Algorithm (Chapter 10)
Link to Full Story
Marco’s Outfit: Shirt, Jeans, Jacket, Shoes.
Sascha’s Outfit: Suit, Shoes.
Sofie’s Outfit: Dress, Heels, Jacket, Clutch.
MARCO’S POV
“So where are we meeting this Frederiksen guy?” Marcel asked from using my bed to sit on, while I stood, styling my hair back for the night ahead.
Tonight was finally the night I’d be meeting Frederiksen, the person who would be turning my app into a working progress and then finally helping me release it to the world and my fanbase.
I hummed as I chewed a piece of gum. “Uh Sascha said the Palm Garden in the Hohenyburg Casino place.” Shrugging, I used some hairspray to keep it in place. Marcel rolled his eyes but he was one to judge, seeming that he used the stuff himself.
“So Frederiksen’s a gambling man?” Robin pondered alike, looking off into the distance.
“Or maybe his hotel is close?” I said matter-of-factly, grabbing my grey blazer jacket and threw it on, making sure there was no creases in it. “Look, either way, we all go to be on our best behaviour, I really want to make a good impression tonight.” Instructing the pair of them, I grabbed my shades, ready to go. “And this restaurant is really posh too so we can’t act like we’re in the local Italian.”
Robin sighed, doing his jacket up. “Yes Marco we know. This is a business meeting not a casual dinner date with the guys.”
“Do you have to call every time we go out with them a dinner date, Rob?” Marcel scoffed as they both followed me down to my garage.
“Well yeah, what else am I going to call it?” Rob bickered back.
“Uh maybe just “hanging out with the guys”? The normal thing to say.” Marcel scoffed back. I plainly looked ahead, continuing to go about my business and let the pair of them get this bickering out of their system before this very important meeting ahead of us tonight.
If I am being completely honest, I was so nervous. I’d never been like this before apart from when I made my debut for both Borussia teams and threw up about five times. This was massive for me, a huge step in not only expanding my fan base but also gaining more attention for my own brand of professionalism, and I believed that having an app that was something that could do that for me. The app was something that had been on the books for a while, however, I just never felt as if the time was right. Now though, was the perfect opportunity; I was in the prime of my career, one of the best team players - if I may say so myself - and there was the European Championships coming up. One of the world's biggest stages.
Although, I could still hear Marcel and Robin acting like two teenage girls and that now was my priority. “See, this is exactly what I’m talking about!” I exclaimed and turned to face them, shoving my hands in my pockets. “You two bicker all the time over the smallest, stupidest things. I don’t want this tonight, I want to be professional. This is a big deal for me, for us, and this Frederiksen is used to dealing with high end celebrities that are always very professional. So that’s what we need to be. Understood?”
“Yes Marco.” They answered in unison, like two naughty kids.
I hummed in satisfaction and opened the door that linked to the garage, inspecting the keys of my cars. “What car we going for then Marco? Porsche, Mercedes, ooh what about the Range Rover?”
“I’m thinking the Aston Martin.” I answered upon taking the keys off the hook.
Marcel frowned up at me. “That’s not going to big enough for all three of us Marco, Rob’s over six foot.”
“But you’re not, and there’s back seat.” I shrugged, unlocking the car and pulling the passenger seat forwards, showing him the space.
“I-I can’’t fit in there. It’s too small...I’m not that small.” Marcel yelled in fury and glanced between Rob and myself.
“Hey don’t look at me.” Rob held his hands up. “I’m too big to fit back there and well, Marco’s the one driving. So that leaves you.” I nodded and silently gestured for the smaller German to make his way into my car. There was a protest from him but not made up of words, just disbelieving sounds, before he scoffed and defeated, got into the back of my Aston, mumbling away to himself.
Robin smirked at me and got in the passenger seat. I chuckled and got into the car myself, and could still hear the little ones muttering from the back seat. “Ouch Rob, why the fuck did you put the seat back?!” Marcel moaned petulantly, Robin stayed silent and just stared at his friend through the car mirror. “Stop doing it on purpose to squash me, I’m not small.” Marcel kept protesting.
However his protests went unanswered as I began the engine and turned on the radio, drowning out the sound of his whining.
* * * * * * *
When we arrived at the restaurant, it was more than full and trying to find Sascha in a sea of people was proving more difficult than the three of us had anticipated. It didn’t help that the casino was only upstairs and most people were either coming or going in that direction. Also, we had the slight problem of a very difficult host who was reluctant to let us in because of Marcel’s shoes - they were trainers. This only made the smaller German even more annoyed than he already was.
