Disclaimer: Still don't own Mort Rainey, or anything from/in the film or book, Secret Window.
AN: Please review after you read! It would mean a lot to me, and if you want me to explain the Secret Window plot to you, just ask. There will be also be changes in POVs, shifting from third-person to first-person when it's important to the plotline. Amber will usually be first person, but Mort's will vary from third- to first-person. Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 2: Encounters with an Author:
Over Four Weeks Later:
West Coast, USA: Amber's POV:
Rolling my eyes, I tried not to drop to the floor and die of boredom. It had been almost a month since Kari's call, and here I was, standing in line with at least a hundred other people (mostly women, for some reason) to get some author's autograph for my friend's sister. After arriving late at the bookstore (due to Kari and I accidentally oversleeping), we had taken our place as the last ones in line, slowly crawling towards the store's entrance as this mysterious author signed book after book for his fans. Kari was excited with being able to meet this guy. Meanwhile, I was bored out of my skull with standing there for over two hours, and serious annoyed because I had no idea who this guy was, what he wrote, or why I was even here. I was this close to going nuts when we finally reached the entrance.
"This had better be worth it, Kari, or else I'm going to whoop your ass later," I murmured to her. "Who is this guy, anyway?"
Kari turned to look at me in shock. "You've never heard of Mort Rainey?" she asked. "But you love books as much as I do; you have to know who he is!"
I shook my head. "Kari, you know that we both love different types of books," I said, rolling my eyes. "I like historical, sci-fi, and fantasy books, and you like romance and mysteries."
Now it was Kari's turn to roll her eyes. "Well, Mort Rainey writes mostly psychological stories and murder mysteries," she said excitedly. "And he's really hot, too!"
I couldn't hold back my laughter. "Kari, you're so weird!" I said, smiling at her before realization dawned on me. "You're here to get his autograph for yourself! You tricked me into staying here with you while you got some hot author's signature!" Now I was seriously pissed off for having wasted my day with standing in line.
She had the decency to look guilty. "Well, yeah, but my sister really does want his autograph, too," Kari muttered. "And we don't hang out as much as we used to, so I thought we could spend the day together." She looked up and gave me her puppy-dog eyes, begging for forgiveness.
I groaned. "Well if you wanted to hang out at the mall's bookstore, you could have just asked. We could have gone shopping and done something productive, like buy books!"
Kari laughed before her mouth snapped shut, eyes going wide. "Oh my gosh, I forgot to bring my book with me!" she gasped. "I don't have anything for him to sign! Oh, God, what am I going to do?" She started wringing her hands in panic.
I couldn't stop myself from laughing. "Don't panic, Kari, it'll be okay," I said, still giggling. "Honestly, only you could forget to bring a book to a book signing. I'm sure that he'll have extra copies in there for you to buy after he's signed them, don't worry about it." I patted her shoulder in comfort as we moved forward. When we were three people away from the signing table, I was finally able to get a good look at the guy we had been waiting hours to see. Peaking around the people in front of us, I could plainly see the guy behind the table, signing a woman's book with a smile as he motioned the next person forward. That's when I realized that my best friend was right.
This guy was hot!
He had the most soulful, dark brown eyes I'd ever seen, eyes that spoke of much suffering and loss in the past. Thick framed glasses rested on his nose, but they suited him in a way that would fit no other man. His hair, although somewhat messy and thick, was a neat mixture of brown and blond, but the blonde part was definitely winning out. His outfit of a white shirt and black blazer and pants only enhanced his good looks, and explained why the women here were drooling over him. That and the fact that he had the most luscious lips I'd ever seen...
I was jolted out of my thoughts when Kari nudged me in the side. Glaring at her, I noticed that it was almost our turn. Not wanting to take any sort of attention away from Kari, I decided to be a good friend and step back to let her have her moment with the author. I slowly edged away until I was standing near a display case full of Mr. Rainey's books. Curious about his writing style, I picked one up and began thumbing through it, trying to understand this guy's popularity. After reading a few sentences of a story called Secret Window, I understood his fame. His works were murder mysteries with some psychological twists to it, and although they were very well written, the guy was either a genius, or mentally whacked out for writing details this good and specific. Shuttering, I carefully set the book on the shelf and turned around, hoping that Kari was done getting the autographs so we could do some shopping. However, it wasn't Kari's friendly face that greeted me... I swallowed hard.
"Amber, this is Mort Rainey," Kari's voice introduced. "Mr. Rainey, this is my friend, Amber Olson."
Mort's POV:
As the last customer came up to him, Mort was relieved to finish up his tour with the fair, round, friendly face of a young woman with light brown hair and eyes. She was somewhat on the heavy side, but was quite charming in appearance. Her purple shirt, black pants and black boots fitted her perfectly, but weren't revealing or inappropriate for a girl of her size; she was actually quite pretty.
