an elevator.”

Courtney was dumbfounded.

“An elevator?” She tried to sound nice, but really, an elevator? “I was thinking of something more romantic. Like outside Tiffany & Co, or at a rooftop bar while the sun set behind them.”

“This ain’t some rom-com fantasy dream, this is real life,” Willam waved her off. “Haven’t you ever had a bangin’ woman waltz in and stand next to you and all you wanted was for the elevator to jam so you could fuck all sweaty on the floor?”

“Oh my god Willam—“

“I have! Don’t lie to me, you probably have too. If you can’t think of anything else that would actually work before our deadline of 2pm today, which is in an hour and 35 minutes, it looks like we’ll be tampering with the lifts.”

Courtney massaged her neck, suddenly feeling stressed.

“We can’t actually jam the elevator though. It will be a fleeting meeting that will only last seconds,” Courtney hated how negative she sounded, but she just didn’t see how this would work.

“Who said we couldn’t jam the elevators? I know a girl.”

10 minutes later, the two of them were standing in the rundown alleyway their sky scraping office building back onto. It had become the designated smoking spot for the many receptionists, cleaners and maintenance crew who looked after the building, not to mention the dozens of stressed workers who popped down to smoke a quick cigarette or four in their lunch breaks.

Courtney had never found herself in this part of their building, so she tagged along after Willam who weaved her way down the alley, looking for a specific spot where she knew she’d find a certain person in particular.

“Adore!” Willam exclaimed upon spotting the person in question.

There in the corner against a wall of colourful graffiti sat a girl who looked young enough to be in college. She wore the standard khaki overalls all maintenance workers were required to wear, but her baggy fit, rolled up sleeves and high-waisted belt made it look actually cool when paired with her Doc Martins and grungy 90s style makeup.

From her seated position on an upside down milk crate, she jumped slightly at Willam’s call, before exhaling the smoke in her mouth and pulling her headphones down to sit around her neck.

“Willam!” Adore smiled, standing up and wrapping her arms around her.

“Adore, this is Courtney,” Willam introduced. “Courtney, meet Adore.”

“Hi honey,” Adore drawled, smiling at Courtney and twirling a lock of her ombre blue hair around her finger. While Courtney smiled and said hello, she felt almost patronized by a girl who was clearly younger than her. She immediately disliked Adore, and hated the fact she had Willam’s arm draped around her.

“How’ve you been, bitch?” Willam smiled, before bringing Adore’s hand to her mouth and taking a quick drag of the cigarette still perched between her fingertips.

Adore laughed and lightly punched Willam’s shoulder while Courtney stood awkwardly to the side, feeling like she was at a high school party.

“Girl,” Adore drawled, “work’s been so exhausting.”

“Mhhmm yeah, these 3 hour breaks really take it out of you,” Willam joked, making Adore laugh again. “In all seriousness though, I’m mostly not just here for a smoke. We have a favour to ask.”

“Fire away,” Adore said.

Courtney watched as Adore’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped the more Willam revealed about their plan and Adore’s crucial, potential involvement.

“If this is too much,” Courtney suddenly said, interrupting Willam, “you don’t have to do it. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable or anything or feel like we’re compromising your job.”

Adore’s eyes darted between the two women before laughing. “Are you serious? This sounds fucking awesome!”

“So you’re in?” Willam asked.

“Uh let me think about it,” Adore paused, before smirking. “Uh abso-fucking-lutely!”

“Right, I’m off to pick up your dry cleaning,” Courtney lied, standing in the middle of Alaska’s office. “Don’t forget you have a meeting with Milk about the upcoming Marc Jacobs campaign across town at 2:30… so you should leave soon… so you should aim to be out of here and in the elevators at 2…”

Alaska’s gaze shifted from her computer screen to her assistant before she zeroed in on Courtney’s weird behavior. Suddenly terrified, Courtney braced herself for Alaska to instantly know she was lying.

But in a wild turn of events, her boss actually praised her.

“That’s a good idea,” Alaska said. “I always leave my office on time, but so many of the girls need my attention on my way out that I end up instantly running late. Also I totally forgot I had dry cleaning. Huh.”

