opia.

      a soft smile formed across her face as she gazed over at her new boss, extending a hand out to shake his own. their hands would grip one another’s loosely and the young ’woman’ enthusiastically shook his hand. they bowed once more before taking their files and leaving the office.

vivienne had just secured her job at alchemax labs, it was her twenty fourth birthday and all she wanted was this job.  she had dreamt big of this ever since she was a child, watching her mother in their home office.  she could remember receiving a large tub full of test tubes for her to play in--clean ones, unused ones, even her mother and her insane tendencies wouldn’t dare give a child hazardous tubes--vivienne could find herself often watching older shows having to do with biomedical roundabouts.  she looked up to famous bioengineers and when she was younger felt as if she would give the world just to be like some of them.  

when they started climbing up their steps, they made contact with their next door neighbor, ivana.  ivana was a beautiful blonde haired, blue eyed lady.  she stood at around six feet flat, had a thick russian accent, and practically chain smoked cigarettes all day.  once she fixed the unit’s water heater with just a hanger and a pack of cigs.  vivienne gave their neighbor a curt nod, receiving one back as ivana exhaled the smoke the opposite way vivienne came up the stairs. 

''you got job?'' inquired ivana, raising a brow to vivienne as they fumbled with their keys to unlock the door. 

''i did!'' they beamed, smile wide ear to ear and showing the red and blue ligatures on their braces.  vivienne got the door open and would drop their keys into their crocheted tote bag.  ''my boss, he said he'll be starting me off at an entry level geneticist technologist.'' 

ivana chortled at her neighbor's excitement.  ''not entirely sure what these big words mean.''  she ran a hand through her hair and smiled, leaning over the rusting railing.  ''congratulations, you deserve.''

''thank you, ivana!  have a good evening, mama.''  vivienne bid farewell, smiling widely as she entered her shared apartment.  she closed the door behind her and shrugged her jacket off, folding it over the side of the couch.

''parker?  you here?''  vivienne spoke out, placing her bag on the floor.

her roommate submerged from the darkened hallway, towel draped over his head as he dried his hair.  

''yeah, just got home not too long ago.  how was your interview?''

vi smiled at him, kicking her flats and sitting down on their semi-sunken couch.  she stretched her arms up and rested them on the back of the couch with a cheshire cat-like smirk.  ''i got the job,'' they started, ''he said the interview was just a pleasantry and he was really impressed by my application.''

''well yeah, you went to one of the most prestige private colleges, i'd be impressed by that too, viv.''  parker chuckled, walking into their cramped kitchen and opening the fridge.  he rummaged through it before grabbing what looked like soy milk, popping the cap open and drinking it from the carton.

''gross, man.  i drink that shit too.'' vivienne pouted, throwing a flat at parker and missing by a landslide.  

''you probably drink from the carton too''

''sometimes''

''gross.''

parker left the kitchen and came over, flopping next to vivienne and chugging from the milk and pulling his phone out.

''did you tell maude?'' he asked, curious gaze shifting over to his best friend.  he noted how she slightly tensed at the name, opting to change the subject, but before he could open his mouth to do so--they'd started speaking themself.

''yeah, she didn't answer my texts though.  i wanted to take her to stanlee's maybe, but we know how flakey her ass is.''  vi sighed, mostly telling herself rather than telling parker.  she just shook her head, letting the thoughts of disappointment fade away.  they knew better than to expect anything out of maude, but they'd been talking about this job at alchemax for years.

''best, you know we're going to get drunk tonight right?  fuck that b-'' parker caught himself, ''fuck maude, just for tonight.  me and you can go to the bar, drink some fireball shots, eat the godforsaken peanuts that have been sitting up there since we were seventeen, and have a good night .  we HAVE to celebrate this,''

vivienne smiled softly, nodding and wrapping her arms around parker's shoulders.  they would give him a soft squeeze before pulling away. 


''dios mío, what would i do without you, parks.''  

''i dunno, die, maybe?''

by the end of the night, the two roommates were at stanlee's getting shitfaced and drunkenly causing a ruckus.  the bar was known for it's bustling business; the old man who ran it left it up to his son and daughter during the busier nights to run it since he was getting older and couldn't keep up with the livelihood of the bar.  it was always swarming with people, drinks being thrown around, people yelling and screaming with all kinds of emotions--god, don't even remind viv of the time the yankies and mets went against each other--but it was a vibrant scene.  parker and vivienne loved the place, they'd been going there since they graduated highschool.

vivienne had a few kamikaze shots and was on half way through with her glass of hennessey, she'd completely let loose.  while parker on the other hand's face was completely red from the two vodka cranberry's he'd consumed in under a hour.  vi listened as parker raved on and on about his boyfriend, swigging from his drink every now and then.  his boyfriend, joseph--or joe, was very annoying to vi.  they were here before him, yet he believes he's more inclined to parker's time than them.  vi rolled her eyes at the mention of parker and joe's date for his birthday, her brain clouded by vodka would just let her appear as if she was listening.  in reality, vi's eyes had moved over to the burly man sitting at the bar.  they stared, chin in their palm as they swished the ice in their glass around.

he was super built, like a body builder addicted to steroids.  his hair was almost black from how brown it was, but vi's drunken glance could distinguish the difference in the color.  vivienne didn't even realize they were staring until parker leaned over the table, narrowing his eyes--he was without his glasses and contacts--he tried to make out what vivienne was looking at and only could see a blurry muscular figure. 

