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Chapter 2

Jeff Hardy's Studio/Apartment, Manhattan, New York.

At exactly four pm, Maria was standing outside the door of Jeff Hardy's studio. She raised her hand and pressed the intercom buzzer on the side panel on the wall.

No answer.

"Damn it, that's just typical. He better be in there after I've travelled half way across the city to meet with him," she grumbled. Maria waited a couple of minutes and then pressed the intercom again.

This time after a moment or so she got an answer, "Hello?"

"Jeff? It's Maria Kanellis. I'm here for our four pm appointment," Maria told him calmly.

"Shit? It that the time? I'm upstairs in my apartment. I'll buzz you in and then just come up the stairs okay?"

Maria sighed heavily, "Sure, whatever." She pushed the door open a few seconds later when Jeff had pressed the release button and walked inside. She closed the door behind her and scanned the room. It looked exactly the same as it did the last time she was there, bare brick walls and laminated wooden flooring. As she headed towards the black painted metal spiral staircase in the far corner, she did notice something new. A large brightly coloured painting on a frameless canvas, hanging on the middle of the wall. No doubt it was one of Jeff's creations. The redhead could tell his work a mile off. She paused for a moment right in front of it and tilted her head as far as it would go to the left as if but doing so, the picture in front of her would make sense and she would know exactly what it was. No such luck, she didn't have a clue. Maria just shrugged and continued towards the stairs. Once at the bottom, she removed her high heeled shoes. The last time she was here she'd nearly broken her neck and there was no way she was going for a repeat performance of that.

She bounced up the steps with ease and once she was at the top, she replaced her shoes onto her feet. As she started to look up from the floor she noticed two bare legs in front of her. When she looked up further, she felt a little uneasy as she saw a white towel wrapped low around his waist. From there she turned her attention up higher to his bare chest which was wet to finally his head which was also wet. "Damn it Jeff, did I get you out of the shower?"

"Well obviously yes."

Maria couldn't believe what she was seeing, "Couldn't you have taken it earlier? We agreed four pm."

"I was sleeping earlier," Jeff replied casually.

Maria shot him a look of disbelief, "I'm sorry did you just say you were sleeping earlier?"

"Yes. Congratulation Maria, there's officially nothing wrong with your hearing."

"Whatever … Just answer me one thing. When I called you this morning and wanted to meet with you at two and you said you couldn't. That was because you had some important meeting with a client right? That wasn't so you could sleep was it?"

Jeff nodded, "Pretty much the sleep thing yeah."

The redhead rolled her eyes, "You're unbelievable."

The designer grinned at her, "Thank you."

Maria huffed, "That wasn't a compliment. Now can you please put some clothes on so we can get on with this? I don't want to stay a moment longer than I have to."

"Damn, and here I was thinking this was a social call," Jeff replied sarcastically before turning on his heels and heading off towards the back of the apartment.

"Asshole."

"I heard that."

"Good, you were meant to."

Jeff stopped for a moment and looked back at her, "That's not very professional, Maria."

"You started it. Turning up for a business meeting dressed in just a towel is so not professional."

"Okay, there's no need to freak out about it."

"I'm not freaking out," Maria shouted and then suddenly realised she was. "I'm not freaking out," she repeated in a calmer voice. "Idiot," she chastised herself once he had totally disappeared from view into what she remembered was the bathroom. She adjusted the black jacket she was wearing and removed an invisible piece of lint from her matching black knee length skirt. Once satisfied with her appearance, she walked slowly across to the main living area of the apartment and sat down on the couch. "Just remember you're doing this for Mickie."

It took five minutes for Jeff to return but thankfully for Maria he was now dressed in a pair of three quarter length plain black combat pants and a white tank top. His still wet hair was tied back in a messy ponytail. He sat down next to the redhead on the couch, "So what did you want to discuss?"

Maria rolled her eyes, "Mickie and Chris' wedding, obviously. How is the dress design coming alone?"

Jeff looked at her like she'd gone insane, "It's not."

Maria frowned, "What do you mean it's not? Do you have any idea when the wedding is?"

"Next June … As in twelve months from now. You need to chill, man. You can't be stressing this earlier into the process," Jeff pointed out, "You'll give yourself a heart attack."

Maria pinched the bridge of her nose, "The only person giving me a heart attack around here is you. By the time we meet again, say next week, I need you to have started work on the first draft at least."

Jeff just shrugged.

Maria imitated him, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm an artist dude, you can't rush these things. I'll have a first draft when I have a first draft."

Maria glared at him, "No … dude. You need to work here with me, Jeff."

The green eyed man folded his arms across his chest, "You say that like I'm trying to be awkward or something. I'm not, it's just the way it is. No amount of pissing and moaning on your part is gonna change that."

"I'm not pissing and moaning, I just want everything to be perfect for Mickie and Chris. Is that such a crime?" Maria asked.

"No," Jeff said seriously, "But you really need to chill out."

"Fine." Maria held up her hand, "I will chill out …" she trailed off as her cell phone started to ring. She pulled it out of her pursed and checked the caller ID. "This is a client, excuse me … Hello?"

"Oh my god, Maria, you are not going to believe what's happened?" a distraught sounding Candice Michelle replied.

"What's wrong?"

"It's my dress. Some idiot at the shop has altered it wrong and now it's two sizes too small," the distressed bride to be explained.

"Are you serious? Okay where are you?"

"I've just come out of the dress store, I can't believe it. The wedding is going to be ruined."

"No, it's not. We'll sort something else out, I promise. I'm just in Manhattan at the moment meeting with someone about another client but we're about done here so I can meet you here in say forty minutes and we'll go from there, okay?"

"Thank you so much, Maria. I don't know what I'd do without you. I'll call you later for a meeting location. Bye."

"Bye," Maria replied and hung up the phone. "Shit, I gotta go. Wedding emergency."

"Sounds serious."

Maria sighed heavily, "Yeah, just what I don't need. Anyways, I'll call you next week to arrange an update."

Jeff nodded, "Okay cool."

The redhead stood up and made her way to the stairs, not bothering to remove her shoes this time. "Goodbye, Jeff. I'll see myself out."

The designer gave her a little wave, "See ya."

In her hurry to get down the stairs, Maria's foot slipped when she was almost at the bottom, causing her to fall backwards. Luckily for her Maria she managed to catch hold of the railing before she fell too far but she still managed to jar her back, "Fuck," she cursed. She looked up to see Jeff looking down at her from the top of the spiral stairway.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine," Maria huffed before she marched off in the direction of the door. The bottom of her back protesting at the sharp movements.