Stagger
Against her better judgment, Rinoa stormed into the corporate building reserved for Deling's main newspaper. The 'Daily Post' hall buzzed with excitement at the obvious killer front-page they had pulled off this morning but Rinoa was far from a celebrating mood, "I want to see Mr. Almasy right now." She nearly snapped at Seifer's personal assistant on one of the higher floors of the skyscraper.
"That could be arranged if you have an appointment. Mr. Almasy doesn't see anyone without prior arrangement." She had heard those words so many times from her own secretary's mouth but coming from someone else they sent her flying off the handle.
"I'm sure Mr. Almasy will see me, with or without a rendezvous, just tell him Ms. Heartilly is here." Rinoa snapped harshly, annoyed beyond belief. This secretary had seen her ten thousand times before. How long did it take him to realize that she was formally an acquaintance of 'Mr. Almasy' and that she didn't need to be written down in that damn notebook of his?
"I'm sorry miss, but I've been given strict orders here and I can't grant you access to his conference room if you don't have an appointment." He looked down at her from his half-spectacles that were poised on his long, bony nose. He was a man in his fifties, with salt and pepper hair and a very arrogant attitude.
Rinoa's eyes were slits as she scowled at him, "Quit being an ass about it, buddy. I make twenty times your salary and that makes me twenty times more important than you in your employer's eyes so stop flipping through that stupid date book, ring up Seifer or I'll-""What seems to be the problem here, Mr. Huggins?" A figure strode into the office and questioned the secretary.
Huggins gave Rinoa a despicable look and returned to the interrogator, "Mr. Almasy, this woman wishes to see your brother except it conflicts with the rule that he will not see anyone unless there was a prior arrangement-""I don't NEED a damn appointment, Cain, tell him I don't need a fricken' appointment!" Rinoa turned towards the younger strawberry blonde who had entered and urged him to agree with her.
"Mr. Huggins, I'm ashamed of you. This is Rinoa Heartilly … you know very well my brother will see her under any circumstances, this is no way to treat a V.I.P." Cain reprimanded the old secretary and Rinoa shot him a triumphant look. "I'm very disappointed, your wife told me you were a very good man."
"You've met my wife?" Mr. Huggins asked curiously.
"Met her?!" Cain exclaimed, faking surprised, "I've screwed her!" He wrapped his arm around Rinoa and led her to the elevator. The golden doors slid open and they strode inside. Cain pushed the button for the top floor, and when prompted, he typed in a code. There was an odd silence that ballooned up between the two.
Rinoa decided to break it with a smirk and a short commentary, "So … you date old fogies now?"
"I was joking!" Cain frowned defensively, "It got you out of that little rut, didn't it? So, what is it that you need to see the almighty president about?" He added the few last words sarcastically and made sure she detected his tone.
"What was up with the front page?" She let it slip off her tongue and mentally cursed herself for sounding so stupid. It didn't even help to remind herself that she would have asked Seifer anyway and it would have sounded equally idiotic.
But Cain was an old friend from the days of would-be college years. They had played around together and had gotten into nothing less than messy situations. She had allowed their relationship to escalate up to 'experimentation' but had left it at that. Squall hadn't been entirely wrong when he had hypothesized Cain as her boyfriend. Though that was a long time ago.
"Heh, oh yeah … I have no idea. I have a feeling it was Quistis who asked him to do that. Listen, he's not that much of a trust-worthy ally, just to let you know."
"Irvine thinks he is, I've got no faith in him whatsoever. Repeat this to him if you want." Rinoa corrected firmly, "I just want to know if this is supposed to be a half-assed warning or what? Do I have to watch my back now, what's the deal?"
"Rinoa … take these things lightly. He's been one crazy asshole lately. Just … whatever. I think my father was a little too hard on him last time." Cain heaved a sigh, "Anyway, I'm getting out of this while I still can. This place is going to go down."
"How do you figure?" She asked him curiously but received no response. Cain was saved by the ding of the elevator. He motioned for Rinoa to pass in front of him, 'Ladies first.' and he followed closely behind.
