Cole
"What are you doing here?" She asks me. I've been so worried and she asks me what I am doing here. Why didn't she answer her phone? I've been calling and texting since last night! I thought about how I look standing here banging on her door. Crap. I panicked. When I couldn't get ahold of her last night and then this morning, I had to come and make sure she's not hurt or anything. I can't think of another reason right off of the top of my head right now, so I go with the truth. "I tried to call you last night and then this morning and when I couldn't get ahold of you, I panicked and came to see if you were alright." She lifts her eyebrows and opens the door wider so I can walk inside. "Well, as you see, I am doing just fine. Why were you calling me?"
I walk in the door and look around. Her place is nice and cozy. I never imagined that royal blue would look good in a room, but this really looks nice. "I got a couple more of those contracts and I would wondering if you could type them up for me again? I know that you don't start until next week, but it would help me out a lot if you could do it." I hand her the new laptop that I got her for work. "You can use this for school also if you need too."
"No problem." About that time I see a big guy come out of what I assume is the kitchen. She turns around and smiles. "Cole, this is Shawn, my best friend. He's coming with me the week after next. I was going to introduce you to him then, but now is just as good a time as any." Shawn comes over and shakes my hand. "It's nice to meet you. I'm sorry that you weren't able to get ahold of Nera last night and this morning. I turned off her phone because she hasn't been getting much sleep lately. I just wanted to make sure that she would be able to sleep in today, because it will be the last time for a while."
At least now I know what's going on. "No problem. After she finishes my paper we can go over the last of the arrangements that she will need for next week since I won't be there." Nera leads me over to the table. I notice that her dark hair is down and straight today. It's hanging halfway down her back, swinging as she walks. She has a slim build with curves. Her behind hugs her jeans very well. I haven't seen her since they were at my house a couple of weeks ago and she is just as beautiful now as she was then. We sit down and she pulls out her personal laptop and turns it on. "I thought that you could use the new laptop."
"We can use mine to get the contracts completed and sent off and then we can set up the new laptop. If we do it this way, if we run into any problems while setting up the new laptop, it won't put us in a bind to get the contracts completed." She says without looking up. "When do you go back?"
"I think I will spend the night here and then go back tomorrow morning." I move around in my chair a little bit as I go through the files and get what she needs for the contracts. I hand them over to her and she hands me the laptop so I can sign into my email and accounts that she needs to do the contracts. "I know that this isn't as nice as your house or one of the hotels that you stay at, but you are welcome to stay with us if you'd like." She offers. Stay with us? What is that about? Is he living here? "Sure, I'd be happy to stay. Thank you very much. What did you all have planned today?"
"Not much of anything. I was just going to do some homework and get some of my work done for the fundraisers that I have to plan for class. By the way, would you be able to come to one of them? I am doing them for three food banks in the area. They all have a really bad need for donations. I couldn't decide between the three of them so I am doing it for all of them." She pulls some papers out of her bag and hands them to me. "If you could make one of these, it would be awesome! I'll make it a surprise and if for some reason you can't make it, no one will be disappointed." She takes the laptop back and starts typing the contracts, making suggestions for different points on the contracts. While she is doing that, Shawn and I start talking and he's a cool guy. I'm glad that she has him as a best friend.
"We can take a tourist day if you'd like." Nera says out of nowhere. "If you've never really seen St. Louis before, we can take you around to different places like the Arch, the history museum and a few other places. It'll be fun!" "Yea," Shawn says, "We haven't done that for a while! We can even eat Imo's for dinner!" Nera frowns. Shawn looks at me with his thumb pointed in her direction. "She's not a fan of Imo's, but she'll go because I love it. You have to try Imo's if you haven't been there before. They are a St. Louis tradition."
I've been to St. Louis a lot, but have never really seen it. Sounds like fun. "I would really like to do that, but we can't drive ourselves. I'll set us up with a limo and a driver. Because if I am recognized we'll be able to get away faster." They both seem to be excited about spending the day being tourist and doing it in a limo. Nera tells us that she will be finished and ready to go in about an hour. While I set up a car and driver, Shawn goes in and changes the sheets on the bed and move his things into her room. I don't know what to think of that. He comes back to the table and asks me for my keys so he can get my bags. I tell him that I don't have any bags. He gives me a look and tells me that we will stop by the store and get me some.
