The light shined onto Elizabeth's face and she rolled over. The scent of the pillow wasn't familiar and she abruptly knew where she was. The haze from the night before was completely gone and all that was left was the older gentleman on the other side of her bare body. Another notch in his belt, she thought. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up as carefully as possible while being hung-over trying not to stir Tony. As quickly and quietly as she could, Elizabeth gathered all her clothes and placed them in a pile and she began getting dressed.
"Morning." he said, his voice deep and raspy from the sleep he just woke from. "Good morning Mr. Stark. Sorry to wake you." "Please stop calling me Mr. Stark. Were you getting ready to leave?" He questioned, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of his bed. "I'm sorry Tony. Yes I was planning on leaving. I didn't want to make this uncomfortable for either of us." Tony chuckled at her words and her fumbling with her clothing. Standing up, he walked over to his closet and grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
"That comment might have made this ordeal a bit more awkward than it was when I woke up next to a beautiful woman. " His words were a joke. Tony was no more uncomfortable waking up next to random beautiful women than he was taking a shower, and Elizabeth very well knew this. "Well, I will be going." She said, slipping her boots back on then shoving her phone into her pocket. "Where do you live?" he asked."Manhattan." she answered. "Do you need a car to take you home Ms. Kennedy." "Yes I do, thank you." she smiled following him towards the elevator.
" JARVIS?" Tony called out to no one. "Yes sir?" it answered from what seemed to be the walls. "My guest needs a car to Manhattan." "I will prepare a car sir." Tony gave her a quick smile and pushed the down button. Once the elevator arrived, they both stepped on and he pushed the button for the 1st floor. Elizabeth was grateful for the speed of the ride and the fact that Tony kept his eyes on the door of the elevator. She had to remind herself to breathe once she stepped off or she knew she was going to hit the floor face first.
The car was sitting in front of the house and he was gentleman enough to walk her to the car. Opening her door and holding her hand to help her step in. "Have a wonderful weekend." He said closing the door, and the car pulled away. Elizabeth could actually breathe, and it was the first time she felt as if she wasn't going to pass out. Tony's kindness and her hangover were far too much for her to deal with. She knew he was a womanizer and she wasn't sure if his kindness was because he didn't have the chance to leave before she woke up or if it was because he was actually respectful to women behind closed doors.
She shook her head and let out a small laugh. "Miss, what's the address?" "If you could drop me off at the Starbucks on 8th Avenue that will be sufficient." "Yes ma'am." the driver said. Elizabeth closed her eyes trying to relax. She felt her lids get heavy and soon she fell asleep , stuck in traffic.
Elizabeth woke up to the sound of the door opening. "Here you are miss." Thank you." She said stepping out of the all black car and headed into the Starbucks. I think I need a personal driver she thought, laughing at the absurdity."Hi, what can I get you?" the barista asked. Elizabeth ordered her usual and handed them cash. Once her order was finished, she picked it up and headed towards her apartment. A shower was a necessity; to scrub the reminder from the night before down the drain. Pushing the call button on the elevator, she slowly ascended to her apartment on the 6th floor.
Elizabeth stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in her bathrobe. Putting her hair up in a towel, she walked to her kitchen a grabbed a yogurt from the fridge. She used to think that her apartment was nice. The single bedroom now felt like a closet compared the space of Tony's house. She couldn't help but to think about the fact that she may never run into Tony Stark again in her life. The rush of the whole thing from the night before was her favorite part. She expected to be able to wake up before him and get out before he would even realize she was gone. It wouldn't be hard to find him, that she knew, but the little white lie she told him was going to be difficult to explain.
She out a sigh and took a bite of her yogurt, suddenly she wasn't feeling hungry anymore. Elizabeth knew she needed to get ready for another party this time for work, but she just didn't have the energy. Eating another scoop of her yogurt, she got up and headed for her closet. What to wear? she thought to herself checking each dress hanging in her closest. "I don't even want to go!" she yelled into the clothes. They couldn't reply and she knew if they could they would tell her to stop being such a big baby and pick out a dress and move on.
Reaching in, she grabbed an emerald color and stuffed it back in the closet. "I will look like Poison Ivy." she laughed and pulled out a navy floor length dress. "This will do." she smiled to herself and hung it on the back of her bedroom door. Elizabeth let her hair down, brushed it, and put it up in curlers. Dabbing some moisturizer all over her face, she laid down and set an alarm on her phone. Elizabeth closed her eyes and she was asleep.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Elizabeth reached over and hit dismiss on her cell phone. She got out of bed and padded to the bathroom to start on her makeup. With her face done, she took out the curlers and let her hair shape her face. A quick shake and some hair spray finished off her look. The robe hit the floor and she stepped into her dress, the bottom pooling at her feet. She slipped on a pair of silver pointy toed pumps. She headed down the stairs and out onto the busy Manhattan street and slid into the car that was waiting for her.
"Hey Elizabeth." her blonde friend said quite chipper. "Alicia, this is becoming too tiring." Elizabeth laughed, checking her face in a compact. "Oh I don't want to even hear it. What was that about last night? You were there and then you were gone." her friend said, dragging her attention away from her reflection. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." "Try me." With that, Elizabeth went into detail of the night before right up till they arrived at his house. Alicia's mouth gaped open at the words coming from Elizabeth's mouth.
"So you gave him a fake name and then you went home with him?" Elizabeth nodded. "You are so full of shit! There is no way you went home with Anthony Stark!" the blonde said, playfully slapping her. "I couldn't make that up if I tried." Alicia rolled her eyes. "Why would you give him a fake name? What if he was interested in you? He will never be able to find you now." "He wouldn't be able to find me anyway. You know how secure my background is. Mr. Phillips had to get governmental clearing to even get my background for a background check." "Tony Stark is a billionaire, not to mention he is Iron Man. I think he could get it if he really wanted to." She said, stepping out of the car. Elizabeth followed after.
