‘Seriously?’ Anika says, turning towards this human cliché whose perspiration has glued his fringe to his forehead beneath his hard hat. ‘OK, then, here you go.’ Her lips spread slowly to expose bared, gritted teeth. The grin immediately unnerves both men and she waits for a few beats, staring at them both, before speaking through her clenched enamel. ‘Whatmight never happen, exactly?’ Her lips move comically, her speech impeded by her unrelenting grin. ‘Death?’ She snarls the word through her teeth, unnerved by it herself even as she feels an amused satisfaction at their expressions.
The door behind her buzzes to allow her entry into the advertising agency and she lets her mouth relax as she pulls the heavy industrial weight of it open. The foyer opens into a huge bright, glassy space courtesy of the massive skylight above. Anika shakes off the interaction and strides towards the reception desk where a dark-haired, buzz-cut receptionist in a chic sheath dress turns their wide, kohl-rimmed eyes towards her.
‘Ms Lapo, hi.’
‘Hi, Jay,’ Anika replies. ‘How’s it going?’
‘It’ll be going a lot better once I don’t have the dull buzz of drilling in my brain constantly.’ Jay nods towards the metal door. ‘Oh, Ms Kent said to tell you she’s running maybe ten minutes late …’
‘So, like, at least fifteen?’ Anika laughs lightly. Tina isn’t meeting them at the bar till seven, and, realistically, a six-thirty hard-out was never going to have been likely for Shameeka.Anika finished up her working week at half past five on the dot, having lined up a Monday morning meeting with the programmer at SpinRadio to discuss that podcast and playlist curator role.
Jay smiles and gives an apologetic shrug before answering an insistently ringing phone. They mouth, ‘Sorry,’ but Anika shakes her head and points to indicate she’s going to freshen up in the washroom.
Her footsteps echo off the elegant concrete marble and mirrored surfaces in the quiet of the unisex toilets, and, after using the loo, Anika washes and dries her hands. Her hair colour has mellowed into a deeper shade of pink that she has pulled up into a puff that accentuates her cheekbones and full lips – always her favourite features. Distracted by a last-minute admiration of her rear view in the mirror as she heads to the door, Anika lets out a yelp as someone pushes it open just as she pulls. The volume of her surprised exclamation resonates loudly and she presses a hand to her heaving chest.
‘You scared the bejesus out of me!’
‘Oh, here, I caught it,’ a deep voice retorts with a laugh. He bends down slightly and then pops up, proffering an upturned palm, and Anika giggles. She’d almost body-slammed straight intoCam Asiedu?
‘I’ve literally never said that word in my life.’ Anika shakes her head, still smiling. Cam is too.
She moves to one side to allow him to step through, but he uses his body to hold the door open for her. The same warm, spicy scent of aftershave surrounds him, and his black T-shirt’s expensive-looking fabric lightly skims his body, barely contrasting in colour with the pearlescent shine of his arms. Cam’s gaze lowers towards her for a moment as she passes.
‘When I come back, we’ll work out how we’re running into each other here of all places, yeah?’
Anika shrugs a shoulder noncommittally, smirking a little. She’s at an advantage, having already deduced why Cam might be here. Shamz mentioned that they’re working with the company that’s releasing the film he’s written. Seeing Cam Asiedu definitely wasn’t something Anika included in the diary for today, but she’s very glad she’s looking good this evening. Making her way towards the large, glass water-urn on the other side of the lobby, she picks up one of the crystal tumblers set on a tray beside it and turns the tap to fill it with cucumber-and-lime-infused water, then looks over her shoulder as she hears high-heeled footsteps enter the lobby.
‘Oh,’ says a petite twenty-something, scanning the area and alighting on Anika, who recognises the woman as Ayo. Shameeka mentioned she was working with Cam on some publicity.
‘He’s just popped into the loo,’ Anika says, just as Cam returns to the lobby.
‘Thanks. Ah!’ Ayo says when she spots him, turning on her heel, her long boho braids swinging down her back. ‘Cam, Hervé is just wrapping up a call but he wanted to check in with you really quickly about some of the wording in the final copy – can you hang on for five–ten more minutes? Can I grab you a coffee, or maybe a beer or something sparkling while you wait, seeing as it’s Friday?’
Anika was well acquainted with the amply stocked fridge that glowed with chilled beverages behind Jay’s desk.
‘A beer would be great,’ Cam says with a nod, his hands clasped behind his back like a butler. ‘And something for my friend here?’ He turns to Anika, leaning forward in enquiry. She could almost picture a silver platter in his hand, if he wasn’t clad in all black save for his pristine, white, probably-limited-edition Air Force Ones.
Ayo glances towards Jay, who stands up, saying, ‘Of course. MsLapo, what can I interest you in?’
Anika watches Cam’s face as one of his eyes squints closed at the mention of her surname. Then he turns towards her, assessing anew, as if through a microscope.
‘Uh, yeah, I’ll take a Prosecco if it’s going?’ Anika says.
‘Back in just a minute, OK?’ Ayo tells Cam, twinkling a smile up at him. His gaze lingers on Anika a moment longer before turning to nod at Ayo. She bustles away down the hall and Anika settles into one of the plush, caramel-coloured sofas arranged to one side of the lobby. She sips her water, eyeing Cam as he slumps onto the one perpendicular to hers with a sigh. He spreads his arms wide over the back of the sofa and hikes a foot up onto his knee.
‘Right, so … Ms Lapo, yeah?’ She blinks, waiting, and sees a shimmer of something cross his expression. ‘What brings you to Soho, to Lightworks, to this very lobby at …’ He glances at his watch. ‘6.39 p.m. on a Friday night?’
‘On an existential level, I couldn’t say. I have been working to bend the universe to my will, though, and that’s starting to work out. So, who knows?’ Anika says with a chuckle. ‘But essentially – my mate works here.’
Cam lets out one of his bark-laughs up towards the skylight, then pats the sofa with his outstretched hands once before swiftly adjusting his posture, unfolding his legs and leaning forward towards her with his elbows on his knees.
‘You’re here to bamboozle me, though, innit? To discombobulate man.’
Her heart quickens. Cam’s gaze is unrelenting. She isn’t sure how to respond. ‘I’m an open book, Mr Asiedu.’ She shoots him a coy smile, even as inwardly her heart continues to thunder at the direction their conversation is taking.
Cam opens his mouth to say something else, but just then Jay glides over with the drinks. Placing them down on littleblack cocktail napkins, they smile accommodatingly at Cam and Anika. ‘Here you go. Mr Asiedu, apologies – Mr Dean will be with you in just a couple more minutes. And Ms Lapo, I’m told to let you know that—’
Just then Anika’s phone trills with a message and she plucks it from the outside pocket of her bag, reading a message from Shameeka. ‘Ah, it’s OK. She’s talking about getting those guys outside to drill a hole in her laptop, so I reckon it won’t be long before she gives up and calls it a day,’ Anika says, and Jay laughs.
