Penname: javamomma0921
Derivative Fiction
Rating: M
Disclaimer: All copyrights, trademarked items, or recognizable characters, plots, etc. mentioned herein belong to their respective owners. No copying or reproduction of this work is permitted without their express written authorization.
Prompt: Beg
Beg
I ran all the way to the water's edge before I stopped, torn between my desire to stay where I knew my family waited for me and the place where I already knew I was supposed to be. I didn't belong here right now; this wasn't my time. I was supposed to be across the sea for a time and then come back. I didn't want to leave; it felt as though I was leaving my future behind. I sighed, looking out at the fathomless ocean and turned to make my arrangements. It looked as though I'd be swimming.
After sending my things to France, I began my swim. I disliked swimming intensely but it was necessary. I couldn't take the risk of being aboard a ship with humans for a transatlantic crossing. This was simpler and faster.
Once in France, I collected my belongings and rented a small house outside the city. It was quaint but it was beautiful. I loved everything about it, including the field of wild flowers that surrounded the house. I wouldn't be bothered here and I would be free to come and go at night as I pleased. The only thing left to do now was design my distraction. I lived my existence one distraction to the next, only waiting for the moment I would be called back to actually begin living. I vowed that this distraction would be better than the last, less dangerous and more fun. It would be well deserved after the fiasco with Sal.
I strolled into the exclusive dress boutique, draped in a gauzy black wrapping that I had artfully managed to make look alluring. The shop was small and clearly hurting. The clothes were expensive, but the fashions were all wrong. They needed a new designer. Badly. This was next distraction.
The shop keeper looked me up and down, sizing me up and trying to decide what I would most like to buy. I allowed her to look but held her gaze; I would not let her feel superior to me.
"And what would you like to buy?" she asked me sweetly, expectantly.
"Nothing."
My answer took her back. She was immediately on the defensive, wanting to know what I wanted with her if not to buy her wares.
"What can I do for you then?" she asked in quickly delivered French. She gazed at me with superiority high in her eyes. She knew I was foreign and hoped to make me ill at ease.
"I'm looking for employment," I said in equally flawless French. "My American husband left me and I've come back home to start anew."
She sneered at me. I was disgraced, probably penniless. I would offer her nothing and she didn't need another obligation.
"We have nothing for you here," she said in English. Her accent was heavy, but her disdain was clear. She didn't want me.
"Please," I begged. "I have nothing left. I want to be some where I can make a difference. I can help you."
"Qualifications?" she snapped.
I prattled off a list of qualifications, most of them made up, that made her jaw drop. When I whipped out a stack of drawings I had made the night before I knew I had her attention. They rivaled the latest fashions and would sell extraordinarily well. I watched as her eyes widened.
"You must have been trained by the best," she whispered. "These are amazing!"
I smiled, victory close.
"I don't understand, though," she said. "Why do you want to work for me?"
"As I said, I've experienced some recent…sadness." I looked at her knowingly. Her eyes widened and then she clucked her tongue in sympathy. "I think it would be best for me to keep a low profile right now."
"Men can be such pigs," she said, with a roll of her eyes. We were co-conspirators now.
"But who can live without them?" I wondered aloud.
She chuckled, reaching out for my hand and was shocked to find it no longer where she thought it was.
"How true, dear. I think we can find the perfect place for you here. When can you start?"
"Would today be too soon?"
A/N: I have some HUGE news for those of you who follow Edward's story. I made it to the Finals of the Faithful Shipper Awards! Voting opened today, so go to my profile page, click on the link for the faithful shipper awards and VOTE please!! I'm up against some very stiff competition, so I need every vote I can get. Thanks so much for all of your support!! It's because of all of YOU that I got this far and I thank each and every one of you for sticking with me.
I changed the title a little bit, so people would know what to expect. What did you think of Alice here? It was hard to make her beg, but I can see her using her sight to know what would win the woman over. And I love the idea of Alice as a designer. We know that she often sent drawings to designers; I thought it wouldn't be too far off if she actually used designing as a distraction during her time before Jasper. What do you think?