A day in the life of Nick Gray

"I would like the usual please." Yeah, the usual. And just like every day, he got the same for breakfast: Bacon with crumbled eggs. He got up at six thirty, like always; he showered because he was paranoid enough to think he smelled bad in the morning. He drove to his office at around seven thirty and got there at eight. He ordered his breakfast at the cafeteria and he always ate it in his office.

The lady behind the counter smiled at him. Oh, how often had she given him the usual? She was a rather old lady and she knew Nick for a year now. He was pretty young, she didn't know. She guessed around 22, maybe even 25, but not older. He was always polite to her and quite the gentleman.

"Like always." She said and turned around to get his breakfast. Nick nodded. He didn't really like how his life had this routine where going to a party or a club never seemed to fit in. He was thankful that his friends didn't just leave him out like that. They always called to ask him if he was okay, or what he was doing. The lady soon came back with his breakfast.

"Here you go, honey. Have a nice day." Nick thanked her and walked over to the elevator. He pushed the button and waited patiently. He looked at his watch. Like always, it was now eight fifteen. He would not be too late, even if he had to take to stairs. The elevator came and Nick stepped into it, pushing the button for the third floor.

His company was a rather tall building. He was a quite good employee – at least that was what his boss always said. But his job wasn't really hard. It had to do with a lot of paper and phone calls. And maybe a little smartness which most of his clients were lacking off. But that's why this job even existed.

When the elevator reached the third floor Nick got out and walked to his office. It was pretty big actually. His secretary was outside his office, already waiting for him.

"Good morning Mr. Gray. I got your coffee." Nick smiled at her and grabbed his coffee. Linda – his secretary – wasn't exactly hard to look at and she flirted with him often, but Nick was just not interested. She was blonde and really tall – another model type and if she wanted Nick would get her a job, but that was beside the point – so totally not his type. He liked the ones that weren't really taller than him. And he loved brown hair. The eyes didn't really matter to him. What mattered more was if the girl was smart.

Now, he wasn't saying Linda was dumb. But she was dumb enough to not get his subtle rejections. She always tried again.

"Thank you Linda. Any mail for me?" She nodded.

"Yes, certainly Mr. Gray. And Ben wants to talk to you. He said something about a new client." Nick nodded, grabbed his mail that Linda handed him and walked into his office. Honestly, it didn't help Linda that she was about eight years older than Nick. Sometimes she scared Nick, when she flirted with him. And she talked weird sometimes. But that could also have something to do with her accent. She was from England.

Nick didn't think England was a weird country, but Linda made it seem weird. She always talked about how beautiful the country was and he knew himself. But she just… made it seem really weird. Nick looked at his mail. Nothing interesting. Just a few thank you letters from his clients because he got them another job. He threw the mail onto his table and took a sip of his coffee.

That's when Ben, his boss, entered the office. He smiled at Nick's punctuality and walked up to Nick's table.

"Good morning, Nick. How are you?" Nick smiled politely as he took another quick sip.

"Good morning Ben. Ah, you know the usual. How about you?" The usual, again. This term seemed to be marked in Nick's life. He used it pretty often.

"I'm pretty darn good. We got the newest client coming in tomorrow and you will help her." Nick nodded. Ben sat down opposite Nick. He handed him a folder.

"She is completely new to the businesses. She got discovered while shopping. Apparently she kind of modeled for her best friend out of fun and a so called 'model discoverer' well… discovered her. She accepted but only if she got the best agent. And that's where you come into action." Nick took the order and opened it. There was no picture of her, only the name and some other details. Ben continued.

"Well, the name's Miley Stewart, she is 22, just got out of college. She majored in English and was about to look for a job until they discovered her. She'll come by at nine tomorrow. Will you do her case?" Nick read through the sheet a little more. Then he nodded absentmindedly. He looked up at Ben.

"Yeah, I'll do it." Ben smiled at Nick.

