Cheated [NaNoWriMo]

Midnight Day 5

She rinses her mug and leaves it in the sink for washing in the morning. Angel leans over the sink, grasping the edge of the counter for support as she stares out the window above her sink.

Her fingers tap the counter quietly as she watches the nightlife underneath her flat. A few college kids walk by and are laughing loudly.

She pushes herself away from the counter, turning around quickly to head off to bed. Angel instead runs straight into Roger's chest.

His chuckle causes Angel's eyes to go wide and her lips to part slightly. She takes a tentative step back and glances up at Roger's face; her cheeks slowly turn a rosy pink.

"What's wrong An?" he asks her as he bends down to be at her height. She shakes her head quickly at him. He grabs her by her shoulders and makes her look at him. He glares at her in the dark, waiting for an answer.

"I think I'm falling in love with you," Angel says slowly, testing the words. Roger's eyes go wide and he stares down at her.

"I may already love you," he responds as he closes the gap between them, snatching her lips with his own.

**

He types in the air line's website and finds her flight. He nods slowly as he sees she's halfway there already. Alfred leans back into his chair and starts going through his emails.

He finds the one he's looking for, it's from Roger.

He scrolls through the pictures of the different sketches. Al smiles approvingly at the work the she's doing. He knows he picked the perfect artist for the job. Now, the only possible problem is if she's capable of finishing it on time.

The ding of a new email causes him to return to his inbox and scroll to the top. He opens the new one.

                Dear Mr. Williams,

I don't know if you've been checking the flights or not, but I'm halfway there around now. I'll arrive when it's the afternoon there, so it'll work perfectly.

I'll send you picture of the sculpture in its current state and see what you want to do with it.

Do you know how the other sculpture is doing? I can go check in on them too if you'd like. I guess that's your job though, compared to how you found them and asked them to do it. The rest of the workers, including myself, didn't choose another sculpture.

I hope you're having a good day. How did the meeting concerning the new building go? Is there anything wrong with the layout we planned? I can go check on that as well if you'd like.

I'm a busy bee. Thanks for sending me out here instead of another worker.

                                                                                                                                                                   -Jillian Waters

Alfred types up a quick reply, telling her not to worry about anything other than finding artists, and checking the work of the sculpture, of Angelina.

He hits send after the quick reply, he knows her flight will be taking off soon, so he wants her to know that before arriving in Montreal.

He can’t help but to shake his head at Jillian’s drive. He understands that it’s like training for her. He did a bit of research on Jillian’s father and his company. She’ll need to be prepared to work there and be able to control the amount of income and workers.

Al tiredly sits back in his chair and takes a long drink of the coffee that sits on his desk. The dark coffee leaves a taste in his mouth he can't describe. He glances at the mug and smiles.

He must have forgotten to wash it before putting coffee in it. It was his hot chocolate. It wasn't something he washed often since he only drinks one thing from it, hot chocolate.

That's changed now. He places the mug back on his desk as he returns to his work.

After checking over the plans that everything is in order, he pulls a sandwich out of his laptop bag. A peanut butter sandwich is sealed away in a container.

He smiles at the sandwich as he pops the container open and takes a large bite of the sandwich. Memories roll into his mind.

All the times he and Angelina ate peanut butter sandwiches in one of her two studios. Or when they sat on the steps in front of the studio in the rain eating sandwiches. Also the time Alfred's mom stopped by for a visit, bringing her dog along. The dog ate the two sandwiches they had made.

Alfred laughs lightly at the memories as he returns to his work. He shouldn't bother remembering. He's kissed two girls since he left Angelina. She's probably throwing herself all over guys at this point in time.

He wonders though. She was never really a girl to hang around guys. The only guys she knows that aren't related to her would be Roger, Alfred and Ben. That's still two guys other than him.

Quickly, Alfred sets the sandwich down and looks through his sent inbox. He finds the second email he sent Angelina and copies it into a word document, not wanting to lose the words just yet.

His eyes hold onto the 'new email' button for a few moments before returning to his sandwich. He takes it into his hands and takes another bite.

Will he ever send her the truth?

**

"Boarding for flight 279, heading to Montreal."

She stands with a groan and stretches out her tired muscles. How someone can manage all this flying is something she wonders.

Her hand reaches out and grabs her carry-on. Jillian's legs carry her to the loading dock and onto the plane. She quickly finds her seat.

The ding of her phone sends her searching. She finds it in a few seconds. It's an email from Alfred.

The usual.

She slides it back into her carry-on. At least she has more time to relax. She turns on the small television in front of her and starts watching children's movies. Jillian quickly pulls on her neck pillow.

Her eyes flicker to the window beside her for a few seconds, then return to the screen in front of her.

Slowly, her eyes droop closed and her head falls over onto the pillow. At least she'll be well rested when she arrives.