Page 21 of So Not My Type

“Yes!” She pulled her fists in for a pump, fully Napoleon Dynamite-style.

A hand gripped her forearm. “She said yes?” Sophie’s eyes were wide and expectant.

“She said yes!” Ella had no idea the rush she would get from a single person saying she could meet. A moment passed as Ella glanced at Sophie’s delicate, multi-ringed fingers wrapped around her arm. Sophie whipped her hand back, but not before a small heat imprint seeped into her skin.

“Awesome.” Sophie smiled. “Good job.”

Whoa. Did Ella have a praise kink? Those words sparked something deep, and she wanted to hear it again.

All morning, Ella had scrambled with Sophie’s instructions: Set a one-hour concepting call for today with the lead creatives. The task seemed easy enough—there were only four leads total, plus Sophie and Ella. How hard could it be to get everyone in a room?

Turned out, super freaking hard. The kaleidoscope of calendars showingbusy,out of office, orgreen, but only for thirty minuteshad swirled and swirled until Ella caught a break.

“Feels like you need a smoke after that one, huh?” Sophie wiggled a brow and rubbed the back of her head with a palm.

Was that a… was she flirting?

Something felt different with Sophie today. She hadn’t said one snarky comment, she’d smiled, she just saidgood job. Whatever the shift was, it was both amazing and put Ella on edge. She’d had the rug pulled out from under her before, thinking people were her friend. She was older now, wiser. She’d never let that happen again.

“A smoke?” Ella tipped back a sip of water. “I wouldn’t know. Never tried it.”

Sophie stopped typing. “You’ve never smoked? Like… anything?”

Ella shook her head. Sure, Seattle was one of the first states to legalize weed. And half the teen population had tried a cigarette at least once. But Ella had never tried, well, anything. She’d had some wine on her twenty-first birthday, but wasn’t sure if it’d trigger a seizure, so she didn’t risk more than a small glass. Same with marijuana. Cigarettes smelled disgusting, so even if she thought it was completely safe, she still wouldn’t try. Hell, she didn’t even have a tattoo. Her full-on devious act of anything self-indulgent was being a proud owner of a variety of shaped and sized vibrators.

“So, what happens at a concepting meeting here?” Ella added theherepart just in case it was something super obvious. Shecould play it off and say she learned different types of concepting at school. Which was not true, but Sophie didn’t need to know that.

“Come on, let’s grab some coffee.” Sophie pushed out her chair and took off toward the breakroom.

Ella locked her computer and followed Sophie into the room. “Don’t you ever get dehydrated?” she asked as Sophie filled a cup from the communal coffee pot and added in a truckload of sugar.

“Probably.”

Sophie smiled—again. Twice in a day, and Ella hated that the motion made her insides flip-flop.

Sophie stirred the contents and took a hesitant sip. “So, the pre-strategy meeting is really level-setting. Making sure we heard the client, their needs, the timeline.” She tapped in more sugar and tasted again. “But the concepting is where fun begins. The creatives bring forth the high-level concept of the campaign based on the strategy, and they start building the creative brief.”

Clear as a foggy Seattle day.

Sophie pointed to the high-top table in the corner, and Ella grabbed a seat.

“I watched a speech one time, and it finally made sense.” Sophie slid into a chair across from Ella. “When building strategy, it’s so much more than ‘put two products next to each other and say buy one get one free, and make it sparkly.’”

Ella’s brows scrunched. Seriously, she should have paid more attention in school. They must have talked about this stuff in her marketing classes, but Ella’s brain blanked.

“Here’s another way to explain.” Sophie tapped the cup. “What’s your favorite movie?”

“The Shawshank Redemption,” Ella replied with zero hesitation. When she saw that movie ten years ago, she knew she’d never see a better one.

Sophie’s breath sounded like it hitched. “That’s, um, wow. Super random. That’s mine, too.”

Interesting.Ella would have pegged Sophie as a Marvel movie lover, or maybe something old-school likeThe Shining, orA Clockwork Orange. Ella filed away this little nugget for later.

“Why do you like it so much?” Sophie asked.

Ella fiddled with her fingertips under the table. “I’ve seen it probably thirty times, and even though I know what will happen, it still gets me directly in the heart, you know? The friendship, having someone’s back, the whole found-family concept… it strikes a chord.” Probably more personal than Sophie needed to hear, but it was true. Ella studied her cuticles and hoped her face hid her embarrassment for oversharing.

“I get that.” Sophie’s voice was uncharacteristically quiet. “Let’s break this down. The story is about two guys in prison and how they both handle incarceration. If the creative brief only listed that as the concept, it would be a different film. Now, let’s say the producers requested a sweeping story of redemption, triumph, and a beautiful friendship. And add in an underdog story that shows the human spirit and leaves the viewers motivated to find joy in this world, and it’s a totally different prison story, right?That’swhat a creative brief does.”

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