Episode 2: Settling In

Episode 2: Settling In

Leslie breathed out an enormous sigh of relief once she made it back home to her apartment. Kicking off her suffocating heels, she shrugged off her coat and made her way to the living room.

Her roommate, Eddie, looked up as soon as he caught sight of her tired expression.

"Hey, you didn't wake me this morning. What happened?"

"What happened..." She reached behind her and unclasped her bra, a feeling of euphoria instantly reaching her body.

"Was that I woke up late."

"On the first day? Ouch." He cringed before his eyes narrowed onto her in suspicion. "Grey's Anatomy reruns again?"

"My sworn enemy."

A heartfelt chuckle came at that.

She couldn't help the small smile which tugged at her lips because of it.

Eddie really was a nice guy.

From the depth of his eyes to the gentle expressions of his voice, her friend was the definition of attractive. Perhaps this was what they meant by a gentleman, not one of weakness or trite politeness, but one of great personality and commendable habits. Being one year older than her, twenty-seven, he was a chick-magnet but never led any of them on if he wasn't feeling their relationship for the long term. With his good looks and attitude, she would have boarded that train to Happyville a long time ago.

Too bad she only saw him as a brother figure.

"Have you been here all day?" She gathered as much from the deplorable state of the living room.

With every seemingly perfect person there always was a flaw.

For her roommate it was his inability to clean up after himself.

It drove her absolutely mad sometimes.

Because of her obsessive nature towards keeping things in order, they would have arguments about it all the time.

It came to a point where she would stop being vocal about it and would silently clean up the mess. Leslie had realized that it was engraved into his personality not to be as hygienic as she was.

"Yeah, I called in sick this morning when I woke up and realized you had already left."

"Must be nice to have an understanding boss."

"What? The writer extraordinaire isn't who you fantasized him out to be?"

"First of all, I've never fantasized about him—"

He scoffed.

"And secondly, it's not my fault that he's a total pain in the ass. It's like his brain is wired to nitpick at every fault I have. Every word, every action—every damn breath I take he's got something to say about it. Or rather, nothing at all."

Eddie's mouth twisted at her little rant. "He sounds like a rather interesting person."

"Interesting is putting it kindly, but what can I expect from someone as nice as you are?"

With that, Leslie headed for her bedroom.

"Going to take a shower?" He queried, eyes turning back to the television.

"A bath is more like it. I need some good 'ole Adele playing in the background while I drift off to some unknown paradise for a while. You know, in an attempt to reconstruct my pride which has been trampled on all day."

"Well, after your pride has been reattached why don't you come and join me for another episode of Grey's?"

"I just told you that it's what got me in this mess in the first place!"

"But it's also the only thing to get you out of it," he said pointedly. "At least emotionally."

She faltered.

"I'll be down in the next twenty minutes."

His laughter could be heard as she dashed through the hall and to her bedroom.

As promised, the two of them found themselves sitting on the couch with the fast-paced life of the medical professionals on the big screen playing. The only problem was that the constant clicking of the keys on Leslie's laptop was getting to Eddie the more he became conscious of it. He turned and gave her a distressed look.

"Why didn't you just stay in your room and work if you're going to agree to a marathon only to bring your laptop along?"

She didn't look away from the bright screen which shone against her face in the darkness. "I'm always packed with unfinished or new projects, Ed. You know this better than anyone. I've got a few manuscripts other than those of that ice king's. They are from lesser known writers but I've got to meet all their deadlines just the same."

"Then why don't you just work from home?"

"I would, at least part time, but that goes against my professional belief. I have to be in the office to be able to feel the true nature of my job. You wouldn't understand."

"I don't." He deadpanned.

She sighed before breaking it down in the simplest way for him.

"Working from home is like...going skinny dipping with clothes on. There's no thrill to it."

"Why do you sound like a pro when it comes to something like that?"

"I've been a little rebellious back in the day." She grinned cheekily.

His index finger came up and shoved at her head in disapproval. "I'm glad to see you've changed."

"Don't get your hopes up yet. I just haven't gotten the time to entertain certain things that I used to in the past. As I've said before, I'm always swamped with work. At this rate, I'm starting to worry if I'll ever get married before I'm thirty. Oh, how I'll fail society as a woman."

"And here I was thinking you were becoming mature," he shook his head.

His eyes went back to the television and it took a while before he spoke again through the silence.

"If you don't get to find someone in time, don't worry. You can always marry me."

Her fingers hovered over the keyboard.

Leslie faced him with a look of disbelief. "And risk matching up to your mother's expectations of a perfect daughter-in-law? No thanks."

"Hey, you said my mother was one of the sweetest people you've ever met!"

"That's as your friend, not your girlfriend. I don't even want to imagine the scenario in which I'll be introduced as such. I reckon I would piss myself right then and there."

His nose scrunched up adorably. "You're exaggerating."

"I'm not," she argued strongly. "Haven't you ever thought about why none of your girlfriends go past the day of meeting your mom? It's because she can be intimidating as hell. I mean, I can't blame her. If I had a son as perfect as you I wouldn't want to give him away to just anyone."

"I'm not perfect."

"Oh, I'm aware. I've lived with you for over three years to know that much. But I doubt your mom does," then a thought suddenly occurred to her. "Actually, I take that back. I'm sure she knows well enough just how much of a disorganized mess you can be."

"You're breaking my heart, Les," he said but his smile didn't reflect the same sentiments. "But you're right. It is weird that they always break up with me after that."

"Or you break up with them because they don't meet your requirements."