“Happy to help!” Courtney said brightly as she exhaled in relief. “I’ll see you when you get back from the meeting."

Courtney calmly exited Alaska’s office, but once she was well and truly out of sight, she bolted to the elevator and directed it to take her straight to the basement. When the doors parted, Willam was standing there with her phone to her ear.

“The koala has arrived,” Willam said into her phone before hanging up and snorting as Courtney rolled her eyes at the code name. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy it, though. She followed Willam down the narrow corridor to what must be the maintenance control room Adore told them to meet her in.

“If we’re doing code names, what’s yours?” Courtney asked.

“What do I remind you of?” Willam shot back, throwing a glance to Courtney behind her and giving her wink.

“Oh uh,” Courtney’s mind was too busying replaying that knee-weakening wink to be able to think of animals. “Something loud, and colourful, like a peacock.”

Willam burst out laughing before throwing a hand over her mouth. “I’ll take that. I would have said a pig.”

“Does Sharon have a reason to go in the elevator? We’ve got less than 10 minutes until show time,” Courtney fretted.

“Yes, she’s going to a meeting I told her was pushed forward by an hour.”

Willam abruptly stopped at a random door in the hallway and Courtney almost ran into the back of her. Knocking on the door three times quickly, then once, then twice more, they stood in silence for a moment before it suddenly opened upon hearing the secret knock.

“Come in,” Adore hissed, ushering the two blondes into the dark room before sticking her head out the doorway to check they weren’t seen. She slipped a broom between the handles to lock out anyone trying to walk in on them before turning to the women and rubbing her hands together. “Whose excited?”

“Me!” Willam shouted, before noticing the many screens displaying the live security footage of all the cameras around their building. “Whoa, this is some FBI shit.”

“Here are the elevator ones,” Adore said, sitting down in the hot seat with the controls in front of her while Willam and Courtney stood on either side.

“Cool,” Courtney said, noticing how they had multiple angels inside just one elevator. “Is there any sound?”

“Unfortunately not,” Adore said. “But I can give you a copy of their footage if you want to analyse it later."

"That’d actually be quite cool,” Courtney said. “Kind of illegal, but cool.”

“Oh my god,” Willam pointed at one monitor, “is that Sharon? She’s in. The bat is in position.”

Adore’s fingers flew across the keyboard, programming only Sharon’s elevator to be able to stop at Alaska’s floor.

“Is there a camera on Alaska’s level? How will we know she’s ready?” Courtney said, already biting one of her nails.

“There isn’t one, so we’ll just have to see,” Adore said.

The three of them sat in silence as Sharon’s elevator descended one level, then another, then another. Courtney checked her watch.

“6 minutes passed 2,” she mumbled, suddenly feeling like this was all for nothing. There was a huge chance Alaska could have been held up in the office and would miss Sharon entirely. In a weird way, Courtney would feel like it was her fault if she failed to get her boss in the right place at the right time.

Sharon’s elevator stopped at a floor.

Everyone peered in closer to look at the CCTV footage on the monitor.

“There she is!” exclaimed Courtney, pointing wildly as Alaska appeared on the screen.

“We can see,” Willam snapped as Courtney gripped her forearm with nervous excitement.

Alaska stepped into the elevator and flicked her long blonde hair over her shoulder as she pressed the button for the ground floor, not even acknowledging Sharon.

Willam’s heart pounded in her chest, and Courtney’s insanely tight hold on her arm wasn’t helping things. She tried not to think about why her cheeks were starting to heat up, or why when Courtney finally let go, she wished she hadn’t.

“God, Sharon didn’t even look up from her phone,” Willam seethed. “Why don’t people fucking look at each other anymore.”

To their dismay, Alaska started checking her phone too, leaving Courtney, Adore and Willam to stay engrossed at a monitor displaying two women frozen in place as they tapped away on their emails.

“A little emergency stop should distract them,” Willam said, wiggling her eyebrows. Even though she was a little nervous, she wasn’t going to pretend she didn’t love this feeling of playing Cupid — or God.

“So I’m good to press stop?” Adore asked, her finger hovering over the keyboard.

“Wait, whose that?” Courtney whispered as the doors parted on the 10th floor.

