Chapter Two: Every Night is Another Story
-x-
'Cause in the wreckage of heartache and hindsight
A new beginning starts to unfold
And if you let him…
He just might save your life
-x-
Two days. That's how many had passed since he'd left. They were two long days, eternally long, but they helped him focus on his work. Because the more he had to do, the less time he had to think. About her.
But now it was Friday, and even he got a break on the weekends. He had no excuses to feed himself, he was fresh out of reasons not to go. And every second he thought about it, about her, he found the urge to see her harder and harder to suppress.
So when he walked into Indulgences tonight, he knew what he was doing. A man on a mission, he was ready for business.
Matt opted to dress a little casually too, the last time had at least taught him to blend in.
Not that the jeans and collared shirt did much for his anonymity.
He spotted a familiar redhead behind the bar, which was a little more packed than it had been two nights ago. In fact, it was a lot more packed. The stage area was nearly clear, devoid of anyone save a few drunk men. But Matt just chalked it up to him being a little to eager, he got here too early.
She wasn't on yet.
Once the crowd began to thin out, Matt found an empty stool. He waited until Sora was quite finished with everyone else before waiving her over.
"Well, hey there stranger." She smiled.
"Sora, how are you?"
"Swamped, actually. Friday nights are great for business but terrible for my feet." She said, with a shake of her head.
Matt chuckled. "I can imagine." He said. "How about a whiskey sour?"
"Coming right up."
The crowd was beginning to make it's way towards the stage, the music changed from light techno, to loud and seductive. He knew what that meant, and almost instantaneously his attention was diverted.
He hung on bated breath as he waited for her to come on stage, it was as if for the first time in two (almost three) days, he had been anticipating this very moment. He knew how incredibly sick it was, but he couldn't help it.
He'd never been hit so hard in his life, this girl really did a number on him.
However, soon enough, he realized all the anticipation, the waiting, the nail biting had been for absolutely no reason. The girl on stage was most definitely not Mimi. Sure, the dark hair had thrown him for a second, it was almost identical to hers. But just a few seconds later, he knew it wasn't.
Because from this angle, he couldn't make out faces well that far away, but he didn't need to. It was painfully clear this girl wasn't who he was looking for. She didn't have half the grace, none of the poise and absolutely no elegance. She had none of the qualities that had drawn him to Mimi in the first place, and all of sudden he felt out of place and in a hurry to leave.
But first… "Where's Mi—Poison Ivy?" Matt demanded, the second he got Sora's attention.
Her eyebrows shot up, "Easy, tiger. She's got the day off." She said, giving him a weird look.
"On a Friday?" Matt asked incredulously, "It's probably the busiest night, your best performer should be here! Doesn't your boss know a thing about business?"
Sora's mouth dropped open, "You know, just when I was beginning to think you were okay, you go and convince me you're nuts." She said, shaking her head. "And just so you know, my boss has a great business sense, Poison Ivy makes her own schedule." And with that, the redheaded bartender walked away from him.
Matt threw down a few bills on the bar, getting up to leave. He'd almost gotten to the door, when he decided to double back.
"Sora." He whistled her over.
The redhead rolled her eyes, but came over anyway. "What's up?" She asked, "I'm a little busy, so make it brief."
Matt leaned across, lightly grabbing her arm he pulled her with in whispering range. "I need her phone number." He said.
"What?" Sora yelped. "You really are delusional." She tried to wrench her arm away.
But Matt didn't let up. "Seriously, I have to talk to her. We…we just—
"You had a connection, she was looking into your soul, blah blah blah, listen hotshot, I've hear it all before. Now let me go." She said sharply.
He loosened his grip. "It's different. Sora, seriously. I just…" But one more look at Sora and Matt knew she wasn't going to tell him. On a very subconscious level, he supposed he was glad Sora was so protective her. Mimi needed someone to look out for her, Sora seemed to do the job well.
He let go immediately, mumbling a quick apology. "You're a good friend to her, Sora." He stared into her eyes.
She nodded once.
Matt turned to leave.
"Wait!"
"What?"
