Tony turned his back to the table in his spinning chair, then twirled back. He faced the men again.
"I just have one suggestion. If moving to California is so pertinent, why can't we just set up another branch there? I don't really like the idea of moving. Especially when I only have two weeks to prepare." Tony explained.
"Because, Mr. Stark, all the paperwork is already filled out and filed, it was already mailed. We have to set up Stark International there." One of the board members explained.
"So, can't we stay here too? As long as we set up a branch there, does it really matter what we do with this one?" Tony asked.
"Well, Mr. Stark, it's not quite that easy. We're in the final processes of selling the building to another company. There's really nothing we can do, sir, I'm sorry." Tony was silent for a moment before letting out a deep sigh. He didn't want to leave the city.
"Well I don't really care. Tell whoever wants to buy it that the deal is off, we're staying." Tony demanded.
"Sir, I understand how hard it will be for you to leave the city behind, but there's really nothing we can do about it. The most we can do is schedule a meeting with the buying company and ask them to reconsider, but after all we've been through I don't think they'll be too happy with our request."
"Well do it anyways. It's worth a try." Tony demanded. They nodded and Tony declared the meeting over with; so everyone left and Tony remained in the room.
In the silence of the emptied meeting room, Trish popped in.
"How'd it go, Tony?" She asked. Tony sighed.
"They keep saying there's nothing they can do. I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. There's so much here that I don't want to give up, but I don't want to lose my company either." Trish shrugged.
"I don't know what to tell you, Tony, it's their call. If it were mine, we wouldn't have moved in the first place." Tony sighed.
"Well I'll come up with something. Thanks, Trish." Trish nodded and walked out. Tony got up and moved back to his office, settling his feet on his desk. After a little silence, Tony took out his phone and searched through his contacts until he came to Pepper's. He just stared at it.
"Why do you have to be so mad at me? I hate it when you're mad at me…" Tony complained. He could barely stand to wake up every day back when they were sixteen and she was mad at him for lying about everything and know that she wasn't going to directly speak to him. When she got mad at him he began to miss her excitement and the way she clung to him all the time and every day. It made him miss the girl he came to know.
Tony got up from his chair and stormed out of his office, dismissing himself for lunch break to surprise his redheaded friend.
~…~
"I mean, I understand his whole ordeal with his company and that he doesn't want to just abandon it, but why do they have to move? I can barely stand to be apart from him at night. If I never see him again I don't know how I'll stand to wake up each morning." Pepper complained to Rhodey.
"Well, Pepper, he did offer you to come with him. Why didn't you just say yes if you like him so much?" Pepper sighed.
"Because, what if I want to do something exciting with my life? What if I want to go to college, get a career? I can't just pass up my future to follow my high school crush, Rhodey. I have my own free will too, you know." Pepper explained. Rhodey rolled his eyes. Sometimes he just didn't understand his two friends' emotions. One moment they're constantly talking about how much he or she likes him or her, but doesn't have the courage to tell him or her; but the next moment, one is moving to California in two weeks and the other is complaining about how much she loves him yet how much she wants to have a career but she doesn't know what she wants to do with her life. Why didn't she just work for him like he'd offered?
Yet the young army-man followed and assisted his friends when they needed it. He withstood the complaints because he believed that they were meant to be together and if he had to push them together, then that's what he would do. (He knew they took so long to get together due to the fact that Tony was so oblivious to any and all emotions felt towards him by the female gender, no matter how many times he explained such a thing to the young genius).
"Well maybe if you really don't want to have to be so far away from Tony why don't you just go to college in California?" Rhodey asked.
"Because! That's still considered giving in to him. And I don't want to do that!"
"Com on, Pepper, just go with him. You know you want to." Pepper sighed.
"Well of course I want to! Who would pass up an opportunity to move states with the crush of their life? But I mean, I already made it seem like I'm mad at him I can't just go back and be all over him saying 'oh gosh, Tony, I just can't stand to be mad at you, I'll go with you to Cali!' That's being weak. I need to be strong."
"Yeah, but would you rather pretend to be strong every day for the rest of your life, regretting the choice you made to stay behind in the city you were raised in or would you rather be happy with the man of your dreams without a regret in your mind?"
Pepper sat down on the floor and ran her hands over her face and through her hair as a sign of stress.
~…~
Tony approached Pepper's apartment door and knocked nervously. After a minute or two of waiting, Pepper opened the door and looked up to see Tony.
"Tony! What are you doing here?" She asked, wiping away the fresh tears.
"Pepper, were you crying?" He asked, noticing her tear-stained eyes. She crossed her arms.
"Don't change the subject, Tony."
"No really, what's wrong?"
"Tony, why are you here?"
"Fine. I came to apologize, Pepper. Look, I don't want to move either, but there's nothing I can do! The company board isn't being open to any suggestions. I tried changing their minds, really, I did." Tony tried to make it simple for her to understand, but she still didn't look pleased. Not exactly mad, but something else that he couldn't identify.
"Come on, Pepper, why can't you just come with me?" Tony whined. Pepper sighed.
"Tony, you can't just ask me to go everywhere with you. What if I have plans for my future?"
"Pepper, what do you really want to do?" Tony asked. Pepper was silent in thought. She couldn't come up with an answer.
"I don't know, Tony, I need time to figure that part out."
"So why can't you figure it out with me?" Tony asked.
"Look, Tony, I need time on my own to figure this out. Okay?" They were silent for a small while.
"Okay, okay fine. But promise me, Pepper, that when you get your life straightened out you'll call me?"
"Promise…" Tony walked out the front door and Pepper slowly closed the door as he left.
Well, finally finished the chapter! It's longer than what I've been doing lately. Whoopiieee…and don't worry, I'll get to updating my other stories soon. Just give me time, I have a lot on my plate right now. Review?