She knew Alicia had a point, but she completely forgot that he was Iron Man. Not once did he make a big deal and remind her every 10 minutes. Once inside, Elizabeth's boss handed her a drink and pulled her to the side. "Monday I am going to need you to be at work at 8 in the morning instead of 9." "Why? Is everything ok?" she asked. Mr. Phillips rarely asked her to come in early unless there was something wrong in the legal department. "Yes everything is fine. We just have a big client coming in Monday and I need you to be there." Elizabeth took a sip of her drink and nodded. "Of course sir. I will be there." "What would I do without you?" he winked and walked towards a group of older men.
Elizabeth let out a sigh and downed her drink. This night was slowly turning into the night before with rich men and expensive drinks. The other girls she worked with loved the parties that they went to; they loved being ogled by drunk, old, rich men. Elizabeth didn't want those things; if she was going to drink and party she would rather do it somewhere where the people were closer to her age. "Another long island iced tea, please?" she asked the waiter. he nodded and began filling up another cup. "Having fun?" he asked, trying to make small talk. Elizabeth smiled taking the glass, "Yeah, these things are always kind of amusing."
Leaving the bartended at his station, Elizabeth took a seat near her blonde friend. "Hey there you are. I thought we might have lost you again." Alicia said, sipping her martini. "No I am still here, for now." she laughed, taking a sip for her drink. The rest of the night flew by in buzzed haze. Laughing, drinking, eating and joking around with the people from work. Once it was over, Elizabeth called a taxi and went home. Stumbling to the elevator she managed to make it to her floor, unlock her door and undress enough to just fall into her bed. Thankful for her dull day tomorrow, but not her busy day Monday.
Monday morning was here quickly. Elizabeth did nothing much the day before. Lounged around all day in over sized shirts with tea and movies. Today she knew she was grateful for the relaxed Sunday. Dressing in a black Anne Taylor suit and teal button down shirt, she slid on a pair of black flats. Elizabeth did a quick once over in the mirror and headed down the stairs. No reason to take the elevator, I could use some exercise, she thought. The red head walked towards the 40 story building that she was employed at.
She enjoyed the fresh air and the sunshine that warmed her so early in the morning. Today is going to be a good day, she thought. After walking the 7 blocks, she finally arrived at work. "Good morning Miss. Stone." the security guard at the front desk greeted. "Hello Kevin." she smiled and stepped onto the elevator. Pressing the button for the top floor, Elizabeth felt the elevator take off towards the top. She stepped off and walked towards her office. "Good morning Elizabeth." "Good morning Mr. Phillips." she said opening her door. "I am going to need you to get all the papers together to show the net value of our company and the production. Well you know what to get so I might as well not waste my breath." he laughed peaking his head in. "No problem sir." She smiled, typing away on her computer.
After an hour and half of printing and filing and organizing, she received a buzz over her phone. "Miss. Stone?" "Yes sir?" "If you could please come to the conference room." "Of course sir." and with that the line went dead. the red head grabbed all of the folders and headed towards the conference room. She was nervous, there was no doubt about that, there was a lump in her throat that a glass of water probably wouldn't take care of.
She hated these things, meetings with important people about important things that she could possibly screw up. She took a deep breath and walked through the door. "Mr. Stark, this is one of the top girls on the legal team, Elizabeth Stone." her boss introduced. The lump in her throat suddenly turned into a boulder. The shock on his face was well hidden, shock on hers, well she knew that wasn't. "Are you feeling okay Miss. Stone? You look like you are about faint." Mr. Phillips said. "I'm alright sir, just kicking a cold." she lied and sat across from Tony.
Half an hour into the meeting, Elizabeth still couldn't shake the boulder that was residing in her throat. "Mr. Phillips." the intercom spoke. "Yes Miranda?" he replied. "Your son's school is on the phone. They say it is important." "Thank you." he said, and hit the end button. "Please excuse me Mr. Stark." Tony nodded and Mr. Phillips took his leave, leaving the red head alone with Tony Stark.
"What's wrong? You look as if you have seen a ghost." Tony poked. She knew she was in deep shit. Taking another drink of water, Elizabeth refused to make eye contact. "Elizabeth Stone, huh? Sounds much different than Anne Kennedy that I met Friday, but looks exactly the same. Why would you lie about something as stupid as your name?" The red head felt as if there was a hot spot light on her. "A hook up is a hook up, despite what your real name is." she defended. "I was up front with you. I never pretended to be someone I wasn't. I am Anthony Stark, I am Iron Man. I am no one else. I'm not Billy Bob or some other made up alias. But I knew after you left that it was a fake name." "Excuse me?" "You see, I like to do a quick background check on the women who come to my home after they leave." "You tried to pry into my life?" "You call it prying Ms. Stone, I call it looking after myself. I saw that there was no such person named Anne Kennedy from where you took me, or that even looked remotely like you. That is when I knew I'd been had."
Elizabeth ran her fingers through her hair. "I just didn't think this right here would be happening." she said, "I also didn't think you would have researched into my life." "I said I like to call it looking after myself." Tony said very flatly. His tone was much different than the first time they interacted. The playfulness was gone from his voice. "What if I would have wanted to contact you again Ms. Stone? Then what?" "Why would you want to contact me again?" Elizabeth couldn't understand what he could see in her, to want to see her again. "Because I had a good time, and thought maybe we could do it again." with that, a devilish smirk danced across his face. Elizabeth felt her heart stop and her face heat up. "Oh."