Nera finishes the contracts, goes to freshen up and get ready to go. They show me where the other bathroom is so I'm able to freshen up and be ready when the car arrives. "So what do you want to do first?" Nera asks. "Is there anything that you have always wanted to see, but never had the chance?" "I would really like to go to the Arch, but I'm hungry. Let's do lunch and then go to the Arch."
"Sounds like a plan." Shawn says. I put on my hat and we head out to the waiting limo. Nera tells the driver to take us to Sweetie Pies in the loop. I'm excited to go there. I've seen the show on television and heard about it and the food is supposed to be really good. We pull up to Sweetie Pies and there is a line. Someone who works inside comes up to the car as we get out. They escort us into the restaurant and take us to a back room where we can eat in privacy. We start to eat and the fried chicken and macaroni and cheese is so good. I look at Shawn and his plate is as overloaded as mine. Nera's plate is pretty full also. She gets about halfway through her plate. "Whew! I am so full, but I will definitely make room for the peach cobbler." She got the catfish. Shawn immediately grabs her greens, not wanting to lose out, I take the rest of her catfish. This food is awesome! We finish eating and Shawn and I laugh watching Nera try to take more than two bites of her peach cobbler. We try to take it from her also, but she makes a fuss and have them put it in a to go container for her.
We all waddle out to the car and direct the driver to go to the Arch. We wait in line to get our tickets and then go through the museum while we wait for our numbers to be called to go up into the arch. Nera turns to me. "You were really worried about me?" I start to feel a little embarrassed. "Every time that I have texted or called before, you have always answered me immediately. When you didn't I kind of freaked out. I didn't know if something happened to you or if you had changed your mind about working for me. Either way, I wanted to find out."
She smiles. "One thing that you will learn about me. I am a pretty straight forward person. If I have an issue with something, you will know about it. If I become quiet, there may be something wrong, but I'm not ready to talk about it yet so don't push. I will let you know when I figure it out in my own head. I look forward to working for you and really looking forward to it when I graduate and can move to Chicago permanently." I take a deep breath in relief. I open my mouth to answer when they call our numbers over the intercom. I grab her hand and pull her along as we go get into another line to get to the elevator. I glance at Shawn and he's looking at our linked hands and smiles. Hmm, interesting.
We finally make it to the elevator and find that it's an egg shaped cocoon that you can sit in. It can normally fit six people but with the size of Shawn and I, we were only able to fit four people. The girl who got into the elevator with us recognized me about halfway up. I promised her a picture, autograph and will send her a t-shirt if she kept my identity a secret. I switched places with Nera to sit beside her and take a selfie with her phone and my phone. I told her that I would put our picture on twitter and give her a shout out. She was excited and asked for a hug before we got out of the egg.
Looking down from the top of the Arch is a definite view from the top. All of the buildings and cars looked so small. Like a legoland city, but without the primary colors. We looked down through the windows and took pictures for a little while, then we went back down in the egg elevator. Since there weren't as many people going down at that time, we were able to go down the elevator with just the three of us. This was nice. When we got back in the car, I asked, "Where are we going next?"
"I was thinking maybe the history museum. They always have some sort of exhibit going on." Nera looked over at Shawn who was about to agree and then said, "While we are downtown, we need to go on the Anheuser Busch tour. It's free and you can drink free beer!" "Yea! Let's do that first and then the history museum!" Nera's eyes widen. After seeing all of the tourist attractions that we can see in a day, they take me to Imo's pizza for dinner. Nera orders herself a chicken parmesan sandwich. Shawn orders for him and me. He ordered and extra-large bacon cheeseburger pizza. We decide to take it to go since the restaurant is starting to fill up.
When we get back to her apartment, we eat and talk about the day. "Did you have fun today?" She asked me. It was amazing. Even more so since I was able to see it through her eyes. "I had a lot of fun. We will have to do this when you have to travel with me for work."
"Sounds like a plan." She smiles at me. She pulls out the new laptop and starts to set it up. When we get to my accounts that she needs access to, she notices that some things have been changed since she looked at them this morning. "Did your last PA leave under bad terms?"
"Not really, she had hit on me more than a few times and I shut her down. Then she just called one day and said that she quit. I still don't know why."