"Hello," he greeted with a smile holding out his hand for her to shake. "What's your name?"
"Oh, uh," she stuttered, blushing slightly. "Uh, my name's Kari, Kari White." She took his hand and shook it; that was when he noticed that she didn't have a book for him to sign.
"May I ask what you're going to ask me to sign for you, since you don't have a book?" Mort asked politely. He really hoped that this wasn't one of those unusual fans that wanted him to sign their arm or something; he'd had enough of those over the past month to last a lifetime!
"Um, actually, I sort of forgot mine," the girl, Kari, replied as she blushed even redder. "I overslept, so I rushed out the door to pick up my friend and sort of forgot my books in the process."
"That's alright," Mort said, reaching for the last few book copies hidden under the table for this purpose. "I've got some right here. How many did you want?"
"Two," was the response. "One for me and one for my sister, Jessica."
"Oh, really?" Mort asked, smiling. He quickly scribbled out his name for the two girls and handed over the two copies. "Don't you want one for your friend?"
"Oh, she only came to keep me company."
Mort looked to the girl's left and right, searching for the young girl's companion. "And where, exactly, is your friend?"
Turning to either side, the girl seemed confused to find that her friend wasn't there. After looking around for a few moments, she spotted what she was looking for.
"There she is, over at the display case."
Mort turned his head. There stood a young woman with chin-length, dark brown hair that shone red in the bright lights, wearing a long-sleeved red blouse and black jeans, her feet clad in black sneakers. He only saw the girl's back, but Mort knew something incredible had happened the moment he'd spotted her.
He'd met his soulmate.
"What's her name?" Mort asked, standing up as he tried to gather his thoughts. Taking a deep, calming breath, he turned back towards the young fan in front of him. "Could you introduce us?"
"Sure!" his fan quipped. "Come on." She quickly grabbed his arm and escorted him over. The other woman returned a book to the shelf and turned towards them before they even attempted to get her attention. Mort's breath caught in his throat at the sight of the woman in front of him.
From the shape of her eyes, her short stature, and her skin color, he could tell she was partially Asian. Her chocolate-brown eyes were almond-shaped, and her skin was slightly yellow, speaking of an Asian parent. Even though she seemed a bit thicker than most Asian women, Mort guessed that her thickness was caused by some of the American blood in her. It didn't matter to him, though. To him, she was perfect. Her features were enhanced by her red shirt and black pants, and her lips were a pretty rosebud color and shape, practically begging him to grab her and kiss her till she passed out.
"Amber, this is Mort Rainey," his young fan said. "Mr. Rainey, this is my friend, Amber Olson."
Mort automatically held out his hand, waiting for her to take it. She did, and as he held her hand in his, Mort mentally swore that he was not leaving this store without scoring a date with her (or at least get her phone number). However, Amber's uncertain handshake and nervous smile told him otherwise. The instant he dropped her hand, she snatched it back in what seemed like fear.
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Rainey," Amber said, her voice soft and shy. She then turned towards her friend. "Come on, Kari, we should go; you've got to get that book to your sister, remember?"
Mort watched carefully as Kari first looked at Amber in surprise before shifting her gaze between him and Amber. A sort of silent exchange went between the two women, and Mort couldn't help but wonder what they were thinking about; he got his answer a second later.
"Uh, you're right, Amber, we should go," Kari replied as she turned to Mort, offering him a warm, friendly smile as she held her hand out for another handshake. "It was nice to meet you, Mr. Rainey."
'No, they can't leave yet!' Mort thought, panic filling his mind as he absently shook and released the girl's hand. He still needed to get Amber's phone number, for Christ's sakes! However, as he snapped out of his thoughts, he realized the two women were no longer there.
Mort raced out the door, but the walkway outside the store was empty; he had missed them. Turning back to the store, Mort grabbed his coat and raced out the door, determination flowing through him. He had to find her before it was too late.
Amber's POV:
The moment I had shaken hands with Mort Rainey, I realized that I was right about the guy being weird, because something about the guy immediately put me off. I didn't know why, but Mr. Rainey was very...different...from other people, and it scared me. That's why I had very subtly signaled to Kari that I wanted to leave ASAP, not giving the man a chance to protest our departure.
Quickly pulling Kari out of the bookstore and into the mall, I glanced around and pulled her behind a tall pillar, hiding us from the view of anyone coming out of the bookstore. As Kari began to protest, I held my finger up to my lips, signaling for silence. She quickly obeyed, for which I was thankful, since I heard the hurried steps of someone approaching. As we waited for a few seconds, the footsteps quickly retreated into the store, paused, then came racing back out again, flying past the pillar we were hiding behind. As the figure vanished around a corner, I realized that it had been Mr. Mort Rainey.
