Mary Alice, or Alice, was a petite woman with long black hair and a very pretty face, one that had full lips and long feminine eye lashes. She was poised, stoic, and nearly always wore a serious or disinterested expression. Alice was known throughout the office to be detached and a person of few words. If she wasn't nonchalant, she was irritated. If she wasn't furiously typing a report, she was packing her bags to leave for the day. When a new hire was introduced, she barely paid any attention. Grinning young female, slender, warm disposition, and a little too rebellious appearance for her taste, what with all of those tattoos and piercings on display. She gave one small glance of disapproval before returning to her task.

The girl, Isabella, had wild dark hair parted to one side in waves which revealed one of her industrial bar piercings in her ear. She had one eyebrow piercing that made her seem extra playful if she stared a certain way and two lip rings Alice understood to be 'snake bites.' While dimly listening to her chat easily with her co-workers, she displayed no shame in her dirty jokes and sexual innuendos. Isabella practically bounced everywhere like a ball of energy and couldn't stop being so happy, loud.

Despite often being highly inappropriate, people appreciated her enthusiasm as if she was a breath of fresh air because 'it makes them smile' but few, such as Alice, preferred the nice and quiet atmosphere in comparison to noise. They might as well have been polar opposites! Alice doubted Isabella ever stressed over anything or acted professionally and that thought alone convinced her not to associate with the new hire at all. Then again this was before she was, for once in her life, stumped about how to write one of the reports she had left to finish on her desk. None of the papers given in the folder made sense and she was unable to spot any strong connection within either of them. A rare huff left her lips.

Her cubicle was also coincidentally right next to Isabella's. Luckily, the girl merely glimpsed up, still writing. When half an hour passed with only a tiny amount of progress achieved, Alice forced back a groan, instead humming in discontent. She was vaguely aware of the perplexed gaze cast her way from the tattooed woman but ignored it - until her voice drifted across the room.

"You alright over there?" Her tone was clearly amused.

"Fine," was her curt answer.

Isabella chortled good-naturedly, the sound shooting tingly sensations through her body. "You've been tugging on your hair and glaring at your desk for some time now."

Not in the mood to deal with conversation, Alice replied dryly, "Thank you for the observation."

The smile she was given was disarming. "Are you stuck? Maybe I can assist." She stood up before she could protest and leaned over Alice's shoulder once she was close. "Ew, it's that report."

"That…?" It was actually funny to see some kind of frown scrunching up Isabella's face.

"Yeah. Stacy had a similar report because she wanted to do one of the complicated files just so she could take credit for one and asked for my help. Apparently it was decent since she got another one, but she wasn't exactly thrilled so I assume it got thrown into your pile, huh?" Isabella began separating some of the papers, grouping them. "These here are statistics you're gonna need, here are the profits made altogether and the overall cost of the project this contractor completed… These are companies that pitched in, the area that's been covered, problems that occurred…" She continued on explaining for several minutes, looking up to see Alice nodding a couple of times in understanding. At the very end, she quirked an eyebrow and asked, "So, got it all down?"

"Yes." She was pleasantly surprised a character such as her was actually good at her job. She paused, struggling with her next words, "Thank you, Isabella."

A light shrug. "No problem and hey, call me Bella. You can return the favor when I run into a difficult report, deal?"

The corners of her lips twitched up into a hesitant smile. "Absolutely."

The tattooed woman's eyes widened. "On second thought, just reserve all those beautiful smiles for me and we'll call it even."

Alice felt her cheeks involuntarily redden. "You…" She gawked as the taller one winked and merrily returned to her own cubicle. It seemed fitting 'Flirt' was added to the long list of words that accurately described Bella's persona.

Later that week, Alice was proved wrong about Bella. She may be all sunshine and rainbows but even she was capable of being fearsome.

"Look, Glenn. I hate gossip. In fact, I despise people who talk bullshit about others behind their back, no matter if they deserve it or not. You got a problem, you tell it to their face so they can at least defend themselves from your biting remarks." Bella's face was grim and her hazel eyes were narrowed as she stared at him with a hard look. "So if that's all you came to talk about, whether it be she did this, he did that, or you complaining about a minuscule task, then you can take that to a corner and have a conversation with yourself." She briskly walked away, fists clenched.

The guy, Glenn, was left there in disbelief and had to balls to appear offended. However, Alice was a hundred percent certain everyone in the department had countless disputes with him and applauded Bella.

When it was finally her lunch time, she was pulling out her tupperware of salad when she heard Bella approaching.

"Mary Alice, please tell me you're eating more than…that green stuff."

The sight of Bella so appalled secretly entertained Alice. She continued to take out her food from her bag and began rummaging for her utensils. "I'm a vegetarian," she said simply, "And that green stuff is lettuce, Bella."

"Uh, does it ruin my chances if I'm not a vegetarian?"

Without missing a beat, she replied, "Depends on the sex." Hearing what sounded like choking, she glanced up to see the other woman straightening herself, cheeks slightly pink. The reaction for some odd reason pleased her. Sweeping her hair to the side in mild annoyance, Alice took a moment to tie her hair up. "I might be overdue for a haircut," she sighed.

Bella brightened. "I can do it for free!" she offered eagerly.

Halting, Alice looked at her incredulously. "You know how to cut hair…professionally?" she inquired slowly. She was a tad skeptic about her new…friend? Associate?

"Oh, yes, I can imagine it already." Bella smirked. "These hands work magic, you know." She wiggled her eyebrows, laughing.

The shorter of the two chose not to comment, instead challenging, "Take a bite of my salad if you want me to agree."

At this, she honestly seemed fearful. "No way, that's healthy!"

Alice crossed her arms. "So?"

"So I only like unhealthy things. I had a burger for breakfast. It was supposed to be my lunch, but it wasn't meant to be."

Hair tied up into a messy bun, Alice stared blankly. "I'm going to eat my salad now."

"Wait, wait, I really want to style your hair! One bite is the deal, okay?" When she was handed a fork, Bella scowled light-heartedly at the smug woman. "Here goes…"

Alice watched closely as she chewed almost cautiously before finally swallowing. "Well, how was it? Tastey?"

"It tasted healthy," came the blunt response.

Alice rolled her eyes. "You sound disappointed," she pointed out.

"Duh, my burger was better."