Author's Note: I'm trying to regain my fluffy side. I think I've lost it somewhere and that kind of scares me. It's been way too long since I've had some good doses of fluff or wrote some of my own. I know my romantic side hasn't been killed by my cynical side, so I just have to keep looking. I have some brewing ideas that I just have to develop to make it girlie and satisfying. So this is some information that you will need to know and a pretty set-up for a whole lot of romance.
Oh, recently, a reader asked me to use my story to do a sort of social test or something. She took this story and changed the character's names to those of Twilight's, like Abby into Bella and Jason into Edward, and then posted it to see people's reactions. She tells me that she thinks that the story did well even though she didn't offer any author feedback or much of a summary for it. This was supposed to prove that people are more willing to read a story if it had those names, whether the story is good or not. I think her experiment was inconclusive though she claims that it was eye-opening. Why? I have no idea. What do you think? I was happy to entertain her and even more delighted that she attracted me some new readers, so it's all good. Oh, and thank you for those alert readers who messaged me and defended me, believing my work was being attacked. I couldn't say anything at the time, but I am very thankful for your scariness.
I waded around in the sparkling blue water, trailing the tips of my hair behind me. I was spending the afternoon in the mansion's outdoor pool to unwind from all the work I've had piled on since I came back from vacation. The rectangular oversized container was flushed with the ground at the top, and at the farthest end from the house, had a mini waterfall made with intricately placed rocks and hidden pipes that cleaned and disinfected the water as well as spit it out on a constant basis. The two corners nearest to the mansion had a series of archaic steps of snow white granite from the bottom of the pool to the top edge.
About thirty feet from the pool's edge was three round tables made with black iron frames and colored glass mosaics. Tall black iron chairs huddled around each table with two towels slung over their backrests and clothing tossed carelessly on them. Next to the legs of a table were a pair of my black flip flops and Mick's brown leather sandals, which he never wore anywhere but around the house on idle days. Huge, dark green umbrellas were struck into the cement and loomed over the outdoor furniture in case there was too much sun out. Behind the crowd of furniture were a patch of green grass and a step stone path up to the doors of the mansion. The pool was outdoors, but by no means was it outside of the mansion. It was actually in the middle of the huge property, and it's perimeters were being wrapped by the building itself. Today, all the shades of every door-sized window lining the halls looking out to the pool were drawn, so I couldn't see anyone walking about inside from here. It gave the illusion that we were in peaceful paradise, when inside, it was business as usual. It was more peaceful this way I guess, and the only other person with me was Mick.
Mick was at a corner of the pool with his back facing me and his chin resting on the cement above the water. His bulky arms were folded together and placed in front of his face. He stared straight ahead, thinking about something far away. Round droplets of water glistened as they dripped from his hair and exposed back. His swimming shorts swayed with the water's continued movements.
The sky was scattered with thin, white clouds, but the sun was nowhere in sight. It was dry and exceptionally warm thought, so the pool was the ideal destination to escape the heat. I slid to the edge and hugged the rim of the pool on Mick's left. He didn't move. I lowered my sunglasses from the top of my head over my eyes and tilted my head to look at Mick.
The water was only four feet deep on this side as compared to the six on the far end, so Mick's torso was completely above the water. Since I couldn't swim, Mick mostly accompanied me on the shallow end with only occasional strides of swimming back and forth between the length of the pool. Now, he seemed peaceful with a slight smile on his lips and his eyes were quiet but thoughtful.
He had been so busy all the time, and even though we spend a lot of time together, our conversations have rarely been personal. He was always trying to help me adjust to my new life as I was now attending private classes and working at the same time. I was handling it well only because he was never far if I needed him.
He had a huge workload but always insisted on staying with me if I had some of my own to do at home. He always made sure I went to bed and ate my meals on time regardless of how busy our schedules were. No matter how grumpy I became, he always gave me a light-hearted attitude. It was rare to see him unwind since he was still quite busy when we were on vacation in Spain. But I knew that he was a constant worrier with deadlines never far from his mind. That point made him very successful in business, but he can easily get carried away with work and forget himself. After all, he was staring in the direction of the chair where my towel was strewn over his Blackberry.