We sat with Sascha soon after, although found him alone at the table, on his phone. Before I had the chance to ask why he was a lone, Marcel blurted out. “What the hell’s the matter with my footwear? They’re smart casual high tops.”
I rolled my eyes, Sascha giving a confused glance while Marcel still bickered on about how he'd never leave the house looking a mess and if the host thought that he was a mess well at least he wasn't wearing a ridiculous suit.
I shook my head. “Leave it.” I muttered to Sascha whole immediately dropped the situation, leaving Marcel to himself, which was probably the best idea. When Marcel was irate, he was irate. “Anyway,” I cleared my throat. “Where’s Frederiksen?” Asking as Sascha was alone at the table as we arrived.
“Ah, Frederiksen just went to freshen up,” Sascha started before glancing over my shoulder. “Here she is now.” He smiled and go to his feet.
“She?” I frowned and turned to see who he was standing for. Sascha saying she had thrown me off, us all off really but when the sight of a brunette in a olive coloured maxi dress started walking towards us with a smile to her painted nude lips.
“Who the hell is she?” Marcel muttered as we all stood up to. “I thought Frederiksen was a guy?” Glancing up from his phone before shoving it in his pocket.
I shrugged. “Well, looks like he's a she.” Robin added before I could do so.
The brunette stopped just in front of the table and smile. “Oh, I didn't think you'd be here this soon.” She announced upon stopping short of our table.
“Marco, guys, this is Sofie Frederiksen; the digital software engineer.” Sascha said and proudly presented the beautiful woman in front of us.
“Well it's just digital engineer but you know.” Sofie shrugged with a thick Scandinavian accent to her silky voice. I was yet to work out what part of Scandinavia but I was sure that topic would come up during dinner.
I nodded and smiled, slightly leaning in to kiss both her cheeks. “It's lovely to meet you finally, Miss Frederiksen.”
She snorted as I called her that. “Oh please, drop the formalities, it's Sofie.” The brunette gave a chuckle doing the same greeting with Robin and Marcel before sitting next to Sascha. “That or boss.” Sofie smirked and I could already tell that she was feisty and fierce in her approach, not to mention very beautiful.
The dress she had on with a dipped from, showing off a little more to the eye, and the tall heels, green eyes; nothing about this woman shouted digital engineer. I was expecting an older man, probably late fifties, with geeky glasses, a weird squeaky voice and a syrup if I am being truthfully honest. Not that I was going to argue with this. Not only was Sofie beautiful but intelligent too.
“Y-you're a uh-” Robin stumbled, clearing his voice with a sip of water.
“A woman?” All three of us nodded, even I did without realising. She giggled again and sipped her drink. “Yeah I get that reaction sometimes, like, why would you be a digital engineer, aren't they all geeky and old, or something?” Sofie said in a stupid, dumb voice like she'd had to go through this on several occasions.
All three of us watched her as she strategically placed her glass back down into place, as if that was where she's found it when they arrived at the table and didn't want to move it from position.
Robin gulped. “Not to be rude, but yeah.” He nodded and let out a nervous chuckle.
Sofie smirked and shrugged innocently, this no big deal to her. “It's fine, I'm used to answering the “where's the old man with thick glasses” question.” She again smiled and caught my eye. “I usually answer because with “I didn't know men did this job?”.” Her eyes wide in sarcasm. Referring to how her sector was probably male dominated and there weren't many women who wanted to into digital engineering. “Anyway, it's nice to meet all three of you.”
I nodded and smiled. “And it's finally nice to put a face to the name Sascha has been on about for weeks.”
“Hope it's not to scary for you.” The brunette winked. “You're definitely the footballer.” Giggling after her little comment.
“How so?” Intrigued by her little comment and Alps frankly a little offend, I asked the confident Scandinavian on it.
Sofie lined up her cutlery and gave a shrug. “You're just so professional about everything, while you're two friends, not so much..”
“Hey what's that supposed to mean?” Marcel squeaked out, I was starting not to really like Miss Frederiksen as much as I thought I would even based off first impressions.
She shook her head, still not moving that smile from her face. How she could smile for so long was beyond me. “I mean, you two have relaxed and Marco here, is sat like a puppet on a string, ready to read from script.” Eyeing me from the side, she looked me head on. “Just relax, I know this is supposedly a “business meeting” but well, they're boring and I don't want tonight to be that way.”