"You need to change your passwords and then we will take it from there." She starts pulling up the accounts so that I can change the passwords. We get those completed, then she rechecks all of the work that she did today and found that it had been changed. She saved the contracts in more than one place so it won't be a problem for her to send them off again on Monday. I will call the venues where they were sent and speak with the promoters to let them know which contracts to use. We complete everything that we need to and Nera asks, "Have you sent her last paycheck yet?" "Not yet," I answer, "Why?"
"She had to sign a confidentiality agreement when she started, right?" She asked.
"Yes." "You need to send her last paycheck and a copy of the confidentiality agreement that you can get from the attorney's office. It needs to be done as soon as possible. Also, you need to stop all access to your house that she has. Change locks and alarm codes and things like that. Do you have a guard on duty at your house?"
Stunned that I didn't think about this, I answer, "Only on the weekends." "Then her name needs to be taken off of the list. We will get all of the basics completed and when I start next week, I will find out all of the access and we can change it." She starts making a list of things that need to be started next week. I get on the phone with the guard that is posted at my gate and advise him to take my previous PA off of the list immediately. When I get home, I'll find everything I can and remove her access. I can't call my attorney, because it's ten p.m. on a Saturday night, so I will call him first thing Monday morning. Shawn is looking back and forth between us with an amused look on his face. I haven't figured him out yet. He stands up. "I'm going to take a shower and go to bed. See you in a little bit sweetie." He gives her a kiss on the top of her head and leaves the room. She is so engrossed in what she is doing, she doesn't really notice.
Nera
I finish setting up the new laptop and organizing myself for next week. I look up and Shawn is gone and Cole is sitting on the couch watching television. I put everything away and look at the clock. It's almost midnight. Wow. I go over to the couch and sit down. Cole looks over at me. "Did you get everything finished?" "Yep. I just get into a zone and forget about the time. Sorry about that. Aren't you tired?" I ask.
"Kind of, but I wanted to make sure that you didn't need me for anything else before I went to sleep. I also wanted to ask you a question that's not really none of my business." He reaches over and starts playing with a piece of my hair. It feels nice.
"Go ahead and ask. I'll tell you if it's really none of your business." I scoot a little closer to him.
"I was wondering about you and Shawn. Does he live here? Are you two together?" He's looking kind of nervous.
I decide really quickly that I want him to know that we aren't together for some reason. "Shawn has been my best friend since I was fourteen. We tried to be together, but it lasted for about five minutes before we decided that we were better off as friends. He is my brother. He is staying here because he broke up with his girlfriend last Friday and he needed a quiet place to stay other than the football house. My house is always open to him and his to me if needed. I'm kind of hoping that he will move in permanently because I would like to have someone here when I'm not here on the weekends until I move."
He took a deep breath and kept playing with my hair. "What time do you have leave tomorrow?" I asked. "I need to leave here around ten a.m. My plane leaves at twelve-thirty."
"Is there anything you need from me before you leave? I scoot around a little bit. "Not that I can think of, just make sure that you send off those contracts on Monday morning before you go to class. I would really appreciate it." He's looking at me with those mesmerizing green eyes. "It's on my list. I will make sure to do it first thing. Did you have a chance to look at those dates for the fundraisers?" I'm gazing back into his eyes.
"I can make the first one for sure and I check for the other two." His hand starts rubbing my arm and he scoots a little closer.
"Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. If its o.k., I'll need to work from here on those weekends also. I'll make sure that I have everything organized and ready for those weekends." I put my legs over his lap.
"No problem. After watching you work tonight, I have no doubt about your abilities. I can't wait for you to start next week and I really can't wait until you start fulltime." He moves his hand to my back and start rubbing my back and rubbing his fingers through my hair at the same time. He mumbles, "You are so beautiful." As his face starts moving closer to mine. I hear a thump coming from my bedroom and we jerk apart. About that time the door opens and Shawn comes out. "Just wanted to make sure that you weren't still working. It's too late to do anything else."
I breathe shakily. "We're done. Just going over a few particulars for the next few weeks. I'm just about to go to bed. We kind of have a full day tomorrow." He's amused by something. "I'll be waiting." He says as he walks back into the bedroom and close the door. I feel Cole stiffen beside me. "What's the matter?" I ask. "Well you say that there's nothing going on, but his statement kind of implies that there is something going on." "Did you see the look on his face? He's just messing with us." I roll my eyes. "I'm going to bed. I have kind of a full day tomorrow and you have a plane to catch. Goodnight." He runs the back of his fingers across my cheek. "Goodnight."
