"Just put that over in the corner!"
Miley ran a frustrated hand through her hair. Her job as an interior designer had never been an easy one, but the O'Connor house was by far one of the hardest she had worked on yet. First, the family kept changing their minds, and then workers were late or simply couldn't follow simple instructions.
As she thought more and more about how much she regretted taking on the project, she heard a bang in the dining room, causing her to wince slightly as she made her way quickly from the living room, across the open-plan hall and into the dining room.
"What the hell happened in here?" she yelled
Two of her employees looked up at her sheepishly. One glanced down at the broken cardboard box on the floor, a linen tablecloth, a shattered glass vase and two tall silver candle holders lying on the ground.
Miley picked up the cardboard box and examined it. The base had given way, spilling the contents out on the wooden floor. She looked up at the two men, her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at them.
"Jake, clean this up." She turned to walk out of the room. "And Aaron, you head back to the office and find another vase like the $250 one that you two just shattered." She then walked out of the room, too stressed to listen to their explanations.
She walked into the kitchen and looked around at the three men working on the tiled floor. "How are we doing, guys?" she asked with a sigh.
One looked up. "Oh, hey. We should be done tomorrow, tiled and polished," he replied.
Miley nodded. "Good job, boys." She picked her bag off the island in the centre of the kitchen. "I'm heading home for the day. I should be back here on Thursday to check up on how you guys are doing. I'll see you then." She slipped her phone into her bag and took out the keys to her BMW. "You guys have done a really good job," she said softly with a smile. She then turned on her heel and walked out of the kitchen.
Once in her car, Miley sat there, staring into space. She was going on yet another blind date that Demi had set up for her. She really wasn't in the mood after the day that she'd had. She had been working on the O'Connor house for months, and they were nowhere near ready. She had been on a million and one blind dates in the past three months, all of which were set up by Demi, and none of them felt right. She really wasn't in the mood to find out once again that she was out on a date with the wrong guy.
Was it so hard for guys to like her? Demi had found the right guy for her. Why couldn't Miley? She was so tired of walking into a bar or a restaurant to meet a guy and finding out that he definitely wasn't the guy for her. She wasn't sure that she could face one more let-down.
There was a knock on the window. Miley turned her head and saw Aaron standing there. She rolled down the window and sighed. "What can I do for you, Aaron?" she asked in a tired tone.
Aaron smiled slightly and reached into his pocket. "You forgot your bracelet." He held it out for her. Sure enough, he was holding the charm bracelet that her father had given her for her graduation in his hands. "I saw it on the stairs. I didn't want it to get lost, and I was just on my way back to the office for that vase. I saw your car out here and thought I may as well give it to you now." Aaron turned around, a smile on his face. "I'll see you later, ma'am." He then walked over to his truck, reversed out of the driveway, and drove away down the street.
Miley slipped on her charm bracelet, staring after Aaron's truck. She couldn't recall dropping her bracelet anywhere. How could she not have noticed it slipping off her wrist? She shrugged the thoughts out of her mind and started the car, knowing Demi would kill her if she was late for the week's blind date.
When she reached their favourite bar, Stuart's Sports Bar, she got out of the car and headed inside. She saw Demi and her husband, Joe, sitting in their usual booth. Demi noticed Miley walk in and waved, grinning at her. A man in the seat opposite Demi turned to look.
Miley had to admit it – this guy was hot. Then again, all of her blind dates were hot. It was just that they were all either as dumb as a doorknob or as boring as a blank sheet of paper.
She walked quickly over to the table and slipped into the booth beside the man. "Hey, guys. Sorry I'm late. I got held up at the O'Connor project along the beach." She put her bag down on the booth beside her and smiled at the man next to her. "Hi, I'm Miley."
The man smiled and stuck out his hand to shake hers. "Hey. I'm Liam. Nice to meet you." He turned to Demi and Joe, grinning. "You two never told me how hot your friend was."
Miley giggled. "They always leave out that part," she joked.
Demi pushed a glass of wine in Miley's direction. "Your usual," she said. Demi then folded her hands on the table and smiled. "So, how was your day?"
"It was okay. A few problems at work, but they were fixed pretty easily. How about you? How was the store today?" Miley replied.
Demi smiled, just as she always did whenever someone mentioned her little boutique off Main Street. Her store made her almost as happy as Joe did. Anybody could see how good it made her feel.
"It was good. I'll call you tomorrow and tell you about this customer that came in today. It was hilarious," she said.
There was an awkward silence at the table as people ran out of things to say. Joe kept his eyes on one of the screens above the bar, watching the baseball match that was playing. Liam held his beer bottle in his hands, turning it and fiddling with his fingers. Demi stared at the table, not quite sure what to say, fixing her gaze there and only there. Miley looked around the room, people-watching, just as she always did.
Joe cleared his throat. "Can I get anyone another drink?" he asked.
Demi pushed him out of the booth and slipped out herself. "I could do with another glass of wine," she mumbled, dragging him up to the bar to give Liam and Miley some time alone.
Liam glanced at Miley. "So, uh, what do you do?" he asked, attempting to start a simple conversation with her.
"I'm an interior designer," she replied with a smile. "What about you?" she asked.
Liam smiled slightly. "I'm a sports reporter for the local newspaper. How do you know Joe and Demi?" he asked.
"I've known Demi since preschool. We met Joe at middle school and I guess we've all just been super close since then. How about you? How did you meet them?" Miley asked.
Liam cleared his throat slightly. "I coach the Little League baseball team with Joe. I met Demi through Joe when she constantly was coming to games and practices." He chuckled slightly. "First I thought she was coming to creep on the kids, until Joe explained to me who she was."
Miley giggled. "So, you're a baseball player, huh?"