"His supremacy is probably still in his office. I'll leave you to him because I have a feeling he'll be in a really bad mood after he hears what I have to say to him." Cain warned her, indifferently pointing to the double polished maple doors. "I'll just wait out here." In the vast hall before the grand office, the younger Almasy brother sat down on a red leather couch and propped his feet up on a marble coffee table.
He gave her one last look of encouragement before she hesitantly pushed open the two doors, "I thought I said I didn't want to see anyone!" Seifer snapped, his concentration on letters from angry readers. "… disgraceful to show such images on the front page …" " … if you think shock value will help sell your newspaper …" " … have you no consideration for the girl's family?" The public had been quick to react to his front page and the cowardly editors had forwarded the angry e-mails printed on his precious blank printer paper to him. So typical.
"I think you'd want to see me." Rinoa replied back coolly. She had already gone through this drill a million times. The most important thing was not to lose her head since that would only lead to hysterics and then he would see how weak and scared she really was.
His eyes rose from his work to the beautiful woman standing a few feet from his desk, "Why Rinoa … did you seduce my secretary into letting you up here because I told him I would fire him if he let anyone pass without an-"
"Appointment, yes … I know, he told me a thousand times. But Cain was kind enough to lend me a hand with him. So …" She drawled with an air of superiority, "Now you don't have much of a choice but to listen. What the hell is up with the front page? I thought we were …uhm … 'allies'."
Seifer smirked, "You felt targeted?""No, no … not at all. I mean, there is that little fact that the victim and I look almost identical … also that the actual case of the murder is quite suspicious. I mean … a girl, not even a prostitute might I add, still in college and with a very secure future goes out for one night on the town, leaves her friends for fifteen minutes and within that time she gets coaxed into a dark alley and then has her throat slit and her neck cracked almost as if both were necessary. Not to mention there was no sign of sexual aggression so it was done in cold blood." Rinoa shrugged, "I don't feel targeted at all. Then, my supposed 'ally' publishes this story confirming all my previous doubts about him that he is, indeed, working with a bitch, namely Quistis …"
"I was trying to warn you." Seifer explained with meticulously plotted lies, "I found the murder rather suspicious myself. I agree, Quistis, rather Diabolos, is probably behind this and there may have been no actual purpose to that assassination except bitterness towards you."
Rinoa nodded apologetically, "Of course … trying to warn me. Have you ever heard of a phone, Seifer? Because, yes, I agree … posting a picture of a dead girl's face on the front page of the newspaper does really convey the effect of danger but I would've believed you if you had just … you know … told me, like normal people do.""Rinoa, I've been reading complaint letters all morning … so you can write some hate mail, I promise you I'll read it." Seifer smirked sarcastically, "Here's one you would like-"
"Oh, spare me, Seifer, spare me." Rinoa shushed him snappishly and rubbed her temples in a moment of annoyance. She was under the impression of being with Ellone.
"Sure thing, sweetcakes." Seifer inserted the letter from an angry woman in the shredder and watched it being minced to long, phalange-like shapes with a certain satisfaction, "So, you only came here to bitch at me? No 'I was wondering if you'd like to go out for coffee.' Or 'I've been thinking about you all night long.'?"
"You can shove it, sweetcakes." Rinoa mimicked sarcastically, disgust dripping from her words, "Yes … I only did come here to bitch my heart out to you, and obviously it was a waste of my time and gas money. I'll take my leave now, and just as a general piece of information I think you could use since I'm too lazy to write you an e-mail: you're so going to get sued for that front page. Better get daddy's lawyers ready. Heartless jerk …" She hissed her final words, turned on her heel and strode from his office.
He stalked her to the hall where Cain was still waiting and called out to her while she summoned the elevator, "Tell me, what kind of flowers do you like?"
The lift doors opened and Rinoa pushed the main floor button. She just had time to call out before the portieres closed, "A cactus, and you can sit on it!"
There was a short silence between the two brothers but Seifer broke it with an innocent look and a shrug, "Ouch. Feisty. What're you here for?" He turned to Cain and a look of aggravation dwelled on him.
"Caraway's got the tape." Cain answered with a heaving sigh.
"Failure." Seifer accused sourly, "Good thing I have a plan B, hm?"