"Weren't you the one who told me to take a break? You can't be thinking about work already, right?" I giggled, laying my head on my arms.
He gave me a toothy grin and shook his head slowly.
"No, I'm thinking about who our guests could possibly be."
I closed my eyes and smiled, enjoying the moment. I slid my upper body into the water and leaned my head back so that my hair was once again soaked from root to tip. I pulled myself back up and ran a hand over it, smoothing it out of my face. I gripped the strip of cement again.
"I'm sure if it's a pretty young lady, you will be an excellent host," I laughed.
I heard the gurgling of the water as he moved, but I didn't open my eyes. My grandmother informed us yesterday that there would be guests from another state arriving later today to stay with us for a while. She only told us to be on our best behavior but didn't specify on the specific identities of the guests.
I was only curious for a moment but didn't hold that interest for long. It was just guests. I was rarely home and conscious when I'm home these days, so I would probably never see them. Besides, my grandmother's guests are usually associates of the company or her partners in the various charity organizations she sponsors. So it really wasn't that important who they were as long as we were polite and stayed out of the way. Mick usually cared less than me, but he never let it appear on the outside.
Mick was still silent though, and I thought that maybe he left without me noticing. I moved and opened my eyes. As soon as light hit my pupil, I gasped, because Mick was so close that we almost crashed into each other if I had moved another centimeter. He had turned his entire body toward me and his blue eyes were smoky so they almost appeared gray. He studied me with a perplexed expression with his sharp eyebrows raised slightly in concentration. My breathing was jolted by the recent surprise, and it took me several moments to calm down.
Before I could, Mick reached out and up to my face. I instinctively moved back a step. Mick closed his fingers around the rim of my sunglasses and pulled the off the bridge of my nose. I recoiled into my chest as he put the glasses on the cement above the pool. He never took his eyes off me, which was beginning to make me feel uncomfortable.
"I wish you wouldn't only see me as the emotionless business man," he said in a low register, lifting my chin with an index finger.
"What's gotten into you?" I stammered, reaching up to touch his cheek.
He blinked and his lips parted slightly when I stroked his face.
"Standing beside you all these years, there's only one thing I wanted to let you know and couldn't do it."
He took a step, closing the space in between us again.
Now I was too aware of the clinging fabric of the thin, black, oversized off-shouldered top that I pulled over my stringy bikini. The part of my body that hovered above the water was getting chilly, but the heat radiating from the body in front of me was shocking my system with every movement. My own body was rigid, and I was trying to grasp what he was doing now.
He has never looked at me with those eyes and always kept a friendly distance from me when we were in the same room, alone or not. He was always goofy and only serious when I came into his office for anything. I only saw him like this whenever he's with another romantically-unsuspecting woman. But this staggering attitude was never directed at me. We were too close to family. This was unlike him.
Mick caught my wrist on his face and brought my hand down to his bare shoulder, leaving his fingers around my wrist. I watched his movements, every nerve in my body on high alert. I could feel his toned deltoid muscles underneath my palm and the raising and lowering of his shoulders with his regular breathing.
"Abby," he cooed and I brought my eyes back to his. "I want to tell that I l-"
"Abby! Mick!"
Both of our heads turned to the direction of the voice. As soon as we both saw the person rushing from the mansion to the poolside. Mick retreated until he put five feet in between us, disturbing the surface of the pool as he did so. Nina was speed-walking from the gates with an urgent look on her face. I heard a distinct splash as Mick pulled himself out of the water with his arms as leverage. I didn't have that kind of upper body strength, so I made my way to another corner, where the granite steps provided a safer exit.
Nina's flip flops made loud clops as it took each step toward us, she, too, was in casual clothing today. She was in a pair of caprice jeans and a teal baby doll top that showed off her neck and chest. Her hair was an excess of waves and bobbed up and down, sweeping behind her, as she walked the way of a confident woman.
