Golden Hour (GirlxGirl)

5

Jamie was poised and ready- for what, I wasn't quite sure. She hadn't moved an inch in the last ten minutes, nor spoken a single word. She sat at her desk staring intently at the computer in front of her, her fingers hovering over the keyboard. I stood a little ways away, leaning against the wall and staring at the clock. Of course, that just made the time pass even slower.

"If you're not going to give me an assignment, then can I just go home?"

Her eyelids fluttered, but she didn't pull her eyes away from the screen. I sighed and waited another beat before I posed my next question. "What are you waiting for?"

Silence.

"Seriously Jamie, are you ignoring me or have you suddenly gone deaf-"

"Shut up," she hissed, her eyes finally meeting mine. "For two goddamn minutes, just be quiet. Is that really too much for me to ask of you?"

I let whatever words that were about to come out of my mouth die in my throat and sighed. It'd only been a few days since I started working for her, but it was already a few too many. I considered the idea that I might need to give Jamie a little extra encouragement to find me a bigger scandal than her affair, because I had a feeling that if I just sat back on my heels and waited, nothing would ever come. But even the thought of blackmailing her once again, seeing that hopeless expression come across her face the same way it had the night we met, was not something I had any desire to do. I wasn't sure why, because in the time that I'd known her she had spoken to me with nothing but bitterness and resentment. Rightfully so, but still, I had no particular reason to pity her. That fact, though, seemed not to matter.

"Fuck," she shouted, banging her fists on the table. "Vultures, I swear to god."

"Context would be nice."

She sat back in her chair and exhaled, turning around her monitor to show her security system and the van of reporters parked out front. I didn't know why, but I did know there was always a reason; someone had had a hunch and decided to pursue it. "I'd tell you to look out the window and see for yourself, but I bet if you peeled back those curtains they'd already be right there waiting for you. I can see it now, your eye printed on the cover of every magazine in this country. That's all they'd need. Just your eye would be enough for them to create some elaborate story; who do those stunning hazel eyes belong to- a mystery girl perhaps? In Jamie West's mansion? And while Cassidy isn't home, too!" She gasped. "Absolutely preposterous."

I somehow managed to gather that she was off on a rant about the paparazzi, but that was about as far as my understanding went. "To which you'd point out that I'm your assistant... why do you have to make everything so complicated?" After a moment, I smirked. "Stunning hazel eyes, huh?"

"Do not flatter yourself, I'm just mocking mass media. Your eyes are sub par and even if they were worth looking at, I would never tell you that. Seems like you've got quite the ego already."

"Spoken like a true sweetheart," I said sarcastically, "you really are just as kind as the media portrays."

"Well you of all people should know how reliable the media is," she answered, flashing a smile. "In any case I will have to publicly announce that you're my new assistant at some point; it would be plain stupid to think I have any other choice. But I'm hoping to avoid doing so for as long as possible, because the second I declare I have a new assistant, people will start speculating what happened to the old one."

"So? Let them speculate. What's the worst they could come up with?"

"Well I imagine based on the fact that Melinda was my assistant for five years and I haven't released a statement on why I got rid of her, the first idea people would have is that Melinda and I were involved and when Cassidy found out, she kicked her to the curb. Which would essentially defeat the whole purpose of firing her, because if I wanted to entertain rumors of my infidelity, you wouldn't be standing in my living room. Would you?"