New Rules NYC (#Wattys2015 Winner)

SHOULD IT FEEL WEIRD WHEN SOMEONE INVESTS IN YOUR STARTUP?

CHAPTER 48: EMMA

Open fires and heavy red curtains were set against starched shirts and shiny oxford shoes in what could be described as something based on a medieval hall, the oversized mantelpiece would have been at home on a Game of Thrones set. Dotted around four pillars were small groups, waitresses in black cocktail dresses weaved between them - not obvious servers, they could sit down at any second, cross their legs and discus upcoming Hamptons plans with the rest of them.

I'd been here once before with Viv, we bumped into an Australian girl she used to work with, the girl had upgraded her boobs and possibly nose, courtesy of the older Englishman who proceeded to cover our drinks for the night. After a quick google he was revealed to be a Venture Capitalist involved in African energy projects and still fighting a fraud conviction from a few years ago, but he liked to introduce himself as an explorer due to his recent Antarctic expedition.

They had changed most of the art but there were still four huge contemporary pieces, one either side of the fire, the Andy Warhol above the red felt pool table remained along with another bright work down by the end by the bar. I couldn't see Charlie or Alex and had trouble deciding where to sit, finally opting for something with a view of the fire but not in the main thoroughfare to the bar. Taking in the attire around me I felt conscious of having my bare legs, regretting going for my A Wang shorts but a blazer and shirt gave it enough of a professional yet funky vibe, appropriate for an evening meeting with investors at a cocktail bar.

Flashes of champagne, dancing and the decadent spacious bathrooms came back to me of our last night here, memories selected like the heavily filtered Instagram shots that accompanied them - back when I had a little bob that had almost proved impossible to grow below my shoulders. New York knew how to do a hotel bar, there was always a great lobby version for a cocktail and most of them harbored a darker spot as well, somewhere the wealthy visitors could slink back and drink smoky scotch, rendezvous without being far from their selected abode, a place where people indulged their undersides, their other selves - new personas meeting false promises with shiny white smiles and glimpses of black credit cards.

I caught Alex walking through the curtains, gave a smile and a signal, then tried to look relaxed as he covered the remaining distance. I didn't want to be too smiley, there was no way there would be a repeat of the last encounter. He looked around the bar, breaking up our eye contact then returning it just before he reached the table.

"Em, how's things?" he kissed me on the cheek, leaving slight traces of recently applied aftershave.

"Good, looks like we were lucky to get a seat."

"Yeah, it can get pretty busy here. Listen Jeffery can't join tonight sorry, he had a bunch of stuff come up."

"No worries," I said. "That's fine, thanks for catching up again, I know you all have a lot on and this is a relatively small project in comparison."

"Rubbish. This is a great opportunity, lets grab a drink."

We ordered cocktails. I went for something with Gin and Pear in it, him a Vodka Martini. A band began to setup in front of the fire place, it seemed like an odd spot, but there wasn't really a whole lot of other options I suppose.

"I've got to say, we are still getting some amazing notes from the party, those photos are next level, everyone has them as their profile pics. Stephen even has it as his photo on his company website. Actually I need to grab the contact of the photographer if that's cool," I nodded at him. "I hope you made a bit off the night, you earned it." he said.

"That's great, yeah, thanks, I'll send you over his number, he can be a little random but his work is awesome."

I would have made over five grand before the fine from the government for staying overtime and getting caught with alcohol down there. I was lucky to get away with losing a couple of grand. I wasn't going to tell my potential investors that I stuffed up the first gig, I needed to present effortlessness.