"I don't have requirements for my girlfriends."

She arched an impassive eyebrow at him.

"Okay, maybe I have a few." He easily admitted and her lips couldn't help but twitch at that.

"But it's not entirely my fault. You've set my standards so high after I've started living with you that I can't imagine doing it with anybody else."

She stared at his expressive eyes, her heart cold as ice.

"You just like that I clean up after you."

His gaze faltered a bit in a moment's thought then a radiant grin spread across his face."I guess you're right."

"See?" She exclaimed, throwing the pillow beside her in his face. "I knew it!"

Returning to her laptop, she was typing with more vigor with a few curses leaving her lips.

Meanwhile Leslie had completely missed the moment when his grin slowly started to fade into a half hearted smile, disappointment shining in his golden eyes.

For the rest of the week, the woman threw herself into her work and didn't have any time to entertain anything else. Eddie was busy too with his job at the office. He was a pediatrician and she always recited that it was a job befitting for him given his gentle character. It was always a pleasure to visit him when she was free and see how caring he was to children. She was reminded again in those moments of how stupid her feelings were for not being caught up in him.

It was a pity one never fell for those who they wanted to but instead they fell for those they didn't want to.

"Whoah, aren't I one lucky lad?"

In a squat position, Leslie looked up to see James greedily eyeing her ass.

He held up his hands in mock surrender as her eyes made thin lines. "I swear I didn't mean to look. It's just so...in your face."

Somewhat building an immunity to his behavior, she went back to trying to fix the copier which had broken down.

It didn't take long for him to notice.

"Need some help?" He offered moving towards the machine while simultaneously rolling up the sleeves of his shirt.

A helpless look was sent his way before she got up from the position she was in which was beginning to strain her knees.

"I would appreciate it, thanks."

"No problem. I'm basically an uncertified master at fixing the copier."

She cocked her head at him. "Oh really?"

He licked his lips. "Really."

Her body stiffened, tempted by the sight of him for a moment.

She shook it off quickly and nodded towards the broken equipment. "Then why don't you prove it?"

"Aye, aye captain." He saluted before getting right to it.

Amidst taking care of the machine, the assistant from before poked her head inside. "Mr. Collin is asking to see you." She said, tone as unflattering as ever.

Leslie had learnt a lot about her. For starters, her name was Katherine, but that wasn't the most important bit. It was that being irritable was an everyday mood for her.

Just as abruptly as she came, the woman left and Leslie couldn't help but turn to James with a hard gaze. "Is she always like that?"

"Hmm...let me see." He brought a finger under his chin in thought. "For 365 days of the year, at least."

"So that's a yes." She pursed her lips before pointing to the door. "I have to go. Thanks in advance for fixing the copier." And with that, she grabbed the rest of her files off the top of the machine and left.

When she reached the top floor to Mr. Collin's office, she made sure to do the proper thing and knock.

"Come in." His amicable voice said from the other side of the door.

The brunette entered, eyes scanning the room for company but there was none. Only the handsome middle aged man stood by the transparent floor-to-ceiling window which gave a bird's eyes view of the busy traffic. His office was something unlike anything she had ever seen; it was spacious and light. Only a few paintings which hung on the wall, the leather chairs and table existed. She couldn't help but think of it as a mirror to his minimalist mindset despite being a very successful person.

"Katherine said you wanted to see me?"

"Oh yes, take a seat will you?" He said instead of asked.

She internally groaned at that.

It meant that this meeting wasn't going to be a short one like she had wished for it to have been.

Taking a seat in the chair, she eyed him nervously.

Mr. Collin toyed with the pen between his fingers before addressing the issue at hand. "I heard you're settling in nicely. How has the work been? Manageable?"

She nodded. "Yes, I handle every task at a well enough pace."

"That's good to hear," he nodded before leaning forward as he clasped his hands. "I'm going to need you to hold back on the manuscripts of the secondary authors."

"Excuse me?"

"Christopher is pushing to meet a rather challenging deadline this time around with his new novel. He's asking that I give him the space and creative freedom to do so. As such, you're going to have the task of supporting him more up close and personal. You won't have the time to cover the range of work you're doing now."

"And what do you mean by that, sir?"

He regarded her with serious eyes.

"You're going to work with Christopher from his home, Miss Quinn."

"Excuse me?"

The movement of the pen stopped between his fingers at her outburst.

"For the next four months or so you're going to have to be at Christopher's beck and call. I know it may sound like a lot but it's necessary in order to see quick results. You'll be there every other day to voice your opinion on his manuscripts. He's already halfway through, so you'll be able to edit that portion as he finishes up the entire novel."

This was unbelievable.

Leslie knew that Christopher Wells was one of the top writers of this generation and it was remarkable that he had gotten there in the span of only four years. He was only twenty-nine and that spoke plenty to how much more he could achieve for years to come if he kept up the same pace.

It was impressive yet scary—the power he held.

And all that came from wielding a magical pen and scribing words onto the pages of a book.

"Did...did Mr. Wells agree to this?"

He nodded.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat it and say that he's particularly fond of you being in his home, but he has indeed agreed to this."

"Oh."

Of course, Leslie had been to the houses of writers whom she had worked with before.

It was inevitable most of the time with the job she had.

However, something about walking through the doors of Christopher Wells' house was nerve wracking.

It brought a level of anxiety but also a schoolgirl giddiness which she couldn't fight no matter how hard she tried.

So she turned to her boss, eyes round and curious asking, "When do I start?"