[+.:Sometimes I think I'm crazy
I'm crazy, oh so crazy
Why am I here, am I just wasting my time?:.+]
Leaning against the cool headboard, Van exhaled, a puff of smoke leaving his soft lips. A thin blanket rested at his hips, and looking over at the curvaceous blonde curled up beside him, he sighed gently. Stubbing his cigarette into the crystal ashtray on the mahogany night stand beside him, Van swung his legs over the side of the bed and rested his head in his hands for a brief moment before shrugging into his boxers and custom black tailored pants. Buckling up his belt, Van got on his knees and looked under the bed frame for his shirt only to see a single dust bunny on the polished blonde wood floor. Turning around, nearly bumping his head on the night stand, Van got up, and walking over to the female's side of the room he found his dark grey shirt, still slightly crisp despite the wrestling the girl did with it the night before. Buttoning up the shirt, and grabbing his silk tie off the dresser, Van shot one look at the content girl, under the spell of sleep, and after making sure his wallet was still in his pocket, his socks and shoes on, he opened the door quietly, leaving the building.
The streets were damp from being swathed in rain from the night, the sky bluish grey. A few pigeons waddled away as Van strode briskly to his car, and revving his engine, Van pulled away to his flat downtown.
- - -
As the hot water streamed from the chrome shower head onto Van's body, he placed his hands on the white tiled wall and allowed the water to rinse away his shampoo. There was a mild burning sensation in his eyes as a few suds and water droplets made their way into his maroon eyes, and grabbing the bar of blue and white striped soap from a dish, Van worked it into a lather and washed his body vigorously.
Staring at the computer screen as the light blue colour was reflected onto his face in the dark lighting of his room, Van eyed the tiny blinking cue waiting for him to continue typing. His eyes were heavy, and glancing at the clock at the right hand bottom corner of his screen, he groaned. 3 A.M. The essay was due the next day.
The essay had been assigned… Oh what was it now, three weeks? But of course, no matter how often Van told himself to start earlier, he could never bring himself to. Exhaling sharply, Van twisted in his chair, stretching the kinks out of his back. For three years in his high school career, he had yet to do anything in an organized fashion. He had yet to find a creative or academic talent. He had yet to care about something.
What was the point of it all? What was he pursuing? He had a drive, oh yes. Two, actually. Anger drove him in sports, in debates, and in fights. And he had a sex drive. Van had never had an actual girl friend, except for one in grade seven. From then on it had just been getting drunk on weekends and fooling around.
With no mother, father, or brother, he was left alone. His foster parent, an old man named Isaac Dornkirk, never cared what Van did, never loved him. Sometimes Van would leave the house for a week, and when he came back Dornkirk wouldn't say a thing; only remain in his spot in front of the television. It seemed the old man's body never left that ancient arm chair, lap top resting beside him on a small table. And how his mug of coffee never seemed to empty was a miracle to Van.
He had nothing to do in life. Nothing there.
Van's red brown eyes hardened as he stepped out of the shower onto a white terry cloth carpet, wrapping a towel around his waist.
[+.:Some
days I sit, staring out the window
Watching this world pass me by
Sometimes I think there's nothing to live for
I almost break down and cry:.+]
Two months later, it was the summer, the summer before he would enter his last year of high school.
That was the year where he would drop out of high school. As the final day of grade eleven ended, Van placed his hand on the cold doorknob to his house, and after exhaling, he entered. Dornkirk was sitting in his usual armchair, and as Van thumped up the stairs, the man's expression made no acknowledgement that Van was there.
Unzipping a large black duffel bag, Van dumped in his clothes, his bank card, his tooth brush, batteries, CD player, ID and passport, CDs such as the Clash, the Sex Pistols, and the Ramones, and glancing around his blue grey room, Van bit his bottom lip. A few photos of his friends were added, and grabbing his navy blue bomber jacket, Van put on his skater shoes and left the house.
Crossing the mahogany floors of his sleek apartment, Van put on a pair of black baggy shorts and a grey t-shirt. Flopping onto the black, taut leather of his couch, Van reached for a book on his coffee table and flipped to the first page of his worn copy of "The Catcher in the Rye".
- - -
Striding cockily into his office, Van winked back at a few girls as they giggled at him from their cubicles, smiling pictures of them and their boyfriends tacked onto the grey material of the walls. Setting down his briefcase on his desk, and sitting with a thud on his chair, Van started up his computer as he took a sip from the cup of coffee his secretary had ready for him every morning. Checking his inbox, Van skimmed through a few notes, thanking him for an interview, telling him about a meeting, asking for them to contact him. A message caught his eye, the newest one, and Van double clicked on it.
