I’m waiting for the clock to hit 9a.m. so I can walk out to the nearest printing shop to get things done. Such are the woes of not having a printer. But at least they charge me cheap here, so it sort of pays to walk there anyway. I’m currently hooked onto songs categorized under Easy Listening. Or that’s what my iTunes tell me. But then they’re really slow, and breezy, so I guess that must be it. CSI: NY was the bomb yesterday. Murder on the Statue of Liberty! What a way to kick off the 4th season. (: And there’s the mysterious calls that seems to find Mac at precisely 3:33a.m. It’s creepy. The Miami version isn’t as creepy as Vegas and New York. Maybe it has to do with Florida, you know, the mafia and the drugs, but never overly terrifying.
My mum kept saying that I should pursue a career as a forensic scientist simply because I dig the shows so much. Actually it’s easier said than done. I don’t know how I managed to float, struggle and drift while staying alive through Science stream. And being a police in Malaysia doesn’t guarantee a bright future… and the emotional stress doesn’t really help either. Confronting cadavers and suspects… meh. You really think I can do it?
**I absolutely do not own this image. Link is through the image posted.
I love this particular photo of them. (:
Guy on far left: I spy with my MacBook Pro…actually it’s GPS.
Danny to Lindsay: I made this sandwich myself. Like, seriously.
Stella to Mac: Be a modern cop and read your news from the iPhone.
Sheldon to Donald: I think I saw the Hulk.
Donald to Sheldon: Don’t kid me.
Sid (to himself): I swear his skull looks crooked.
Sheldon: That’s rather scary.
Mac: We’re on a scaffolding high above New York City. Don’t you guys have anything better to say?
Donald: Shut up and drink your coffee.
Lol. (: Me being random.
-
As for how Rie looks like, well I got an actress whom I think suits what I’m looking for. (:
Her name is Zooey Deschanel, and she appears in The Happening this Friday.
Yup, Rie Evans. (:
**The pictures are from the incredible fan site Deschanel-Love.Net, a fan base for the sisters Emily and Zooey Deschanel. I’m not claiming credit or profit for any of them.
And yes, there’s a video through this link. If you watch it, I love you forever, although it bears no meaning whatsoever. (: Oh, I just rhymed.
On to the story (still untitled, yes). It’s pretty long.
-
Part 3: Nothing quite ordinary
Song: Mercy, Duffy
A blaring noise filled Rie’s eardrums. She rolled over and pulled the covers up higher over her head. Her attempt to block out the infernal noise was failing miserably.
That’s not my alarm, she thought to herself. And quicker than it happened, the force of last night’s memory hit her hard. Her eyes flew open and she sprang out of the bed, only to trip and fall into a heap at its base.
She was still here. Her mind flew into a state of panic. She was probably in a worst-case scenario now. She quickly scanned the room. Clearly it was his room, but thankfully he was nowhere to be seen. Rie cursed inwardly and looked around wildly for her shoes. After poking around the bed she managed to find them-in the corner of a room. She has to get out of here, and pray nothing of the sort (she shuddered) happened last night. She grudgingly thought she should have just said no to this interview and let that stupid Vanessa go for it. Bet she would have enjoyed it. With another bout of alarm, it occurred to her that her shirt was missing and she was only in her chemisole. She found her skirt-praise the Lord. Her eyes fell on a shirt at the foot of the bed. It wasn’t hers, she could tell-the color of it and the design that obviously stated that it was male, but she couldn’t care less. Rie seized it.
Minutes later Rie was walking as fast as her shoes permitted her to. Her bag on one shoulder, she was halfway towards the exit when she saw Pepper Potts walking in her direction. She was probably disheveled, her hair in complete disarray, and she wasn’t dressed to impress. She, however, was perfectly groomed and immaculately dressed. Why do she always look like a mess in front of her?
