Game For Two

By Anime no Miko

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Disclaimer:  Feel free to e-mail me if you have any doubts  _

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Chapter 1

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"Good morning to you too, Mr. Shields."

Darien Shields, donned in Armani and briefcase in hand, walked past his secretary's desk uttering no word of greeting whatsoever.  He looked serious and deep in thought, however, a little smile was reflected in his dark-blue eyes.

Barely a minute after he had dissapeared into the corridor leading to his office, did he come back, and as if waken up from his   state, addressed the woman at the computer.

"Miss Emily."

She looked up at him, adjusting her charcoal-rimmed eyeglasses a bit.

"Yes, Mr. Shields?" 

"I forgot to say 'good morning'," he said softly, and walked back to his office.  To deal with his inner demons.

The elder woman smiled at the retreating figure of her young boss.  He was a player, true, but as concerned to his work and treatment to his employees, he was if not the best, one of the best.  

Miss Emily had been Darien's secretary for some years now and Darien liked her very much.  She was a woman in her late forties, a widow with a penchant for cats and cinammon tea, but what more importantly, she made such an efficient and understanding secretary as none Darien could possibly find anywhere.  Besides, with Miss Emily, Darien didn't run the risk of falling into the boss & secretary affair, an apparently fashionable thing most executives were opting for.  Darien, on the contrary, dreaded it.   Work and pleasure shouldn't mess.

.~*~. ° .~*~.

Presently, he sat in his office, behind the huge crystal glass and metal desk, rubbing his temples with one hand as he tried to recall last night's events. 

Last night he went to Sparks, one of his favorites exclusive bars, to relax and have a drink or two after a weary day.  He was sitting at the bar, first drinking, then checking out the strangers and then having a meaningless chat with the old bartender, when a blonde in black spaghetti straps dress with a very low V-cut, ordered a martini and sat two stools away from him.  He had automatically flashed her one of his famous smiles and next thing he remembered, they were on his slate Porsche heading to her apartment.  Not an unusual night for Darien Shields, but a singular one indeed, for now he couldn't recall what had happened (or not) at her place. 

In the morning, he woke up groggily on a comfortable satin-dressed bed, alone.  He noticed he only had his boxers on and that his clothes rested neatly folded on her vanity chair.  Pinned to them, he found a note written in elegant caligraphy, that read simply as follows:

Morning.  I enjoyed every moment we spent together yesterday but I guess it's 'good-bye' now.  I tried waking you, but not even tickling works with you.  Please lock the door when you leave.  Two kisses,

-- V-cut devil (You called me that.  I like it.)

  P.S.  You don't mind if I borrow a few bucks, right? 

         Thank you!  I knew you wouldn't mind!

He then smiled a small smile, put on his pants and shirt hastily (his jacket was left inside the car), took his wallet -- which he had checked upon reading the note to indeed find some greens missing -- and keys, and closed the door behind him.

Darien had had many one-night stands before.  In fact, he liked them (as long as it ended with no consequences or in one word, pregnancies, which of course had never happened to him before -- he was a playboy, right, but a responsible one) and above all, he found them a source of entertainment and distraction to engage in remembering once or twice, when no adventures were ashore.  That's why it bothered him not to be able to recall his last adventure, one that must have been really good with such a pretty blonde.

As Darien went on with his musings, Andrew, his best friend and colleague, being ever so faithful to his daily uncalled-for-visits, came into his office and ploped down into one of the guests' seats, with an ear-to-ear grin plastered on his boyish features.  Darien groaned.  He suspected what was the underlying motive for his friend's visit that day, but oh no, Darien would not play the game this time; he couldn't.

"So?"

He was a young, good-looking man with short sandy blonde hair and playful green eyes.

"So?  So what?"

"C'mon.  Don't play dumb with me."

"I am not.  That's your hobby, not mine," Darien teased.

"Tell me how was it," Andrew pleaded.  It was so much fun to talk about these things.  Well, at least for him.  He found it fun, entertaining and very interesting.  Plus it's an easy way to get grasp of what different women like and what not.

"I can't," said the black-haired firmly.

"What do you mean 'I can't' ?

"I don't remember, okay?" Darien said lowly, barely audibly, as a light pink color spreaded across his handsome features.

"What?!!" came his friend's cry.  Andrew, unless other would, had no problems in understanding what Darien said in such a low voice tone, provided the fact, of course, that he was literally over the desk and his ear was inches away from Darien's face.  "You are telling me that you had this absolutely gorgeous blonde, spent ALL night at her place and now can't remember what happened?!"

"Exactly!" cried back Darien.  "Funny, eh?"

Andrew was at loss of words at first, and Darien was stirring uncomfortably in his black leather chair.  A moment of deadly silence follow and then, both friends looked at each other and bursted in a peal of laughter.  That's one disadvantage of one-night stands, the unpredictable turn it might take.

 "Hey, Darien," said Andrew, as their joke ended.

Darien looked at him and noticed the unmistakeable playful gleam in his friend's eyes.  He groaned with annoyance.  Surely Andrew could understand all the words in 'I don't remember,' right?

"I told you I do not remember," he said, a little rough so to make his point gotten and respected for once and for all.

"Aww!" Andrew feigned hurt.  "No need to bite my head off.  I wasn't thinking of your yesterday night."

"Hmp!  What's it then?"  Darien said, rolling his eyes.

"I was inviting you to join me for lunch at Grill & Steaks."

"Grill & Steaks?"

"Yeah.  It opened last week, a few blocks from here, to the south," Andrew helped out.

"Hadn't heard of it.  Must be dull," Darien said.  It wasn't his nature to go by the opinion of others, but when a new restaurant opens and no news reaches his ears, then it usually means there's nothing attracting about the place.  Now again, he had been so busy the past days and nights, that perhaps he didn't bother to notice.

"I doubt it," the blonde said confidently.  Too confidently.

"Then it is good?" inquired Darien, surprised at his friend's sudden security.

"Dunno," he admitted with a shrug, which almost made the man across him fall off from his chair.  "But," Andrew continued as Darien arched one dark eyebrow impatiently, having recovered himself promptly.  "I heard they've got really nice waitresses."

Darien stood up and reached for his jacket.  "Might as well take a look," he said slowly.  Nothing better than pretty waitresses to distract the mind and entertain the eyes.  And to clear a plagued mind, right?

"Now, that's the Darien I know," Andrew said and walked towards the door with Darien following.  "Don't forget your wallet."

"I thought you were inviting me."

"So I did.  But you know what they say "I invite, you pay," the blonde grinned.

~ ~ TBC ~ ~

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Arigatou gozaimasu for R&R!  *bows*   Sorry I didn't update earlier.  Blame evil C programming.