Hello Mr. Fanel,
I can't get you to the top of this company, but I can sure make you reach your peak.
~Holly
P.S I'm the one outside your office wearing the skirt and halter top combination.
Glancing out the large glass windows of his office, Van spotted a red head with a blue halter top, blazer and skirt smiling at him as she winked, her lips shiny from several layers of lip gloss. Smiling back, Van turned back to his inbox and deleted her message.
[+.:People make jokes, cause they don't
understand me
They just don't see my real side:.+]
A flash of anger crossed Van's eyes, and he typed away at his computer as he felt that stinging in the back of his head.
Looking up at the large building, Van stepped through the glass doors, and walked up to the receptionist. After leaving Dornkirk's place he had been crashing at his friends house and found that what he really needed was his own place and his own money. Through his friends not so gentle prompting he had done his research and found that the Aston company was definitely the place to try and find a job…
Just getting an interview would be the issue.
The receptionist typed away on the computer while talking on the phone, completely ignoring Van as though he were invisible. Hesitantly Van spoke up. "Excuse me?"
The woman kept typing and talking, her eyes narrowed and her lips pursing, obvious annoyance radiating from her form at the interruption. Van sarcastically thought how wonderful customer service was becoming now-a-days.
"Name," the woman finally replied, not looking up as she hung up her phone call, scribbling down a few notes.
"Van Fanel."
"I'm sorry, your names not on Ms. Aston's list of visitors," the woman replied after a moment of searching on her computer, glancing at Van over the rim of her glasses.
"Oh," Van replied, putting on an expression of confusion, "Oh, you know why? It's because I forgot to confirm my appointment." The woman looked up, her forehead furrowed in a frown, when she met his eyes, his face, and his body. "Is there any way…" Van said slowly, "I could go up there?"
"W-well," the poor woman stuttered, her face matching the pink tank top she was wearing under her cream blazer, "Uh…"
"I really have to discuss job matters with her," Van beseeched, lowering his alto tenor voice.
"Well, if you… Don't make a ruckus…" she gulped, trying to keep her eyes on the northern part of his body.
"I never make a ruckus," Van replied meaningfully, and thanking her, went into the elevator.
Checking the piece of paper in his hand, Van got off on the 28th floor and looked for the office with the large glass doors and chrome handles detailed with the Aston crest. His sources told him to look for Marlene Aston, president of Aston Communications, a new growing business, in there. From what he had heard about her Marlene was the oldest among three daughters, all of them with super model type bodies. It was widely known that she had been forced into marriage with the son of another successful company, one which helped Aston Communications slowly break out of the mediocre mould and into something new and exciting.
Walking in without knocking, Van found a woman with blonde hair sitting on her desk, a phone tucked under her ear. One of her legs was hanging off the side of the desk, while her chin rested on the knee of the other. It gave Van a lovely view of slender thigh. Coughing, Van saw Marlene gasp in shock and nearly fall off her desk.
"Uh, Dryden? Could we talk about Millerna later? I have someone here… Yes don't worry I'll set you two up, now bye." Hanging up the phone, Marlene gave Van a piercing glare as he stood before her casually. "What do you think you're doing? Waltzing in here and just catching me like that—Who the hell are you?"
"Van Fanel."
"And…" Marlene questioned, waiting for him to elaborate.
"I'm looking for a job."
"We don't need to hire anyone, unless you want to work in the mail room," Marlene replied briskly, her tone softening as she noticed Van's handsome features.
"But I want to work here," Van replied quietly, his gaze never wavering hers. Sitting in her chair, and placing her hands on her desk, Marlene motioned for Van to sit in the chair in front of him.
"What makes me think I'll hire you?" she asked bluntly, keeping her tone professional.
"I'm willing to work hard," Van replied truthfully, "And I'm willing to do anything," he added suggestively. A slight colour washed over Marlene's face, then after recovering, Van smiled to himself finding she had a slight stutter.
"We'll talk about it over dinner," she stated shakily, as if it was a very professional meeting.
That night, Van had arrived at Marlene's apartment, and to save you the graphic details… Van slept with Marlene, and he was hired as a cubicle worker the next day. The youngest man ever to work at Aston Communications, Van put his heart into his work, and made his way up the ranks to now manager. Of course, word got out, and while the men chuckled, the women hoping to get a piece of him, no one knew that Van made his way up fair and square. He had just cheated on the ticket.
"Van?" Millerna said as she entered his office, "Van?"
"Oh, yeah?" he said, snapping out of his reverie.
"Can you train our new employee? She's good, but she's computer dead."
"Then why was she hired?" Van inquired, his voice slightly snappish, then not so much.
"She's good with people," Millerna replied simply, "She'll be coming round soon, after settling in her cubicle."
