Red Hot Omelets
William Terry Louis Andrew Carrick Jonathan Dredge Hams Reading Roger Southwark Alwick Plymouth Junior Regison III is a wealthy man visiting Waffle Island in the hopes of finding reliable business partners. Gill just can't be bothered.
Papers seemed to materialize out of thin air, Gill thought, separating completed files from his to-do pile. It's not like he couldn't handle the workload alone, Elli just made things more organized and with her on vacation he found it difficult to manage his time.
'Don't forget, the fifth of this month is a very important day!' his father's voice over the phone sounded ecstatic. A sentiment Gill hardly shared. So what if a viable sponsor was visiting their humble island on the fifth? They had to tidy up and kiss up to him? Waffle Island had the resources and the man power to rise up on its own! Or so he'd like to believe. The truth was that Waffle Town was on the decline and had been for nearly a decade. But lately it had gotten worse—residents began to import their food, and with no source of income, they were on the verge of famine—unbelievable in this day and age!
Gill paced up and down the Town Hall in a flurry. It was only the first day of the season; only the first day! So why was he working so hard? Half the office was spick and span and it wasn't even lunch break yet.
"Um…excuse me?" a shy, quiet voice snagged him by the ear. Gill sent a piercing glance at the speaker in a manner that said, 'Hurry up, I've got things to do'. A skinny girl clad in green shorts and sweater squirmed under the vice of his glare. "I… I just wanted to share some of this with you. I—I made too much, so..."
His expression immediately softened as the smell of fresh tomato omelet filled the air. He hated to admit, the new girl was great at discerning his weaknesses. He took the package with a smile, "How did you know I liked this? Thank you."
The girl stammered something in reply before stumbling out of the office, practically tripping over her own shoes. Gill sighed, "Might as well take a break." Being the romantic guy that he was, he ventured out onto the beach, finding a cool spot close to the lighthouse and far from the smelly fish market. Sometimes he contemplated using the beach as an attraction for tourists, but would later scrap any such idea because it was simply too small. He stretched out his legs and plopped down on the plush yellow sand; he began unwrapping the package delicately, anticipating that first wonderful bit when it dawned on him. "I don't have a fork."
Just when his frown couldn't possibly get any deeper, a sudden spray of sand battered his side.
Someone was going to die.
"Are you alright?" asked the dead person. If Gill could see out of his left eye he'd send him a nasty glare, but the sand had him immobilized.
"Do I look fine to you?" Gill snapped, rubbing furiously at his eye and fully aware that sand had gotten into his tomato omelet. A breath of hot air against his neck jolted him upright, with eyes wide open despite the pain. "What on earth!" His heart jumped into his throat when he turned to see a pair of giant nostrils. Giant smelly nostrils. Disgusting!
"I'm sorry about Arthur. He was a little excited…"
It took a moment for Gill to realize it was a horse and not an apparition from his darkest nightmares. His eyes wandered up to get a good look at the jerk currently dismounting it. It was a man, obviously enough from the voice alone; carefully styled blond hair only slightly muffled by the gentle sea breeze framed the stranger's face, accentuating his deep blue eyes.
Not like a pretty face could calm his nerves.
Gill stood up with the rewrapped lunch gripped tightly in one hand while his other rubbed at his eye. He imagined he wasn't a pretty sight at the moment, "What's done is done, but…you should learn to control your animal." He tried to sound polite, but it just didn't come out the way he wanted.
Nevertheless, the stranger didn't seem bothered in the least. The man extended a hand and smiled warmly, "I'm sorry about the mess. I'll make it up to you, I promise. By the way, my name is William Terry Louis Andrew Carrick Jonathan Dredge Hams Reading Roger Southwark Alwick Plymouth Junior Regison III…but you may call me Will. I'm actually just vacationing here."