Willam anxiously ran her fingers through her hair as another person entered the elevator. They hadn’t factored in an unexpected character in this planned storyline.

“Oh, it’s just a delivery person,” Adore sighed in relief as a sizeable woman entered the elevator and placed two giant boxes on the floor.

“But it’s still a person,” Willam said in annoyance. “They can’t fall madly in love with a fat FedEx employee standing between them.”

“Willam,” Courtney said in disbelief as she shot her a glare, “that’s really rude.”

“She can’t hear me,” Willam muttered, rolling her eyes as Courtney turned back to the monitor. But a sting of rare embarrassment hit her as Courtney called her out. She didn’t mean to be such a bitch. She bit her lip, wanting to take it back.

“So can I hit the button?” Adore asked again, still confused but incredibly eager.

“No,” Courtney and Willam said in unison. The timing wasn’t right.

Adore hit the button.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Willam yelled.

“I thought you said yes!”

“We said NO you dipshit.”

“Willam,” Courtney scolded, even though she was thinking roughly the same thing.

The elevator came to an abrupt halt, its three passengers inside staggering slightly at the sharp motion.

Inside its metal walls, the trio of woman reacted.

“Did the elevator just stop?” Alaska asked, snapping her head up from her phone.

“Oh sweet mama no,” the delivery woman pleaded in a thick Southern accent. “I’m claustrophobic, I can’t do this.”

Both women looked at Sharon, who really didn’t know what to say. Yes, it was obvious the elevator had stopped, and she couldn’t do anything to help the claustrophobia.

“Um, it’ll be fine,” Sharon attempted.

She would have added more, but the only thought bouncing around Sharon’s mind was how beautiful the blonde opposite her was, and how her tight dress fit her curvy figure perfectly. Had she been in the elevator this whole time?

Back in the control room, the mood was plummeting fast.

“Make it go again, nothing is happening,” Courtney sighed, watching as her dreams of being Cupid were dashed as she observed all three women just stand around awkwardly and not fall in love.

Adore hit some keys before they watched the passengers become visibly relieved when the elevator began to work again.

“If FedEx doesn’t exit in the next four, now three, floors, we’ve completely lost our chance,” Willam sighed, her arms already crossed in defeat.

Suddenly, the elevator halted again.

“Adore!” Willam exclaimed.

“I didn’t press anything!” Adore held up her hands, which had been placed on her lap.

It was true, she hadn’t.

Her fingers quickly flew across her keyboard in a bid to fix the situation, but nothing worked.

“I think it’s actually broken down this time,” Adore said softly.

Inside the elevator, the women began to sweat – however, some more than others.

“It’s stuck again,” Alaska commented, instinctively grabbing the handrail for support as it came to yet another sudden halt.

“Yep,” Sharon replied shortly.

“Oh no no no no no no no,” the delivery woman said, shaking her hands and moving from foot to foot as if she had to go to the bathroom. “I can’t do this, no sir no ma’am.”

“It’s okay,” Alaska said calmly, glancing at the woman’s ID tag on her belt and attempting to sooth the situation. “Uh, Eureka, is it? It’s okay, we’re going to be fine, we just need to—“

“Can everybody just calm down!” Eureka yelled, looking to the ceiling as if it was the heavens above. “Just calm down!”

Sharon and Alaska exchanged a glance.

“I’m just going to press this emergency option,” Alaska said slowly as she reached passed a now hyperventilating Eureka to press the button.

In the control room, Courtney, Adore and Willam jumped as a red siren on the wall with the words ELEVATOR EMERGENCY painted above it buzzed once, alerting them to a mishap they were clearly going to ignore.

“I’m going to call 911,” Sharon said, flicking her hair over her shoulder as she tapped away on her phone. “That’ll be much more effective.”

“How?” Alaska said in annoyance as she detected attitude in the other woman’s voice. Why was this chick making it a competition for who could save them the fastest? “That button is literally for this exact situation. And there’s no reception in here.”

“Is it hot in here or is it just me?” Eureka gasped, fanning herself with her hand.

“Maintenance is some young college drop out who only comes to fix things after she’s had her fifth cigarette on her four break,” Sharon scoffed, bringing her phone to her ear. “Trust me, we’re not getting out anytime soon.”

