Customer Satisfaction [COMPLETE]

Partners In Crime

Later that night, Kate took a bath, brushed and flossed her teeth, and took time drying her hair despite the fact that she was going straight to bed after. She unpacked some of her clothes to hang them in her closet, and stripped the bed of hotel sheets, smoothing on her own linens instead. It wasn't because of what she had said to Luke, she just had a difficult time falling asleep and little things like foreign sheets easily upset her routine. She scrubbed some of the already clean surfaces of her bedroom, and fixed herself a snack. A look at the clock told her that it was almost eleven, but she felt not a hint of drowsiness.

She watched some television while munching on a snack and then tried to read a book. She spent some time stubbornly lying still with her eyes closed, and when that started to make her claustrophobic, she got out of bed, wrapping herself in a dressing gown before grabbing her novel with its little clip on reading light. She stuffed her keycard, her inhaler and some money in her gown before slipping out of her apartment complex.

She was resigned to not getting any sleep for the next few days, with her predilection to disturbed sleep and nightmares when she was out of her comfort zone, but the least she could do is get some fresh air before her old friend—asthma--decided to set in due to her nerves.She was a shrinks dream, with her messed up concoctions of issues,she thought wryly.

At least she wasn't afraid of the dark, she thought, as she rode the elevator downstairs. Otherwise running out to get fresh air in the middle of one of her episodes would have been humorously problematic.

The elevator pinged at her destination—remarkable how fast it went when she wasn't stuck with a childhood friend-turned-nemesis inside it, and the doors slid open, admitting her into the brightly lit lobby.She stepped out, once more admiring the vast luxuriously glittering space with the gorgeously glittering chandelier, and grimly realizing that she would never be able to pay back John the rent for this place on her own.

She thought about the inheritance left behind her parents, and whether she could use it this once, then shuddered and shook her head. She had never touched it before, not quite sure how to dip into the outrageous amount left behind by people she had never known, and yet were her biological parents. Not to mention ignoring that money helped her ignore the memory of her brother.

She took a deep breath, firmly deciding not to think about Will—or Luke—any longer, and walked purposefully towards the exit. She stopped midway, the priceless vase that decorated the entrance catching her eyes, and she stepped closer.

Despite her brothers parting words to her being about her ability to be a doctor or a lawyer, Kate had ended up majoring in art, and aspired to be an illustrator. Although not her area of expertise, she couldn't help but let out a sigh of appreciation at the fine porcelain vase standing with stately elegance, gleaming proudly under the soft light of the chandelier, almost reaching up to her waist.She bent down to examine the markings on the vase, and the tiny blue markings started to take the shape of birds and trees the closer she looked, with depth added by subtle engravings. Fascinated, she reached up to gently trail design, trying to read the story behind it—

"Kate?"

The soft voice had her gasping and whipping around. Her shock at finding herself staring at a surprised Luke was only compounded by the earth shattering sound that rang out a bare second later. He flinched, his gaze dropping to the floor behind her.

She stared at Luke, thunderstruck, not turning.

"The vase just toppled, didn't it?" she said dreadfully.

His eyes were fixed on the floor behind her, his face slack with surprise, and he slowly nodded.

She swallowed, "Did it break?"