“Miss Potts! This-I mean-last night-” words were falling out of Rie’s mouth at random, and she couldn’t stem the flow. She wanted to tell her what happened exactly, but oddly enough she got the message; her eyebrows were raised but her face indicated that she have seen this before.
“No matter. I’ll call you a town car.” She whipped out her cell phone and hit the speed dial button. Seconds later she snapped it shut and stared at me.
“I’m so terribly sorry,” Rie half-wailed-like she wasn’t hysterical already. “I didn’t mean to-I mean, this wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Her face seemed to be filled with sympathy.
“It’s not your fault, and it seems that you have to be the only one who apologized for it.” She gave me a reassuring smile; similar to the one she gave me yesterday, but she also looked faintly surprised and amused. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of everything, including telling off my boss on your behalf. Is there anything else you need?” She actually meant them the moment she said those words.
“No, thanks for the town car.” she sighed. “Er… thanks for everything.” she winced. “I hope I won’t get fired.”
“Trust me, you won’t be. Just get to work. I said that I would handle everything.” She led her out, and a car was already there.
“Thank you,” Rie said it again. “I really mean it.”
“It’s nothing. Good luck.” She smiled at her again. Rie was beginning to like her.
-
As the car traveled to town, she took the opportunity to fix her hair and straighten whatever she could; trying to look presentable-although the shirt was a major drawback. The driver looked in the rearview mirror at her.
“Had a bad night?”
What else could she say? She nodded silently. “Please don’t remind me.” She hoped he wasn’t getting the wrong impression. As if her morning didn’t turn out to be the cream of the crap.
“Heading to work?” he asked. RIe felt the car pulling to a stop. She raised her head a little to see a long, winding line of cars and cabs alike. The car brought up the rear to the ever-extending queue. She can’t help but groan. Surely her day couldn’t be worse.
“Miss, I guess we’re all gonna be stuck here for quite a while.” He leaned back and she noticed that he was purely Asian, Chinese mostly. He was surprisingly young, too young to chauffeur people around the city. But his smile was kind.
“Ah,” she said feebly. Rie’s poorly match shirt was-in many ways-too large for her; the sleeves covered her hands completely to the fingers. She might just be wearing my cousin’s shirt. Sadly, life has been quite cruel to her. She sighed, for what seemed like the umpteenth time this morning and rolled up the sleeves.
“My name is Derek Wong.” He grinned good-naturedly at her. The traffic was just as still as a stagnant river. What luck. Guess it was going to be one of those days. Might as well get sociable while she was stuck here.
“Rie Evans.” She brushed her black hair with her fingers; trying to disentangle whatever madness her hair has gotten into last night. “I am a writer for Empire Magazine. But I freelance part time too.”
“Wow. That’s way cooler than what I am doing now.” He turned back to the road. “I work many jobs day and night to eke out a living. It’s the only way I can support my siblings. They need not face my bleak future when they’re my age.”
Rie pushed up her left sleeve again. “How old are you, Derek?”
“18.” A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “I should be in high school at least.”
“Trust me, even the most successful people of today don’t come from well to do families. You shouldn’t put aside your own dreams.” she removed her shoes to let her feet breathe. “You know what, we’re officially friends. I think we’ve got excellent chemistry.” As soon as those words left her mouth, she meant it. Derek was easy-going and he keeps conversations flowing effortlessly. She could be herself easily with him.
He chuckled. “I take this as you are going to tell me what happened to you last night. You don’t go to work in a man’s shirt.”
Rie cringed. “Just don’t repeat this to anyone. There was a last minute interview I had to get to. It was so extremely last minute; you can imagine my nervousness.”
Derek laughed. “I really can’t imagine. Sounds rather hectic.”
“You have absolutely no idea.” Her body was still recovering from last night’s hangover. She shook her head to clear the remaining drowsiness.
“Who did you meet?” They were moving again.
“Tony Stark.” Rie sucked in her breath.
His name must have ringed a bell to Derek; his face dawned with apprehension.