"Fun."
- - -
Van quickly typed up his financial reports, his brows furrowed in concentration over trying to get this report finished, when Millerna showed up with the new employee. The afternoon thus far had been hectic since Millerna had first informed him of the training. Suddenly his work load increased and he had to skip lunch to try and catch up with it all putting him in a foul mood and not all that pleased when the blond appeared once again with the new employee.
"Van?" bubbly said Millerna in the tone Van guessed was to show the new employee she held power with the corporation. Van continued typing, not looking up, perhaps in the corner of his mind reasoning that if he ignored them they'd go away and he could finish his work.
"Van Fanel, I know you can hear me and turn around," snapped Millerna with a smile still on her face, the new employee stood hesitantly behind her as though afraid that Van might lash out and bite her.
With a growl of frustration Van pushed his keyboard towards the computer and turned around, his eyes narrowed at Millerna to let her know under no circumstances he was happy to see her.
"What is it Millerna?" grumbled Van standing up and stretching, hoping if he got the kinks out of his back he would get the kinks out of his annoyance. Millerna put on a fake pout, trying for the innocent approach Van mentally noted, and moved aside with a flourish of her manicured hand.
"This is Hitomi Kanzaki! She's the newbie starting out in the same place as you did," giggled Millerna giving Van a thoughtful glance. "Though she didn't start under the same circumstances…"
Giving a snort in reply, his eyes narrowing further in anger (at this point Van figured his eyes must look like a cats when they walk into an especially bright patch of sun), he looked over at the new employee. Curious, yet slightly frightened, emerald eyes met his own maroon ones, a hesitant smile slowly spreading across her pale face.
"Nice to meet you," smiled Hitomi stepping forward and offering her hand to Van. Taking it he noticed that it was slightly sweaty. Cocking a curious brow Van tried to smile showing her that some people in the office were friendly; not realizing that her true fear was actually meeting him.
Hitomi had started at the job earlier in the week and had since then heard many stories about one of her bosses. First off she had heard about how he came to get a job at the company. Also that he was quick to anger and usually acted upon it, someone definitely not to frustrate. When Millerna had noticed the first day how computer illiterate Hitomi truly was she had tried to find someone around the office who could help (Millerna, although she would not admit it, after an hour of trying to help Hitomi only proved herself to be almost as bad as Hitomi) and finally two days later had come up with the idea of asking Van.
Van let go of her hand and started talking with Millerna trying to figure out how bad Hitomi was with computers giving Hitomi a chance to really look Van over. From all the details about him Hitomi had well… thought he would be older. His dishevelled hair was raven black, his shirt hung comfortably on his frame, and he had an air of energy about him. Of course she had heard from fellow employees that Van was "a stud muffin" she was certainly surprised at how much of an understatement that had been.
"Hitomi?" questioned Millerna noticing Hitomi staring absently at Van. "What is exactly your experience with computers?"
"Uh…" Hitomi mumbled vainly trying to think of something to make herself seem remotely smart. "I used them occasionally when typing up school reports…"
Letting out a loud laugh, Van chuckled at Hitomi but inside was screaming over the frustration he knew was abound. He was the type that liked things explained to him and would usually figure them out but when called upon to explain to someone else had no patience what-so-ever.
"Well, I guess I'll leave you two at it!" smiled Millerna clapping her hands and pushing Hitomi forward towards Van. "Don't worry Hitomi, it's not that hard to understand!"
"Millerna wouldn't know because she has a hard time turning on the computer," remarked Van as they watched Millerna stroll away, her hips swinging gracefully. Hitomi giggled helplessly feeling as though a jar of butterflies had burst open in her stomach. Why was she so uneasy about working with Van?
The stories she had heard…
Her lack of knowledge about computer…
And the fact that she was a little… well… really attracted to him.
'Stupid fate!' she mentally screamed. 'Why did it give me such an incredibly hot and out of my league boss!'
"So… shall we get started?" asked Van reaching over to his computer and hitting the save button with the mouse and closing the program. "Shall we go work on your computer so you can get familiar with it?"
"Okay…" Hitomi said slowly not sure if she should lead the way or not. Opening his arms and swinging them towards the opening of his office Van smiled at her. "Ladies first."
Van followed Hitomi out of the office giving him a chance to get a good look at her. She certainly had a nice body… course it wasn't super model type like the Aston girls had been gifted with, however she had a nice womanly curve to her. Her sandy blonde hair was cropped short, something Van hadn't normally seen on many girls. What had really… how could he say it… caught his attention had been her eyes. They were so expressive and the color was really something else.
