Amanda wore her clothes in such a different manner. Marie understood that she had chosen modelling as her career because it suited her. The plain black skirt and white dressing shirt looked exclusive and classy on Amanda. They didn't say much when sitting in the taxi and both answered awkwardly whenever the enthusiastic driver tried to make conversation, which was often. Marie had heard Amanda cry during the night, she had felt bad about it but let the young woman be, she figured that it wasn't her place to comfort her. Besides, Marie had the worst social skills ever observed in human history. She wouldn't even know where to start if she'd been forced to comfort Amanda. She didn't feel an ounce of guilt about it either, the woman before her had after all spent the night at her place and even managed to drag her 20 minutes across town to accompany her to Bruce Wayne's penthouse. As the taxi stopped Marie figured that she would have to walk to the nearest bus-station, she would be late for work for the first time in three years, just because she couldn't say no to Amanda's request. As they got out on to the sunlit sidewalk Amanda quickly paid the taxi and then they stood gazing at the skyscraper. Marie gave a side glance to the other woman, who stood nervous among the hundreds of pedestrians passing by.
"I know this is a lot to ask of you because you have already helped me so much." Amanda began awkwardly placing a strand of black hair behind her ear. Her shoulders were a bit shrunk and she kept glancing at the concrete ground. The model was uncomfortable and Marie even more so.
"Could you possibly just accompany me to the door? I mean, you don't have to walk me in to the house but just to get past all the elevators and annoying employees without having to go alone?" Marie gave a big sigh, noticing it too late.
"I understand, I have wasted your time enough already." She said with fake glee. "Anyways, it was nice knowing you. I, uh, hope that you'll have a good day, hopefully without any further disturbances from my part." The last few words were apologetic and Marie felt guilty, very guilty. As Amanda started walking toward the revolving glass doors Marie mentally slapped herself and ran after the taller woman.
"Ms. Ross, wait!" She tried refer from yelling as Amanda probably did not want to attract any attention. Though Marie suspected that the fight between her and Bruce Wayne had already reached the tabloids. As she skidded toward the building Amanda stopped and turned, a big smile plastered on her face.
"Thank you." Was all the woman said before they entered. Marie looked at the worn wristwatch, 7:32. Work would start in thirty minutes and she knew she would not make it. She felt a tinge of anxiety creep inside of her, like a knot forming in her stomach. This feeling was not new to her and it often occurred when she procrastinated, especially during her college years. However since graduating the procrastinating had vanished as she had gotten a routine. It was almost like a religion to her because she knew that if she broke it, it would be hard to get back on track. Marie had therefor been thankful that Amanda had gotten up so early so that she might get a chance to arrive in time at work. From what she saw the woman was most definitely not a morning person. Marie reasoned that no one was really a morning person, it all required routine and attention. She never slept in during the weekends because she knew that it would be impossible to get up at her usual 06:00 if she did so.
When they walked in the women were met by a wave of people, all dressed in professional attire. Looking at their phones, going through folders which were carried in their arms or just talking to colleagues. The main desk, a large piece of furniture that was at the back of the vast room, stretched from one end to the other. Marie counted at least seven receptionists, five of which were occupied in phone conversations. The other ones seemed to be as busy as their co-workers for she saw the stressed man and woman writing in a rush behind the desk.
"Maybe we should return at a less hectic hour?" Marie leaned in and whispered, wondering if Wayne Tower ever had a "less hectic hour". Amanda didn't answer and walked up to the desk. It didn't go unnoticed by Marie and almost everyone who paid attention that Ms. Ross was walking as if attending a fashion show. She was showing off. Marie didn't know why she was behaving in such a childish way, maybe it was just to uphold a reputation, Amanda Ross was after all a famous Gotham model, dating Bruce Wayne. She reasoned that she had reason enough to flaunt whatever she wanted, but that did not make it less ridiculous. Although some of the businessmen and other employees thought very differently from Marie as they stared at the swaying hips of the tall woman. Marie hurried in her steps to catch up with the long strides of the other woman. She almost wanted to hide, not really wanting to be associated with Amanda.