I was quite surprised by her forthrightness still and raised my brows. “Well it's is quite a formal setting and I guess if we laughed we'd probably be thrown out.” I shrugged, trying to defend myself.
“Just relax, it might be a posh setting, but blame Sascha for that he suggested we come here.” Sofie nudged Sacha who was by the side of her. Sascha just gave her an unimpressed look.
“It's a very big business venture, it needs a nice place to stage the meeting.” Sascha defended his choice in restaurant. Sofie again just shrugged. “And it's close to where you're staying.” Raising his voice a tad, Sofie just giggled at his excuses and rolled his eyes.
Marcel chuckled seeming to relax into the fact that Sofie had requested us not to be so puppet like. Robin too but Robin does so anywhere we go. I felt as if I should do the same but it just felt wrong. I knew Sofie had said so and well she was making light of the situation with her emerald eyes and casual attitude, but it just felt too hard for now. If I must admit, I was nervous. I had all these land and ideas that I wanted to throw at her and had even made a little presentation on it, but I didn't want to say anything, too nervous that she'd laugh them off. Sascha too, he was my agent and if I was to say something to offend him, then who knows what might happen. The whole project could be cancelled.
“So, how long have you known Sascha?” Marcel asked just after we'd made our appetiser orders. I'd ordered a glass of white wine, the best they had here, hoping that my nerves about the whole duration would disappear and I could ease into the night.
Sofie glanced to Sascha and shrugged. “Maybe about five, six years.” Sacha agreed with a nod of the head and a sip of his own glass of wine. “I was assigned as the digital engineer for his, your services office development so they could update their systems and well, he was there, and we just got to talking.” She shrugged.
“Have you worked on any other projects together?” I blurted out of the blue, wanting to know more about the mysterious brunette Scandinavian.
Sofie glanced over to me with her wine glass in her hand, it was the first thing I'd said in a while so she seemed a bit shocked at how loud my voice had initially sounded. “A few yes.” She nodded.
“She worked with me on Mario’s app development Marco, he’ll probably remember.” Sacha answer and have Sofie a smile. She smiled back and held his gaze for a bit longer than just social etiquette. I found myself watching them, wondering if they were just friends but Sascha talking distracted me from that and I'd forgotten about it after that. “Look what a good job she did with his, if you're worried what it's going to turn out like, look how successful his was and easy to use, and now imagine what yours is going to look like.” He smirked.
Marcel slapped my shoulder. “Yeah that's a good point, Mario's is a really good app.”
“How would you know?” Robin frowned to our smaller frown.
“Because I have it.” Marcel blasted and brought up the app on his phone, with a smile. Before looking at me. “What?” He asks upon seeing my “really” expression. “
“Yeah, as you can see, I'm very good at my job.” Sofie giggled, glancing my way again. “I'm very professional and a perfectionist.” She shrugged nonchalantly.
“It shows,” Marcel smiled, locking his phone and putting it back in his back pocket.
Sofie glanced over at me again, just as the appetisers were brought and she graciously plucked her knife and fork from the table and tucked into her food. I thanked the waiter who placed my period in front of me but just couldn't look away from Sofie and watching how delicate she looked when she ate. She caught my Blanca and smiled. “You know Marco, you guys can ask me whatever you want.” I stuttered of my words. “I can see it in your eyes.” With a smirk.
Marcel and Robin took this as an opportunity to try and ram as many questions into thirty seconds as possible. Each asking after each other, and Sofie answering just as quick.
“Where are you from?” Robin asked.
Sofie smiled. “Copenhagen, Denmark.”
“Born and bred there?” Sofie nodded at Marcel’s inquiry. “What about any siblings?”
“A twin brother.” She shrugged, and smiled. “Raised by our father.” She added but didn't want any more to do with parents being discussed.
Robin and Marcel nodded. “Do you work in Copenhagen?” Marcel asked first.
“Yeah,” Sofie swallowed and placed her cutlery neatly on the plate, sipping her wine. “Live in the city, work in the city, brought up on the outskirts.”
“What's the name of your company called?” Robin tested.
“Zope-Hagen Inc.” She announced though her smile dropped a little upon doing so. I seemed to be the only one that noticed it, as Robin and Marcel were too caught up in this little question game they'd been participating in. “It's one of the biggest digital engineering companies in Denmark, and well Europe.” She shrugged, giving a half smile that was for sure fake.