Alaska could only blink in response.

“It’s too hot in here,” Eureka gasped, pulling at her brown uniform as it clung to her skin.

“Wh— what are you doing?” Alaska stammered as Eureka practically popped a button off in a bid to undress.

In the control room, three intrigued faces leaned in closer to the monitor, watching the plot of their silent film go completely off script.

“What… in the ever-loving fuck… is she doing?” Willam asked as they watched the FedEx employee disrobe.

“I… I can’t believe this,” Courtney said in astonishment as Adore tried and failed to hold back laughter.

“Now I know why God abandoned us,” Willam wheezed with laughter, absolutely perplexed at the scene unfolding on the screen. “You create humans and this is the shit that happens!”

Back in the elevator, Sharon and Alaska could only watch.

“I gotta get out of these clothes, try and calm down so I don’t have one of those panic attacks,” Eureka said, moving to sit on the floor as Alaska and Sharon stepped back into opposite corners of the small elevator. Alaska didn’t know where to look as Eureka exposed herself, stripping down to just her beige bra as she struggled to peel her overalls down her legs from her spot on the floor.

“This is how all good horror movies start,” Sharon commented, a smirk on her lips. “The elevator could just drop and kill us all.”

“Hey!” Alaska snapped as Eureka wailed from her spot on the floor. “You’re not helping.”

“And neither is that button of yours,” Sharon replied, cocking an eyebrow at a now speechless Alaska.

They stared each other down.

Alaska loved the colour of this other woman’s lipstick. It was a deep, velvety burgundy that looked so striking against her pale skin and black hair. If she wasn’t such a bitch, Alaska would have asked her where it was from. If Eureka wasn’t here, she would have pressed her against the wall and kissed her hard.

“There’s no reception here,” Sharon huffed, finally dropping her phone into her handbag.

“I said that before,” Alaska said.

“No you didn’t?” Sharon lied, wondering how much she could rile up this hot blonde.

“Oh my god! Yes I did!” Alaska exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.

A lot, apparently.

“I’m gonna throw up,” Eureka announced, rocking on the floor slightly.

Everyone froze.

“Don’t you dare,” Sharon ordered as Alaska instinctively stepped back and placed her hand over her mouth.

“Someone needs to rub my back,” Eureka whined, gesturing to her back which was coated in a sheen of panic induced sweat. “It might not stop the nausea, but it might help.”

Sharon looked at Alaska. Alaska looked at Sharon.

In an instant, Alaska began repeatedly pressing the Emergency Assist button like her life depended on it while Sharon dialed the police again, ready to throttle the first person she saw if they ever made it out of this cursed elevator.

Back in the control room, the assistants made the final call.

“Alright, that’s it!” Willam exclaimed, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. “This is a mess, get ‘em out!”

The emergency siren buzzed loudly each time Alaska forcefully pressed that button, lighting up the room with a bright red flashing light that never gave up.

“I feel like I’m in hell,” Courtney yelled, her hands over her ears.

“Hell is that elevator,” Adore joked.

She jumped from her seat, slapped on her utility belt and grabbed her toolbox before saluting the women and leaving to fix the elevator.

“Jesus,” Willam laughed, rubbing her neck as she paced around the small control room. “Well apart from it not working out at all, that was kinda fun.”

She turned and saw Courtney flop into Adore’s empty seat, her face looking as defeated as her slumped posture.

“Hey,” Willam said softly, using the toe of her electric blue stiletto to gently nudge Courtney’s wheely office chair. “We tried.”

Courtney shrugged her shoulders.

“I just had such high hopes!” Courtney finally exclaimed. “I wanted them to fall in love! I wanted to see sparks fly! And instead it just looks like they fought.”

Willam didn’t argue. Sharon had that cocky look on her face Willam knew all too well, and Alaska’s up-tight body language didn’t appear positive at all. But even though Courtney’s idea didn’t go as planned, it still happened.

“Look, I know fireworks didn’t go off and they didn’t grind up against a wall—“

“Willam—“

“Oh come on, I wanted that to happened, don’t act like you didn’t too.”

Courtney didn’t debate it.

