Takes a Tragedy
Chapter 1
"Rise and shine!" a voice that was way too happy for five thirty in the morning called as the motorized curtains opened them selves.
"Wakey, wakey. You're going to be late if you don't get up now."
Reid Garwin's white blonde head emerged from the mass of pillows and blankets and squinted against the bright light. Even at twenty-five his hair was still as light as ever. Seeing the girl in the middle of his bedroom, he thought that he should have never given her a key.
She was wearing the dress he liked her in most, it was bright red and swished back and forth as she walked. Her long brown hair was down for a change, he smirked that signature Reid smirk, she looked good.
"Hey Lane." The blonde grumbled as she came over to him, handing him a Starbucks.
"Your welcome." She said and he raised a hand to thank her as he took huge gulps from the to-go cup. She climbed onto the huge bed. "Are you swimming today?"
"Yep, only way to wake up." He untangled himself from the sheets and went to his dresser. Lane followed and planted herself on the edge of the elaborate piece of mahogany furniture.
"Ugh, cold water. I don't know how you do it." She grabbed his coffee from him and took a sip.
"I don't know how you are up, dressed and here by five-thirty. Oh, and go by Starbucks." He grabbed the cup back, shooting her a faux-angry look.
"One of us has to do it and you pay me to. Is that a Speedo?" She asked as he dug through the drawer for his swimsuit. She grabbed the black piece of cloth. "It is!" She began laughing hysterically at Reid's expense.
"No, " He tried to grab it from her. "It's not. It's shorts."
"I don't think so." She held them up and inspected them. "Yep, definitely a Speedo." She decided, still laughing.
"No its not there those shorts that you have to where on the swim team, this is from high school." He finally grabbed the black suit from Lane.
"Yeah right."
"I'll prove it to you." He said and went into the bathroom connected to his room.
"I was only kidding!" she called through the door. She didn't get an answer. "Does it even fit you any more?"
This time he opened the door and his head appeared. "Are you inferring that I'm fat?" he asked, laughing and door closed again.
She laughed too. "No, you're just, you know, not in high school anymore."
The door opened and there he stood, smiling proudly in nothing but the small black suit. Lane started laughing harder at the sight of his too-white legs.
"Okay, okay. Point proven. Go change so you'll finish before your meetings start."
"No way, I'm gonna swim in this." He grabbed a towel and threw it around his neck and grabbed a pair of basketball shorts to put over the tiny suit.
"Reid! You can't do that."
"Why not, I did it all the time in high school and college. In fact I wore it to class in college once." She looked at him like he was crazy. "Long story."
-
When they was at his house it was easy think of them as just friends, to forget that he was a CEO and she was the secretary from three years ago who he'd offered a job as his personal assistant.
At the time they were both fresh out of college with big plans for life. He wanted to be a professional swimmer; she'd wanted to be a lawyer. He started the company on a whim, using the money he inherited when his grandmother died.
He just wanted to get rid of the money; he never thought it would turn into what it did so quickly. Over whelmed by the success, he hired a lot of people at once, Lane had been one of them. She quickly organized everybody and then got to work on the too-young CEO who didn't want this life, or any life at all.
When she'd taken the job she had thought it would be easy and stress-free compared to her classes at her Boston law school. Day one she learned she was wrong on both counts. The office staff was inexperienced and the Boss was a wreak. After fixing everything she thought she'd quit but then it was too late. She'd fallen head-over-heals for Reid Garwin himself. When he asked her to stay as his assistant she couldn't refuse the money or the chance to be around him six days a week.
So she dropped out of school and followed the company to New York when they moved the main office the following year. She followed him through store openings and near-bankruptcy experiences. She drove him home when he was too drunk to stand and even followed along on a date or two. If he called her, she dropped everything and went.
They weren't just boss and employee, they were best friends and he would never know that she'd loved him for so long.
-
Lane was standing on the sidewalk when the car pulled up. Reid climbed out of the backseat. She handed him another Starbucks. "You're late."
Her voice had lost its playful tone from earlier, the way it always did. At work she was all business-like and serious, which he hated, but she was organized and kept him on schedule, which he liked.
"Your not gonna ask me about my swim?" He smirked and closed the door to the car. "Thanks Jeeves." He called to the driver who his name was George. She followed him as he climbed the stairs that led to their building.
"Would it kill you to at least dress like a CEO?" she asked him as she took in his jeans, old t-shirt, Chuck's, and aviator sunglasses. At least he'd worn a blazer.
"Probably. What do we got today?" He asked as they crossed the lobby.
"Board meeting at ten. Tons of voice mail to check and some papers to look over on your desk. You have an appointment with some guys from Maui East at four and we have dinner reservations at seven." She snapped the folder closed again and pushed the up arrow to call the elevator.
"Maui East? The surf shop? What do they want?" The elevator arrived with a chime and the two entered.
Lane pressed the 15. "They want to talk you into a merger that will make them millions and you zilch. Stay strong, just say no."
"Thank you, mother" He joked as the doors opened again revealing the frosted glass door with the company's logo, "Big Blue" printed across the middle.
"What would you rather me say?" She opened the door and held it for the blonde to walk trough.
"You know I love ya babe, don't change a thing." Her heart fluttered with the word love but then he reached over and messed up her hair in a way that had 'just friends' written all over it.
They reached Reid's office and he crossed the floor to his messy desk. "Alright, board meeting, messages, papers, merger, dinner. Anything else?"
"Nope, anything you need?"
"You got any like Tylenol or whatever?" he put his head between his hands, rubbing his temples. He always got headaches when there was board meetings, he dreaded them like a root canal. The other "Big Guys" in the company always treated him like an idiot, like they were better than him because they were forty-something and loosing their hair.
"One second." She left and came back only seconds later carrying a bottle of water in one hand and the pills in the other.
He took them from her. "Wow, you're like a magician, what else you got in that bag of tricks?" He suggestively waged his eyebrows at her in a playful way.
"Very funny Garwin, take your pills and get to work." He did as he was told.
"Hey, hit the play button." He called as she passed his phone, the voice mail blinking red. "You have twelve un-played messages," the recording told him. He groaned and put his head on his desk.
"Want me to take notes?" Lane asked, still hesitating by the desk. He nodded from the same place as before.
The messages were all the usual ones; companies that wanted to take advantage of the young, inexperienced CEO. Only the last two were different, they both came from voices Reid hadn't heard in seven years.
"Hello? Oh voice mail. Uh Reid, this is Tyler. Sims? From Ipswich? Yeah, I've thought about calling you a lot lately. It's been a while and I uh, well you know, miss having you around. If you get this, you should call me back." He gave his number and then hung up.
"Next." The blonde said as he had for each one previous, void of emotion.
"Reid, this is Caleb. Call me back, it's an emergency."
"Call Caleb." The same monotone voice said. Lane dialed the number and handed Reid the phone.
"Hello?" A girls voice answered.
"Uh hey, it's Reid. Is Caleb there?"
"Oh hey Reid, this is Sarah, it's really good to hear from you. Where are you these days?" Reid could hear a lot of commotion in the background and Sarah sounded like she was crying.
"New York, mostly. I have to travel with work some. But can I talk to Caleb?"
"Oh, yeah, sure. Here he is. Bye Reid." She handed the phone off.
"Hey, Reid? You there?" the first thing Reid noticed was how tired he sounded.
"Yeah, look I'm busy, what's the emergency?"
"Uh, well…Reid the thing is, Ty…he killed himself last night, Reid. He's… he's dead."