While Van was examining Hitomi she tensely led the way towards her little cubicle. As they walked she saw all the woman employees stop their work just to watch Van go by. Standing by him she felt… intimidated. Like she was some small being that could not exist in the awesome universe of Van Fanel.
When they finally got to Hitomi's cubicle she rushed to tidy the place up although Van had no idea why since it was in much better condition than his own office. Hitomi hurried off to get a spare chair for Van giving him a chance to look at the few items on her desk. A picture of what Van interpreted to be her family, another one of a couple which looked around his age, and a picture of a little boy. Curious, Van was about to lean forward when Hitomi showed up, her cheeks slightly pink from dragging the chair.
"So…" Hitomi said once she moved the chair by the computer.
"That kid in the pictures yours?" questioned Van instantly realizing how nosy that sounded. "I'm not trying to pry or anything it's just… I saw the picture…" he finished lamely.
Looking from Van to the picture Hitomi let out a laugh. "No! That's my friends Yukari and Amano's little boy Makoto. He just turned the terrible twos a few weeks ago and already Yukari can't wait until he's an adult," smiled Hitomi touching the photo.
"Ah," Van replied, unsure of anything to say other than feeling embarrassed at having voiced his question. A new thought formed in his mind, part of him wondering if she was seeing someone at the moment. Quickly he pushed the thought out of his mind before he voiced it and got another laugh from Hitomi or something. By the way she acted around him she was either attracted too scared senseless of him… although which he was still trying to figure out.
"Shall we start then?" Van finally suggested pulling Hitomi's chair out for her to sit. Thanking him Hitomi sat down and waited for Van to situate himself, smiling uncertainly when Van looked at her expectantly.
"Well? Aren't you going to start the computer up?" asked Van, a sense of foreboding slowly creeping into his body. Chuckling in a nervous fashion, Hitomi reached a shaking hand (the sense of foreboding suddenly grew larger) forward and turned on the monitor and pressed the button for the hard drive.
Trying to suppress the groan from leaving his throat Van reached forward and pushed the start button while looking at Hitomi out of the corner of his eye noticing her cheeks turning pink in embarrassment.
"Honest mistake," Van said in what he hoped a good-natured fashion knowing he wouldn't be able to keep up the act long. Biting her lip Hitomi looked uncertainly at the computer screen knowing it was going to be a long lesson.
+++++++++++++++
A few hours later Van learned just how horrible Hitomi actually was with a computer. Not only could she not turn the device on, she didn't know where anything was located, her typing was horribly slow, and as the time ticked on Van was figuring it would be pointless to teach her any of this since none of it seemed to be sticking.
"No, you don't do that, you have to go up to 'file' then 'save as' to save the document, not hit the minimize button!" snapped Van reaching forward to jerk the mouse out Hitomi's hand and demonstrating to her for the third time the proper way to save a document. Perhaps it would just be easier to draw arrows all over her computer screen saying what everything was on the computer!
"I'm sorry," mumbled Hitomi as she watched Van demonstrate once again the proper way to save a document, her emerald eyes filling with tears. Sure the man was handsome but he was absolutely retched at explaining then got mad at her for not remembering any of it! Perhaps she should just go out and get the Idiots Guide to Working a Computer.
Releasing a heavy sigh Van quickly ran his hands through his hair to try and calm his nerves, glancing at his watch to see exactly how long he had been spending trying to teach this woman. Course, it had felt like three years to him but he was sure it had only been a few hours.
"It's already five!" groaned Van rolling his eyes heavenward and standing up. "I've got work to finish and will most likely be here late tonight so I better excuse myself now."
"Thank you and sorry I'm so bad," apologized Hitomi feeling absolutely retched and hopeless. Looking down at the distraught Hitomi Van felt a slight pang of guilt flicker across his mind knowing that she had honestly been trying but… still!
"It's fine," Van said tersely wanting to get out of there so perhaps he would get home sometime before midnight. "Hopefully I helped."
Before Hitomi could answer Van strode out of the cubicle and back towards his office, his hands clenched giving Hitomi the signal she had certainly not made a wonderful first impression with him.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
June 8th 2003:
CxV: WHEEEEEE!!!!!!
Maboroshi: …. What is up with you?
CxV: No need to be huffy, just because Van asked me to marry him and not you
~_^
Maboroshi: Want to take this outside!? *mock huffs*
CxV: Uh, I choose Kai to fight for me
*whistles* Kai's such a cutie n___n
Maboroshi: Anyway… new story done together. :) It was originally going to be a
one-shot but… ehe. ^_^;;;
CxV: Not my fault! Twas hers! *ducks* n_n Well enjoy! Please review!
Disclaimer: We do not own Escaflowne in any shape or form. Standard disclaimer inserted here. ^_~