"Yes, master, you are the eternal center of power in this corporation, long live the King and may his wise decisions guide us into the next millennia." Cain retorted sarcastically.
"Hey, you want to do me a favor? Get on your knees and eat me." Seifer glowered spitefully and grabbed his crotch to emphasize his point.
"You're into that kind of stuff, eh? So why are you on Rinoa's ass all the time?" Cain teased smartly and in response got a slap in the back of the head, "Yo, what'd you do that for, asswad!"
"Little brother, when I'm done with this city, you'll be kissing my ass for a piece of it. Might want to start minding your mouth." He warned and entered his office again, this time shutting his doors with a sharp slam to define that he wasn't going to see anyone else for a while now.
"Or you'll be kissing mine, I suppose it all depends … doesn't it, brother?"
AS RINOA LEFT 'Daily Post HQ' she dialed Ellone's cellphone number, wondering if her friend knew more on this murky happening. She was a journalist, after all, and had probably been charged with writing the follow-up article after the topic had lost its value, "Yello, Ellone isn't at home!"
"Ellone, I'm not an idiot." Rinoa rolled her eyes and sighed, "Where are you right now?"
"On my way to some fine, fine, fine deliverance." She answered. There was a streak of nervousness in her voice that Rinoa couldn't help pick up on.
"You make it sound like you're going to drug up." The younger girl remarked innocently to hide the vicious tease behind the comment. She unlocked her car and got into the front seat.
"Not drug up - drink up, Rin." Ellone quavered, "I'll be at Pete's if you need me … possibly recounting my life story to a depressed artist and/or drunkard so I have to go, bye!!"
"Hey, no Ellone, I need to-" But it was too late. The older girl had hung up in her feral search for alcohol. Rinoa growled loudly and threw her cellphone in the backseat in swift frustration, "Going to get smashed, I see. Or perhaps, even a tad bit buzzed as we speak. Bet you anything it's about missing her headline."
She ignited the engine and set the gear in reverse, "Fuck you, Ellone. God, this afternoon will be my downfall, now won't it?" Rinoa sighed and drove off in the direction of Pete's.She arrived half and hour after Ellone and it seemed that her friend had gotten a lot done during that lapse of time, "Hi Rinny … sit down and have a drink." Ok, no slur present yet … but she had that lost, wandering look in her eyes. And she had this limp way of propping up her elbow on the counter and resting her chin on the palm of her hand.
"I don't think it's a really good idea for me." Rinoa sat down on the stool next to Ellone's and she set her purse down on the counter, "Tell me, what could have possibly shattered your life so you result to drowning yourself in drinks?" She flicked a strand of hair behind her ear and stared at Ellone.
"I got beaten to another good article! So I told the bastards, I told them, 'KISS MY ASS' … and that's when my boss fired me. Or … no wait, it might have been when I told him it was no wonder his wife left him since his ass wouldn't fit in his chair anymore." She smiled goofily and called out to the bartender, "Two shots of grappa for me and my friend … as in, two shots each, Pete!"
"Grappa?" Rinoa asked incredulously, "Is that what you've been hitting for the past thirty minutes?" She began to massage her temples lightly, "Ellone … maybe I should just take you home."
"NEVER!" Ellone declared making everyone in the slightly dingy pub to turn around and look at them. A table of dirty men smirked and nudged each other while pointing at the two girls, "We'll make our own little party!" She smiled at Rinoa and pushed over half of the liquor that had just been set on the counter.
"Ellone … could we think and deal with this rationally? I know you're peeved about the article but I really need your help. I promise I'll make this up to you somehow, I will get you an article that'll bring you up there but first I need you to-" Rinoa was interrupted by the wave of a hand.
Her friend was scowling at her, "None of that now, honey." Ellone rose the 11/2-ounce shot glass to her lips and fired the translucent, 40% alcohol down her throat. It warmed the flesh on its way down, giving her a tickling sensation, "Believe you me, sister, it's better we both get ourselves plastered … the drink swooshes our problems away."