As I stepped out, water poured out of the fabric of my swimming attire and hair. Mick already reached where our clothing were strewn over the chairs and glass tables thirty feet away. He picked up his towel and wrapped it around his hips and then retrieved mine and handed it to a passing Nina. She snatched it from him without looking at him and walked toward me as Mick checked his cell phone for any recent calls and emails. I rolled my eyes at him as Nina met me on the edge and threw the towel over my shoulders. I wrapped it under my arms and around my torso tightly, hugging the new warmth closer to me. The towel extended to only half of my thighs. I began squeezing my hair for the excess water still absorbed in it.
"The Chairwoman wants you two to come welcome the guests. They're already here and is supposed to be in the main hall now," reported Nina.
"Can I get dressed first?" I questioned, peering down at myself.
I can't imagine that this is a proper way to greet visitors. My grandmother might actually need an ambulance if I did decide to shake my guests' hands while I trailed water on the marble floors.
"What do you think?" Nina joked, turning back to Mick to rush him along as well.
He wasn't there anymore. His towel, sandals, and shoes were gone too. He must've sneaked away while we were distracted. He didn't need to be told twice when my grandmother wanted something done. He cared for my grandmother more than anyone and always knew exactly what pleased her. If I didn't know better, I would have thought I was one that was adopted. She's just more impartial to boys while my grandfather cared more for girls. And it helps that he's become so clever and thoughtful too. Mick was a true charmer that everyone has to notice.
"Well, I'm glad he's quick about it," Nina, moving to grab my stuff from the chairs.
I heard footsteps from the gates and let my eyes wander in that direction. So did Nina, causing her to stop in her tracks with my stuff balled up in her arms in a stupor.
The first person half hopping towards me was a woman I've only met once before. Her red locks and brilliant flash of teeth nearly knocked me senseless as she rammed into me with her body with a huge momentum. I stumbled backwards and managed to keep my balance while she threw her arms around me and squeezed the breath out of my lungs, not minding that I was wet and possibly ruining her pale pink silk dress. I patter her back as she laid her chin on top of my head, clearly a lot taller than I was in her white pumps. She was so pale and cold, adding to the moisture on my skin and sending unnerving shivers up and down my spine. I was uncomfortable in the embrace since I hated hugs and didn't even know her well enough to want to tolerate it.
"Hello, Mrs. Carter."
"Hello, Abby. It's been too long since we've met."
I struggled to breath while Arnold, who I have yet to hear speak one word, unwound his wife from my body calmly as if this type of thing happened often in his presence. I couldn't help but think that maybe he was mute or really didn't like me because he didn't even want to waste words on me. It didn't bother me since I didn't know him that well beyond first impressions. And our first impressions involved me attempting to knock his son's skull, or his supposed son.
Ava hesitated but relented, giving me back full use of my lungs again and readjusted her dress. Arnold took his place next to her and dripped his head as a greeting to me. I nodded politely in response, not wanting to overstep his set boundaries with my own words.
Arnold was wearing a white t-shirt underneath a thin see-through, half-sleeve sweater with a scarf tucked neatly into his collar. He wore this with a pair of dark casual jeans and tennis shoes. I thought this was an unusual style, but it was refreshing and worked well. He looked like a casual clothing model, a perfect compliment to his wife's natural grace.
"Why did you never tell us that you were Marie's granddaughter? I would've invited to you to our home a lot sooner than I did."
It took a moment for me to realize that she was talking about my grandmother. I didn't hear anyone call her by her real name, ever. I guess at her age, your name is replaced by your title completely. No person with manners would call such an elder by their real name, unless that person was actually older one and just didn't look it. And then something else dawned on me. What was the couple doing here?
"Wait, you're the guests we're expecting?" I inquired, glancing at Arnold, whose thoughts were concealed from his face like always. He just looked in my direction with a blank face set under orbs of gold. He had an excellent poker face.
