A Chat and a Plan
**Edit 5/24: I changed some details of the story, so I would advise any old readers to read all the way through from the beginning to get a fresh grip on the story.**
After we finished breakfast, Pepper and I started talking, mainly about me.
"So, where are you from?" she asked, and I smiled wistfully, thinking about my younger years.
"A small town in northwest Illinois, fifteen or twenty minutes from Clinton, Iowa, and an hour and a half from Chicago, if the traffic's good." I replied rather vaguely.
"Aren't they thinking about putting up a federal prison around there?" Pepper asked.
"They've been discussing it for a while, but I don't think it'll happen for a few years." I laughed.
"So, do your friends know you're all the way out here?" she asked, and I scoffed.
"Friends? My only real friend lives in Louisiana again, so I don't think she'd really mind. But I did tell her I was going to college here, so yeah, she knows." I answered, earning myself a pitying look from Pepper. "But I preferred having only one friend, really! I was close to her, and I still interacted with other people, I just didn't consider them friends, because... I'd rather not talk about it." I stopped myself from going into detail, since I hadn't even known Pepper for an hour and thus didn't know if I could trust her or not.
"That's okay. What do you think of the big city?" she questioned, and I rolled my eyes mentally. So many questions!
"I like it. I've been to Chicago multiple times, and it was always an adventure. In my opinion, New York is the same, just bigger!" I replied, smiling again.
"Pepper, who's the kid?" asked a voice from behind me. I turned around and saw Stark walking toward us, holding a coffee mug.
"So, what do you want to start with?" Stark asked once we'd been introduced properly.
"I was thinking we could do a few interview sessions, then I would take a week or two to type up the first draft of the report for you to look over and give suggestions on. Then, I'd use your suggestions to type the final draft, keeping the important stuff from the first draft." I answered, going into my more emotionally-distant, businesslike mindset that I used when I was nervous.
"How would you remember what I said to type the report?" he asked, and I smiled, taking out my iPhone 4 and pulling up the speech-to-text app I had purchased to help in writing stories for Creative Writing class, and essays for Spanish.
"I will use this to record what is said." I replied, and he smirked.
"Is there anything else you require of me? After all, from what you said, this is a very important project, one that you can only get your degree if you get a good grade on." Stark pressed, and I gave a smirk of my own.
"There is, in fact, something else I would like you to do for me. But it's purely a request, you can refuse and I won't be upset."
"So, what is this request?"
"There's a bonus opportunity for the project that requires me to create something under your instruction or with your assistance. But if it's too much trouble, I-" I started.
"Once you're done with the report, to my satisfaction, we can make something. I'll have a list of projects ready next week. When do you want to start the interviews?" he replied, turning a question back on me.
"Tomorrow, if you're not too busy."