Both women reached the desk and Amanda started talking to the petite redhead. After a few words a guard accompanied them to an elevator, he turned the key and the doors opened. Apparently there was a private elevator going all the way up to the penthouse. Marie thought it unnecessary for her to go all the way up. She glanced at the wristwatch again. 7:48 A.M she would not make it in time. All sorts of things went through her head. Maybe they wouldn't notice, or maybe they would and she would be fired on the spot, forced to do the dreaded walk of shame. She had seen it many times and always comforted herself with that she would never have to do it because she was after all a good worker and a valued employee. Or so she had been told during the yearly evaluations at the boss's office. But Marie knew that the short middle aged man rarely paid attention to her, she did what had to be done without any fuss, however that was all she did. She knew he wanted her to have greater ambition. But to be quite honest Marie didn't really know what he meant by that. Maybe he wanted her to be more competitive with the other workers in the office. Though she felt that would only cause unnecessary stress on her part.
As the elevator started ascending these thoughts quickly disappeared from her mind. Amanda was fiddling with her hands. She was even more nervous than before. Marie wondered what was going through her mind, she tried to put herself in her position. Would she be nervous? Probably, from what she had heard the night before she figured that Mr. Wayne would not be especially happy with Amanda Ross. She had made quite a scene after all.
The steel doors opened with a soft ring, announcing that both women were at the penthouse floor. As they stepped out onto white marble floor Marie took in the lavish surroundings. They were standing in a very open and light space, there were not a lot of colors incorporated into the furnishing, only whites, blacks, various browns and beiges. It was very different from her own apartment but Marie liked the simplicity of the designs. By the far end of the room there was a wall made entirely out of glass, or windows. Marie didn't really know what to call it because she had never seen something like it before. The room was probably bigger than she had guessed initially because from a far corner there came an older man. He walked up to them with what she would call very tired steps. The hunched shoulders and tired gaze suggested that the man had not gotten a lot of sleep. As he approached them Marie got her confirmation from the dark circles under the blue, watery eyes. Alas he stood tall, for his advanced age. His hair was as white as snow on a Christmas morning, the wrinkles around his eyes and mouth suggested that the man smiled a lot, or at least had for now his demeanor was serious and somehow sad. He had a broad neck and broad shoulders suggesting that he had been quite active and well trained in his youth, perhaps he still was. Marie couldn't really say because he was wearing a thick black knitted sweater over a dress shirt, completing the look with a dull black tie.
"Alfred!" Amanda said quite awkwardly, no doubt the incident from the night before still hung in the air for the older man slightly wrinkled his forehead.
"Ms. Ross." His voice was rough, strong and almost judging. Marie noticed a slight hint of dryness in it. He had only said two words but she suspected that he might have an English accent. The man called Alfred seemed too tired to deal with them. He kept glancing over at her, probably wondering what this random woman, he or Bruce Wayne had never seen before, did in the penthouse.
"I just…" Amanda began, thinking that Alfred would have continued speaking but he just stood there somber and almost impatient, as if wanting the women to go away.
"I need to speak to Bruce." She finally said, glancing past the old man toward the corner he had rounded, as if expecting the owner of the house to show up. But he did not. Marie felt more uncomfortable by the minute.
"I'm afraid that master Bruce is not available for the moment or the near future actually. He is in Europe." Marie could not stop herself from raising an eyebrow at the lie. 'Master Wayne' was not in Europe. He might be unavailable yes, but the man was lying about the whereabouts of Bruce Wayne. He had blinked too much and shifted his weight while fiddling ever so slightly with the fingers of his left hand while telling the lie. Amanda had probably not noticed this because she could see the defeated and hurt expression of the woman beside her.
"Do you know when he will be back? I really need to speak to him about what happened yesterday." Amanda almost begged, her voice cracking. Marie took a few steps back and turned around. She didn't need to see this.
"I'm afraid not Ms. Ross. It might be a while. A few months at least. He asked me to relocate you to one of the hotels that the company owns in the meantime." The voice of Alfred had grown softer with a hint of compassion toward the distressed woman. Marie could almost feel Amanda look down to the floor in defeat.
