long days, long nights*

Sophia considered herself a morning person.  Actually, she considered herself a whole day kind of person.  She could wake up early, work all day long, and stay out at night until 2 am just to repeat the process the next day.  She occasionally enjoyed a relaxing day, maybe on Sunday, where she would sleep in a little later and lounge around her apartment all day or go out and spoil herself to some shopping or lunch with friends.  When her alarm rang that morning, Sophia was able to practically spring out of bed and hit the shower.  It took her about an hour to get herself together in the morning, and she hated being late, so she kept to her schedule.  After she had gotten ready, she would sometimes grab an apple or a granola bar on her way out.  She would stop somewhere for coffee, preferably a Starbucks, before she got to the office.

Clicking along the sidewalk in her high heels, Sophia found it was a vey refreshing morning.  The streets weren't crowded yet, a relief to Sophia.  There was nothing worse than being bogged down, especially by tourists.  Since the Cosmo building was located in the Midtown Manhattan area, the streets surrounding it were frequented by tourists at all times.  Sophia even noticed how during the wintry, cold months the people would swarm along the streets of Times Square, oogling at the skyscrapers and taking pictures.  It was a bit comical to a Manhattan native like herself, but she didn't bother them.  She knew others that despised the tourists.  Although they may have gotten in her way a time or two, Sophia oftentimes left them alone to have a good time and enjoy her home.

Stopping to obtain her Starbucks, a daily dose of heaven, Sophia continued to make her way to the office.  She was right on time, so she wasn't rushing herself.  She was comfortable in her outfit, which consisted of a pair of white slacks with a navy blazer that was over top of a loose-fit red tank top.  She hadn't gone to any great lengths to get dressed that morning.  It was a Monday, so she didn't have any fantastic plans for after work hours.  She'd probably stop by happy hour somewhere and have a few drinks then make her way home to indulge in some guilty pleasures.  Wasn't the Bachelor on tonight?  Thinking over her plans for that evening, she entered the Cosmopolitan building and made her way to the elevators.

She rode up to the third floor where her office and the rest of the Entertainment team at Cosmo were located.  Saying her hellos to everyone along the way to her office, she quickly set her things on her desk and made her way back out onto the main floor of Cosmo.  She was supposed to go up and see the Editor-In-Chief to chat about their upcoming issue.  It wasn't a formal meeting.  In fact, Sophia happened to be good friends with her boss.  They got along great, and Sophia even pulled her along to happy hour a few times in the last month.  Grabbing a folder that held some of the information she had been researching for their next issue, Sophia made her way back out to the elevator to go up to the top floor where the ultimate boss of Cosmo was located.

Getting onto the elevator, she found she was not alone.  It wasn't an odd occurrence.  People were coming and going from all day long from various places in the building.  She smiled at the young woman on the elevator.  Being in a particularly chipper mood, Sophia found her voice easily booming out into the empty space and filling the air.  "Hello there."  She didn't recognize this younger woman, which was somewhat rare.  Sophia tended to at least know of everyone that worked at Cosmo.  She had heard there were some new interns that had been hired - perhaps this girl was one of them.