"I used to be. Injured myself when I was in college though. I'm been helping out with Little League teams since then. I love it," Liam explained. He smirked. "I'm a bit of a sports addict, to be honest. I love it."
"I can tell," Miley said with a smile.
Joe and Demi slipped back into the booth with their drinks, as well as fresh drinks for Liam and Miley.
"I see that you two are getting on," Demi said with a smile.
Liam smiled at Miley. "Like a house on fire."
Miley walked into her office, Starbucks in one hand, the day's mail in the other. She flopped down onto her chair and threw the envelopes onto her desk.
There was a knock on the door. She looked up as the door swung open. She smiled slightly at the sight.
"Karen. Hi."
Miley's receptionist smiled over at her. "You have an appointment today at 11 o'clock, ma'am," she said, placing some papers on Miley's desk. "It's Mrs Jacobs. She wants to see you about re-decorating her living room."
Miley looked up and furrowed her eyebrows. "I re-decorated her living room six months ago."
Karen sighed. "I suppose she's gotten sick of it yet again." She pushed some more papers towards Miley. "And Miss Beaufort wants you to look at her ideas for that new bedroom for her daughter before your meeting tomorrow."
"Thank you, Karen. Is that all?" Miley asked.
Karen glanced at her watch. "One of the workers down at the O'Connor house, Aaron, called in about fifteen minutes ago. He asked that you go down there. One of the guys working on the upstairs bathrooms is apparently causing trouble," she explained.
Miley looked at the clock above the door. It was half past nine. If it took roughly twenty minutes to drive down to the O'Connor house, she could give herself about forty-five minutes to sort out the problem and twenty minutes to drive back. She would hopefully be back in time for her eleven o'clock appointment.
Miley rose to her feet. "I suppose I can make it down there now. If I'm not back in time for Mrs Jacobs, tell her that I'll be back soon and I'm sorry to keep her waiting," she said. She then grabbed her bag and walked quickly out the door.
When she got in her car, she let out a sigh. She didn't need any more problems down at the O'Connor house. She most certainly didn't need a problematic worker. She put her key in the ignition and drove as quickly as she could to the O'Connor house, making it there at the front door in fifteen minutes.
She stormed into the house. "Aaron!" she yelled.
Aaron came in from the dining room. "Sorry to call you down here, ma'am. I know you're busy up at the office, but we're having some problems with the new guy," he explained. He headed towards the stairs, leading Miley up after him. "We managed to calm him down again, but a little while ago, he was in a fight with one of the other guys."
They stopped in the hallway. Miley pursed her lips and sighed. "What kind of fight?"
"He was ready to go for Steve. We were hoping that maybe you could talk to him and let him know that fighting won't get the work done any quicker," Aaron explained.
Miley nodded. "I'll have a word. Thanks, Aaron." She watched Aaron walk down the hall and back down the stairs. She then took a deep breath and pushed open the bathroom door.
No one was there.
Typical, she thought. The new guy causes trouble and mysteriously disappears. She sighed and looked around the bathroom. A stack of tiles were sitting in the corner, along with a toolbox. She could hear her workers hammering and drilling downstairs, the radio blaring in the kitchen of the house.
"Damn new guy," she mumbled.
She knew she shouldn't have hired a new guy. She was fine with the team that she had. She had never even met the guy before. Jake, Aaron, Alex and Lewis had insisted that they needed more help. She had allowed them to interview a pile of workers and select two to help them. She trusted their judgement. She had assumed that, if her best workers thought that the men were suitable, they would do perfectly for the job.
Maybe she had trusted their judgement a little too much. She had never even met her two newest workers. What did that say about her and her company? She had gone with the word of her men and look where it got her – she was left standing in an empty workspace, looking for a man that wasn't even in the room.
She walked over to the toolbox and kicked it slightly to let out her building anger. She was angry with nobody but herself. She had been irresponsible. She should have checked out the new guys before she allowed her men to hire them. That was how a business worked – you checked out all new employees before even considering to hire them.
If something had happened in that fight, she thought. What if the new guy actually had hit one of her men? She wasn't exactly sure, but she was thinking that her employee could sue her if the new guy had even touched him.
"Where the hell is he?" she muttered.
The unfinished bathroom she was standing in was the least of her problems. She needed to check out the new guy that seemed to be causing so much trouble before she even considered letting him continue. She was going to do what she should have done in the first place. As soon as she found him, she was going to sit him down and have a word with him. She was going to treat it like an interview, an interview just like all of her other employees got before they were hired. Like she should have given this new guy.
"Stupid," she said, covering her mouth with her hand. She had been so stupid. Thinking back, she couldn't help but think, Who the hell hires a guy without even meeting him? For all she knew, he could have been a serial killer. As she thought more and more about, she couldn't help but blame herself for putting her staff in danger. It had been irresponsible and completely unprofessional.
"Aaron!" she called. "Aaron, where is this guy?"
She heard footsteps coming up the hall, but she didn't turn around. She stared out the bathroom window at the waves that crashed against the shore, wondering how she could have been so wrong to not even meet this guy.
The footsteps stopped. The bathroom door creaked open. Someone stepped into the room. The only sound heard was the clearing of a man's throat.
"You lookin' for me?"
So this is chapter one of Don't Count on Me. The title may change, but for now it's just Don't Count on Me. I've written and re-written this chapter so many times. I never knew quite how to write it. I never liked the way that it turned out. I'm not exactly a big fan of the way this turned out either, but I suppose it will do.
I know that this chapter is quite boring, but most first chapters are. Please give this story a chance :) Leave a review! It will mean a lot to me :)
Also, I'm sorry it's kind of short. I wanted to get it out quickly :) OH, and it's rated M for later chapters ;)