“You didn’t!” he said, eyes on the road.
“I did,” She muttered.
“Let me guess,” he continued, carefully maneuvering through the packed street, “you two got really drunk, and the next morning you woke up in his bed.”
The color rose instantly to her already flushed face. She opened her mouth but no words came out.
“You needn’t worry. I mean,” he amended at the sight of my scowl, “he doesn’t… you know. It’s just sleeping with women that’s all.”
Rie didn’t know how to respond.
“So I am just another woman in his “Women to sleep with List”?” She exclaimed furiously. “Does he have anything else better to do? And we’re putting him on our monthly feature!”
The irony.
“I don’t know… that’s just what I’ve heard. He’s something like a… playboy.” He stopped at the look on her face. Rie wonder if her face was disarranged.
The car pulled to a stop.
“We’re here.” Derek said.
“Oh,” She muttered, rummaging in her bag for her wallet. She pulled out 15 dollars and handed it to him.
Derek took it, but not before handing her a slip of paper. Rie stared at it, and saw his contact number written neatly across the surface in blue ink.
“As a friend, you’re pretty much welcomed to call anytime.” He grinned at me. Rie smiled slightly, before pocketing it.
“Thanks. I mean it, really.” For the second time today, she was thanking another person. This has never occurred before. “I’ll call you later.”
He waved. Rie returned it, before dragging herself out of the car and walking in to face the upcoming death sentence.
-
Denise the receptionist cast her an appraising look as she walked quickly towards the door. She kept her gaze on the floor, avoiding stares-if there were any. After a few minutes, She was safely in her own cubicle, sitting down before people began to take notice of her disheveled appearance. Maybe she was just being over-paranoid, but it was hard not to be. Addison was over by her desk in a flash. Rie kept her eyes on her computer screen, checking her email.
“Rie, are you okay?” her voice sounded concerned. Well she couldn’t possibly ignore her own best friend.
“Hey,” she muttered, typing away to an email reply, eyes fixated firmly on the screen. She didn’t know what else to say. Maybe she had finally ran out of words.
“You looked rather… messed up. Did something happen back home?”
Home? She didn’t even get home. Messed up was far by the best description.
“I woke up late, and the jam was morbid. I flew here the best I can.” It was partly true, anyway.
“Okay.” Addison bit her lip; something she always does when she was worried. She wasn’t one to pry, but today everything Rie have been trying my best to conceal is really all out in the open.
“Whose shirt are you wearing?” Not that question.
“Well.” she pushed up the sleeves again, “I was late remember? So I just threw on Jared’s shirt and came.” Rie wasn’t accustomed to fabricating stories so convincingly, so her voice quavered a little. Jared, her weird, eccentric cousin shared an apartment with her. Incidentally, Jared works as a movie reviewer for MovieReel Magazine, one of Empire’s top competitors. Both of them didn’t seem to mind the rivalry among their respective magazines though. Jared often brought back steaming, fresh gossip back from work, not to mention the most up-to-date movie news. Rie always have news on the famous celebrities and red-carpet events to share. Birds of a feather flock together. She could spot many flaws in her own story, but Addison appeared to buy it. She sniffed the air curiously.
“Is that cologne?”
“Jared’s shirt,” she pointed, “Bear that in mind.”
Addison smiled a strange smile Rie wasn’t sure how to interpret. But she spared her of more questions and glided back to her seat. Rie had a few moments of peace and quiet until my Instant Messenger pinged softly on the desktop.
Addison says: You are a terrible liar. So tell me the real deal.
She raised her eyebrows. So she wasn’t that blur after all. Why of all times now?
She was about to type a reply when the phone at the desk rang. Saved, for a moment, she thought.
“Rie Evans with Empire Magazine.”
“Girl, there’s an unidentified male caller on line 3, and he’s looking for you,” drawled the voice of Denise Marshall. She sounded like she was having a lot of fun and chewing gum-her favorite pastime.
