Lumina et Tenebrae - Chaper 1.
Lucy's job was boring. Very, very, boring. When she'd graduated, she'd wished for a chance to travel, to see the world, but it never came. Her father didn't like the idea of a gap year, so convinced her to start working for a charity dealing with drug abuse. Then she worked for another charity dealing with marital abuse, which she though was ironic in retrospect. There seemed to be a lot of money in working for people dealing with abuse.
At last though, she had gotten her own job. Not entirely under her own steam, he father's name had come into it, but it wasn't as if he'd demanded they employ her. She worked for Marks and Marks publishing, a relatively large agent in the city. So far she had worked on a children's book about Flamingos and a Mexican cook book. Not particularly inspiring but she had to start somewhere.
"Lucy…?"
There was a knock at Lucy's office door. She sat bolt up right at her desk, remembering she was supposed to be emailing someone about …well something before she'd put her head down. Lucy's office was cold and plain. It was white and bleak and she hadn't really bothered personalising it at all. She preferred things simple and useful.
"Oh, yes, come in…" she replied, rubbing down her green silk shirt with her hands and hoping that her hair wasn't too messy. But it was just Olivia.
"Oh, Luce, you'll never guess who's in today!" Olivia announced walking into the room in a blitz of energy which gave her an instant headache. Lucy stood up, and pushed her chair under her desk, walking towards the door and closing it to try and dull the sound of Olivia's exited tones.
"It's only that Harold Saxon guy, oh my god he's so sexy I swear if he comes near me I'll ju…"
Lucy held her hand up at Olivia, giving her a pious look, struggling not to grin just a little bit.
"Come on Liv, the guy's just plan strange, you remember what Anne was saying about him when she worked on that shitty book of his, that Kiss me Kill me, that trashy piece of crap right?"
Lucy frowned. Everyone seemed to be going nuts over this guy; she didn't see anything particularly special about him. Just another MP with aspirations.
"Anyway," continued Olivia, not pausing for breath and apparently not listening to a word Lucy had said. "Guess who they've picked to work with him on his autobiography?" Liv was practically jumping. Lucy rolled her eyes and began to walk back behind her desk.
"Oh let me guess? You maybe?" Lucy couldn't help but feel a little bitter about the whole thing; she'd hardly had a decent project yet.
"No silly, you!" replied Olivia tailing Lucy around the desk.
Lucy supposed that she was supposed to scream and shout and be pleased and perhaps have a quick drink at lunch to toast her success. She didn't quite feel that amount of enthusiasm though. This sleazy politician made her stomach churn a little, and men with power did nothing for her.
"You have a meeting with him tomorrow at 11am..." Olivia continued, hardly pausing for breath.
Lucy took a seat and wrote it in her diary.
Through the window in her office door she heard a flurry of female voices, and the sound of male laughter.
"Right…" she sighed.
It was six minutes past eleven and Lucy say tapping her pen on the desk.
She stared at the ceiling wishing the ground would open up beneath her and swallow her up. She had everything ready, the Dictaphone with a fresh tape, some water, she was dressed nicely, not like some of the girls in the office who were wearing their shortest skirts especially. Pencil skirt and silk blouse. Professional. Smart. Hair loose, not too severe.
There was a knock on the door and it opened slowly, Olivia was giggling at a joke outside, and flirting unashamedly by the sounds of things. Lucy rolled her eyes and took a quick sip of water from her glass before standing up and straightening her skit with her hands.
Don't fuck this up… she thought to herself. She had to do well here, even if she hated him, she had to make this the best and more interesting autobiography ever published. No fucking pressure.
Olivia walked in first she was grinning from ear to ear, and Lucy smiled back at her.
The first thing Lucy noticed about Harry were his shoes. They were unnaturally shiny. Polished to within an inch of their life, not that shoes had a life, but Lucy didn't really care. He was shorter than she'd imagined, the way people talked she imagined a six foot something gladiator with a face like a male model. But he wasn't, he was more refined, and definitely more…well, wolfish. There was something cunning about his smile that she liked immediately, not that she was about to admit it to anyone.
"Miss Cole," he beamed walking in past Olivia, her eyes staring at him as he passed her. He held out his hand to Lucy and she responded by shaking his firmly. He looked disappointed for some reason. She was puzzled. He pulled his hand away and placed it in his trouser pocket, turning and taking a seat at the other side of Lucy's desk. Olivia still stood staring.
"Liv, could you give us some time," said Lucy, looking at her firmly as Olivia seemed to snap out of some sort of trance.
"Yeah, sorry…I'll…be, I'll be at my desk," She seemed to pull herself out of it, and made her way to the door, closing it tightly behind her.
Lucy sat down herself, taking a deep breath and taking her pen in her hand. She looked Harold Saxon right in the eyes and he looked right back at her. He didn't say anything, he just stared. It became apparent to Lucy that he was assessing her and she didn't feel particularly comfortable. She pulled her glasses out from her desk drawer and placed them on the bridge of her nose.
She coughed, clearing her throat hoping to shock him into speaking. It didn't work.
"So, you seem quite young to be thinking of publishing an autobiography…" said Lucy, looking down to thumb through her notes. She had received plenty of information regarding his career, life and education, though it was really just bare bones facts, nothing to flesh it out and give it real life.
"You seem quite young to be working here." He replied curtly.
Lucy looked up to find him grinning at her again. He looked like the cat that had got the cream. She frowned slightly, looking back down at her notes.
"So Mr Saxon, where should we start then, what about your childhood? You mention your father William was a….."
"I think we should start by you allowing me to take you out for lunch," he replied quickly, not missing a beat.
Lucy looked up again, taking her glasses off quickly.
"I don't think so." She said, rather coldly, even for her. She regretted it instantly, but he didn't seem to be phased. His grin didn't sink or fade away. He seemed to be amused by something, maybe it was just her cold demeanour, and maybe he was so full of himself that he thought it was hilarious when a woman didn't bite his hand off.
"Ohh," he said pouting slightly. Lucy made a mental note of his childishness.
She returned to the notes, scanning them again.
"So, your family.." she pressed the record button on the Dictaphone, looking back up pen in hand.
His phone rang, that annoying buzz buzz sound, and he answered it immediately.
His conversation was quick and direct. Something about Harriet Jones. Lucy knew she was apparently ill with some mysterious infliction that no one seemed to know anything about.
He hung up, snapping the phone shut between his fingers.
"Look, I'm awfully sorry but something has just come up, you know how it is." He stood up, and so did Lucy, internally fuming.
She held out her hand for him to shake, but to her surprise he took it in his hand and pulled it towards his mouth kissing her knuckles gently. He quickly pulled away and made his way towards the door swiftly moving across the room with ease and slipping out of the room as if he'd never been there.
Lucy blinked and he was gone, the smell of his aftershave lingering in her office was the only thing that indicated his presence, she breathed deeply. Their meeting had been a grand total of 5 minutes.
Lucy sprayed some air freshener.