"No it's okay. I'll just go live with a friend in the meantime, until he returns. But please Alfred. The moment he does you have to let me know okay?" Amanda asked. A few more words were exchanged about her things and where to move them. She would have an answer for him before the end of the day. With that their small visit to Bruce Wayne's penthouse was over and they both stepped into the elevator again. As the steel doors closed Amanda leaned to the wall of the elevator to get some support. She sighed.
"Why have I gotten myself into this mess?" She silently said to herself although Marie heard her and her curiosity got the better of her.
"I'm guessing you don't really have any friends here in Gotham?" She said dryly. Amanda scoffed.
"Obviously. But I couldn't say that to Alfred. I've been living with Bruce for like two weeks and going to a hotel just living of their generosity seems wrong. I'm not going back to living with him, I'm going to look for my own place." She said, lost in thought, as if starting to think about where to begin looking for an apartment.
"You don't happen to know anything in your area right? I mean, I kind of like the neighborhood you live in." Amanda smiled toward Marie, who returned the gesture.
"No, not that I know of. But where will you stay until you find something?" Marie kind of knew where this would be going, she had known from the start. She knew Amanda Ross would never ask it because the woman seemed quite proud. However she reasoned that a week or so couldn't hurt. It was true that Marie didn't really like her routine broken but Amanda would probably not get in the way of it.
"Oh I'll probably go to some small hotel in the center of the city." Amanda continued, saying that Grand Hotel was a possibility, or possibly Gotham Main.
"Why don't you stay at my place?" Marie offered. Amanda stared at the woman in front of her with a shocked expression.
"That is a really great offer Ms. Walker but I've only known you for like less than a day. And besides, I wouldn't want to intrude or anything, I mean I already made you late for work."
"Well you already slept on my couch this night. You wouldn't be imposing." Marie said simply, smiling all the time.
"Are you sure?" Marie only nodded. The elevator doors opened with the same soft ring and both women got out. Amanda seemed to have regained her happy composure that Marie had gotten a glimpse of the night before. As they walked through the lobby the taller woman kept talking about things they could do, how she would take her out for a shopping tour, how they could go to the spa. Meanwhile Marie glanced down at her watch 8:13. If she took a cab she would only be thirty minutes late for work.
Outside she hauled a cab and got in, swiftly followed by Amanda.
"I have to work, I get off around 7 or 8 P.M, depending on how much work I have to finish. I don't have any spare keys and to be frank Ms. Ross I know I offered you to stay at my home but we need to be realistic. I barely know you and I can't leave you alone in my house for twelve hours." She felt awkward telling Amanda this but the other woman put up a hand, making her stop.
"I understand entirely, I would do the same thing. I know the street you live on. I'll be there tonight with my things at 9 P.M sharp. I can take the couch tonight again and tomorrow I'll buy a mattress and we can arrange sleeping quarters for me if that is okay for you?" She stated matter of factly. Marie nodded. Maybe she had gotten way in over her head. But she reasoned that it was all for a good cause.
Amanda Ross got out of the cab at Gotham Park, saying she would take a long walk. Marie sat silent the rest of the way to work. A lot had happened in the course of 12 hours. She couldn't believe that she had invited a woman she didn't even know to come stay with her. What was she thinking? God. She felt so stupid. This was why she never did things on impulse. Never. She had lived fine until now. Marie had this underlying feeling that Amanda Ross would mean a change of routine and even a change of the way she lived. Marie did not feel comfortable knowing that. However she had made a promise and she couldn't muster up enough courage to break her promise. She would have to deal with the consequence of her impulsiveness.
When she got out of the cab onto the sunny sidewalk she glanced at her watch for the last time that morning. 8:41, it couldn't be helped. They probably wouldn't even notice that she was 40 minutes late. Marie walked into the red tile brick building and on to the fifth floor like she always had for the last five years. She quickly walked to her cubicle and sat down at her desk that was overstocked with reports and other documents for her to deal with. She sighed internally. She might not have shown up at the designated hour but her coworkers still found ways to put their workload on her. Marie began sorting through the large amounts of paper. By 12:01 she was finished and decided to take a late lunch so she could start calling up the people that were on her list for the day. Two hours and 62 people later, a record for her, Marie decided that she was done and slinked out of the cubicle unnoticed to get lunch. No one had bothered her yet and she guessed that if she kept her head bent down no one would notice that she had come in to the office today.
