Lilly walked into her building, saying hi to the secretary behind the main desk. She took the elevator up to the seventh floor, her floor. Walking down the hall, she could see the chaos going on, but that was nothing new. Working in a newspaper office could be pretty hectic at times, but that was why she loved it. When she had showed up a year and a half ago for her job interview, she had been immediately drawn to the rushed manner of the place. There were people yelling across the room to each other, just trying to be heard over the noise, other people running around frantically, trying desperately to meet their deadlines, and occasionally, people running into each other, causing major disasters and mix-ups.
"Hi, Lilly." A voice said from behind her.
Hearing her name, she turned around to see a guy with a stack of papers in his hands. "Hey, Jackson. How's it going?"
Jackson, Miley's older brother, also worked at the newspaper office. His expertise was writing sports articles, even though he couldn't play a sport to save his life. She had known him since middle school, when the Stewart family had moved to Malibu from Tennessee. He might be the older brother that her and Miley used to be grossed out by, but he had grown up and matured, thankfully. Now, they talked now and again at the office, and since he only lived five minutes away from the Stewart house, all the time at Miley's house.
"Good, I guess. You?"
"Great. So you still seeing Chelsea?" she asked, referring to the girl of the week that he had been dating the last time they had spoken. That boy changed his mind about girls almost as much as his sister changed her mind about clothes. And that was saying something.
"No. I broke up with her a few days ago." He said, not looking the least bit remorseful. "Who knew that a girl that hot would snore like a chainsaw in her sleep."
"So you slept with her?" Lilly asked, grinning. "Good one."
Jackson shrugged, as if it was no big deal. "I try."
She laughed. "Well, I should probably be going. Mel called me saying something about an emergency. Which probably means it's about a boy, but whatever. See you later?"
"I should go, too. Hey, are you going to that barbeque that my dad's putting on?"
"You mean the annual one over at your house? I wouldn't miss it for the world. Anywhere that there's free food, I'm all over it."
"Great. So I'll see you then?"
"Oh, yeah. I might even be there early if you're lucky. See you later, Jackson." She waved, before turning around and heading down the hallway towards her cubicle. Unfortunately, she was fairly new at her job, so she hadn't climbed up the vocational ladder, so she was stuck with a cubicle, which to her wasn't a big deal at all. Loud women who loved talking about their love lives, and the lack thereof surrounded her, and there was even a soft-serve ice cream machine in the staff kitchen.
Finally reaching her small working space, she sat down in her chair and waited. Knowing Melissa, she'd be there in about half a minute, before discussing the problems in her personal life. Of course, Lily didn't mind. She didn't write the advice column in the paper for nothing. She had been chosen for that part when the regular advice columnist had decided that the Malibu Post wasn't good enough for her, so she'd left for the New York Times, leaving the spot open for Lily, who, at the time, was just considered the new girl. So of course, she jumped at the chance to actually get published.
"Lilly!" a voice yelled, as someone ran past her cubicle, before halting to a stop, and taking the few steps back to her desk. "I'm so glad I found you. Big emergency."
"What's up?" Out of all the women in the office, Melissa was by far her favourite. She was a petite redhead with a killer fashion sense. She was always sporting the latest trends, and trying to convince Lilly that certain non-trends, such as parachute pants were totally in style over in Paris. Melissa also always somehow managed to have a date with a usually cute, rich boy, even if their relationship typically wouldn't last for more than three months, tops.
"Okay, so you know how I was supposed to review that show on Friday night for Shelly?" she pointed to a slightly large blonde woman making her way over to the ice cream machine in the staff kitchen. "So it turns out that I have a date tomorrow night. And this guy's really cute. Like, he might even be The One."
"And?" Lilly asked, even though she knew what her friend was about to ask.
"Could you possibly do it for me?" Melissa asked, giving her a pleading look.
Lilly narrowed her eyes. She knew she could possibly score big with this one "And what would I get out of it?"
"Those new Jimmy Choos I had on last week, that you said you really liked? They're yours if you do this for me. It'll be fun, I promise!"
Lilly thought about this. To be completely honest, she didn't have any plans for Friday night, and Shelly was usually assigned to review good live music, so it might be fun. Plus, she did get new shoes out of the deal.