Gill thinned his lips as he reluctantly reached out to shake his hand. His eye still stung, he couldn't bring himself to open it at all. His clothes were covered in sand and he was hanging onto a ruffled lunch bag like a grade-schooler. He couldn't help but feel a tinge bit inferior shaking stands with Prince Charming. "Will…it sounds too similar to my name. I don't like it. I think I'm going to call you Hams," he spoke sharply, tightening his fingers around the slender hand. "My name is Gill. It was wonderful meeting you."
Without further ado Gill whipped around and stormed back to his workplace. Heavens knew he didn't have the time to be fiddling around with stranger while he could feel sand sliding down his pants. Through the steam of anger, a moment of clarity seemed to stop him in his tracks. He turned with a more somber look to glance over his shoulder, "Before I forget, welcome to Waffle Island."
Time couldn't possibly go any faster. A whole day gone by and it felt as though he hadn't gotten a single thing done—not since that disastrous encounter on the beach earlier that day. He got so hungry he ended up eating the tomato omelet after all, only now regretting his voracious appetite. He could still feel the sand gritting against his teeth when he talked, and his stomach was a bit queasy. Going home would be another headache—he'd have to fix up something to eat for his father who no doubt had a heavy workload as well.
At the very least, the walk home was quiet and peaceful. Every day seemed to be quiet and peaceful, even with the new farm girl buzzing up and down and snooping into other people's business. Gill opened the front door, only to close it again.
Surely he'd seen wrong.
He opened the door again to see two pairs of eyes watching his curiously. Mayor Hamilton stood up from his seat to give a courteous bow to his guest. He motioned to Gill to join him. "Come here Gill, there is someone I want you to meet." Gill clenched his jaw in an effort to remain stoic and stalked to his father's side, barely flinching as the shorter man patted his son on the back. "This is my son Gill. He helps out a lot around town! I'd love for you to become acquainted. Gill this is William Terry…Andrew…Louie…"
"William Terry Louis Andrew Carrick Jonathan Dredge Hams Reading Roger Southwark Alwick Plymouth Junior Regison III."
Hamilton's mouth gaped wide in disbelief, "Gill! Could it be you know each other? That's…that's quite good! That saves us some trouble."
Gill stood speechless as his father chuckled and moved on to some other topic. All that swirled in his mind was, 'Who is this person and why is he sitting in my living room like he lives here.' Even stranger, why did he sit next to him when the prince motioned him to sit? Gill wasn't his subordinate!
"Prince Charming" smiled in a manner most suspicious to Gill and spoke in a smooth tone, "I'm flattered you remembered my name. I hope we can work together harmoniously."
That's what you say, Gill's eyes narrowed as his mind turned to venomous thoughts. "I don't mean to be rude but who are you exactly?" The blond seemed taken aback but responded with a smile.
Hamilton stared at his son like he'd grown a second head. "Gill, don't you know? This is Mr. Regison's son here as representative to Waffle Town!"
Regison. Regison. Regison? Gill's mind snapped, "Regison the third? You're his son?" his eyes widened as his body instinctively moved to the end of the couch.
"I hope to possibly sponsor a few businesses here where the air is clean and it's peaceful. I think quite a few people would enjoy visiting this island." Said Will in his casual charming voice.
"He'll be staying with us until the end of the year, so please don't cause him any trouble." His father laughed completely unaware of the knot tightening in Gill's stomach.
Gill gripped the side of the cushion as the information sank in. "But…today is the first. Regison isn't scheduled to arrive until the fifth!"
"Oh, didn't you receive my letter?" asked Will innocently. A letter? Who knows what's hidden in all those filing cabinets! A lump caught in his throat as Gill stared into cool blue eyes. "In any case, would you like to accompany me on a stroll tomorrow morning? There are things I would like to discuss with you…"
Gill nodded blankly while his father answered for him all too giddily, "He would be delighted!"
This was written for a challenge I'm doing with a friend. We randomized a pair & have to write a 1500+ word chapter each day for 2 weeks. =) Wish me luck.