The Way We Were

An Enchanted fic by Gigi

Disclaimer: The only Enchanted thing I own would by my lovely DVD from Target...and the ticket stubs (from seeing it in theaters twice).

Chapter 1: Meetings

Nancy Tremaine was nothing if not specific.

She knew exactly what she wanted in everything. Her food, her designs, her hair. Especially her men.

But this man threw it all out the window.

Robert Philip was cocky, successful, had the makings of a true ass. And an annoyingly dazzling smile. How could she concentrate when all she could think about was how he bugged her? How he knew he was good-looking? How he knew he got on her nerves?

Why did men think that annoying a woman to hell was going to get her to fall head over heels for them?

Why were they always right?

"Damn you, Robert!" Nancy declared, crumpling up yet another disgustingly generic design. She couldn't concentrate. He just made her so furious!

"What's he done now?" her sister, Maggie, sighed, not really paying that much attention.

"Lived to see another day," Nancy pouted. "He comes into my studio every day and stares at the suits for an hour before he makes inappropriate comments to my saleswomen and leaves without buying anything."

"He's harassing your staff?" Maggie asked, incredulous.

"No, not harassing. It's not harassment if they enjoy it, right?" Nancy flipped her long black hair over her shoulder. "Ugh, can you just chop all my hair off?"

"Geez, he's really got you wound up," her sister laughed, moving to brush Nancy's hair, soothing her.

"No, he just monopolizes my staff and renders them useless. They go all doe-eyed for him as soon as he steps through the door."

"Has he made a pass at you yet?" Maggie continued to brush her sister's waist length hair.

Nancy bit her lip, remembering that first time he walked into her studio...

"Welcome to Nancy Tremaine Studios," Nancy greeted as a ridiculously gorgeous man entered the store. "How can I help you?"

"There are many ways you can help me, Ms. Tremaine," the man remarked, winking. A twinkle sparkled in his eyes as he flashed her a crooked smile.

Nancy brushed it off. She was used to it. "How did you know who I was?"

He started browsing the store, seemingly uninterested. "Your picture was in a magazine. 'Top 10 Hottest HOTTEST Designers' or something like that."

She couldn't help but laugh. "Two things. One, why did you say it twice?"

"It was like the hottest as in most in demand and hottest as in best looking," the guy said. "You were number one, by the way. In case you were wondering."

"Was I really?" She was skeptical about that.

He eyed her up and down. "Nah, you were number three, but I decided I didn't agree with the judges." Nancy tried to stifle a giggle. This was quite a unique way of hitting on women. "What was number two?"

"Why were you reading something that had 'Top 10 Hottest HOTTEST Designers' in the first place?"

"Waiting room."

So that conversation was dead. Nancy turned back to business. "So, anything I can help you find?"

"A date for Saturday night?" he said it as smoothly as if her were asking for a gray suit.

"Certainly, we--" Nancy cut off, glaring at him. "You didn't come here just to hit on me, did you?"

"Of course not," he scoffed. "I also came here to hit on your staff if you said no. Which you didn't."

"Yes I did!"

"And I quote--Certainly, we--and then you did that cute little glower you're throwing at me right now."

The glower intensified. "You may make your selection, purchase it, and leave." She started to walk away, but he stopped her with a snide comment.

"So I didn't know this was a prostitution ring," he drawled. "But very well. What's your asking price?"

Nancy whipped around and smacked him. "Don't you dare say something like that to me again. Please leave." She tried to leave again, but this time he caught her wrist.

"The name's Robert, by the way," he introduced in a surprisingly apologetic manner. His open, kind eyes threw Nancy off balance. He let go of her wrist and walked out the door, leaving Nancy standing, stunned, in front of the studio.

"No, he hasn't hit on me yet," Nancy lied. That was too messy a story to go into with her older sister.

"Jealous?" Maggie laughed.

"Of that pig? That would be so cliche it would induce vomiting."

A/N: So what do you think? This is sort of setting the scene, but as you can see this is going to be a Nancy/Robert fic. Review please!