"Fine." She sighed, as if this was asking a lot out of her.
"Yes! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You don't know how much you're saving my love life right now. If I had to cancel my date with Hans, I don't know what I'd do."
"Hans?" Lilly raised her eyebrows, giving Melissa a skeptical look.
"What? He's German. And totally hot." Melissa said, grinning.
Lilly laughed, until she thought of something. "Wait, why were you doing this for Shelly? I thought you didn't even like her, let alone be willing to do a favour for her."
Melissa frowned. "You know Hans?"
Lilly nodded.
"Well, they're kind of cousins. She set me up with him."
That made sense. Melissa was always complaining about how annoying Shelly was, but when it came to guys, she would do almost anything to land a date with one, and Shelly seemed to have good sources. She was married, after all. Melissa was still trying to find The One, but it seemed that she was having trouble. Every time Mel thought that she was getting close to finding him, something would happen, and they would break up.
Lilly rolled her eyes, and grinned at her friend. She always knew how to make Lilly smile, with her crazy antics and hilarious date stories.
"So who's playing? Are they even good?"
"Of course they're good. I think. Well, to be completely honest, I've never even heard of them, but I'm sure they're great."
"Great." Lilly said dryly. "Two hours of music that no one knows of. Perfect Friday night, right there."
"Jeez, I'm sorry, okay? It's just that this guy might be The One, and I can't miss the chance. I think the band's called Clap 4 or something." She quickly leafed through the folder in her hand. "Click 3. That's it. Well, at least it's not some outrageously atrocious name."
"I guess." Lilly said, thinking of the band she'd seen on Access Hollywood. She thought that that was what they were called. Or, at least, she hoped. They were pretty catchy.
"I should go. Smith is giving me a dirty look." Mel said, referring to their boss, Daniel Smith. "Catch you later?"
"Definetly."
"Awesome. And again, thank you so much for doing this for me. I owe you big time."
"You just owe me your shoes." Lilly said, smirking. She could just picture how many outfits would look that much better with a new pair of Jimmy Choos on her feet.
Melissa waved, and walked away, leaving Lilly the chance to look through her enormous pile of mail. Unfortunately, most of her readers hadn't quite figured out how to use email, so they mailed in their questions using the old-fashioned way. But that was fine with Lilly. She liked the feeling of feeling important. Reading through the questions, she categorized; Love, Lust, and Relationship Problems. There were other people on the newspaper staff that dealt with money and pets, but love was her department.
Dear Lilly,
There's this guy I really, really like. Like, more than I've ever liked anyone before in my life. But here's the thing; I have a boyfriend. He's great, but there's just no chemistry anymore, like there is with this other guy. I don't know what to do. If I stay with my boyfriend, I'll never be fully satisfied with my life, but if I go with this other guy, it'll just cause problems with everyone else. Help me!
- Torn in Two
Hmm. This was difficult. She could only imagine how the reader felt, but it couldn't have been a good feeling. There was only one reasonable answer that she could have thought of.
Dear Torn,
You know what you have to do, right? FOLLOW YOUR HEART. Only you can make yourself fully happy. Explain to your boyfriend that things just aren't working out, wait a reasonable amount of time for the dust to settle, and then go for it! Good luck!
- Lilly
Satisfied with her answer, she saved it and went on to the next question. Looking at the clock several questions later, she saw that it was nearly five. Oliver would be coming soon. Shutting down her computer, she grabbed her bag, and walked down the hall to the elevator. As usual, he was sitting, waiting for her in his car outside the building.
"Hey, hon." He said, as she climbed into the car.
"Hey." She said, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. "How was your day?"
"Good. There was this big case at work, so that's pretty much all I was doing. I don't even think I stopped to eat."
"Poor baby." Lilly said, mock concerned. She knew that once he got to his apartment, he would most likely eat half of the contents in his fridge.
"Hey. I need to eat, you know." Oliver said, trying to defend himself.
"I know, I know." She smiled.
Soon, there was a comfortable silence in the car, and all Lilly could hear was the hum of the air conditioner. Soon enough, they pulled up to the front of Lilly's building.
"Thanks for the ride. See you tomorrow?"
"You bet. Bright and early." He leaned over, and kissed her.
And with that, she got out of the car and up to her apartment.
