One Shot Collections

Usually Kat would be waking up in her comfortable bed, but instead she is on the floor with pillows piled up on top of her. Alex is on her bed, lying down on her stomach, spread out like starfish, and drooling on the bed sheets. Standing up, Kat picks the pillows off the floor and throws them on the bed, completely covering the smaller girl. After showering, brushing her teeth, and changing into a pair of grey and white cargo pants, a orange crop top hoodie, and white sneakers , the social media director makes sure to leave a note on the night stand before pressing a gently kiss on her sister's forehead.  
Walking into Scarlet Magazine, Kat says hi to some of her coworkers then takes a seat at her desk. After a couple minutes she receives a text from Jane to meet her and Sutton at the closet and Kat readies herself for the daily dose of closet talk.
"Kat! Glad you can join us." Jane bares her game winning smile at the taller girl before plopping down on the floor.
"Yeah, Jane got something stuck up her vagina again."
"What! No I did not!"
"She needs you to take it out again."
"Shut up, Sutton." Kat laughs at her two best friends before taking a deep breath and fiddling with the hem of her shirt.
"Something wrong, Kat?"
"I picked up Alex from the airport last night."
"How'd it go?"
"We talked, about the photo. That photo."
"Oh. And what did she say?"
"That she saw it at school and she broke the dude's phone."
"Wow, I'm proud. Can she be my sister?"
Kat lets out a soft chuckle. "I still need to talk to her about it, but she didn't seem bothered by it. Adena said that she was just making sure I knew that she's there for me."
"Well, Miss El-Amin is very wise."
The door to the closet opens, "Sutton, Oliver wants to see you."
"On my way. Don't worry, Kat. Your sister is like a mini you. You shouldn't worry."
It was around 2:00 when Kat hears her name being called to the front desk. She was surprised to see her little sister looking out of one of the giant windows while wearing torn up skinny jeans, black Timberlands, a white button up with the three top buttons undone to show the Harry Potter necklace Kat got her for her 13th birthday. Her long, wavy, black hair whipping a lady in the face as she quickly turns around.
"Oh, shit. Sorry. Ma'am." The lady rolls her eyes before walking away and shooting Kat a dirty look as she walks past.
"Alex, what are you doing here?"
"I was bored. And, you literally have nothing to eat at your apartment. Does your girlfriend do all the cooking? Are you that lazy?"
"Shut up, we mostly go out to eat. But, how did you even get here?"
"I looked up Scarlet Magazine online, got the address, took a taxi here, jumped over that card slide machine thingy at the front desk, ran from security for a couple minutes, and I took the elevator up here. I didn't know which floor so I just followed the flow of women in heels and a bag of vibrators."
"Where did you get the money for a cab?"
"I found it in one of your drawers, the one with all the lace panties. You have nice taste, by the way. Adena not into the granny panties you usually wear?"
Kat flicks Alex on the nose, "You can't be here. I'm working."
"Kat. Who's this young lady?"
The 26 year old mentally curses her younger sister and shoots her a look that says "I will kill you later" before turning to her boss and putting on what is possibly the most forced smile on Earth. "Jaqueline, this is my little sister, Alex, she is just...uhm...visiting. But, she's leaving now."
The teenager pokes her head out from behind her taller sister. "Hello, I'm Alex. Nice to meet you." She offers her hand to the slightly intimidating lady and makes sure to squeeze extra tight when Jaqueline shook her hand. Kat has always told her that hand shakes are important when making a first impression.
"Nice to meet you, too. And Kat, I think this is a great opportunity for your younger sister to be around influential women." Jaqueline smiles at the younger girl, "Why don't Kat show you around and who knows maybe you'll find something and end up working for Scarlet Magazine some day."
"I am interested in journalism." Kat looks at her surprised, she has never expressed interest in journalism before. At least, not from what Kat remembers.
"Great, Kat will show you around. Don't worry about the research you have been doing today, Kat, you can have an extra couple of days. After all, family is important." Jaqueline walks, more like struts, back to her office.
"I like her." Kat glares at the smaller girl then grabs her hand and starts showing her around, introducing her to her co-workers and meeting some of the people the magazine is interviewing. All of them taking an immediate liking to her sister, some even giving Alex small gifts such as perfume, candy, lotion, and Sutton gave her a giant red button that loudly screams "NO" when pressed, giving Kat a mischievous grin after. Alex even gave her little sister one of his favorite pens because "He liked her name".  
When the two sisters reached Jane's desk, Kat knew it was going to be entertaining. Alex and Jane have a love hate relationship and it was always fun watching the two banter back and forth.
"Alex, it's great to see you."
"You too, yoni egg."
"Kat! Did you tell her about that?!"
"She tells me everything. Everything."
"Well, I will not let a 16 year old get to me."
"You're really chill since I last saw you."
"Thank you."
"Is it cuz you finally managed to have an orgasm?" Snickers come from Kat and a couple of the people around them, causing Jane to playfully glare at the young Filipina.
  After a couple more greetings and even way more gifts, Kat lets Alex sit at her desk while she has one of her meetings. Jaqueline is, as usual, standing proud and powerful at the front as she presents to her employees.
"The good news is that our number of readers is not going down. The bad news is that it's not going up. Why is that? Any ideas?"
"Maybe we just don't have interesting enough content?"
"We have plenty of engaging content. Anything else."
A small hand pops up from the door. Everyone looks to see the 16 year old standing at the entrance with a pen resting on her ear. Kat feels a surge of pride as she looks at her sister, she definitely grew up since Kat has left to go to New York. Last time she remembered she was always shy and reserved, but she showed a different side to herself today when she greeted Jaqueline and the whole office without hiding behind Kat once. And now she's standing in a room full of adults, oozing so much confidence that even Jaqueline smiles at her approvingly before calling her name,
"Yes, Alex, any ideas?"
"Maybe it's because you mostly talk about struggles a woman in a first world country would face. Your magazine is helpful to a lot of women, but it doesn't tackle the stuff other girls from second or third world countries are facing."
"Well, most of our readers are here in America, a first world country." , Kat's natural protectiveness kicks in as she gives a slight glare to one of the fashion writers.
"Yes, but not every reader is from America. Some of my classmates read Scarlet and they are from places like Bangladesh, Sudan, and Philippines."
"That is actually a very good point. We focus mainly on problems of a woman who is privileged to be in a country that is more tolerant than other places. We should do an issue focusing on women that come from other places such as Alex said, places like Philippines and Sudan. Thank you, Alex."
"You're welcome. So, do I get the job?" Everyone laughs and even Lauren smiles at the younger girl,
"Well, we will save a spot for you after you graduate high school." , Alex gives a salute to Jaqueline before leaving and sitting down on Kat's desk again.
After the meeting, Kat runs up to her little sister and pecks kisses all over her face,
"I'm so proud of you! When did you get so confident?"
"After you left to go work here I had to be more social, I couldn't stay in the corner of the room while everyone socialized with each other or I would have been left behind."
Kat fake wipes tears from her eyes, "My baby is all grown up" she says as she squishes the younger girl against her chest, "Come on, let's go home. I bet you're tired."
"Yeah, work was hell today." The older sister laughs and ruffles the smaller girl's hair while they walked over to the elevators.