Chapter Text
It’s raining, even though that seems to be an understatement. It’s pissing and Nicky Nichols needs to get to work. She can’t be late again, her boss is going to murder her, literally. She pulls the hood of her jacket over the blonde mess on her head and runs even faster when she catches a glance of the time on her watch. When she arrives at the bus station, the bus is already gone. “Fucking hell!” She curses loudly. A kid next to her repeats the phrase and his mother shushes him, shaking her head in disbelief. Nicky sighs, fishes her phone out of her pocket to text Lorna she’s going to be late, she has to cover for her.
Before she can hit ‘send’ the device crashes to the ground, this day could not go better. She takes a deep breath, tries to stay calm as she turns around to see the person who apparently can’t watch where they are going. “I’m so sorry, somebody pushed me, I didn’t mean to.” Nicky’s mouth practically fell to the floor when she took in the woman in front of her, she was beautiful. Brown curls cascading down her shoulders, bright hazel eyes gazing at her. “Are you okay?” Nicky notices she has been wordlessly staring at the stranger and snaps out of it quickly, “I- yeah, I’m good.” She stammers, “That old thing, eh, easy to replace, don’t worry bout it.” She smiles, “But I must make it up to you, I won’t take no for an answer.” The beautiful girl grins, Nicky hasn’t noticed her accent before. “May I invite you to coffee? There’s a place a few blocks away.” The blonde seems flustered for a moment, was she asking her out? “What’s your name?” She asks, the phone on the ground long forgotten. “Shani, it’s lovely to meet you, Nicky.” Shani tilts her head to the side, looks at Nicky’s shirt. Nicky furrows her brows in confusion, how did she know her name? Shani laughs, “It’s on your shirt.” Even her laugh is beautiful, she thinks. “About that coffee?” The brunette raises an eyebrow, realising she hasn’t received an answer just yet. “Coffee, sure! I work there, at the restaurant.” Not for long, Red is probably already waiting to kick her ass out of the door.
The bus arrives and they finally arrive at RED'S. “What do you do, Shani?” Nicky learned that Shani is from Egypt, she came here a few months ago, she wanted a change of scenery, after graduating she worked in her fathers restaurant, but she realised that’s not what she wanted to do with her life and came to New York with nothing but her ‘dreams of tater tots and trashy television shows’. “I’m looking for a job, so I can afford college at one point.” She tells her. They announce their arrival with a ring of the bell when the door opens, it isn’t too busy. Some men in suits, probably on their way to work, few teens with their noses stuck in books, doing their homework last minute before school starts. “Nichols, you’re late!” Gina, a thirty-something woman with short hair announces from behind the counter. Nicky rolls her eyes, “Give me a minute.” She says to Shani. The brunette nods and sits down at a table, taking in her surroundings while ridding herself off her heavy coat.
Nicky grabs a clean towel as she enters the employees area, drying her hair quickly,
“Ah, Барышня Nichols, here at last. I’m glad we could fit into your very busy schedule.” Red clasps her hands in front of herself. Galina ‘Red’ Reznikov is the owner of this shop, chef of the kitchen, a mother figure to most of the women who work here. She came here, God knows how long ago, from Russia with her husband Dimitri, co-owner of this place, but rarely seen. The elder woman is kind and motherly, until you get on her bad side.
“Ma, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again, eh? I’ll make up for it, promise.” Nicky smiles sweetly, knows Red can’t be mad at her for too long. After all, she was like a daughter to her. The russian had helped her through most of her shit, but Nicky didn’t like to talk about it. Red cups her cheeks, “You know better than to make promises you can’t keep.” Nicky kisses her cheek then puts on her apron and grabs her notepad.
“What can I get you?” She asks, as she approaches Shani. “Surprise me.” She folds her hands under her chin and smiles up at Nicky. “And whatever you want, I invited you, remember?” The brunette adds, “Hey, how about we go out tonight?” Nicky suggests. “You know, when I don’t have to work.” Shani laughs, “That sounds nice. It’s a date!” She exclaims. Nicky can’t help but get excited, a date. She hasn’t had one of those since her and Lorna went out that one time. Lorna started working here a year after Nicky, they quickly became friends. She had a boyfriend at the time, Christopher, but he broke up with her. Lorna was a jealous person, couldn’t stand him even looking at other women. Soon Nicky and her started sleeping together, it happened by mistakes, but they kept going until Lorna ended it to try and get Christopher back. Nicky has to admit, she was kind of heartbroken then, she had a major crush on her friend.
Nicky serves some other costumers before she gets back to Shani. “Can I ask you something?” She questions, drumming her fingers on the table. “Sure, spill.” Nicky shrugs and puts her beverage down in front of her. “Is your boss looking to hire?” The blonde raises an eyebrow. “I really need a job, you know, this place seems nice.” Shani smiles. If they were to work together, Nicky knew she’d be even more distracted than she already is, but Shani really needs this. “I can ask her. Maybe she has time for a quick job interview.” Nicky says. Working with her could also have advantages, seeing her every day would totally motivate her to come to work.