“But your plan still worked. Sure, they might not be in love yet, but at least they know each other, which was a hell of a lot better than where they were 10 minutes ago.“

Courtney was silent for a moment as she contemplated.

“Yeah,” She said slowly. “That’s true. And like, this doesn’t mean our work is over. We can just try something different, or plant more seeds, or arrange more plans.”

“Exactly,” Willam smiled, watching as Courtney slowly got her positive attitude back.

“Wait look,” Willam said suddenly, spotting something over Courtney’s shoulder. There on the monitor was Adore slowly appearing on the screen as she pried the elevator doors apart from where it was stuck on Level 5.

They laughed as they watched Sharon clap and Alaska bounce on her toes as the doors were opened. Moving to look over at Sharon, Alaska smiled at her before tucking a piece of hair behind her ear and looking down, just as Sharon glanced over at her.

“Oh my GOD did you see that?” Willam yelled as Courtney squealed.

“Yes!”

“That was a smile!”

“And a hair tuck!”

“That was something!”

Courtney couldn’t help herself. She pulled Willam into a hug, who hugged her back just as tightly, euphoria bubbling through them at the sight of a shy smile. They bounced on their toes, before Courtney broke the hug first to keep looking at the screen, catching the moment their bosses finally escaped the elevator as everyone involved applauded.

Suddenly, their phones vibrated at the same time.

Alaska/Boss: Courtney I just got stuck in the elevator!!! I need a Xanax ASAP :((

Big Daddy: Willam you won’t believe the fucking shit I just went through holy fuck

“Well I call that a success,” Willam said after their both quickly tapped out a reply.

“Me too,” Courtney smiled. Caught up in the excitement of the moment, Courtney swallowed her nerves and pushed forward.

“Would you like… well I mean if we’re not working tonight, which will probably will be, but do you wanna get drinks tonight? I don’t know, I just think we need to celebrate, and also plan stage two of this whole thing.” She could have said it more gracefully, but at least she said it.

Willam looked up from her phone. “Oh we totally should! I can’t do tonight though, I’ve got plans with my girlfriend, it’s our 6-month. Next week we’re definitely continuing this though!"

Courtney could only nod along, not really taking in anything Willam was saying after the word girlfriend. Willam’s phone buzzed again.

“I gotta run, Sharon needs me. We’ll keep each other posted, yeah?”

Courtney just nodded. “Yep!”

After Willam left, Courtney sunk back down into the chair and didn’t move, instead staring at nothing while trying to understand what she was feeling. She refused to accept that it felt like her heart was breaking. That was entirely too dramatic, even for her standards. It was never in a place to break, but right now it kind of just felt like it had… popped. Like a red heart shaped balloon gently rising before Willam had swiftly exploded it right in front of her eyes with a sharp ‘girlfriend’ shaped needle. It was a dumb crush, and the vibes she had gotten from Willam, which only further fueled her little infatuation further, was all something she made up in her head.

It was a dumb crush, Courtney told herself again.

“Here we are! Today’s deliveries, tomorrow’s box office hits,” Willam said in a sarcastically cheerful manner as she pushed a small trolley full of paper into Sharon’s office and towards the couch where her boss was currently reclining. Her high heels were kicked off and a half finished vodka soda sat on her coffee table.

Every single day Sharon was delivered stacks of screenplays that Willam would organize and present to her. Every single day Willam was able to hold hours, weeks, months of people’s hard work in her hands, their hopes and dreams there in black and white, and every single day Sharon tore them to shreds.

Sharon slid her glasses on and peered at the title of the one on top. “The House. Let me guess, a white family moves into a haunted house they know is haunted and are surprised when they start getting haunted.” She opened the first page to skim-read the synopsis. “Correct!”

Grabbing the entire screenplay, Sharon promptly threw it into the fireplace next to her, almost choking the flames before they bounced back and roared to life against the hundreds of pages.

As Sharon grabbed another, Willam sat down on one of the plush chairs opposite her and began tabulating data, writing ‘GOOD’ ‘MAYBE’ or ‘FIRE’ next to titles considered for just today alone.

After 5 minutes of silent reading, Sharon posed a question without looking up.

“Have you ever seen a blonde in this building?”