"Yes, dear. All of us, actually. The children are getting settled into their rooms, except for Jason. He had some business to attend to and will be here in a bit."
I struggled to fully understand everything. I only found out after that night that the Carters owned a significant percent of our company's stock and were friends with my grandparents. My grandma wouldn't let me know the exact percent of stock or how in the world they became friends in the first place. Under normal circumstances, that would be hard to conceive considering that my grandmother was 76 this year and the couple only looked to be in their 30s. But since I knew this wasn't normal, I wasn't all that surprised. I just wanted to know whether my grandmother knew nothing or knew everything in the years they were friends. I can't imagine being friends for any extended amount of time with these people and not suspect something wasn't right.
Now I wondered what they were doing staying with us. I never doubted that they were financially well off, and recently I discovered that they were probably more wealthy than I imagined. I thought they would still be out of the country. Even if they were in town, they should be staying at a hotel to fit their demands for privacy and freedom to be themselves. I didn't think vampires were comfortable spending the same intimate space with a bunch of humans who could easily discover their true identities. It just didn't seem like the same secretive family that meticulously studied every human quality and exhibited it everyday to protect themselves.
In the back of my mind, I was still trying to sort out my feelings. I was mostly sure of how I felt for Jason, but I wasn't sure how far I was willing to with it. Most of all, I cringed when I tried to use the simple word to describe the feeling, and I tasted acid in my mouth when I tried to spit it out. I really didn't know whether I was even ready for any type of relationship, otherwise an unfathomable one with a vampire I knew next to nothing about. I had plenty of issues, mainly those of trust and commitment, that was embedded deep in my character, and I wasn't ready to deal let those demons out of the closet to deal with it. Before I was done putting everything into sense, he moved his whole family into my house. I wonder what this was all about.
"How long are you guys staying," I choked out, keeping my voice as pleasant and casual as possible.
"Only until the project is done," Ava answered immediately. "Jason seemed to have taken a liking to the new product line TerraCotta is releasing and wanted to help. Your grandmother and the Board has already agreed, so watch over him for me."
My jaw was probably on the floor at this point. The new jewelry line was the one that was thrown into my lap a month ago as my first solo project. The current working theme was "Eternity Love", so it was supposed to be timeless with gold and pearls as the main materials. Some of the sample items already appeared in my uncle's wedding advertisements recently. Obviously, this was going to be a little more than awkward. Discussing this topic with the person I was trying to avoid admitting feelings for was not what I dreamed of doing for the next few weeks.
It was a surprise that my grandmother agreed to let someone help me that had no apparent experience in this type of work. But I was sure that Jason probably knew how to do a lot of things he didn't seem to have experience in since he was good at everything I've seen him try at. And if my grandmother agreed, there wasn't anyone on the Board with enough support to oppose her decision despite her mostly inactive role in the business. I was stuck.
Ava gasped as if she just remembered something important. She whirled around to Arnold so fast, I thought she was going to twist her ankles like toothpicks. Arnold silently reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a folded crimson handkerchief. He dropped into Ava's outstretched palm.
I heard footsteps as Nina finally decided to make herself scarce, leaving my stuff on the table where it was originally in a large collected heap. I watched her back as she left, wishing that I could escape too. At this time, Ava was pushing the handkerchief at me with an excited grin on her shiny lips. I took it from her gingerly, having no clue what was for.
"Jason asked me to pass it to you."
Ava giggled suspiciously and grabbed Arnold's upper arm while drawing her closer to him.
"You're all wet. You should change before you get sick, dear. We are going to check on the children and discuss a few things with your grandmother. See you in a bit!"
She swung Arnold around with her and they stamped back to the gates with their arms linked. I watched after them in confusion at what just happened and how a woman at full maturity can still be so childlike in the same sentence she called me dear. Her character was very unique and the complete opposite of her husband's quiet, collected personality.