The warm sun had hidden behind some dark clouds and Marie felt the change of pressure in the air. A storm was coming. They had had a few weeks of sunshine, not a drop of rain had fallen and not a cloud had been spotted in the sky. That was quite unusual for Gotham as the city was usually obscured from any rays most of the year. That was probably why the people were so pale there, pale and with dark circles under their eyes Marie thought.
She continued walking on the hard concrete, keeping her eyes on the ground, not really feeling like looking anyone in the eye at that moment. She didn't want to see what a person had been up to during the morning or the day before. Marie had always been observant. When she got to college to study economy a fellow student had noticed her sharp eyes and asked why she didn't improve her talent. Marie had no idea that there were classes. She only went to three because from what she had learnt from them were enough. After practicing for the first two years of college Marie began to understand that her talent had become quite bothersome, at one point it was almost like reading minds, based off of what she perceived. She figured out that her boyfriend at the time had been cheating on her, her friends started lying to her to avoid spending time with her because most found it uncomfortable in her presence. When Marie finished college she had understood too late that she was supposed to shut up about what she figured out in people. She was left with barely any friends, only people thinking her strange and weird.
She got her first job at the biggest bank in Gotham. She endured three months until she quit, Marie couldn't stand sitting and listen to peoples economic problems while simultaneously seeing sides to people she did not want to see. They got many people form the mob and mafia and she was not a good liar, she became tense around them and hid it poorly. Finally Marie decided to give up on the job. She got a job in the telecommunication service and had since then been sitting in a sad little three walled cubicle. It was still better than having to stare people in the eye for eight hours a day.
She took a left turn and pushed a glass door open to the local sandwich shop. She wouldn't be able to sit and eat her sandwich in the sun that day. Marie ate her lunch slowly. Looking out the window as a few drops of rain collided with the glass, making trails of water after them as they glided down the slippery surface. In a matter of minutes the sky opened up and the streets outside were drenched and people hurried along the sidewalk to get to work or wherever they were going to get out of the rain. She had forgotten her umbrella. Typical. Marie finished her meal and got up. She paused by the door. Her office was only five minutes away, maybe she wouldn't get that drenched if she ran. She pushed the door open, clutched her brown leather bag tightly and ran. It wasn't easy, her beige heels, although not that tall still made it hard for her to run at full speed without tripping. Marie had only been two minutes in the pouring rain and she was drenched to the bone. Her dark blonde tresses molded themselves around her face. She ran into the red brick building, bringing half a lake in with her as she stood in the small lobby. The guard she always smiled at gave her a curious look as she walked toward the stairs. She had some spare clothes in her bags. She would change in the toilet.
The rest of the day was, as usual, very uneventful for Marie. She kept staring at the clock on her computer anxiously waiting to get home. For the first time she was excited about getting home. As the hours slowly ticked by and got closer to eight Marie started packing her things. When the hour finally came she was about to leave when a coworker, Jim Morrison stopped her. He needed her to help him with his computer. She spent half an hour searching for a file on the computer until he remembered that he had saved it onto a flash drive and that it had never been on the computer in the first place. She was about to send him an angry look but she had to get going. Amanda would be waiting for her in less than thirty minutes and she had to prepare the couch. So Marie only took her bag and rushed out to the streets. The sun had started setting and the streetlamps were lit. The warm glow of the last rays of sunshine gave the evening a certain golden tone that Marie had grown to enjoy. It was the best part of getting out of work at that hour. At least at that time of year. During winter dusk came much earlier.
She reached her home and quickly made the couch ready for Amanda. The dark haired woman was on time as the doorbell sounded. She got out and helped the other woman carry her things, mainly clothes, in. When they were done they stored the items in Marie's study, a room she never used. Amanda would be living there for the next week until she had found her apartment. When they were done they both stared at each other. It finally dawned on both of them that their situation was real and that they in fact would be living together.
