So I was scrolling down facebook (scroll, like, scroll) when I came across a bunch of first impression prompts. I wanted to get back into fanfic so I decided to give it a go. Originally, it was going to be a series of one shots but I've fallen in love with the first chapter and can't resist continuing. Herewith! The first chapter. I don't have a beta so forgive any stupid mistakes. In my defence I've been dizzy all day. If you find anything, let me know.
I own nothing at all and I can't afford a lawyer. Please don't sue!
In the end, it all came down to waiting. Sometimes it felt like all she ever did was wait. Wait for her degree, wait for a job to turn up, wait to receive a check, wait for the kettle to boil and wait for Beryl to reply after hours of 'Beryl is typing...'
Right now she was waiting for a door to open. How metaphorical that sounded. A door to what exactly? True love and happiness? Fame and fortune? Hell, she'd be happy right now if it was the door to her fridge where she knew she had a lovely bottle of Chardonnay waiting to be uncorked and enjoyed with a platter of cheese.
No, Elsie Hughes was waiting for an unassuming pine door to open. Like all doors, no one really cared about it. It was what lay beyond the door that was the temptation.
In this case, it was hopefully a paycheck.
Charles Carson had been part of the billboard chart topping band 'The Cheerful Charlies.' Their hit song - a jazzed up version of the 1900 track 'Dashing away with a smoothing iron'- had many teenage girls expressing a desire to do house work (including Elsie herself, she was ashamed to admit.) While swaying along to the velvet tones coming from the stereo. Charles Carson and Charlie Griggs had everything going for them. World tours, a song that spent six weeks topping the charts followed by a christmas album that was released on December the 20th and. Had completely sold out by the 25th.
It helped, of course, that they both were incredibly good looking. Carson sporting a head of dark curls, which were slicked back when they performed and brooding dark eyes. Griggs, a blonde mop that constantly fell in his blue eyes and a smirk that let everyone know that he thought he was better than them.
Then, shortly before they were due to release their third album, it all stopped. Tours were cancelled, posters yellowed and peeled and the Cheerful Charlies faded into dusty albums hidden at the back of CD cases and neither of them were seen again.
Until quite recently, when Charles Carson's soon to be ex wife had announced she would be publishing a tell all book about the fall of the hit group. It was rumored that it would be full of sex, politics and financial scandal. Instantly the name 'Cheerful Charlies' were on everyone's lips again, only this time for a less favorable light.
Which was why Elsie was waiting outside his door. She had been dispatched to try and get the man to talk. Why they'd sent her she wasn't sure, except that they were of a similar age and the tiny fact that Beryl had grown up with him. But that didn't mean he would speak to her. In fact, if it was the other way round Elsie was sure she wouldn't be talking to anyone who had anything to do with Beryl. Gods that woman could gossip.
Suddenly, the door opened and she was pulled from her musing.
She grabbed her camera from the passenger seat, checked her hair and clambered out of the car. He glanced up when he heard her door slam and watched as she walked across his manicured lawn towards him. When she got halfway across he decided to speak.
"If you're a reporter, you can get back in your car." Elsie stopped and winced as she felt her heels sink into the soft lawn.
"What makes you think I'm a reporter?"
Charles Carson followed his arms in front of him and frowned. He hadn't changed much except that he now had flecks of grey licking his temples and he had smile lines around his eyes
"You know anyone else who would be carrying a great big hulking camera and a note book?" He asked sarcastically
"Well no." She admitted holding her hands up in mock surrender "alright, I'm a reporter. Have been for the last twenty years."
"That's nice. Leave."
"Mr Carson, I would really like to speak to you-"
"So would half the world. I don't want to speak to you."
She opened her mouth to retort when a loud noise erupted from her pocket. She struggled to extract her phone out from her front pocket and answered it, effectively silencing the Game of Thrones sound track.
He leaned back on his heels and listened to the one side of the conversation
"Hello? Yes. Yes I'm here. No Beryl, he hasn't. I don't know. Yes, yes I'll phone you later. Don't you dare! Because last time you offered to help it took me three weeks to get my camera fixed. Stay where you are. Good. Bye then!"
She glared at her phone and hit the red button
"Beryl?" He asked "Beryl Patmore?"
Elsie nodded and he started to laugh
"I should have known. Meddlesome woman." He grasped her upper arm and steered her towards her car
"Do you mind?!" She demanded, stumbling as her heels caught
"Tell Beryl, that she can send as many pretty reporters to my door as she likes. I'm still not talking to the press. You want to know about me? Read the damn book. It seems to have everything you could ever want to know in it. Good day." He nodded curtly, released her next to her car and stalked back into the house, slamming the pine door behind him.
Well damn. Beryl had ended up more of a hindrance than a help. Typical Beryl. Elsie leant against her car door and ran her hand through her dark hair. The truth was, her job was on the line. Sure, she was good at writing, better than many. But she was no longer the bombshell they wanted in front of the camera. She was far too old to flirt with rock stars to get them to spill their deepest secrets and with having to visit Becky once a week she could never travel to war struck countries to report on the carnage. She had hoped that getting an exclusive interview would put her back in her bosses good books for a while.
It was all very well for him. He had made his money. He never had to worry about where the next months rent came from. He made enough for him to live in comfort every bloody christmas when the Christmas album came back to life.
Well fine. Maybe it was time someone explained it to him. She straightened up, walked halfway across the lawn, turned around and lobbed her shoes into her cars. Her toes then sank into the soggy grass but at least she wasn't getting stuck.
"Over vigorous sprinkler system" she grumbled and she climbed the step to his door. She completely ignored the doorbell and hammered loudly on the door. She drew breath as the door opened
"Right. You listen here." She began "I wasn't lucky enough to have a hit song and make millions. I have to work myself to the bone to make the rent every month. I'm not pretty. I'm not charming. I tell it like it is. So please accept my apology in advance for when I tell you to grow a pair and stop sulking!"
His bushy eyebrows shot to his hairline
"Where on earth are your shoes?" He asked
"That's your response?" She demanded incredulously.
"You better come inside"
Elsie stared at him in amazement
"I beg your pardon?" She spluttered. Did he not hear a word she just said?
"Come in." He repeated impatiently
"I-"
Suddenly there was a blast of cold water in her left ear. She squealed comically and jumped backwards, straight into the path of another cold jet.
"For gods sake come inside" he said, opening the door wider"I'll find you a towel."
"No thank you." She said coldly, doing her best to appear sophisticated while she was dripping wet.
"Oh for heavens sake" she heard him mutter and the next thing she knew his arms were around her thighs and he flung her over his shoulder and carried her indoors.
Charles deposited her unceremoniously on the kitchen counter, ordered her to stay put and disappeared round a corner, flicking the kettle on as he went. He returned a few minutes later with a large fluffy towel which he wrapped around her as though she were an egyptian mummy. The kettle clicked off and he grabbed two cups and turned his back on her to pour the tea.
"Now" he said "what did you want to know?"
Please review and let me know your thoughts :) they mean the universe to me!