When they were halfway to house, I walked over to the tables, staring down at the thing in my right hand. I sank into the nearest chair that was free of my stuff and tightened the towel around myself to make sure it hasn't come loose from the choke hold Ava put me in before.
Picking up the edges delicately, I unfolded the little square out and spread it across my palm. If it really was just a handkerchief, I think I might pretend it was Jason's face and chunk it into the pool.
I guess I wasn't exactly very happy with Jason. His presence was accompanied by so many unresolved questions and too many conflicting feelings. Not to mention that he stole my kiss, not once but twice. He's moody, unpredictable, unreasonable, chauvinistic, and controlling. I don't even know why or how I feel what I feel about him and why I just don't ignore him altogether. Now that I think about, that isn't a half-bad idea.
When the handkerchief was laid out flat, I noticed that there was writing across its surface in black Sharpie. The penmanship was better than a computer's, leaving no bleeding of ink on the edges of each stroke when the marker's tip pressed on the silk. The lines were perfectly straight, effortless, and timeless like the movements of its owner. I blinked, reading the delicate words.
I hope this will match the color of your dress tonight. Dinner at 6 at Phiona's. -J.
I scoffed, nearly toppling over in my chair. Is this his way of asking me out? If it was, it was mediocre. And he wasn't even asking; he was telling, as if I must throw away my plans to meet his. Then, to insult me even more, he threw in a request for what I should wear like I didn't have enough brain power to figure out something appropriate for myself.
He wasted an expensive handkerchief for cause, because I was definitely going to stand him up. Not because I was going to do it on purpose, although I did want to, but because I had a meeting with the company's team of designers to approve their designs for manufacturing. It had to be done soon or my uncle would flip that I let the deadlines slip from my mind. I didn't know how long the meeting would last, but most likely, I wasn't going to leave there in time to go across town to Phiona's. If I was lucky, I might make it home in time to get eight hours of sleep tonight.
And since he didn't bother to ask me for my input in this or leave me any contact information to give him a piece of my mind, I am certainly not obligated to let him know that I had a scheduling conflict. I will just let him learn his lesson by waiting for someone who was not coming. You can't always have what you want, even if you have certain supernatural advantages over others.
I stared at the handkerchief another moment, trying to determine if there was any way that it would be to the best of my interests to go. I didn't find any relevant ones. Once I decided that I would only be more confused without the gain of single useful piece of information, I balled up my fists over the cool fabric. I thew my arm back over my head and yanked it forward again, launching the red ball into the air. It landed a second later with a small plop in the blue water, sending some droplets shooting up and then crashing back down on the surface again. The handkerchief expanded across the water and drifted along its subtle currents.
I hope Jason didn't need that back, because he's not going to get it back. Besides, silk is worthless after it gets soaked to that point, especially with chlorine in the mix.
A smile played on my lips at the act. I wonder why I was so hostile toward him today. Maybe it's because he interrupted my quiet afternoon, or that it was still too soon for me to accept his presence so close to my personal sanctuary that I felt invaded. Either way, we both had a long road ahead, living together and working together. I'm sure standing him up isn't a good start, but it couldn't be helped. He should have seen it coming; it's not like this is the first day we've met.
I got up, gathered my clothes into my chest and walked carefully in the direction of the house. I threw a glance at the square of red being pulled around in the sea of blue but kept walking. I snagged up my sunglasses up by the poolside and set it atop the pile. I have to get ready for my meeting.
Author's Note: So, Mick has made his first move and so has Jason. The battle begins. The reason why Abby's so pissy? PMS. It's every woman's pain. So it's Jason's first obstacle: dealing with an uncompromising Abby whose distaste if firmly directed at him. Yes, there will be fluff coming up. So I ask, Jason will allow Abby a free day to throw any questions at him soon, what question would you like her to ask him? I'm serious, if it's something good, you will see it in the chapter. And one more thing, if you're a new reader from DIFFERENCES, I think it was called, let me know. REVIEW and you might wake up my romantic side sooner. REVIEW!!!