We separate at my bedroom door and he goes into the other bedroom. I turn the nob and Shawn is sitting up in bed watching television. "Why aren't you sleep?" I ask. "I was sleep, but I woke up and you still weren't in bed, so I went out to check on you. I wanted to make sure that you weren't still working, but you weren't were you? You two looked awfully cozy in there." He's doing everything he can not to laugh. I walk over to my side of the bed and grab a pillow and hit him with it and then I go into the bathroom and get ready for bed.
When I get into the bed Shawn is laying there facing my side. He wants to talk. I get in the bed and face him. "I'm sleepy so make it fast." He grabs my hand. "He really likes you. He couldn't keep his eyes off of you all day long. I just want you to really take it slow with him. I don't want you to get hurt." "I'm not ready for another relationship. I just got out of one a little over a week ago. I'm not trying to go there right now, but something about him pulls me. I really like being around him. When he grabbed my hand today, I felt sparks. I just don't know." I squeeze his hand. "Sleep on it and you will be fine. You don't start work for him for another five days and you won't see him until the week after that so you'll have some space and perspective to figure out what you want to do." He hugs me and turns over. I rub his back for a second. "Thanks, I am really glad that you are my best friend." I turn over and go to sleep.
I wake up to fingers poking my shoulder. I try to wave it off, but it just keeps poking. I open my eyes to Shawn and Cole silently laughing and taking turns poking my shoulder. I sit up and say, "What are you two doing?" They must have bonded this morning. That's good. "It's nine a.m. and Cole has to leave in an hour and I thought that you might want to see him for a little bit before he leaves." Shawn says. "Yea." Cole echos. "O.k. Let me get up and get dressed and I will see you before you leave." I grumble. I go to the bathroom and get dressed for the day. Since I don't have a lot of time, I just pile my hair into a messy bun on the top of my head and head into the living room. Shawn waves me over to the dining room table. He has a bowl of cereal poured for me and he hands me the milk from the fridge. Cole looks back and forth at us. "So how did you sleep?" "Very well, I should be asking you that question. How did you sleep Cole?"
"I slept very well. So what are you going to do with your furniture when you move?" He asks.
"I figured we will take it with us. Shawn and I are going to get a place together after we graduate. Remember I told you that he has a job in Chicago when we graduate?" I glance at him and notice that he's frowning a little. "You two are welcome to stay at my house until you find a place. I will keep a room for you since you will be spending a lot of time at my house working."
"Thanks." I take the last bite of my cereal and take my bowl to the sink to wash it. "It will be greatly appreciated." We talk a little more until he has to leave for the airport. I walk him to the door. "Have a safe trip. I'll see you the week after next." He touches my cheek with his fingers, slides them down my cheek, my neck, around my shoulder, down my arm and reaches for my waist. He pulls me to him and gives me a hug. "I had a really great time with you this weekend. Thank you. I'll see you later." And he walks out the door. Wow.
I turn to Shawn and he's looking at me with a small smile on his face. "So you two bonded this morning?" I state more than ask. "Yea. We talked this morning while we were waiting for you to get up, he's cool. We seem to have a lot in common."
"Crap. I missed church this morning. My mom is going to have a cow. That's two Sunday's in a row." I grumble.
"Come here." Shawn says. When I get settled on the couch by him. He puts his arm around me and kisses me on the top of my head. "Your mom will have to get over it, because you won't be at church for a good long while since you will be working in Chicago every weekend and eventually living there. We'll explain at dinner tonight. It will be fine. Do you have anything planned for today?" I shake my head no. We decide to just do nothing until it's time to go to dinner.
Getting ready to go to dinner over my parent's house, I try to relax. I just get tense with all of the innuendo from my mother that I can't take care of myself. I hold my tongue because of my dad, but I just don't know how I'm going to handle this tonight. It takes me forever to straighten my hair. I do it on these nights because I will never hear the end of it if I show up with wavy hair. She hates it for some reason. I haven't figured it out yet. I go into the living room where Shawn is waiting for me. I'm sure that he has been ready for at least fifteen minutes. He looks handsome as always in his dress pants and shirt. My mom and dad love him so maybe my mom will go a little easier on me tonight.
On the way to my parent's house. Shawn finally speaks. "You look very nice tonight. Don't be nervous, you will be o.k. We've been relaxing all day long. You shouldn't be this tense."