Willam froze.

Sharon was still looking at the page in front of her, but Willam wondered if she had even read a word in the 5 minutes they had been sitting there.

“Yes, I’m a blonde myself,” Willam joked, her heart racing at what she thought Sharon was asking. Was she asking about Alaska? Had their plan actually worked?

“You’re not a blonde, you look like a My Little Pony doll threw up on your hair while it was retouching your roots. That’s why Aquaria’s always grabbing at it when she sees you,” Sharon tried not to smile.

“I’ve seen some blondes… you’ll have to be more specific,” Willam probed. Even if Sharon wasn’t going to mention Alaska, Willam loved the idea of at least someone grabbing her lonely bosses attention.

Sharon pressed her lips together, before suddenly reciting every feature of someone who looked impressively like Alaska.

“She’s tall, a bit taller than me. Really skinny, but like not too skinny, I don’t know, she looks like a good weight, you know what I mean? Curvy, but like that’s not the point. Really plushy lips, I remember because they’re just as fake as mine. Gorgeous, has these really dark eyes, really fashionable. She was holding a magazine. She kind of drags out her words and while you’d think that’d be annoying, I can’t get her voice out of my head…”

Willam screamed internally.

“Oh! Did you say blonde before? I think that’s Alaska Thunderfuck, Editor of Her, this gay fashion mag for women. She started it all, I think. Really cool chick. Their office is in our building. Why do you ask?”

Sharon could only blink in response to the wave of valuable information.

“I think that’s who I could stuck in the elevator with,” Sharon said almost breathlessly before she cleared her throat. “Get me her number… wait actually, her email… I need… to thank her because it was her idea to press the maintenance button, and they saved us in the end.”

Willam couldn’t fucking wait to tell Courtney.

“Sure,” Willam replied, calming rising from her seat and leaving Sharon’s office. Once seated at her desk, her legs tapped against the floor, too excited to remain still. She messaged Courtney instantly.

Willam: SHARON JUST ASKED FOR ALASKA’S EMAIL BECAUSE SHE WANTS TO SAY THANK U FOR PRESSING THE BUTTON I’M DYING WE DID IT

Courtney: Yay!

Willam frowned at the short, arguably lackluster response, but Courtney was probably just busy. She passed Alaska’s email to Willam, who passed it along to Sharon via a Post It note 5 minutes later.

“What are you gonna say?” Willam asked, not retreating from Sharon’s office.

“Thank you for pushing that button,” Sharon snapped. “Duh.”

“Do you want me to help you draft it?” Willam asked eagerly.

Sharon frowned at her from her curled up spot on the couch, her phone in one hand and her vodka soda in another, though it shook slightly. Willam just knew Sharon was nervous.

“No,” Sharon said quietly. “I’m fine, you can go.”

Willam turned on her heel and existed the office, only to open Sharon’s emails on her own computer. She had all of Sharon’s passwords, they both knew this, but a level of trust was there that meant Willam only went into her inbox for emergency purposes only.

This was an emergency.

Almost half an hour later, a message appeared in Sharon’s Sent folder.

To: Alaska Thunderfuck

From: Sharon Needles

Subject: Thank You

Hi Alaska,

It’s Sharon, one of the women who was caught in the elevator before (not from FedEx). I just wanted to thank you for pressing the emergency assist button earlier. I didn’t think it would have worked, so without you who knows if we’d still be in there.

Warm regards,

Sharon Needles

CEO of Scream Queens

Willam gritted her teeth at that fact that Sharon hadn’t grabbed herself by the balls and just asked Alaska out. But still – baby steps.

“What do you know about Sharon Needles?” Alaska asked after she had called Courtney into her office.

Courtney’s deflated mood went on hold for a moment while her heart rose in her chest.

“Sharon? Sharon Needles?” Courtney stalled. She barely knew anything about Sharon, but she was about to sell the absolute shit out of her. Willam had just screenshotted Sharon’s email and sent it to her, so she hoped and prayed she knew where this was heading. “I know she’s some CEO of some big film company… like some queer horror film company… kind of like Her… but for films.”

“I get the concept,” Alaska hurried her along. “It turns out that’s who I was stuck in the elevator with.”