"Amber, why did you want to leave so soon?" Kari asked, obviously annoyed that I had pulled her away from the extremely hot (though possibly psychotic) author.
"Because the guy scares me, Kairbear," I said, using the nickname she'd given herself in middle school. But since I hadn't called her 'Kairbear' since high school and only called her that when something was wrong, she knew that something was up.
However, she didn't look convinced of the danger I though we were in. "What do you mean he scares you? He's just an author, Amber," she scoffed, trying to brush it off.
"Kari, you know that people don't scare me that easily, but this one really bothers me," I whispered, looking around to check and see if he was really gone. "There's something...off...about this guy, and I think we should go home." 'Besides, I didn't like the way he was looking at me back there in the bookstore,' I thought as I looked at her, only to see disbelief written across her face.
"Amber, don't be silly," Kari said, chuckling. "Just because he writes mysteries and psychological thrillers doesn't make him a murderer or a psycho! Now come on," she said, tugging on my arm. "Let's go shopping...I hear there's a huge sale going on in Sears!"
Unable to get another word in, I let my friend drag me to the store and around the girl's department, against my better judgment. As Kari tried on clothes and picked out shoes, I tried to calm myself down with rational thoughts, such as: in a huge place like the mall, how would he be able to find us, especially with the huge crowds? I smiled at that thought. He'll probably give up and leave soon anyway; it's not like the guy's in love with me or anything! I shuddered at that one; the last thing I needed was for a possible psycho falling in love with me! He's probably desperate for a date and will give up as soon as he finds a nice, shapely blonde at the nearby tanning salon. Nodding my head at the last thought, I turned my attention to the horrible grey dress Kari was about to buy and put all of my thoughts and creative powers to stop her from buying the outfit.
Two hours later: Amber's POV:
We'd just finished our little spending spree in Sears when I spotted a fantastic silver and diamond bracelet in a jewelry case. Stopping for a quick second, I told Kari to go get the car while I finished looking at the bracelet. Once she was out of sight, I looked around, making sure there were no salespeople before taking a closer look. Honestly, there's nothing worse than wanting to look at something, but can't because annoying clerks try too hard to be helpful.
As I bent over the case to take a closer look, a pair of brown eyes with thick-framed glasses stared back at me through the reflections. I jumped back in shock, only to find myself pressed against a very solid, very muscular, very hot male body. A pair of strong hands suddenly gripped my waist.
"Easy, beautiful, I didn't mean to scare you," a husky voice whispered into my ear. "Besides, I've had one hell of a time trying to locate you."
I quickly turned around to face him. "Mr. Rainey!" I exclaimed, trying to hide my fear. "What are you doing here?"
He smiled at me. "Actually, I've been trying for hours to find you," he said, smiling down at me. "I was wondering if you'd like to join me for dinner this evening, or perhaps grab a drink?"
Okay, this was getting weird; the guy doesn't even know me for more than a grand total of two minutes, and he wants to go out with me? Mr. Rainey was two tacos short of a platter if he thought I'd go out with him! What was even more disturbing was that his hands had started to gently stroke my hips, his thumbs making small circling motions as he held me.
'Okay, this has to stop,' I thought as I cleared my throat. "Um, I'd love to, but I don't go out with people I've known less than two minutes, total, Mr. Rainey," I said, trying to be polite as I attempted to squirm out of the grip he had on my hips. "But I'm sure there are other women who'd love to go out with a good looking guy like you. Goodbye," I said, successfully freeing myself from his hands and racing for the door to the parking lot. I was relieved to find Kari already there with the car. Without another word, I jumped in and Kari hit the gas. As we sped down the freeway, I tried to put Mort Rainey out of my head.
Mort's POV:
Having Amber turn him down and run away from him was a double blow to his heart. He could tell he scared her, but couldn't understand how. After all, he'd only tried to be polite, and yet she was scared to death of him! It made no sense! Well, maybe he shouldn't have tried to rub her hips, but it had felt so good and so natural to do that he couldn't stop himself. It wasn't his fault that her hips were so soft and wonderfully shaped that they fit perfectly into his hands! Plus, she'd called him 'good looking,' so she had to like him, right?
Looking down into the jewelry case, Mort spotted the bracelet she'd been looking at and smiled, a plan forming in his head. He'd win Amber over if it was the last thing he did, and he had a lot to do before he had to return to Tashmore Lake. He wasn't beaten yet!
AN: Please be good sports and review! Please? I'd like to know if people are reading, and it'd mean a lot to me if you did! Thanks!