Someone Like You

Chapter 1

Mimi Lockhart stared at the phone. She willed it to ring. From her place on the couch- the same place she had occupied for the past three days, she continued to stare. On some level she knew that someday she would have to admit that he wasn't going to call. Someday she would admit that. But not today. Today she couldn't. Today she wasn't ready.

She did eventually get off the couch to check the mail. That was progress. She had three days of mail piled up in the box. And half of it was Rex's. Seeing his name sent her into another fit of tears. She had been stupid. So, so very stupid. She should have never had that abortion. And because she did, not only did she lose her baby, but she also lost her soul mate.

Carelessly sliding her chewed- up nail under the flap of the first of thirty envelopes, she tore the mail open. An electric bill. Wonderful. The second envelope housed the phone bill, while the third contained the water bill, and so on. Great. So now, she didn't have Rex, she didn't have a baby, and she didn't have money either. On the other hand, she did have a pile of bills, and a broken heart. 'Gee, isn't life wonderful?' She thought to herself, praying that someway, somehow, things would get better.

"Meems! Open the door before I have Phillip come break it down!" Belle Kiriakis screamed, now nearly hysterical with worry for her friend. She tried to give Mimi her space, but she hadn't heard or seen her in days now. What if she was so upset that she couldn't bear to-

"Oh thank God you're alive!" Belle shrieked, throwing her arms around her depressed friend, nearly squeezing the life out of her.

"I guess you could thank Him. Although right now I'm not so sure it's a blessing." Mimi mumbled, with a bitter look on her face.

Belle gave Mimi a once- over, and shook her head. Mimi's eyes were bloodshot and swollen, her face puffy, and she looked drained.

"Don't talk like that, hon. I know things are awful. But time heals all wounds. My heart has been broken before to, but now I'm a happily married woman! Everything will work out, trust me!" Belle said, walking over to the couch and plopping down, eying the myriad of bills scattered around. Mimi simply shrugged her shoulders. Belle's face furrowed with more concern over her friend. She had to do something- anything- to help.

"Mimi, are you going to be ok? Financially, I mean? Because I could give you a loan-"

"No! Belle, I've made this mess, and I'll deal with it! I'm NOT borrowing money from you, ok?" Mimi half-shouted, rolling her eyes, feeling desperate. Yes, she needed the money, but she would never, ever borrow it from Belle. She still had a little pride, and she needed to keep it. It was the only thing left to keep her going.

"Have you found a job yet?" Belle asked, biting her lip.

Mimi crossed her arms, going on the defensive. "No, I haven't. Any more questions?" She didn't mean to be so rude to Belle, she just really wasn't ready to deal with anyone at the moment.

Belle was a little hurt, but knew not to take it personally. Mimi was simply lashing out at everyone and everything. Besides, she had something that may help. She didn't want to think about what would happen if it made things worse, she simply had to believe it would help.

She chose her words carefully. "Don't kill me-" 'Oh, bad way to start, Belle' she thought, "But, I found you a job! NetCorp is looking for a marketing executive, and you're it!"

Mimi stared at Belle. She blinked. And then she blinked again. "Ok… so let me get this straight, I have no qualifications what-so-ever, but NetCorp was willing to hire me as, not only a marketer, but the marketing executive—why?" She demanded, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrows. This would prove to be interesting.

This was the delicate part. Belle fidgeted, and tried to decide how much to actually say. "Well… you see…" She started, looking around, hating to not tell the complete truth, "Phil and I are kinda friends with the company owner. We explained that we had a very close friend who was perky, upbeat, and full of fresh ideas, and even though you don't have the experience, he was willing to hire you!" She smiled, happy she hadn't told a total lie. Now, if she could just give Mimi the necessary information and get out, all would be well. She hoped.

Mimi sighed and stared at Belle. Something was fishy. But, who was she to complain? She had a pile of debt, and no income. At this point, she couldn't afford to be picky. Right now, she could either sink or swim. Reluctantly, she took the information and Belle left. So tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. she would meet her new boss, and start her new job. She didn't hold high hopes, but she knew she had to keep this job. She had to. She couldn't afford not to. So swimming it was.

Jason Masters sat at his desk, looking over the screen once again. He knew something was wrong with the new program, he just wasn't sure what it was yet. Something was off. Not with the actual program itself, but with the way it looked. It simply didn't set right with him. Jason rubbed his forehead; he had been staring at the computer screen for way too long. He had changed a lot since last time he was in Salem. When he left, he was simply a punk. He learned the real world didn't care how popular he was in high school. The real world cared about business. He learned that pretty quickly.

He picked himself up by the bootstraps, and realized with his parents cutting him off financially, it was either sink or swim. For a little while he decided to float- living paycheck to paycheck- but soon, he had learned that was most certainly not for him. So he made the decision to swim. He started NetCorp, a world- wide computer company. Back when it first started, it was only a small software company, but a few years and several hundred million dollars later, it was a world- wide leading corporation for computers in general. It was his life.

Kally, his secretary, paged him, to let him know his new marketing executive was here. "Send her on it." He said, anxious to see Mimi again. He wondered if she knew he was going to be her boss. 'Nah, Belle would never have told her.' he thought, grinning, as he put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. This would prove to be quite interesting indeed. He loved to see Meems get all worked up.

Mimi walked into the office, dressed smartly in a black skirt and jacket business suit, with cute, backless black shoes. 'Here goes nothing.' She thought, putting on her best smile, only to have her jaw drop when she saw the devil sitting in the chair.

"Oh hell! It's you!"