Don't Read This
Part I
"What if you hadn't fallen in love with me?" Alex paced up and down her crappy apartment. Her thoughts were all mixed up. Her dry lips tightened. She must need a glass of water... or an electrolyte replacement.
"But I did." Maggie sat catatonic on Alex's couch. Her white shirt was sweating from the closed heat of the place.
Alex, still pre-occupied with what it seemed like insanity, kept mumbling. "What if you hadn't fallen in love with me?"
"BUT... I... DID!" Maggie yelled and sighed. "That's what Meredith says."
Alex rested her hands on her hips and looked at her sternly. "Axele asks 'But what if you hadn't fallen in love with me,' and all Meredith says back is 'But I did,' that's your biggest idea?"
Maggie raised her hands in surrender. "Well, it does put up good drama."
"I'm the writer here. I tell the story, you record it to paper."
Maggie positioned her fingers back on the keys of her Stenograph and recapped where they left off. "The kettle started to whistle but neither of them gave it attention. Axele bit her lip wondering how things went from sunflower-sunny to teacup-tense in just one week. For a second, there was nothing to be heard except the whistling kettle, then, with the spontaneity of her rampaged mind, Alex spoke, 'But what if you hadn't fallen in love with me?' There. What happens next?"
Alex sat beside her on the couch. She rested her head back and thought of the next sentences of her novel. Maggie listened and typed the words. It was tougher at the moment; Alex kept brushing off words and changing the thought every five seconds. Soon, Alex's voice came in spurts, then in faint spurts, until it was one sentence every ten minutes.
Maggie gently placed a hand on Alex's and rubbed it softly. "Alex? Are you napping? Or are you thinking?"
Alex groaned. "M'nap-thinking."
"We should just continue tomorrow." Maggie packed her Stenograph neatly into her bag. Alex begged her to stay and continue the story but she was shut down by the clear evidence that they were both tired from the day and a peaceful re-charge will boost both of them up respectfully tomorrow. So Maggie left. A cab fortunately drove by and picked her up. She sat in the car with silent, even breaths. She sighed. Being Alex Danver's stenographer was nowhere near her career map, and yet there she was - on her way home from what she called "work."
Two weeks ago, Maggie received an e-mail from what it seemed to be a representative from Luthor and Henshaw and Danvers Law Firm, informing her of their dire need of a stenographer who could work in flexible hours. So there she was, on a noble corporate pantsuit and pointy heels under her feet - taking a bus to National City to take on the gig. She got through the front doors of this grey building, up the elevator, and knocked at 1122C. She was expected at nine, but it was always a good impression to arrive earlier ahead, and that was exactly what she did. The door opened, and a tall short-haired woman in a plain black shirt, dark denim pants, and flip-flops, whose eyes blinked weakly and sluggishly, greeted Maggie Sawyer.
The whole job offer turned out to be a hoax... Not entirely a hoax, but it was fake in a lot of angles. There was no Luthor and Henshaw and Danvers Law Firm, there was only Unit 1122C of L-Corp Condominiums. There was no Attorney A. Danvers: National City School of Law graduate, only Alex Danvers: one-hit-wonder novelist. Maggie was about to storm out back to the elevator when the poor tall woman fainted right in front of her. Maggie had no choice but to drag her lifeless form back inside her unit. Alex's place was rather displeasing to her... to anyone, actually. Think of what the home of a stereotypical book character who does not have their shit together would look like - that's what Alex's unit looked like. Maggie was about to head to the kitchen to get her some water when she heard her beg for her to stay and be her almighty stenographer for this new story she was trying to create.
Upset with the fake-fainting, Maggie finally stormed out. Alex got up to her feet and followed her and babbled about her first published novel while Maggie impatiently waited for the elevator to ding at the eleventh floor. She watched her talk. Maggie didn't listen to her; she watched her, and damn, did she find her attractive. The uncombed short hair, the tall build, the toned arms, the bright eyes - Alex Danvers was a beautiful novelist. Maggie finally played along and ran her around the bush with flirty talk. It came to a point where she teased her of having the intent of taking advantage of her, only to have Alex take it a little too personally and walking out on her saying "You're not my type, FYI."
The elevator finally arrived and Maggie got in - unsure of whether or not she was relieved that she had offended Alex Danvers. The world must've been against her today when the chilly wind of November embraced her neck rather harshly. She had left scarf at Unit 1122C. It must've fallen off when she was dragging Alex's body in. Maggie thought of leaving it for good, but she crawled back into the elevator anyway. It was that climb back to the eleventh floor that started her gig being Alex's stenographer.
The fifteen days they have spent together had rather gone too fast for Maggie. She entered her own apartment and cleaned up ready for bed but all the time, it was either Alex's story or Alex's unruly place or Alex herself that Maggie was thinking about. She should stop. She only had three hours to spare for sleep before her alarm goes off signalling her to get ready for her part-time four-hour job at the minute law firm two blocks from her place.