Jared must be calling to demand why had she missed that family dinner last night. Or just calling to irk her on how carefree his job was compared to her hectic one.
“Okay, put him on.” she waited until she heard a click on the other side, and said, “Jared you’d better not freak first because I know you will, so let me explain.”
“Is this Jared person someone whom I should be concerned about?”
Rie gasped, not bothering to lower the volume. This is definitely not Jared. This voice sounded vaguely familiar, and now she had a good idea on who he may be.
“Mr. St-Stark,” she half-stammered, half coughed. “Good morning?” It didn’t mean to appear as a question, but her brain was in overdrive. What could he be calling for this time-on her office phone?
I’m going to kill Jared, she thought furiously, despite it not being his fault.
“Firstly, I would really prefer you to call me Tony. Secondly, well… about last night. My assistant Pepper has definitely grilled me to the bones; she has certainly never done it before. But she made me swear on everything that I call you for an apology.”
This was new. she curled her fingers absent-mindedly around the phone cord. If he apologized, she was willing to forgive him. He was either really sincere and wishes to apologize, or maybe this was a good show of pigheadness.
“My actions must have caught you off guard, and I didn’t know how you would react,” he continued, “Pepper told me that you were in this state of shock and alarm.”
Rie sighed. She didn’t want to remember that now, but now the memories from last night crept back uninvited.
“I’m sorry, Miss Evans.”
“Rie,” she automatically corrected.
“Alright, I’m truly sorry Rie. And in return, I hope you accept my apology… and this invite that I’m about to offer you.”
“I’m very surprised by your call, and suffice to say that I forgive you.” She tapped her fingers on my tabletop. “But what invite are you talking about?”
“The Annual Dinner for TIME’s most influential people is being held tomorrow night, and I request your presence as my partner.”
She stared. A formal dinner? It was the craziest thing she had heard of so far; in her entire working career she had never attended anything like that. It sounded like a joke. Rie surreptitiously checked the calendar on the table. No, April the 1st has long passed. So he was telling the truth.
“I’ve never been to a formal event,” She blurted, “I will crash it, more like. And I have no clothes for that.”
There was a laugh.
“Parties like that bore me, so crashing sounds like a terrific idea. I take it as you have accepted my invitation. About clothes, no worries, I will have Pepper to take care of that. And yes, you left your cell phone here last night-she says it’s on its way to your office as we speak.”
Shoot. She was trying to assume a poker face so no one could read her lips and face. But after every line, she was beginning to feel that her line of defense was useless and battered. And the idea of leaving her phone behind could very well mean that the nightmare wasn’t exactly over yet.
“Oh, thank you very much, Mr. St-Tony,” she mumbled. And she remembered something else. “I will return your shirt too, as soon as I… get it cleaned.” I will never get to forget that night.
“That’s a small matter. You can keep it-”
“Oh no, certainly not. I will return it to you on the dinner night.” Rie wasn’t keen on explaining how a shirt that wasn’t Jared’s turned up in her room. A huge portion of her dignity was already lost to the whirlwind of events.
“Persistent, you certainly are. Okay, we’re settled. A ride will pick you up from your residence at 6:00 p.m. sharp. I’ll see you then. Miss Rie.”
“Yes… I guess so. Have a nice day, Mr. –Tony.”
After wishing each other various pleasantries, she finally hung up on him. Rie looked up. Addison wasn’t trying to catch her attention any longer; she was concentrating on her work. she sighed in relief, and proceeded to do hers.
But she ought to know that good things don’t last forever. Addison wanted to try out a new eatery that just opened its doors across the streets, so when it was lunchtime, they could hardly wait. Now, when everyone’s eyes were free from work-related stuff, they were free to look at others, namely, their fashion. Rie suddenly found herself in the range of many eyes that stared at her with a mixture of surprise or a badly disguised smirk.
