The sordid Matisse stared down at me from where I was sitting. The disfigured orange figures frolicking in joy, the starkness of the painting, the 15 minutes I spent sitting in the lonely lobby felt like an eternity. Until I heard a voice.

"Bennet, Elizabeth?", a tall lanky man wearing loose sweaters and horn-rimmed glasses called while coming out of a corridor.

"That's me" I said while standing up, a bit flustered by being taken away from the experience of the painting so suddenly.

I went up to him. He put his right hand out to greet. "Hi I am Castor Troy, head writer", he said.

I was a bit taken aback, for I was expecting him to be an assistant or some intern.

"I'm Elizabeth", I replied feeling awkward not knowing what to do. "I know", he said back with the same awkwardness. "But you can call me Lizze" I retorted back, saving myself. "That's great!", he said with a cheery smile, "follow me".

It was a long plain white corridor which was eerily deserted. The morbidity of the entire building was making me question my decision to apply for a job at a time when people are on holidays and office buildings are abandoned wastelands filled with losers with poor family skill. But then I realised the irony of what I just thought and shoved all fears and doubts with a huge mental YOLO.

We entered his small office which seemed to be made out of nothing but walls of tall bookshelves and piles of messy ring-bound documents. He had some opened files on his tables which he carelessly picked up and shoved behind his chair.

"I hope you excuse the mess, we're running short on staff" he said in an apologetic tone as he shoved another set of papers in a drawer by the wall.

"Don't worry about it, it's the holidays" I said as I wondered if it would be rude to sit without asking for permission.

"Yeah that's one reason for sure" he replied with snide sarcasm as he adjusted his chair, "do sit down Elizabeth" he gestured towards one of the two chairs across from his.

"So, I heard you're from New Hampshire?" He said as he fished out a file with a sticky note that said 'H.R.'.

"Yeah I just got here a few days back", I replied as I was extremely distracted by a photo frame sitting on the table amid a mess. It was a picture of Castor with another guy. Both of them were wearing tuxedos and hugging each other. He wasn't wearing any glasses but he seemed extremely happy and glowing in it, unlike his condition right now as he looked haggard and extremely tired.

"That's my husband", he said glancing at me sideways with the HR file still in his hand. I felt like he was looking for my reaction.

"You look very happy here. Congratulations", I said, returning his haze with the widest smile I knew.

He shut close the file and leaned back in his chair as he apprised me. I smiled back a bit awkwardly, then I chuckled and asked, "what?"

He smiled and looked down and said with a bit of embarrassment, "I hope you excuse me but I wasn't expecting someone from a place like Beardsley to be so chill about it".

"It's okay", I replied back, "it's far better to be judged a bigot than it is to be judged a degenerate I suppose".

This time he gave a big magnanimous smile and nodded enthusiastically.

"Anyways, you do know that the position you applied for is quite temporary, right?", he asked leaning forward on the table.

"Yes I do, this is exactly the kind of job I need", I replied suddenly being a bit conscious about my posture, making sure I came across as professional as I can.

"You majored in English Literature, and worked as a librarian?" He asked. I confirmed.

"What made you leave your librarian job and move all the way to the other end of the country?", he asked. The question just came out of nowhere and hit me square in the face.

What should I do, be honest or cook up some bullshit? What if I don't get this job?

My mind was running in circles and I felt like I had frozen. Everything from the library to my apartment in Beardsley to the bennet estate to my mother's face flashed before my eyes. My mind was complete chaos. Darcy's face popped up for a moment finally and in a moment I blurted out. "I wanted to try something new and engaging for once in my life, it's too short to suffocate yourself with the same people you've known for the rest of your life", I said while staring not directly at him but at the corner of his chair's back. "Also, it gets really awkward when you keep running into your cousins on tinder".

I couldn't believe what I just vomited out but there was something about the ambience and atmosphere of the place along with the skinny middle aged guy in casual clothes smiling at me that put me in peace. Luckily for me, he laughed.

"You're honestly the funniest person I've met in quite a while, and I mean it", he said while looking around him rather dejected. He pulled a paper from the file, wrote something and signed it.

"Give this to Shelly at HR on your way out. She's in the main administrative building" he handed the paper to me.

I rose slowly in disbelief as I stared at him and then the paper.

"Congratulations", Castor said with a smile as he held out his hand again. I took it but my hand was quite limp. I was still processing this bizarre interview and the fact that I had a job in Los fucking Angeles now.

Whatever excitement I had about my newfound success was dutifully subdued by the bustling administrative building of the studios. The HR made me wait for 90 minutes easily and the remainder of paperwork took another 2 hours. By the time I reached back to the reception area it was well into late afternoon and I was starving. All I could think about was sharing a nice hearty Christmas dinner (my treat of course) with Emily as soon as possible. I didn't even work out the details as she was having a party tonight. Maybe we can sneak out for a late night snack. I didn't care much. I was happy in a long time.