''youuuu're gawkin', vivs..'' he draped an arm around their shoulders, throwing his head back as he swallowed the rest of his drink.  ''if you're gonna stare at them, at least go and compliment them, bestieeee..''  

''and you're super great at that?  nigga, get off of me.'' vivienne pushed him back over the table, rolling her dark colored eyes.  ''i don't even know them--plus, i have a girlfriend.  i'm not a cheater.  it's okay to just look, right?''  she sat, sipping her hennessey and turning around to let the back of her head face the man now.  

''i'm an AMAZING wing man, excuse you,'' he threw a hand over his chest dramatically, gasping at their words.  ''and forget that girlfriend, just for tonight.  i bet that dude over there would be a better girlfriend than maude.'' parker spoke once more, voice dripping with disgust as he spoke of viv's girlfriend.  it was almost like he was at hogwarts speaking of voldemort.

vivienne snorted, rolling their eyes once more and leaning back into the booth's seat--head resting on the wood separating her seat from the seat behind her.  ''sorry parks, didn't mean to insult you,''

''well you did so-''

a couple would move past their table, sucking each other's faces and brushing their asses onto vivienne and parker's table.  the two sitting would snicker, watching as they moved to around the groups that surrounded what was supposed to be open flooring.  

''drunkards.''

''pretty much.''

the two sat for a while, drinking and allowing the hours to mesh into each other, but just sitting wasn't on vivienne's todo list.  she was turning twenty four, she got her dream job, and all with the support of her bestfriend?  yeah, maybe she had to figure something out.  however, in the mist of that, she glanced over her shoulder once more.  the guy was gone by now.  she frowned slightly, she should've done what parker urged, but she knew better than to act merely on a drunken attraction; how would she feel sober?  how would she explain to maude?

she turned back to parker and smiled, ''wanna go home and get high?''

''you read my mind.''

vivienne and parker held one another, arms interlocked and slung around the other's shoulder as they struggled to get to their apartment.  it was only down the street from stantlee's so they could walk with no issues, but they were both equally wasted.  vi held her heels in her free hand and gripped onto parker as if she was going to fall off of the earth, parker's lanky fingers securely rested around their arm--covering a tattoo that on-goers wouldn't be able to make out through his defined joints.  the two joked about how someone could easily kidnap the both of them, snorting and cackling about it.  no matter what, vi knew nothing could possibly happen like that, she always felt safe with parker because regardless of his skinner nature, he was like an eldritch terror to people--he didn't realize it, but he could easily intimidate people.  especially when it came to his influence as a model.  

vi was pretty much unknown though, everybody that had ever approached her with a camera in her face had immediately rerouted to parker when they were out in public.  they didn't complain, though.  if anything, they'd rather be unknown than suffer through what they see parker deal with everyday.


with a soft chuckle, vivienne drunkenly slurred over her words.  she could barely muster the strength to walk let alone talk, she whispered something incoherent about weed as the two of them rolled up the stairs of their apartment building.  when they got to the front door, parker tussled with his keys--kirby charm hitting against all his other keys--he finally got the door open while vivienne leaned over the faulty rail.  she stared up at the clear and starry sky, intoxicated gaze taking in the sight merely at face value.

she leaned up, looking at parker who was now sitting on the livingroom floor, backwood in hand in an attempt to roll the blunt.  she chortled, entering their shared apartment and closing the door behind her.

the two sat on the couch, dogma(1999) playing on the tv, and talking about nonsense.  the wood was down to half, parker held it between his left index finger and thumb as he choked on laughter--snorting inconsiderably loud.  he threw his head back, laughing at the tv.  

''and then, pretty in pink--which i can't even watch with this tubby bitch anymore, 'cause every-time when we get to the part where the redhead hooks up with her dream guy, he starts sobbing like a little bitch with a skinned knee and shit!  and there's nothing worse than watching a fuckin' fat man weep.'' 

vivienne and parker both burst into uncontrollable laughter, from being both cross faded and how funny the line actually was.  the two had seen dogma over and over, a million times over since middle school, and never once had the jokes gotten old or the movie bring comfort.  it was a movie they could quote word for word, but was it a movie they ever grew tired of?  not a chance.

park handed the blunt over, vi took it and would take a relatively long drag--french inhaling it and taking it to the head--they exhaled slowly and watched the movie.  they sat an arms length away from parker, legs across his with their back pressed against the arm of the couch.  viv took another hit, attempted a clean ghost but failed, and one more before handing it back off to parker.