Kara had not called all week. She still wasn't speaking to Alex after she gambled the money she lent her in a shadowy business venture she found online. She promised her she would pay every cent back but it didn't ease up the anger and the disappointment in Kara. Swell. That was a year ago, and not a cent was paid back. No wonder Kara had actually stopped dropping calls every now and then. This next novel was her key to fixing her relationship with Kara. All she needed to do was write it to its last punctuation and send it to Hank Henshaw - her publisher. He had always believed in her and her "wondrous" talent.
Three weeks ago she bumped into him on the way to the grocery store, and he accidentally mentioned about Kara leaving National City to seek green pastures in The Daily Planet. The crisis in Catco Worldwide Media had sent it tumbling on the rocks, and the recession was ugly. It wouldn't be long until Kara becomes collateral damage. It would therefore make sense why she was thinking of migrating out of the city to work for a media corporation that would feed her and pay the bills. Kara was Alex's only family and if returning the money would keep her grounded near her, Alex would move the heavens for it. The fund was Kara's supposed investment tool but when Alex begged for a loan to enter into business, Kara gave up her long-term savings and delayed her investment plans.
Hank had labeled Alex "magnificent but stubborn" on one of their coffee dates, and he was not wrong. Alex had not felt a muse alive to keep writing since the business debacle. She had not been productive for more than two years now. Kara's threat of leaving became her new deadline. Writers breathe on deadline. Alex was a writer and she found herself a deadline to fear and to please. So she sent that bogus e-mail to Margaret Sawyer, a name she once saw in Hank's contact notebook. It wasn't easy booking her hours, but she did manage to. When she came back for her scarf that morning, Maggie grabbed the copy of Alex's first novel and flipped it to the last page, reading the ending so she could decide if it was worth the read. She said it was, and it was the turning moment that coaxed her into agreeing to the gig.
Alex's eyes were usually not open until eight in the morning but today at seven, they were. She got up groggily and showered. Then she headed to the kitchen to brew coffee. She knew how Maggie always wanted to start the day with a good cup of coffee, so there Alex was, using exerted energy to make her a strong cup. But then, the wall clock on the floor chimed ten AM, and Maggie had not arrived yet. She was about to reach for her phone when the door burst open revealing Maggie - panting.
"Sorry, I forgot that it's Thursday. I'm not scheduled to come in at the firm." Maggie sat and rested.
"They must be surprised to see you there today, huh?" Alex teased. She only laughed. "I'll make you a fresh cup of hot coffee."
"No, it's cool!" Maggie replied, halting Alex. "You prepared it. I'll have it." She smiled and it was returned. Alex had always returned her smirks and her smiles - much to her happiness.
Truth be told, Alex didn't make morning coffees until two weeks ago. She didn't even own a coffee maker until two weeks ago. There had been some changes in her daily routine since she began the novel with Maggie. She was not just some stenographer. Maggie was a reader - a persnickety one. They had argued about what color Axele's hair was - being the main character of Alex's story. Maggie wouldn't settle for first impression of Meredith's character at the third chapter. She had called out Alex's persistence on Axele's unhealthy obsession with Lycia, the rich French woman that Axele worked for. Alex and Maggie didn't agree on many things, and while Alex kept on reminding her about how she was the writer and Maggie was only there to put it to paper, Maggie kept the criticisms coming.
Alex didn't have a lot of people in her life. These past three months, Alex had been living on what was left of her money from her first publication. The only human contact she would have were the delivery guy from the bakery across the street, or the landlord with the monthly envelope, or the three year old kid who lived down the hall who occasionally knocked on Alex's door and handed her candies. Maggie agreed to be her stenographer one day, and suddenly, she was all the interaction that she needed every day. Alex gets annoyed when her thoughts get disrupted, something like when Maggie speaks... especially when Maggie speaks. Alex, too, gets turned on with smart and opinionated conversations, something like when Maggie speaks... most especially when Maggie speaks.
She loved watching Maggie stare into nothingness while her fingers clicked on the keys of her Stenograph. She admired Maggie's sided smiles every time Alex described scenes between Meredith and Axele. This energy, Alex channeled it to progress her novel forward. This energy, Maggie Sawyer, was a lively spice that Alex had not experienced for a long time since her life turned sideways.
Alex sat on the couch beside Maggie and rested her head on her shoulder. "Lycia's grandmother dies and she finally gets the inheritance. This means she did not have to enter into a fixed marriage with Justin. No more money problems. Perfect for Axele to make her move and confess her feelings for Lycia."
Maggie typed in as Alex narrated. "Uh-uh. It's just the seventh chapter, Alex. What happens next?"
"I don't know."