"Thank you. Now, I believe you have a meeting in a few minutes, so I'll let you eat your breakfast and get ready." Nick nodded and Ben left his office. He had fifteen minutes left before his first meeting started. He quickly ate his breakfast and took a sip at his coffee now and then. After he finished he grabbed his calendar and looked at his appointments. He would have to postpone one meeting to an hour later, but lucky for him he was free at 10 a.m. He wrote the new meeting down and looked at his watch. Two minutes left. He closed the calendar and walked outside to Linda.

"Linda, could you please postpone my 9 o'clock meeting tomorrow to 10 a.m. and make sure I'm free at nine tomorrow? I've got a new client coming in at nine." Linda smiled at Nick and nodded.

"I will do just that for you." Nick nodded and shot her a small smile before he walked into meeting room number 10 to see a few people sitting there. He sat down next to Larry, a guy he considered a friend, and greeted him.

"Good morning to you too. I heard you got a new chick coming?" Larry was a year older than Nick. That made him 24, but he still acted like the jock that he was in High School. Nick heard a few stories from Larry's girlfriend Pamela. They got together in college but they went to the same High School as well.

"Yeah, I have." Larry nodded.

"How old is the girl?"

"Uhm, actually, she's a year younger than me." That surprised Larry. Usually Nick's clients were 26 and had at least a little bit of experience.

"Is she new to the business?" Nick nodded.

"Yeah, funny story actually. I heard she got discovered at the mall, while shopping with her best friend. It's not really a common thing but she got lucky I guess." Larry chuckled.

"Discovered while shopping. Great story for the grandchildren to tell. Dude, that's really not common. That's more like really lucky." Nick nodded and chuckled himself. Yeah, that would be a great story to tell. But Nick had his doubts as well. Since this girl was completely new to the business and she had not expected to become a model, it would be hard for him to support her.

"What's she called?" Nick sighed.

"Miley Stewart. She majored in English. Another uncommon thing for a model. Usually, they start at the age of 18 which is right after High School. But Miley didn't even want to become a model. It's going to be hard to help her find a job if she's not working with me." Larry nodded. He never had inexperienced clients, but then again, Nick was way better than him even though he started working at the company one year ago.

"You're right. Oh, here comes my client. See ya at lunch?" Nick nodded and watched Larry walk away with his client. Right as Larry walked out, his client came in. Her name was Bunny and she was 26. She would flirt with Nick occasionally but again, he never flirted back. He was there for the business and not for the girls.

"Good morning, Nick." He greeted her back as she sat down. He wasn't formal with his clients because they weren't much older than him. And he always thought it sounded like he was old when they said Mr. to him.

"Let's get right down to business. A commercial company called. They were looking for a model to shoot a short clip. It's not a long clip, but the money you get out of it is very much worth it. I told them that I had just the perfect person for that commercial. They needed the well… they said the Playboy kind of girl. Now, I'm not saying that you are that kind of girl, but I'm saying that you could work there as well."

That was true. Bunny was first of all, the perfect name for the Playboy department. Her hair was bleach blonde and for sure not real. And Nick knew that Bunny did have a plastic surgery. Bunny blushed.

"Well, if you think it's good for me, then of course I'll do it." Nick nodded.

"Okay, if you have questions, I'll give you the number of the company. They want you there in two days, so better get ready." Bunny nodded.

"Thank you, Nick. You're like totally awesome." Nick smiled and let her hug him.

"I'll see you later." She left the room quickly.

Nick's whole morning went like that. He had a meeting after another. Finally, after about six meetings and a phone call with another client, he walked downstairs to meet Larry. They always ate lunch together. Or at least if their schedules would allow that. Yeah, Nick could definitely consider Larry a friend.

Nick waited at the exit of the building for Larry. And just like every day, Larry came stumbling down the stairs. He was pretty clumsy. Once Larry saw Nick, he smirked.

"Done and ready to go like every day. Ladies and Gentleman, Nick Gray." Larry took a bow while Nick chuckled. He shoved Larry as they walked out of the building. The usual banter between two friends.