''hey, you hungry?'' parker asked, leaning over vivienne's legs and ashing the backwood in the spiderman ashtray that belonged to vi.
''as fuck, i didn't wanna seem like a fat ass though, but i'm fuckin' starving..'' they glanced over at him, low red eyes slightly glistening as they watched him take his phone out to open doordash.
''i assume burger king?''
''you assume right.'' she hummed, kicking her legs off of him and getting up to stretch. ''i need to piss so, i'll be back, roll another one, we got more movies to watch.''

parker hummed back in response, ordering what viv usually got from bk, and going on to add a tea for himself considering he wasn't that hungry.  

life without worrying about maude was easy.  life focusing on her new job was easy.  life being enjoyed with parker was easy.  but the life that was to come wasn't quite as easy as vivienne believed it was going to be.   

 

      the next two days was pretty much the same, minus the drinking part.  vivienne would get high with parker and watch movies, eat fast food and fall into a kush coma on the livingroom floor.  however, the third day was her first day at alchemax, and boy where her nerves in a jumble.

she pulled her locs over her forehead, pinning them to one side with bob pins--some hanging shamelessly in her mouth as she did so--and tucked the rest of them behind her back in a low ponytail.  vivienne stood in front of her full body mirror-- she'd gotten discounted at the flea market one day--trying to fix her attire.  she wore snug fitted pencil skirt, a nicely ironed floral button up that had a few unbuttoned, and a pair of black flats.  her stockings were black as well, hiding the fact she hadn't shaved her legs in a while.  they smiled at their reflection, fixing their false lashes and rolling their eyes to get a better look at themself through their contact lenses, before grabbing their tote to leave.  they glanced at the clock;
7:47 am

a small grin soon grew into a big one as their heart thumped with anticipation.  they were excited more than nervous, it was like their first day of middle school, first day of high school, and first day of college smashed all together into this bunch of excitement.  

they quietly closed the door behind them and rushed down the steps, hurrying to catch a cab and get to work early.  they sat, butterflies swarming their stomach as they happily hyped themself up.  they got this job all by themself and their hard work paid off.

they hadn't quite checked their phone, though.  they tapped the screen, lock screen of them and maude smiling appearing.  a small sigh escaped their lips and they would turn the phone back off, not a single text from maude--not even a response to their excited 'I GOT THE JOB!!!'.  they just shook their head and took a deep breath, they refused to let this ruin their first day at ALU.



alchemax labs was huge, they'd gotten lost the day of their interview, but lucky there was a woman kind enough to help.  she walked through the front doors, eyes darting around the now bustling lobby.  they shuffled to the receptionist's desk and told her their name, letting her know today was their first day.
the receptionist's face almost instantly lit up as if she seemingly recognized vivienne.  the woman behind the desk nodded, going to sit down before her eyes shot up, focusing on a man entering the building.

''miguel!  the new geneticist is here!  mister banks asked me to ask you specifically to show her around and get her accustomed with the lab.''

vivienne's eyes would circle around to match the face with the name.  and all she could say was wow.  he was fucking huge, towering over every person he walked past.  he had to be at least two fifty of pure muscle because the way his coat hugged his arms--she imagined he could pop a watermelon with just his hands.

he was gorgeous, and his aura radiated sharply from where he was right up to where vi stood.  she adjusted her sleeve and found herself analyzing him from head to toe.  his face was perfectly structured, his hair slicked back had no loose strands, he wore what looked like a light tan versace trench coat with a black knit stitched turtle neck under it.  his pants fit him just right, not too tight, not too loose.  he smelled great, his cologne had to be expensive but it wasn't anything too musky, vi could mentally note it--maybe one day she'd ask him what it is so she could get some for parker-


the two made eye contact, vi didn't think he seemed familiar but his body shape did, and miguel didn't think she seemed familiar but her eyes reminded him of a pair he'd seen not too long ago.

same pair he watched from across the bar.

vivienne held a hand out with a friendly smile, expecting a handshake and getting nothing but what she could describe as a pitiful grunt.  she slowly retracted her hand and looked back to the receptionist who gave her a wobbly grin, motioning for her to follow him.  vivienne reluctantly did so, pushing up their glasses and hesitantly shuffling after what she believed to be her higher up. she couldn't help but find herself a little worried her first day would be soured by this bitter hunk of a man.