The Architect [Pipabeth AU]

t e n: hollywood lights

A N N A B E T H

Everything was going great, until Trisha frantically came through the door and demanded to know what on Gods green earth Piper was doing.

"Piper! You have an interview in 2 and a half hours!"

That sent Piper scrambling. In between running between hair and makeup and clothes and cleaning, she apologized profusely to me.

"I hate to hold you up," she said.

"Don't even worry about it. I work from home a lot. I can get plenty done here." I assured her. And for once, I meant it too. I liked Piper's house. I could go into an empty room and treat it as an office. I could sit on a balcony, or in a living area, or spread out on a counter with my work. It kept things refreshing. I normally didn't like working anywhere but my offices in New York, but there was something about Piper's home that actually made me enjoy... well, life outside of work. And that translated into me working better.

Trisha poured a cup of coffee and mixed almond milk and French vanilla into it for Piper. She chopped the concoction, and proudly held up a beautiful looking iced coffee. "Would you like one too, Annabeth?"

The last thing I needed was more caffeine. I was already feeling jumpier than normal this morning. "No thanks," I politely declined.

"You know, Piper mentioned you've been up since like 6:00 am this morning working. Why don't you take a break? Come with her to her interview! You can witness the behind the scenes life of a celebrity."

"Oh, I wouldn't want to intrude." I said.

"Oh, you wouldn't at all. I'm sure Piper would love it. You know, I saw those wine glasses in the sink." She winked at me.

Oh, God, I thought. "It wasn't like that. For some reason Piper wanted to drink while putting together a puzzle. Weird, right?"

"Strange girl," Trisha agreed. "Nonetheless, fascinating!"

I could agree. The interworkings of her mind fascinated me. She was interesting, and I found myself wanting to dive deep into her brain and figure out how her mind worked. What made her tick? What made her happy? Why did she sometimes get a far off look, like there was something sad constantly ravaging her thoughts? I couldn't help but notice when her eyes became misty and distant in some of our conversations.

People were like math problems. If you input a certain value, they reacted

a certain way, like a function. Sometimes you threw in different things, and it made the entire graph completely change shape. That's how Piper McLean seemed to me.

"Fascinating, indeed..." I trailed off.

"My goodness," Trisha checked the time, before standing up abruptly. "Piper is going to be late!"

She marched towards the stairs. My phone rang, and I fished it out of my khaki pocket. Julie's name flashed across the screen.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Annabeth," Julie said. "How empty this office is without you."

Her tone was dry. I doubted she missed me too much. "What's the news?"

"Well, you're being asked to phone into an executive meeting. Sounds promising."

Executive meeting? Everyone at my company knew getting invited to executive meetings meant one thing: you were getting in trouble, or you were getting more important. And I knew I hadn't done anything to get in trouble. My career had been blossoming and prospering at an exponential rate.

"Promising?" I asked.

Julie's breath snagged, then her voice lowered. "I think they're going to name you a company head."

I almost dropped my phone. "Really?"

Julie and I didn't get very excited for each other. We barely knew anything about each other's lives. We were in a strict all-work-no-play relationship, but this was fantastic news to both of us. It meant both of us would be getting a huge pay raise and access to plenty of extra company incentives and benefits. We'd both worked hard towards this.

"Yes!" She said, sounding as giddy as a high school cheerleader. "You better get working as fast as possible. They'll probably do it in the near future. I'm sure the more quality work you get done, the faster it'll happen. How's it going at McLeans?"

"Oh," I said, "easy going. Getting it done. Already drawn up those floor plans. I've gotten a lot of other plans drawn up for some smaller jobs, too. I've been working non-stop."

"Keep emailing the .pdf's to me," she said. "And I'll keep you updated on any news from around the building."

"Thank you, Julie," I said. "Sounds like that Key's Company vacation villa might be calling to us."

"Girls trip," Julie said. That sounded foreign coming from her mouth, as we never spoke of hanging out. Of gossip. Or of anything other than blueprints, plans, meetings, schedules, taxes, paperwork, and other work related vocabulary terms. "Oh- one more thing. The mountain mansion for Jennifer Aniston. Did you tweak those balcony plans? She wanted them to wrap all the way around the house."

"I finished," I said. "Of course, we know she'll probably want them changed again." I rolled my eyes. "And I worked out that structural support issue with the surface area of the house. I added an ashlar off the car port, and-"

Just then Piper came downstairs, and the breath left my lungs like air being sucked down a cave system. She looked absolutely stunning in a strapless, white dress. Her hair flowed around her shoulders in loose curls. She smiled at me, and once again, my lungs felt like they were going to burst. I didn't think I'd ever seen anybody that beautiful.

"Annabeth?" Julie asked in my ear.

"Oh," I said. "I'm so sorry. I'm- an ashlar off the carport, forming a wall that wraps around the hill and leads to a patio area with a firepit. I wrapped the porch around so it has steps close to the area."

"Amazing," Julie said. "Once again, just email it to me when you get a chance."

"Of course," I said. "Thanks again Julie."

"You bet- meeting will be tomorrow at eight sharp. Don't miss it. You have a couple other big names on your waiting list. Elon Musk called. He wants to work with you."

"Excuse me- Elon Musk?" I asked in shocked.

"Of course," Julie said. "Something about eco friendly insulation and- I don't know. That's out of my pay grade."

"Gods, tell him I'll give him a call tonight."

"I'll phone his secretary now. Good luck Annabeth!"

With that, the line disconnected.

"Elon Musk?" Asked Piper. "You're going to be working with Elon Musk?"

I smiled, my jaw set proudly. "Seems so. I'm gonna take a break while you're gone, get a few drafts of a couple floor plans tonight."

Piper started to say, "sounds great!"

But Trisha interrupted with a, "oh Annabeth dear! Why don't you come along with us?"

"Oh, I wouldn't want to-"

"Yes!" Piper said jarringly. "I mean- why not? It'll be fun."

"Are you sure?" I asked. "Really, it's no trouble. I'll be fine here alone."

"It's Hollywood. It's part of the experience," Piper persuaded.

Normally, I would give a hard pass to hanging out with Hollywood's finest all day. It seemed like a waste of time. But Piper wasn't so bad, and I actually enjoyed being with her.

"If it's okay with you," I decided.