"I know, but she just does that to me. When she starts on me, I'm going to let her know that you will be there with me, so maybe she'll just back off." I grumble.
We pull up to my parent's house and I take a deep breath. We get out of the car and walk to the door. Before I'm able to smooth down my skirt, the door swings open and my mom peeks out. "Well come on in, we don't have all night. You're late." I look at my watch. "Mom we are right on time. Why do you say that every time?" She fixes me with a stare. "If you are on time, you are late. If you are early, you are on time."
"My goodness mom. Have you been reading management manuals again? This is a house, not a place of business." I roll my eyes about to go on when Shawn puts his hand on my back in warning and pulls a piece of my hair. "Hi mom. How are you tonight?" He gives her a kiss on the cheek. She rolls her eyes at me. "I'm doing just fine sweetie. I'm glad someone is happy to see me."
I walk away from her and go to find my dad while she and Shawn are talking. I find him in his usual spot in front of the television in his den. I go over and give him a kiss on the cheek and sit down beside him. "Hi dad." He puts his arm around my shoulder and gives me a hug. "Hi baby. How's it going?" "O.k. I guess. What's going on with mom?" "Oh, your mom is just being your mom. Just go with it." He shrugs. I have a bad feeling about tonight.
As always, my mom makes the best food. She made pot roast with tiny potatoes and carrots, corn and broccoli. It smells so good. We all sit down at the table and fill our plates. "So when do you start your new job?" My mom asks me.
I finish chewing my food. "On Friday. I leave Thursday after I get out of class and will be back Sunday around seven p.m." My dad chimes in. "Could you give us a call when you are leaving and when you get there and back?"
"Sure. I know that Shawn will know what's going on, but it will be great that someone else will know." Shawn shakes his head in agreement, but he's keeping his mouth full with food. He acts like he hasn't eaten in about a week.
"I just don't know why you can't get a job here. Why do you want to move so far away?" My mom starts.
"Mom. This is a great opportunity for me. Why would I want to look someplace else?" I start also. "So you can't find a job here?" She asks.
"I haven't even looked here. Why would I? I got the opportunity of a lifetime handed to me. I'm moving after graduation. Just let it be." At this time Shawn opens his mouth. Why, I don't know. "Mike's mom offered her a full-time job with them."
My mom jumped on this. "Why didn't you take that job? It is a very good opportunity for you. You can stay in town." "Mom. I do not want that job. I do not want to see Mike every day. I do not want to see his parents every day. Just leave it alone." I start to grit my teeth. My dad picks up my distress and tries to help. "Honey, just leave it alone. She has a great opportunity and she is going to take it. She will be great, wherever she goes and whatever she does." He winks at me.
"Besides," Shawn says. "I'll be there also. I got a job offer at an engineering firm in Chicago, so we will be moving there after graduation." This does not calm my mom down at all. "Nera, you can't take care of yourself and you cannot depend on Shawn to take care of you. You don't know how to handle money. You are just going to go there and fail." At this statement, I lost my cool.
"First of all, why can't I take care of myself and how am I not good with money?" I wanted to hear this. "When you lived here, you just spent money and didn't save anything. I'm sure that you have spent the money that your grandmother left you." I look at my dad. He sits back in his chair and doesn't say anything. Well, no help from him. So I start.
"You don't know anything about me and my money. Let me start by saying that I have only spent three-thousand of the money that grandmother left me. That will be replaced in the next two months. That's very good for someone who received the money three years ago, since you want to know so much about where the money that she left me went. It's still in the bank. Second of all, I have not asked you for a red cent since I moved out. I have paid my own bills and I have even bought and paid for a car without your help. I feed, clothe and provide a place to live for myself. I have been taking care of myself successfully for two years. It hurts me that you think so little of me." I get out of my chair. "Let's go Shawn." I walk out the front door and stand in the cold by the car until Shawn comes out.
Shawn comes out and stands in front of me. "Are you sure that you want to leave like this? You should go back in there and talk to her." I shake my head. "Right now isn't the right time to talk to her. It won't go well. I will come back and talk to her before the week is out. I'm so sick of her not having any faith in me and I just can't take it anymore. We'll get it straightened out." Shawn unlocks the door and I get in the car. I look at the house and my mom is looking out the window at us. I turn my head as Shawn pulls off.