"It … swooshes our problems away …?" Rinoa asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer, "Ellone, I'm taking you home." She grabbed her friend's arm but let go as Ellone shrieked bloody murder, "Good Lord, STOP IT!" Rinoa snapped and rolled her eyes impatiently, "Come ON, let's GO!"
"I conject!" There was a pause which Ellone torn down with a bubbling giggle, "I mean … object. Haa … I get words mixed up all the time, no matter. I'm not getting out of here until I've had enough alcohol to forget everything that has happened today. Nothing can pull me away from this sweet, sweet escape."
"You're being a child!" Rinoa raved impatiently, "And you're dragging me down with you."
"Dragging someone down? Am I dragging someone down?" Ellone turned on her stool to look Rinoa in the eye, "I am trying to lift you and I up, honey. If you don't want a drink, that's fine but do not chastise me like you're my mother."
Rinoa groaned and sat down, "Well someone's going to have to take you home." She stared off into space while Ellone downed two more shots in the span of a minute. There was an uneasy silence as the small population of the tiny bar went back to their activities, which mostly consisted of drinking.
After her third shot, Ellone looked mischievously at her friend, "Oh come on, you're not just going to sit there all afternoon and not have a drink, are you?"
Her mood infested with irritation, Rinoa slammed her hand down onto the counter, "Christ, what do you want? A drinking buddy? Fine." She gave Ellone a look of pure frustration and summoned the bartender.
Four beers, two margaritas, six B-52s and a shared tropical fruit drink later, the two were a little more than 'buzzed'. "Ok, ok … I want a glass of Jack Daniel's and just … just … just one more of those Bloody Caesar thingies …"
"We should really … get home." Rinoa's voice sounded constricted and her ears were turning pink, "Ellone … I think now would be a good time to go home."
"Rubbish!" Ellone waved away her friend's uncertainty, "We're not drunk, Rinoa." She giggled a bit and sipped her beer, "We're just a little sloshed."
There was something about the way Ellone had used the word 'sloshed' that seemed unbearably amusing to Rinoa. Laughing out loud, she managed to blurt out, "I think that's worse." Ellone caught her eye and began chuckling as well.
Their giggles were stifled to give way to an odd silence. Ellone bit her lip, smiling and finally introduced a little game that had come to her on the spur of drunkenness, "Question: When did you first start drinking?"
Rinoa had played this drunken diversion with her friends before. When people were far from sober, they usually weren't clever enough to lie, "Answer: When I was eight … my mother gave me a bit of champagne on New Year's Eve." Her answer was sarcastic, as she had not yet ingested enough beer to reply what Ellone wanted to hear.
"Oh come on, Rinny, you know that's not what I meant." Ellone smirked over the rim of her mug, full with cool, golden alcohol.
Rinoa shrugged and waved the question away passively with an indifferent, "I was sixteen."
Her friend clicked her tongue, "Nothing extraordinary about that, some get plastered at thirteen and continue forth till adolescence and unto adulthood. And there are worse things than vodka … there're drugs."
"Yeah, I started that at about that time too." Her answer was curt, cold, with a twinge of what? Regret? Shame? Perhaps a mixture of both, stirred, not shaken and served on the rocks."Oh." The journalist remained silent and quietly downed more of her drink.
Rinoa, however, her mind dimmed with each gulp, quickly forgot the awkwardness of the situation, "Question: Ever thought you were going to spend the rest of your life with someone and it ended up 'not working out'?"
Ellone was as silent as the grave, trying to catch Rinoa's eye but failing. She was staring right ahead, almost as if she could see through the walls, "Yeah." She answered faintly, not sure whether or not that was the right answer.
"Ok." Rinoa replied numbly and brought the mug to her lips again. Her movements were slower as if to take time to coordinate them properly, "Men are such pigs."
"Now you're drunk." Ellone remarked innocently, giving her a reprimanding look, "Why, have you?" She cross-examined, bringing back the topic to Rinoa's strange question. The journalist already knew the answer, by God, she knew the entire story but she had yet to hear the 'un-cut' version.
"Maybe."
Ok, she wasn't ready yet. Rather, she hadn't drank enough yet. That was fixable. Instead of steering the slowly extinguishing conversation into deeper waters, she brought on a lighthearted, teasing topic, "With whom did you spend the best night of your life?" The question was riddled with dirty innuendos that she knew Rinoa would pick up on.