"So, how'd it go with Bunny? I saw her walk in." Nick smiled big.

"She got a request for a commercial yesterday. Well, not her in particular, but the commercial company called and asked if I had any good 'material'. I knew it had to be Bunny as soon as they said they needed the Playboy kind of girl." Larry smirked.

"Oh, she's definitely the Playboy kind of girl." Nick hit Larry on the shoulder. They walked into their favorite diner. The woman working there smiled at them since they were at the diner every day. They sat down at their usual table and ordered the usual food.

"So, any news besides the new girl coming in tomorrow?" Nick shook his head.

"No, just one client called a meeting off because she was sick." Larry nodded and Nick and Larry seemed to think the same because right after they both said:

"The usual." They chuckled. The food came and they both started eating until Nick excused himself to go to the toilet.

"I'll be right back." Larry nodded and continued eating. Nick went to the bathroom and did what he had to do. When he walked he looked down. But when he did so, he bumped into someone. That someone screeched. He looked up quickly.

In front of him was a rather beautiful girl, looking down at herself. Only then did Nick notice the big coffee stain on her with dress. She glared at Nick.

"Thanks a lot. This dress is new!" Nick was too shocked to say something at first. The girl was more than 'rather beautiful'. He had to swallow one time before he snapped out of it. Guilt started to take over. Something that always happened when people were angry at him.

"I'm so sorry! Here let me help you." Just as Nick was about to dry the stain, the girl pushed his hand away.

"No, I can do that myself! Ugh, stupid coffee. I should drink less of it. Anyway, it's not your fault, I should have expected it. It always happens to me." Nick shook his head.

"No, I should have been looking." The girl glared at Nick again. She was obviously blaming Nick but didn't want to say it.

"Look here, Curly, if I say it's my fault then it is my fault. Don't make me change my mind and sue you!" Nick looked at her amused.

"And what would you sue me for?" The girl looked at him a little while longer until she just scoffed and turned around. Nick sighed.

"I'm sorry again." The girl waved a hand at him and stalked off, silently cursing. Nick chuckled and walked over to Larry. Larry was laughing when he saw the look on Nick's face. Nick shoved him again.

"Dude, that was not funny. That dress seemed expensive." Larry shrugged.

"Whatever, she seemed rich anyway." Nick shook his head.

"No, she seemed mad. Man, I'm an idiot." Larry laughed again.

"I figured that out way before you." Nick hit Larry and finished eating. After they paid they went back to the company to finish their work.

After a really usual and not stressing day, Nick arrived back home in his apartment. It was around five o'clock, again like always. He ordered a pizza and ate it after it arrived. At six o'clock he walked into his home office and did the paper work he had to do and at nine he finished. He changed into sweatpants and pulled his shirt off because he strictly slept without a shirt on.

He lay down in his bed and let the day replay like always. After lunch he had four other meetings. One of them lasted about an hour because they talked about the model ending her career. They figured one more shoot wouldn't hurt and then she could quiet because she was about 32.

After this hour long meeting his mother called to check on him, like every day and like every day she gave him a lecture about finally finding him a girl. He did have a few girlfriends, but they weren't really considered a 'keeper'. So he dumped them after they started wanting more than just kisses and some make out sessions.

Yeah, Nick did wait until he got married. He promised his mother and father when he was about 10 years old. He even wore a purity ring. But from the looks of it, he would stay a virgin until he died. But that didn't really bother him that much.

He told his mother off by saying that there weren't really much smart girls out there, or at least not the right one for him. His mother said he'd find her soon and Nick just agreed with her. After 30 minutes his mother finally hung up. Yeah, a usual day in Nick Gray's life. Except one unusual thing.

The girl in the diner. Yes, he still thought about her. He felt really guilty about ruining her new dress and he felt stupid for staring at her for so long. He just couldn't help it though. She was beyond beautiful. But the chances of meeting her again were pretty low, so he let it go and drifted off to the usual dreamless sleep.

You see, Nick Gray used the term usual pretty often. But that would change soon.