Chapter 3: She Came In Through the Bathroom Window
Frank never intended to become friends with Valerie and Luke, but things changed his first real morning in London. He woke up to a sound of a thud on his bathroom floor. Frank being his frantic nervous self grabbed a fake hockey stick he had brought from home. It was small, wooden, and had his favorite team, the Detroit Red Wings, emblem on it.
He held it above his head as to hit the intruder, but frankly he would not know what to do. He would blink and stare at the robber and let him run past. Luckily, he did not have to run in there because the bathroom door slowly opened and it was not who he expected at all. It was the boss's daughter, Valerie, rubbing her head and smiling at Frank.
"Hey, sorry about all the noise I had to find a way in without my dad knowing. I spent the night out with my boyfriend, Luke. He kicked us out last night because we were drunk. Well, I think I met you during the whole scene. Anyways, nice to meet you again and make sure and close your bathroom window so now other people jump through it."
Frank's jaw dropped as the little drunk girl from last night began to show exactly how smart, and trick she was. He wanted to reply to her little rant, but he just sat on his bed and dropped his stick softly on the pillow next to him. His mind raced with thoughts about just how he got into this brave new world, and how exactly he was going to go on and do his job.
As he laid in bed his phone rang, and it was a nice old fashioned home phone. He picked it up and asked who was speaking, and of course it was Todd asking him to come down and talk.
He put a fresh shirt and a nice pair of pants on as he fixed his curly mop with a few hands of gel. He had to look nice because this job meant a lot to him, and he did not want to lose it before he got to strut his stuff and show off his talents.
The stairs were dimly lit as Frank ran down them to the main floor where Todd had told him he was waiting. Todd was looking rather rough with his face unshaven and his hair going every which way, but he looked very cheery as he waved at Frank.
"Frank, good news, I have your first article to write. I want you to write an American's idea of London. Like take a tour and tell me what really amazes you. Take your time, I just want it by the end of week, but anyways I have got to run, oh and by the way if you see anyone else in the house don't worry, I have a daughter and she sometimes let's her jerk boyfriend stay over." Todd ran this all by Frank in a matter of minutes and then was out the spinning door and in his beat up car.
The only other person on the main floor was a rather old looking man with a stern look on his face. He put his nose back into his paper as Frank looked back. He shrugged off the old man and ran up stairs to get a good meal in before he went off to get a tour.
As he entered the living room he saw Valerie sitting on the couch, drinking a glass of vodka while eating a bag of chips. She seemed like the most unlikely daughter for the man who wanted everything perfect, but he would soon find out all three of them were more alike than what they thought. Frank ran his hands through his hair like he always does when he is nervous and trotted to the fridge.
He grabbed a glass of iced tea, and made himself a sandwich as Valerie got up and began to watch his every move. She was interested in how he moved and why he was so clumsy and nervous. She wanted to ask but even she was not that rude. He finished making the sandwich and asked her if he could sit and watch TV with her and she did not care.
She stuffed her face in the bag and let him sit next to her for about three minutes until she got up coughing. Frank had no idea why she acted so weird but he was not going to find out, though he did want to ask her about getting a tour.
"Umm hey, I was wondering if you knew where I could get a good tour of London. Your dad gave me my first job and it's just a review of the city."
She stared at him and gave a quick snort of laughter as she threw the empty bag of chips on the marble counter.
"Okay, I willl get you a tour. Meet me and Luke down on the main floor Wednesday night and we will give you our tour of the night life." She licked her lips and smiled as the words left her mouth.
He grabbed a pen and took note, since today was Monday he had a few nights to get read and he knew the only way was to sit on his laptop and read up.
"Thanks, I would love that." He smiled a fake smile and grabbed the rest of his food and headed to his room.
He really wanted an actual tour but this seemed like the best thing he could get in such short notice and, well, she seemed to be one to know fun, even if it wasn't his definition of fun. He laid on his bed and moved his hockey stick over to the floor where it belonged. Frank needed a life other than laying in bed, and pretending to be a world class writer, and maybe Luke and Valerie could give it to him.