Sora scribbled something across a napkin. "Here, her schedule for the weekend." She pressed it into his hand. "Just…please don't turn out to be a psycho stalker." She said, only just half kidding.
Matt took it gratefully. "Promise." He gave her a lopsided grin.
"Bet that grin of yours gets you into all kinds of trouble." She rolled her eyes.
"Mostly out of it."
"Yeah, yeah." She shook her head with a smile. "I'm sure I'll see you tomorrow."
"Count on it." He said immediately.
-x-
Over-time. That's what he had worked today. It was something Matt didn't do often, actually he didn't do it at all. He was already a partner in a very large Architectural company. Some could argue the largest company in all of Japan, but that depended on who you asked.
If say, the person being questioned was Matt's father Hiroki Ishida, he would say with out a doubt it was the largest and most prosperous company this country had ever seen.
But then, Hiroki owned the company.
Ishida Industries, to be exact.
He built it from the ground up, making connections as he went, stepping on people where it was needed, doing everything and anything it took to succeed. And he did, Hiroki was nothing if not an exceptional business man.
But the success came with a price.
Alienation from his loved ones.
His foreign bride, Nancy, an acquisition (as he liked to refer to her) from a trip to the states, had enough of his absence just six years into their marriage.
She took half, as well as Hiroki's two boys. Though he was never around to get to know them, the latter still hurt the man more. However, this did nothing to deter the man's ambition. If anything, the loss just fueled it even more.
Just ten years later, there wasn't a single apartment building, bank building, or condominium in downtown Tokyo that didn't have the double "I" emblem on it. But it left Hiroki a cold and desolate man, having been deprived of the warmth of a family and the love of his wife.
He had his concubines and mistresses, and they were fine for a month or so, but none of them meant much of anything. He had always been too busy for love, somewhere along the way he forgot how it felt.
And Matt only hoped that he wouldn't fall to the same fate as his father.
"?" It was the voice of his secretary, Miyako.
Matt didn't look up from his papers. "Come in." He said, pen still in his mouth.
She stayed by the door, hands folded behind her back. "It's half past eight, sir. And you said to remind you at the—
"Shit." Matt cursed, sifting through the mound of papers on his desk. "I was suppose to have these faxed to Yamada by now." He muttered angrily.
He found the manila folder he'd been searching for at the bottom of the mounting pile. "Here." He held out the folder. "Fax them to Gero Yamada," He said the name slowly and carefully, "At Lang & Lee Incorporated." He instructed.
She nodded fervently, the skittish secretary leaving the room as soon as she was allowed to.
He rubbed his temples, hoping Yamada would still be in his office. Considering it was a Saturday, Matt doubted it, but still he could hope. Because if Hiro comes in on Monday and everything isn't ready to go for his meeting with LLI, heads were going to roll.
Matt shook his head, he'd never been so careless with his work before. In fact, it was the reason he'd gotten as far as he had. Sure, Hiro had gotten Matt's foot in the door, but the blonde worked his ass off to excel at his job. And usually, he did. It was just that lately, he was distracted.
By a raven-haired dancer named Mimi.
-x-
When I'm tired and I feel faith is drifting
I remember love is what I'm working towards
Three years old and quite possibly the most beautiful thing she's ever laid her eyes on. And as the melancholy brunette stood in the doorway, hand poised over the light switch, she couldn't help but feel that same pang of regret she always did, every time she laid eyes on the most precious thing in her life.
Sleeping, she was a lot more innocent than she was awake. And Mimi just hoped and prayed that the little girl would retain that innocence for as long as she could. Because once it was gone, it was truly a tragic and irreversible thing.
She hated that they lived so uncomfortably, a small two bedroom barely big enough for two let alone three. She hated she couldn't give that little girl what she deserved. She wished things were different.
She felt the tears stinging at her eyes again, "It won't always be like this, baby." She whispered. "It's going to get better. Someday, we'll have it all. We'll have everything." She promised, sucking in a deep breath and running the back of her hand across her damp eyes.
Listening to the soft echoes of her breathing, Mimi gave herself once last glance, before agonizingly ripping her gaze away. It was always the hardest part of the day, leaving her, regardless for how long. She turned off the light, before pulling the door behind her, leaving it open just enough for some of the hallway light to peek through.
