What Matters Most

Chapter 24

The next morning when Chase woke up he was excited about his first day at his new job. Smiling he thought, maybe if he was lucky he would run into Leigh at some point today.

After a quick shower and breakfast, he is out the door and headed to the studio. He knows morning traffic in Atlanta is crazy. It's always best to leave earlier than you have to so you get there on time.

The mustang was a little hesitant to start this morning. Unfortunately, his dad may have been right. It would probably be best to get it tuned up as soon as possible.

Arriving at the production company Chase is surprised how large it is. Maybe he had not given his hometown enough credit when it comes to this industry after all.

After he checked in with security, he found the studio lot that he was supposed to be at. The cast and crew had a meeting and then did a tour of the studios. That way they would know where everything was. He wondered which building Leigh worked in.

Some of the cast and crew wouldn't be arriving until later in the week. Today they would be doing some initial wardrobe fittings, and familiarizing themselves with the sets.

So far Chase really liked the crew and his castmates. Before he knew it time had flown by, and it was time to break for lunch. Chase headed over to the cafeteria hoping to still be able to catch Leigh at lunch.

As he walked into the cafeteria, he spotted her immediately. She had her back to him and was sitting alone. He walked straight over to her and sat down across from her.

"Well hello there gorgeous. How has your day been?" Chase asks stealing a cookie off her plate.

"Hey, Chase! Oh, you know the usual, but good. How has your first day been?" Leigh asks.

"It's been great," he replies.

"Wow, these cookies are great. I might like eating here after all," he says.

"Well, they didn't come from here. I made them," she says smiling.

"Oh so you brought homemade cookies, and didn't save me any," Chase says pouting.

"Actually I made them for you in case I ran into you at lunch on your first day," Leigh says this as she is pulling out a Ziploc bag full of cookies.

"Now you owe me one back you cookie thief," she says laughing.

She starts to hand him the bag but then snatches it back at the last minute. "You can't have these yet though," Leigh says smirking at him.

"Why the hell not?" Chase asks.

"You have to eat a proper lunch first. Then you can have dessert," she says dangling the bag of cookies in front of him.

"You do love to tease me with dessert," Chase says wiggling his eyebrows at her. Leigh immediately drops the bag of cookies on the table.

"Hey don't break my cookies. I will be right back," Chase says practically running towards the food line.

As he gets in line one of his castmates is in line in front of him. "Who's the chick? She's hot?" the guy asks. 

Chase knows he is just being a guy so he reigns in his temper. "Watch it, man, she is my neighbor and she's dating my brother."

"Oh sorry, man. I didn't mean anything by that," he says.

"What about the other girl that is sitting with her?" he asks.

"What other girl?" Chase asks as he turns back around to look towards Leigh's table. There's a girl sitting with Leigh now. Chase has no idea who she is so he tells the guy "She must be a coworker of Leigh's." Now when he goes back to sit with her they won't be alone. Thanks, mystery girl for taking my seat, Chase thinks to himself.

As he heads back to the table Leigh looks up over her friend's shoulder and sees him coming. She smiles at him with a devilish look in her eyes. Chase sits down beside Leigh and comes face to face with her friend.

"Are you fucking kidding me!" the girl says when he sits down. Chase looks at Leigh for help to figure out what is going on. Maybe I should have asked if it was ok for me to join them before I sat back down, Chase thinks to himself.

"Sorry did I do something wrong, should I leave?" Chase asks Leigh.

"No you stay right where you are," Leigh says laughing. "Chase this is my friend Jayden she works with me. Jayden this is Chase."

Chase extends his hand across the table to Jayden, and says "Nice to meet you."

Jayden shakes his hand while staring at him. "It's just unreal that there can be two of you that look so freakin hot," Jayden says while still holding Chase's hand.

"Excuse me?" Chase asks confused.

"Jayden has met Christopher, and kind of has a crush on him," Leigh explains.

"Yeah and if I didn't like you so much I would have tried to steal him away from you a long time ago," Jayden says sarcastically.

"I told her about you moving here, and that you guys were identical twins"

"And I said bullshit no one could be as hot as Christopher," Jayden says cutting Leigh off.

With that comment, Jayden reaches into her wallet, and pulls out a twenty and slams it down onto the table in front of Leigh. Leigh picks it up and laughs. "I tried to tell you, and you wouldn't listen," Leigh says to Jayden.

Getting up from the table Jayden says "I should've known not to take that bet from you. I've got to get back to work. It was nice to meet you Chase. I will see you two later," she says shaking her head as she walks away.

"So that was Jayden. She can be a little crazy sometimes, but she is a lot of fun too," Leigh says giggling.

"I'm not really sure what just happened here," Chases says confused.

"Sorry, she beats me all the time when we make bets about stuff. I saw a perfect opportunity to make some of my money back and took it," Leigh says apologetically.

"Well, I don't care that you used me to trick her. I just love it every time you admit that you think that I am hot," he says smirking at her.

"Shut up," Leigh says smacking him on the shoulder.

"You do know though that we aren't identical in every way right?" Chase asks. Leigh looks at him raising her eyebrows at him in question. "I will let you figure out how on your own," he says smiling at her.

"Good lord, just eat your lunch so you can have your cookies back."

"Oh, I am getting those cookies back no matter what," Chase says.

They finish their lunch, and Leigh gives Chase his bag of cookies taking one for herself first. Chase tells her about his day so far, and that he really likes it here.

"I knew you would. Well, I have to get back to work. I'm sure Jayden is waiting for me to get back so she can ask me a million questions about you."

"Yeah, I have to get back too. I hope we get to have lunch together a lot while I'm here," he says.

"Me too, hope the rest of your day goes well," Leigh says leaving the table.

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