Sofie seemed unhappy about talking about the company she worked for and that made me curious. Did her take this job up to get away from something there? Because she seemed sad about it. Maybe she had one of those bosses who were just plain horrible and when this opportunity came up, she grasped it with both hands.
“Are you like a big boss there? With your own office?” Robin smirked. “Telling people what to do.”
Sofie giggled. “If you're referring to me as a Kevin Spacey in Swimming with Sharks, then no.” She giggled again and we all frowned. I knew the film but hardly, although I was sure the others wouldn't get the reference. Sascha let a chuckle out though, being the oldest here he understood the reference perfectly. “Although I do have my own office.”
“So you're quite high up then?” They asked and Sofie gave a half shrug smile.
“Uh for a woman in my sector, yeah...but not as high as I'd like to be.” Sofie sipped her wine. “I have my dreams and aspirations but that can be discussed another time.”
Just as she finished explaining about her job and where she was in her sector compared to where she wanted to be, the little German idiot next to me, blurted out something that none of us were expecting and probably a thought that he should’ve kept to himself. “Are your tits fake?” Marcel asked, not really thinking about what he was say, per usual.
I choked on my drink, clearing my throat while glancing around at the table, who, for the most were in shock at what Marcel had said. I think that even Marcel was a little shocked at one of his thoughts he’d blurted out and should’ve thought about before actually speaking.
“Marcel,” Sascha growled in a warning tone. “I think that’s enough questioning thank you.” Through gritted teeth. His reaction maybe a little too over the top. But Sascha was a gentleman and he was probably just respecting Sofie’s privacy on the issue.
However, Sofie on the other hand, gently rubbed his hand, calming him down. She seemed to be taking this well. Especially concerning that Marcel had blurted out whether her breasts were real or fake and well, asking a woman that kind of question was probably one of the worst mistakes you could make. Trust me, I would know, I'm not as innocent as I'm making out in that department.
“Sascha it's fine, he's just curious.” Sofie laughed it off, breaking the shocked silence. “Let’s just say, I'll leave you to think on that one.” She said with a sassy little wink at the end. Marcel smirked and nodded, I could already tell what he was thinking without giving it a second thought.
From Marcel’s awkward and frankly personal question, the appetisers arrived as we began to dig into them, not talking as much as we'd been before hand. I was in the middle of a sip of my wine when Sofie turned her attention solely to me. “So, Marco how come you came up with this idea of the app?” She asked intrigued and bit into her scallop appetiser.
I grimaced internally at the thought of seafood as it was one of the foods that I hated the most. “Uh, well, as you've said, my friend Mario Götze has his own app and I saw how well his was doing, so I was thinking, why not give it a go myself.” I shrugged and gave a small smile.
Sofie smiled back, her eyes sparkled as she did and I gulped down my own meal at the sight of them. They really did have this emerald look to them as they sparkled and for a pair of eyes to do such a thing, wow, was all I could say to that.
“Well, I must say, I am really looking forward to working with you on this project and listening to all the ideas you have about what you want for the app.” The Dane smiled happily, I nodded.
Sascha hummed in agreement, a mouthful of food as he spoke. “We'll meet up for a discussion on that at the office if you want, in a few days, after training.” He proposed and I agreed straight away.
“Sounds perfect.” Sofie smiled at Sascha and he smiled back. There seemed to be this little connection to the pair that had kept me wondering through dinner until now and I was still unable to work it out.
* * * * * * *
SOFIE’S POV
My curvature signature sprawled against the dotted line as I finally signed the contract.
It was a breath of fresh air to finally put pen to paper on the whole proposed project and I could tell by the relief on Marco's face as he signed himself, that he felt the same way. I know I'd only known about this for a little less than a week, but as soon as I agreed, I wanted to sign an official contract and get on with this opportunity.
I viewed this little project, as an adventure. New country, new people, new style and so many new ideas. Marco shared the same enthusiasm which I was happy about and was just hoping that this process, no matter how long it took, was enjoyable for the pair of us.
As Marco finished, he glanced up and caught my eye, giving me a little half smile from the side of his mouth. I stuck my hand out ready to shake his. He seemed a little caught off guard but accepted the hand to shake nonetheless. “Can't wait to get started.” I smiled.
“Me too Miss Frederiksen.” The footballer referred to me and I was sure I saw a little wink in there somewhere.