"I don't think you'd want to know." Rinoa answered truthfully, "I'll give you a hint: you're related to him." She smirked as though knowing the cringe it would provoke.
"Oh … I dunno …" Ellone stroked her chin pensively, pretending to ignore the answer, "Hmm … my father?"
A sly, immature smile lifted the corners of Rinoa's delicate lips, "I screwed your brother."Ellone clicked her tongue and groaned, repulsed, "Whatever."
"I so screwed your brother."
"Shut up."
"It was great."
"Rinoa!"
"Amazing."
She attempted to delivered a smack on the back of Rinoa's head but failed miserably due to the lack of adroitness skills. "Ugh … I'd hurt you so bad if only I had …""Motor skills?" Interrupted Rinoa.
"Yeah."
All discussion was interrupted as Rinoa's cellphone rang from within her purse. There was a pause and Ellone had to give her friend a meaningful look that clearly meant, 'Pick up your damn phone.' Rinoa reached over to her purse and fumbled clumsily with the zipper, searching to nearly no avail in her seemingly bottomless handbag. "What is wrong with you, are you drunk?" Ellone snapped irritably after the seventh ring.
"No, not at all." Rinoa replied, not at all taking the time to insert the necessary sarcasm.
Finally, she emerged victorious, the handheld in her vise-grip. "Hullo?" She answered. The caller clearly had something important to say as a normal human-being, in a fit of understandable impatience, would have already hung up. The caller was Irvine.
"Where are you?" He asked worriedly. He was harping, she was still sober enough to know that much (and that was saying a lot).
"Uhm … good question." Rinoa cast a fervent look around, "It looks like a pub."
There was a short silence, "Why the hell're you in a pub?""Another ingenious question … I think I'm drinking myself silly. But that's just a possible hypothesis, y'know … there may be another perfectly reasonable reason why I'm actually here but I'm not sure I'm level-headed enough to think of it at the moment."
Another stillness, "Ok, which pub are you at, I'm coming to get you."
"No, I'm fine, don't worry about me. Ellone and I are just sharing a couple of drinks and-" Rinoa's reassuring tone went unnoticed by Irvine.
"Oh Jesus, she's there?!" He tormented anxiously, now having double the cause to worry, "Rinoa, what pub are you at?"
"I dunno."
"RINOA!" His patience exhausted."I swear I've got no idea." Unaffected by his obvious mortification at her activities, she tossed the phone to Ellone. Bad move. Missing the necessary hand-eye coordination, the phone clanged onto the counter and slid a few inches down the way. Ellone fumbled for it and brought it to her ear.
"M'yellow?"
"Ellone, where are you guys?" Irvine tried again, more politely this time.
"Pete's!" She answered gleefully.
"Thank you. I'll see you in a moment." Irvine replied, articulating more than usual as if her comprehension of the English language had diminished.
"Okie dokie, I love you, hunny … bye!!" Ellone waved at no one in particular and handed the phone back to Rinoa.
"Did you just say 'I love you' to Irvine?" Rinoa asked, her eyes glazed with confusion and drunkenness.
Ellone giggled and nodded her head, "Yep. Oh, something you should know: I screwed your brother."
Author's Pointless Rambles: Heh, quite the clever finish, no? I mean, Ellone HAD to give that slap in the face back to Rinoa to even out the odds. So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, dearly sorry for making you wait two weeks ... but you'll be waiting another two weeks for the next one too so I suppose there is no need to apologize.
I've had quite the dilema lately. I've been debating whether I should keep writing this fic or if I should get a job. If I got an employment I would never have time to write with school starting in a week and all and I must admit that I'm VERY, VERY attracted by the idea of money. I think you guys will have to convince me otherwise in your reviews. Actually, this isn't a threat or anything, I'm actually dead serious.
a) Good
b) Fair
c) Mediocre
d) Poor
Again, I'm very much serious. I'd much rather work than continue writing long chapters that barely anyone reads. It feels like I'm wasting my time, sorry guys but my lifeless days seem to be coming to a close.