She found her brown haired friend waiting outside the door. "She'll be okay, she usually sleeps through the night." She assured, as she's don't many times before.
Mimi smiled a half-hearted smile, "I know, Kar. Thanks." She said.
"Besides, she absolutely adores her Aunt Kari." She winked.
Mimi laughed. "That much is for sure. I swear to God, weekends are made for her to sleep over your place." She rolled her eyes playfully.
"Well, she really brightens up that studio."
"That's one way to put it."
"She's an angel." Kari said firmly.
Mimi smiled softly. "She's far from an angel." She said with a laugh. "But that's perfectly fine with me."
Kari put a hand over Mimi's arm, "You're doing great with her, Meems." She said honestly, "She's going to be just fine, I know it. And maybe you don't give yourself enough credit, in fact I'm sure you don't, but I want you to know…I really admire you. And I am proud of you." She said into her friend's eyes, with as much conviction as she could convey.
Mimi couldn't help the smile that broke over her face. "Thank you, Kari." She whispered.
"It's the truth, and you don't hear it nearly enough."
-x-
He was waiting for her the second she pulled in, knees pulled up on the hood of his fancy car, blue eyes downcast in thought. With his un-tucked collared shirt, his sleeves rolled to his elbows, Nike sneakers and messy hair, he looked like a lost teenager, his thoughts maybe revolving around the next big sports game or algebra test.
Instead, his mind was on a raven-haired girl he'd yet to really meet but couldn't get out of his head.
He was jolted out of his thoughts at the sound of her car door slamming.
She came over to him, clad in jeans and a loose fitting tank top, and for a minute he was surprised at her attire. But then his eyes fell on the overnight bag slung over her shoulder, they probably contained her performance "clothes" for lack of a better word.
She looked guarded, arms crossed over her chest, shoulders squared, face stoic. But at the sight of her, his demeanor went pensive to relaxed, balancing his elbows on his knees.
"You're here." She mentioned lazily, clearly unimpressed.
Matt raised a shoulder, "I'm here." He repeated, as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.
She gave him a once over, before rolling her eyes. "Well, enjoy the show."
He hopped off his car before she could turn to leave, effectively bridging most of the distance between them. "I came yesterday too, but you didn't show."
"I don't work Fridays."
"Yeah, I made note of that."
She ran a few fingers through her hair. "Well, tip generously." She said nonchalantly.
"Wait, can you not leave so quickly, I was hoping we could…talk."
"Yeah. That's what you want to do, talk." She laughed mirthlessly. "No one comes around here just wants to talk, especially not with me."
"Well, consider me no one, because all I want to do is talk. To you." He didn't back down, it wasn't in his nature.
Mimi stared at him, a little confused but mostly curious. Whether it was his piercing azure eyes or his cool demeanor, there was just something about him that left her guessing. She was interested, intrigued—even, because he was so incredibly unreadable, all of his facial expressions were so undetectable, so well hidden, he gave nothing away.
"All right, wall street. What's this all about?"
Matt felt the corners of his mouth twitch at the sound of her little pet name, everything sounded so sweet coming from her, even if she meant it to mock him. "Honestly? I just want to know something about you, anything, really…"
Mimi stared up at him, eyes narrowed. "I don't get it, what do you want to know?" She wondered.
"Um, well. How about your middle name?" He said, off the top of your head.
"It's Rei…" She trailed off. "What does that—" She didn't finish it. "What's yours?" She asked after a minute.
Matt looked surprised for minute, "It's uh, Hiroki." He looked away, a light blush creeping up his neck.
She let out a laugh through her nose. "Very noble." She said, her eyes glittering with unshed laughter.
A grin broke out across his face too, if only because her rare smiles seemed that contagious. She had something about her, a light or an aura, that made everyone, he assumed, smile…even when they had no reason to.
Matt opened his mouth, he wanted to say it's my father's name, but he stopped himself. He learned from past experience that most of the time, girls would make the connection that Hiroki Ishida was his father, making Matt the heir to Ishida Industries. That tended to make him more a hundred times more appealing.
