‘We read your blog,’ Chelsea told Piper.

They were in John’s office again, this time with representatives from International and Digital. They really needed to come up with a name because the launch had been booked – on a super-yacht of all things – so the plan was basically that they’d hang out and chat and brainstorm until someone came up with something. (Angus from Digital had already suggested ‘Brainstorm’, which had then sent them googling for rhymes and briefly considering ‘Reign’ before the girls almost wet themselves laughing at the idea of being called ‘Champagne’. Or ‘Cocaine’.) They’d already been there so long they’d eaten a full plate of sandwiches and a packet of Cadbury’s Fingers that Mia had brought with her. The girls showed no signs of flagging, but everyone else in the room was starting to droop.

Piper stared back. ‘Seriously?’

‘Yeah. We looked you up after last time. Cos we loved that vagina thing you found. You know, the flowers?’

Piper nodded. She didn’t dare look at John.

‘You’re really cool,’ Frankie said.

Piper laughed. ‘I don’t know about that.’

‘No, you are. Like, the post about the photos going viral? That’s such bullshit. That people do that kind of thing, I mean. You looked fierce in both of the photos and people trying to shame you should just fuck off.’

‘I downloaded this app,’ Chelsea said. ‘Whenever anyone sends me a dick pic, it puts a little hat on it – or you can do, like, glasses or googly eyes – and I send it back.’

John was making a gurgling noise. Piper hoped he wasn’t actually dying.

‘That’s brilliant,’ she said.

‘Right?’ Chelsea said. ‘I don’t think girls – women – should have to put up with it. And it’s great that we’re going to have this platform to tell them that. Obviously the music’s more important, but that’s still really valuable too, right?’

‘It’s just a shame it’s needed,’ Frankie agreed.

Something was tugging at the edge of Piper’s brain. She wanted to shush everyone in the room, but instead she said, ‘Does anyone want a coffee? I think I’ll do a Starbucks run. I need to stretch my legs.’

While she waited for the coffees, she scrolled through Rob’s messages on her phone. He was definitely good at texting, able to take her from laughing to wanting to get on the next train and rip his clothes off in one text. It was when she got back to the text he’d sent her when she was on the train home on Sunday evening that she remembered.

---

‘What do you think about “Bitter/Sweet”?’ she asked, setting everyone’s coffees down on the table.

For a second, the room was so silent Piper could hear the dance music coming up through the floor from the Production department below. And then Chelsea said ‘Holy shit. I love it.’

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The rest of the day was spent confirming the name with anyone who might have any objections, but everyone seemed to love it and Piper was buzzing with the thrill of having come up with the name herself.

‘You’re going to be working with us, right?’ Chelsea had asked Piper as they’d been leaving, just as giddy and exuberant as they’d been when they’d arrived hours earlier.

‘Not really,’ Piper said. ‘Unfortunately. I’m in Legal so once the contract’s done my bit’s over really.’

‘That’s a shame,’ Chelsea said. ‘You should quit and come and work with us.’ She hugged Piper – as did the other girls – and then they left, leaving Piper standing in the foyer, feeling oddly disappointed.

Halfway up the stairs her phone buzzed with a notification and she stopped to read it, expecting it to be a text from Rob. But it was from Instagram, to tell her that all three girls had followed her account. Instead of heading up the second staircase to Legal, she turned into the Press department and knocked on Juliette’s door.

As she walked in, Juliette looked up from her laptop, her eyes bright. ‘Hey, superstar!’

‘Hey,’ Piper said. ‘Were you serious about that job in Press?’