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[]Rachel[]

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I woke up with a really terrible headache the next morning, which pretty much reminded me why I don't normally drink in the first place. Every time I have the slightest bit of alcohol I have such a painful headache the next day. This has always led me to believe that I feel things a little bit more intensely than other people do. Groaning, I crawled out of my bed and glanced at the clock. 9:30 a.m.

I wasn't in a rush to leave or anything. My work was at home. Though, at some point I really needed to get a new laptop.

I'll admit, being home all day by myself gets just a little bit lonesome at times; very rarely though. In fact, I take that back. I love being by myself all day. Sure, I can go hours without talking to a living person but I like the silence. I like being able to hear my own thoughts and get in touch with myself. Other people just don't understand that.

And I love the fact that I can meditate every morning without a single person bothering me. In college, I never got to meditate. What with Kori always interrupting. She is my closest friend, but she happens to be one of the loudest ones I have. Smiling, I shook my head and made my way to the bathroom. After last night, I felt completely grimy. I mean, was I really so drunk that I asked some random guy to be my escort? I have to add that to my list of why I should never drink again.

The worst part is, I can't back out now. Not that I would let him know this but I felt sorry for Garfield. Buying a new laptop for me is nothing, just chump change. But he genuinely seemed like he couldn't afford that. And I can't exact swallow my pride and say "Hey, I was being a drunk idiot, let's just forget about this whole escort deal, okay?" because there really did need to be some form of compensation.

I sighed again and stepped into the shower, reveling in the hot water pouring down on me. I ran my fingers through my dark violet hair and scrubbed every single inch of my body. As I stepped out of the shower I heard my phone ringing. I figured that must be Kori considering she now had a lot more work to do since she moved the wedding up to next month so I rushed to answer it.

Imagine my disappointment when it turned out to be Garfield.

"Hey, so I was wondering if you wanted to up today. Like right now preferably." He said over the phone. My eyes widened.

"What? Are you serious?" I exclaimed.

"Yes! I'll be on my break in like thirty minutes and after that I won't get out of here until at least ten so unless you want me to come over to your place and crash there for the night- because walking the streets at night is dangerous when you're as gorgeous as I am and I really can't afford that-" I rolled my eyes in disgust. "We should probably meet up now." I bit my lip. I really did have a lot of work to do. But I also didn't want Garfield knowing where I lived, let alone staying there.

"Okay. Fine. Meet me at Jump Park at 10 okay?" I said, exasperated. I could already feel my energy draining.

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[]Garfield[]

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I love animals. I really do. But working around them all day really gets me drained, y'know? I mean, don't get me wrong they're adorable and cute and fun but chasing after a cat with one leg while trying to give it its shot isn't exactly fun. So I definitely loved the breaks I did get. Unfortunately I'd have to spend my break today with the demon queen.

That's my new nickname for her. Demon because she scares me, and queen because, while she does scare me, she totally seems like she could be the ruler of some rad underworld. I smiled to myself just thinking about it; God, I'm smart.

"Alright Paul, I'm taking my break. Try not to miss me, okay?" I said, smirking at the bald headed man. Paul was a funny guy. I sort of got the feeling he didn't like me but who knows! The glare he just gave me suggests tht he probably doesn't like me though. I shoved my hands into my pocket and began the walk to the park.

I couldn't believe I was really doing this. I knew this wasn't anything like actual prostitution, but it still felt weird. Maybe I just felt a little sorry for the girl. I mean she's what, 27? And she's only had one boyfriend? That's just sad. So I kinda felt like I was helping out the less unfortunate. Which made me a little proud.

I finally saw the park approaching and I looked out for a short girl with purple hair. For a woman who doesn't say much, she sure does stand out of the crowd. Finally I spotted her sitting on one of the park benches. She looked unhappy, and kept checking her phone.

"Hey Rachel!" I shouted, waving. For a second she looked like she smiled back too but maybe I just imagined that. She motioned for me to wait while she walked over. I noticed she was wearing a thick, black overcoat and had her hair pushed back behind her ears. It actually looked sort of nice on her.

"Hello, Mr… I actually don't know your last name. That's probably something I should know if we're going to pull this off." she said.

"Logan's my last name." I said, smiling. She didn't return my smile. Instead, she nodded quickly and narrowed her eyes.

"Rachel….Roach, right?" I said. I was praaaying I got that right. However, I could tell by her glare that I was way off track.

"Roth." She said stiffly. Right. Man, I swear I've heard that name before.

"Right! Roth huh? That sounds really familiar." I said, trying to remember where I heard that name before. Rachel looked uncomfortable for a moment before interrupting me.

"I'm a writer, perhaps you read one of my articles and my name just slipped into your subconscious." She said. Huh. Maybe it did. I nodded.

"So, when your friends-"

"Acquaintances."

"Riight, acquaintances ask how we met, what exactly are we saying?" I asked.

"Woah woah woah. I have to know a little bit about you before I start making up some story about how we 'fell in love'. I mean, I need to know what I should add when they ask where we met or something that you like." Rachel said. She did have a point.

"Fair enough. Uhh, my name's Garfield Logan. I'm 25 years young, I'm probably the best veterinarian in this city and uhhhh…. Wow this is kind of hard. That's all I got really." I said.

"…I think I can work with that. Now, I don't have a cat but let's just say I did, right before the tragic accident." Rachel said.

"The tragic accident?"

"Yes the tragic accident wherein poor Mephisto fell out the window of my apartment and I rushed to your clinic where you tried you hardest to save my poor cat but just couldn't." Rachel said. Okay, I can totally see how she's a writer. It was actually kind of impressive how quickly she came up with a story.

"So…?"

"So then, whilst I was crying over poor Mephisto's body you comforted me. You asked me on a date and in my emotional state I coldly rejected you."

"Uh…"

"But you persisted! Oh man did you persist! You called my phone everyday, you sent me emails, you sent me flowers. But alas, I could never love again." Rachel said darkly.

"I'm not really seeing-"

"Shhh. I'm working here. Then, finally you showed up at my house one night with a new Mephisto."

"A new one? You realize cat's don't work like that right? Right?"

"And I was so grateful I graciously accepted your date to thank you for my Mephisto II." Rachel said, breathing out.

"….I'm not really sure how I feel about that." I said after a moment.

"What? Are you kidding, that was great!" she said, glaring at me. I gulped. I didn't want to feel the wrath of tiny demon queen again, but I did have some issues with her story. For starters,

"If your cat really did fall out of the window, then I guarantee you that you wouldn't be able to pick him up and rush him to the clinic because he'd be a Mephisto pancake at that point." I brought up. She rolled her eyes.

"Fine, he had a tumor and died during surgery, are you happy now?" Rachael inquired. Not exactly.

"Also, I'm totally not that desperate! Can you make me seem a little bit more manly and less like some whipped guy from a romance novel?" I pleaded. I mean I actually have done that before. But Rachael didn't have to know that. For all she knew, I was Mr. Suave. I grinned just thinking about it.

"Ugh. Fine, you consoled me and insisted you take me out and me, being the innocent, fragile, lady I am accepted." Rachel said. I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not. It was then that I hard my alarm beeping. Shoot, time to get back to work.

"Listen, lovely story. Lots of plot holes though. Let's do this some other time, kay?" I said, turning in the opposite direction of her and making a run for it.