Instead, he just continued to grin. "Family name." he wrote of swiftly.
Mimi nodded, clasping her hands behind her back. "Well, I should really head in." She tilted her head towards the building behind them.
His grin immediately dropped off his face. "Right." He didn't bother hiding the frown.
She noted his sudden shift in demeanor, she'd be lying she said she wasn't used to it. She knew how guys like him saw girls like her, how most people saw girls like her. But she'd also be lying she said it didn't bother her. Because for a second or two, she'd really forgotten who they both were. It was a nice world to get lost in.
But now that she'd resurfaced, reality hit her hard and fast.
With out another word, Mimi turned away from the man she was just beginning to know. But as he usually did, he called her back, "Why?" with another vague and seemingly irrelevant question.
"Why what?" She didn't face him, she didn't really have the time.
"Why do you have to go in there?" Matt asked seriously.
This time, she turned around. "It's my job." She said with an accusatory glare.
Immediately, he backed off. "I just meant, couldn't you take a night off?" He back-peddled.
She shook her head immediately. "I had a day off yesterday." She said. "Besides, I have no reason to take a night off."
"Me." Matt said simply.
Her eyebrows rose. "What?" She asked, completely taken aback.
"Let me take you out tonight, just tonight. Show you Tokyo and the harbor, and the way the city looks when you stand under the lights of the Eitaibashi bridge and—
Mimi shook her head. "That's sweet. And I appreciate it." She tucked some hair behind her ear. "Everything you're saying sounds so amazing and I would love to but I—
"What? If you want to, why not?"
"We don't know each other, at all. I mean, I don't even know what you do for a living or how you have the finances to offer a stranger such lavish things but I think you should be able to tell just from my occupation alone that money is most definitely an object for me." She answered.
His frown deepened, his eyes darkening. "It's one night. Just one. I, I wanna show you the lighter side of life, where it's okay to be happy for longer than a few seconds." He persisted.
"Look, I. I just can't afford to take a night off, not even one." Mimi said, eyes anywhere but him. "It's just not possible. And even if it were, I'm sorry but I'm not sure I'd choose to spend it with you. I hardly even know you." She said bluntly.
Matt was a little surprised by her blatant honesty, but he couldn't very well begrudge her for having reservations. Especially given her line of work, she absolutely had to air on the side of caution. She could get herself in serious trouble, if she didn't.
"I understand." Matt sighed. "But I just want you to know I'm not giving up." He gave her that charming grin once more. "There's something about you, Mimi, and it leaves me a little confused and kind of disheveled and makes me act irrationally…and, and I can't exactly tell you what it is, all I know is it's something I've never really come across before and—
Mimi put a finger over his lips, her own lips melting into a graceful smile. "You're rambling." She said, low and raspy. "Which was kind of cute at the beginning, but a little annoying towards the end." She winked.
Matt resisted the urge to lay light kisses along her finger tip, instead, he just waited silently.
Slowly, she brought her hand down. "Sora told me you came by looking for me yesterday and obviously you're here today. So I can see you're not giving up." She said. "But I'm kind of a lost cause, so maybe you want to save yourself the trouble."
Matt grabbed her hand lightly, laying it, palm up, in his own. "What will it take…" He said slowly and softly, his voice taking on an almost melodic tone. "…to make you say yes?"
She didn't answer, trying really hard to ignore his thumb rubbing soft circles in her palm. She tried even harder to ignore how nice it felt.
After a minute or so of silence, he let out the breath he didn't even know he'd been holding. "All right." He said, giving in but far from defeated. "We'll do it your way."
Mimi stared at him skeptically.
"I don't really care how long I have to wait or how many trips a day I have to make here, I'm going to get you to go out with me." He smirked.
She raised her eyebrows. "Oh really? All for a date?" She asked in complete disbelief.
He nodded shamelessly. "All for a date." He reiterated. "Whether you choose to believe it or not, you're worth at least that much, Mimi." He stared right into her eyes, making sure she really listened to every word that fell out of his mouth.