As I was crossing the lobby I heard a voice call my name that made my heart skip a beat . I turned around and saw who else but Aidan emerged from an opposite corridor with his assistant by his side. He was holding a large briefcase.

I don't know if it was the beautiful evening, the emotions of the whole day manifesting into something surreal or just seeing Aidan of all people in a moment when I was ecstatic, whatever it was, I almost ran up to him and mounted myself with a hug. He staggered a bit but he laughed it off and wrapped his arms around my waist as his briefcase heaved it down. I closed my eyes for a second and felt like one feels when they finally enter the warmth of a home after a cold chilly windy day.

I opened my eyes and saw his brunette assistant look at me awkwardly and smiling sheepishly. I immediately jumped down and looked up at him blushing.

"Of all the people I can run into, I run into you! That too here? What are you doing here?" Aidan asked, unable to control his excitement. His assistant looked at him as if she has never seen him behave like this before.

"I had a job interview here", I said, as it slowly dawned on me whether he knows about the drama back home.

"Which department?" He asked.

"The animation studios", I said.

"Was that the team under Castor Troy?" He asked.

"Yes, you know him?" I asked.

"Yeah he's a great guy" he said. "Did you get the job then?", he asked.

"Yeah actually I did" I replied with that intoxicated smile, " don't even ask how".

His assistant smiled at me and congratulated me.

"Congratulations! You would have gotten it though" Aidan said.

There was an overlong moment of awkward silence as we stood there smiling at each other like idiots.

"Where are you staying here in LA?" Aidan asked as if he remembered something to ask. "I'm with a college classmate of mine" I replied. "Where is she living?". "Santa Monica".

"I'll get the car out of the parking lot for you?" His assistant asked him as she eyed my coyly. "Yes thanks", Aidan replied, a bit distracted.

"You left home rather dramatically Lizzie", he said to me as he stepped a bit forward. "Was it about your parent's divorce?" He asked.

"You can say that," I said.

"I don't mean to be rude or anything but I was hoping you would call or message me, I hope none of that was because of me" he said looking downwards at the floor.

"Oh no Aidan don't be stupid" I retorted hastily. "I was just going through a lot to be honest. I was feeling pretty suffocated in that place. I had to move out. I just had to. I was feeling so out of control".

We walked out of the building. His assistant was now standing by a car which was manned by a driver with tanned skin and deep brown hair.

"You need a lift?" Aidan asked.

I looked around as I realised that I had completely forgotten about how I was going to make it all the way to Santa Monica from the valley. My experience with this place's public transportation was a horrendously bad experience. But I was also conflicted about whether or not it would be rude to accept the offer.

"Where do you live?" I asked as professionally as I could. Aidan smiled.

"Don't worry Lizzie I have to meet with some people in Venice, it won't be out of my way. You're new in town and this is the city of angels not city of good transport"

I sat in the back with Aidan while his assistant and driver were in the front. We dropped off her assistant at westdale.

A few minutes after she got off, Aidan turned to me and asked in a low voice, "what are you doing tonight?"

"I don't know Emily has some party planned or something. Why?" I asked even though I kind of sensed what he meant.

He sighed and left out an apologetic smile.

"I was supposed to have this meeting with some people tonight but they canceled obviously because it's Christmas eve and they have a life" he said while looking out at the crawling traffic. "When I saw you I thought for a moment that for once I won't be alone on Christmas", he said as he shyly looked into my eyes.

I thought about it. It was a day that my future self would call truly blessed. It wasn't ideal but I was getting what I want. And not only that, I was miles away in a stranger city with someone who was the opposite of a stranger. After everything I went through, there I was sitting in a Mercedes with a guy who was making me feel wanted, actually wanted and didn't have any reason to push me around.

"Let me make some calls" I said as I gazed deeply into his green eyes.

He smiled excitedly and said, "go ahead" gesturing towards the traffic "we're not going anywhere for a long time it seems". His driver cracked at the joke.

His apartment was big but still very empty as the stuff was still lying around in boxes. The kitchen had a scattered look with bubble wraps and cardboards. Despite the emptiness there was a medium sized (slightly taller than me) Christmas tree in the drawing room. It was decorated with red, yellow, green and orange fairy lights. The bedroom had a view of the street below and there was a movie theatre across the street that had large flashy lights illuminating its name.

I don't remember the name, only the flashes of neon pink, greens and blue that it shed in the dark bedroom where me and Aidan shared the entire Christmas eve naked in each other's arms, me finally having an orgasm after what seemed to me an eternity of irritating loneliness.

I remember sleeping like a baby that night. It was indeed a very merry Christmas for me in a long long time. Before I could even enjoy it, a sense of dread soon took me by surprise. The day was after all too good to be true.

I opened my emails in my phone and went to the spam folder, as in a fit of rage I marked all of Darcy's mail as spam and it now goes there automatically.

His last mail was on December 23:

"I have to talk to you Liz, please. Call me asap."

I stared at it for a while and went to the bathroom to smoke a cigarette.

I wondered how many more orgasms was it going to take to fuck Darcy out of the system.