“Oh my god! Wow!” Courtney exclaimed, as if Alaska had just had a run in with Barack Obama. Too much, she told herself.

“Yeah… anyway,” Alaska continued. “She just emailed me saying thank you because I was the one who saved us, and I thought that was really sweet of her to do… so what I’m wondering is… is it too forward to ask to grab a drink with her?”

Courtney grinned.

“Absolutely not.”

“I just don’t want to seem too like… desperate or too much too soon or like weird?” Alaska shifted in her seat, visibly anxious.

“Well,” Courtney persuaded, tapping her chin with her fingers as she was thinking long and hard, “I think the fact that she went through the effort to track you down, find your email, and personally tell you thank you means she has some sort of interest in you… So I don’t think she would be blindsided at all. I think she would love to grab a drink with you.”

Alaska pursed her plumped lips and tapped her fake acrylic nails against her desk. Courtney didn’t breathe as her boss contemplated her words.

“Alright,” Alaska decided, inhaling deeply. “But Courtney, can you… help me write it?"

Touched at the offer, Courtney beamed. “Of course.”

When Courtney returned home, her mood had risen since the 2pm elevator fiasco. Her and Alaska had drafted the perfectly casual but to the point email asking Sharon out. Alaska hadn’t sent it yet, though, wanting to sleep on the offer as if to not seem over eager. Courtney had tried to push her into it, but also feared scared Alaska entirely. While that factor was annoying, it was miles ahead of where she predicted they’d end up when she woke up this morning. Sure, the elevator scheme wasn’t how she thought they’d get there, but they did it.

Her heart skipped a beat when she thought about the control room from earlier, which will forever be tainted with Willam’s revelation of a girlfriend. Why was it still bothering her? The thought was ripped from Courtney’s mind though when she entered her living room, a romantic scene of candles, pillows on the floor and rose petals disorientating her.

“What’s all this?” Courtney asked, before spotting Farrah with her arms around her girlfriend Aja.

Upon seeing Courtney, the two girls broke apart and turned to face her, their cheeks wet with tears of happiness.

“Courtney!” Farrah cried. “Aja just proposed to me!”

She held up her left hand, showcasing two pink little gems on either side of a beautiful diamond that Courtney instantly wondered how Aja could afford. Immediately dropping her late night groceries, Courtney gasped and threw her arms around her roommate, before pulling Aja into the hug as well.

“Oh my god! That’s incredible! Congratulations!” Courtney gushed, admiring Farrah’s ring and asking about every detail, and also requesting to have a glass of the champagne current going around between the two of them.

After over an hour of catching up and celebrating, Courtney retired to her bedroom and crawled under the covers after her shower. The entire day played through her mind as her body refused to fall asleep.

She thought about Willam’s fiery dress against her pristine office, meeting Adore in the graffiti filled alleyway, the wink Willam threw over her shoulder. She remembered the code name of koala Willam had given her, and how hard she had laughed when Courtney called her a peacock. She thought about the control room, the monitors, and how Willam had squeezed her just as hard when they hugged and it was Courtney who had to be the one to pull away first, because Willam was making no motion of letting go. She thought about Willam and her girlfriend, Alaska’s smile and hair tuck, Sharon’s email, Alaska’s desire for a date, Willam’s wink, the engagement, Willam’s girlfriend, Willam.

Courtney wanted to cry in frustration; she just wanted her mind to turn off. Grabbing her phone, she searched for a distraction, going through all her apps before finding herself on Tinder. Left… left… left, left, left, definitely left. It was the same old story. Courtney was about to give up, turn her phone off and try to go to sleep, when her final swipe of the night actually showed potential and caught her attention.

Andrew, 28

I have a British accent, need I say more?

Courtney rolled her eyes at the sentence, but he was without a doubt the most attractive person she’d ever seen on Tinder. Brown hair, blue eyes, Prince Charming jaw line.

Feeling like everyone else in her life was in love except her, Courtney swiped right.

#rosie #playing cupid #cisgirl au #fluff #adore delano #courtney act #alaska thunderfuck #sharon needles #aja #farrah moan #rpdr fanfiction #witney #shalaska #lesbian au

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