Suddenly, he was too close for comfort. This stranger she hardly even knew was saying all these things and making her all these promises and all she could think of was running far away from them.
She retracted her hand from his grip, wrenching her eyes away from his gaze. "I, I really need to get inside." She swallowed thickly, turning away from him.
Matt was a little confused by her shift in mood, but he didn't hold it against her. He knew what he was getting himself into, the girl was heavily guarded and it would take a lot to break her.
Luckily, he never could resist a challenge.
Her hand had barely grazed the doorknob when she betrayed her better judgment to glance over her shoulder. For some reason, she'd expected him to be gone already, but there he was in the same spot she'd left him, staring right back at her.
"Will I see you inside?"
But when Mimi saw him grimace, she realized how repulsive that side of her must be to him, she instantly regretted asking him.
However, he surprised her, "Sure, maybe in an hour or two." He said sincerely.
She wanted to believe him, and she had no reason not to.
But she didn't.
-x-
He lost count of the hours he'd spent driving around the same inner city streets, his thoughts loud enough to drown out the radio.
At quarter to two, Matt pulled into the parking lot that had become almost like a second home to him these past few days. As he battled his own thoughts the whole way there, he realized there was no way he could go in there.
As badly as he wanted to see Mimi, as badly as he wanted to prove to her he meant everything he said, he just couldn't do it. There was no way he could go in there, watch her take her clothes off and feel okay.
It probably wouldn't change the way he looked at her, after all he knew her as the raven-haired dancer before he knew her a person, but it would change the way he felt about himself. Matt needed to be better than that. And for the same reason that he had left the last time he'd been in there, was the same reason he couldn't go back in.
But every time he thought about turning the car around and driving straight to his apartment, her face would flood to the forefront of his mind. He would see that small hopeful look in her eyes, the one that was there for a flash of a second and disappeared the second she realized it.
And Matt just couldn't see her like that, he knew it was what she did, but it didn't mean he was okay with it. He knew going in there now, after getting even the most miniscule glimpse into her soul, would be betraying her on some level. And he couldn't very well go in there now and control the urge to start swinging at every guy who had the audacity to stare at her.
He looked in through the glass over the door, he couldn't make out face but he could tell she was in there. It wasn't he crowd that gave it away or the lights or pulsating music. For some reason, he could just feel it. Even from outside of the bar, he could feel her and she felt so close.
"Hey, buddy. Go inside or get out of the way." A man grunted behind him.
Matt let go of the doorknob, ducking aside for the nameless, faceless man to go in past him.
Turning away from the door felt like the hardest thing he'd ever done, because he knew he was letting her down somehow.
He'd make it up to her, he decided, just not here.
And maybe the next time he asked her out, she'd have another reason to decline but that was a risk he was taking.
-x-
It wasn't as if she had waited, or anticipated or even really hoped. She didn't have expectations, not really anyway, she'd learn to let go of those a long, long time ago. Still, he had seemed so determined. And tonight, she was a little less satisfied about being right.
He didn't show up.
Another day is gone
Washed away with sorrows that you dwelled upon
And as the moon is rising, you think to yourself
I could be gone, if I go now
-x-
A/N: I know I promised a speedy update and I am sorry I couldn't deliver but (and I know I've said this a million times) I write when I'm inspired. Today, I was sitting in my room and it hit me, the urge to write. And when the words flow out and everything comes together, it's just the moment where I feel the most at home, the most at peace. Anyway, here it is, signed and delivered, the second chapter to Poison Ivy.
A few notes: Mimi's middle name is pronounce "Ray", I doubt it's her real middle name but I like it so there you. The Eitaibashi Bridge is a real bridge in Tokyo and it's really cool, look it up if you get the chance!
Songs- In order they appear:
Every Night is Another Story- Early November
Gravity Happens-Kate Voegele
Love is- The Meg and Dia Band
Hands of Time-Rachel Diggs
I hope it was okay and you guys enjoy it. I'm really glad I got such great reviews from all of you, I really appreciate them! I'll be updating my other stories soon…ish.
Reviews would be lovely!
Ciao!
-Chris.