“Let’s get out of here,” she muttered, grabbing Addison’s arm. Addison nodded, but another person got hold of her other arm seconds later.
“Rie, Rie, you naughty girl,” Denise sang joyfully alongside Addison. “You didn’t tell me that you got in bed with a billionaire!”
“Shut up!” she hissed. All around them, people were walking in crowds to the exit; she prayed that no one caught wind of that. “Who gave you the right to listen to my phone calls?”
“Hey I never listen to your phone calls before. I mean, like I want to hear you and your mum talk about your period stories.” She continued before Rie could throttle her. “Anyway, this morning, this really interesting voice came on the phone, so I figured that I should listen.” She flashed a smile in their general direction. Addison looked as if she was bound to a leech that was draining her of blood. Rie simply looked gob smacked.
“And,” she pushed on, “You are totally wearing his shirt now-”
“Where are Susan and Karen?” Addison asked in a voice that sounded too loud, especially when Rie was next to her. “We’re supposed to meet them!”
With that she managed to yank her off and lose Denise as they made a beeline for the door. When they were finally walking across the street, she nudged her.
“You didn’t tell me that.” She didn’t sound accusing, but it definitely stirred her guilty conscience a little.
“I couldn’t tell you in front of everyone! I didn’t say I wasn’t going to.”
Addison pulled her into the restaurant so fast that she didn’t get to see its name. Susan and Karen got the window seats. Karen’s hair today was in wavy lines. She shook it slightly as we sat down. Susan shot Rie a tell-me look as she sat. Suddenly it felt just like the office.
“I have been hearing the strangest things about you, Rie,” Susan quipped, picking up her menu. She leaned in, and Rie could see that she actually flushed with excitement. “Tell me, or in fact, tell us, is this true?”
She froze. All her friends gazed at her, as if waiting for her to drop a bomb. Addison’s eyebrows were raised high, as if daring her to contradict her. Finally, Rie helplessly resigned and nodded dully.
Susan shrieked like ten-year old. Karen gasped. Their table was rowdy, and everyone was staring. Not like they bothered, though.
“Shut up!” Karen whispered, “You didn’t do that!”
Rie snapped her menu shut. “Nothing happened between us. Don’t listen to Denise.”
“Right.”
“I’m dead serious, okay? He called and he said sorry, and we’re fine with it.”
“He invited you to a dinner,” Karen remarked, grinning.
Her mouth fell open. “Don’t you have anything else to do than to listen to our gossip monger? But that’s true, and therein ends this topic. Are we eating or not?”
She shot Addison a glare. She laughed, and picked up her menu. There are times when even Addison could be a tad bit unhelpful, but Rie understood fully well that it was just the way she is.
When they had finally placed their orders, and the server had walked away, Susan leaned forward with an odd expression on her face. Rie was so absorbed in reading the menu that she didn’t notice her until she had set it down.
“Did somebody die, or are you just waiting for me to tell you that he was great in bed?”
She gasped. “Ooh, he is?”
“Sarcasm, okay?” Her eyes narrowed.
“Okay,” her voice dropped to a whisper, “you shouldn’t get too close with Tony Stark.”
“Because he designs war weapons and could really just kill me and make it look like an accident?”
Karen rolled her eyes. “Rie, you can be so tactless sometimes. Everyone on earth knows that he’s a playboy. He breaks more hearts than melting them. You know, he conquers your soul and leaves you hollow and desolate.”
Rie stared. “Great use of words there. I don’t know how you failed to scrape an A- in your English last time, because that was excellent.”
She chose to ignore that. “I’m dead serious. He does that all the time.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Did I said that I was ready to get serious with him? It’s just a dinner, that’s all.”
Addison wasn’t quite sure how to reply to our continuous debate. Rie didn’t want to talk about it any longer; her stomach was empty ever since she woke up and the entire ruckus had made her famished. They were rescued shortly by lunch, and she was glad that the topic was finally closing.
-
