(Fran's clothes in media)
~~~~ Last Time On '30 Days To Find Love' ~~~~
"I'm Jane Landers. " I replied.
"Sam Deckard. " Marco said.
"We're from the Times. Here to see Ferro. " I said. "Is he ready yet? " I asked.
The police officer folded his arms. "He's not receiving any visitors today. "
"That's too bad for whoever's trying to visit him, but we're here to do an interview. " Marco said.
"An interview? " The officer asked. "About what? "
"Police misconduct. He volunteered, despite it jeopardizing his case. " Marco replied.
What. The hell. Does 'jeopardizing' even mean?
"It would look pretty bad if you turned us away. " I said, folding my arms.
"He's not having any visitors today, I'm sorry. " The officer replied.
I smirked. "Listen officer, if we don't make our deadline, the paper comes out without this story. When the paper comes out without this story, my editor's unhappy. When my editor's unhappy, he calls people in high up places. In this case, that would be police commissioner Franklin. " The police officer gasped. "I usually don't like to speculate, and I don't know the commisionner personally. But I imagine he wouldn't be too pleased with you. Nope, not too pleased. " I said, shaking my head.
I'm too good.
"I've got thirty minutes and then I've got to get the scoop on the Paulson scandal. " I added. "Tick tock. " I said, tapping on my left wrist.
"Wait here. " The officer said, going somewhere.
"I can't believe that worked. " Marco said.
"Don't jinx it! " I exclaimed.
The police officer came back. "He's waiting for you in the visitors room. Down the hall to the left. "
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"Why didn't you report me? " He asked.
"What? " I asked, a bit confused.
"I know the charges against me... from five different incidents. Yours isn't one of them. "
"What can I say. I was terrified. That night sent me into a bad place... Which brings me to why I'm here. I need you to talk. " I explained.
"About what? " He asked.
"Why you did it.How you could do it. To me, and all those other people... Especially the one you put in the hospital. "
He shrugged. "Why should I? "
"Because if you don't, I can always report my incident as well. " I angrily exclaimed. "I'm pretty sure that can't help your case. What've you got to loose? "
He sighted. "Nothing, I guess. That's also the short answer to your question. You can bring yourself to do a lot of things when you've got nothing left to lose. "
I definitely get that part.
"Why don't you give me the slightly longer answer? " I asked.
"When you're addicted to the kind of things I'm addicted to... Each day is a battle to round up enough money to get your next fit. If you don't get the money, you don't get the fix. If you don't get the fix, you experience pain like most people can't imagine. Nothing compares to it. At that point, taking money from people who don't need it right that second seems justified. " He explained.
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"Well, did you get what you were looking for? " Marco asked as I was completely outside that room.
"I got as much as I could ask for. " I said, shrugging.
We started walking but were stopped by that policeman. "I called the Times. You two aren't employees. "
I rolled my eyes. "No sh*t. What're you gonna do about it? " I asked, folding my arms.
"... Arrest you? " He said in a 'duh' voice.
"You're stupider than you look. You let two con artists interview the prime suspect in a series of high profile robberies... And now you want to advertise the fact? " I asked, quietly chuckling. "I can not imagine what your friends would say... Let alone your boss. " I said, smirking. He stayed quiet. "That's what I thought. Just keep you mouth shut nothing's gonna happen pal. "
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Francesca POV
----/ 19 Days 'Till Amor Aeternus \----
I'm currently in the coffee shop. Yeah, yeah. Poor me.
I turned my attention to the door as I heard the bell ring.
"How's it going, Mr. Deckard? " I asked Marco, teasing him.
He gave me a confused look. "Huh? " I rose my eyebrows. He started nodding his head. "Oh yeah, that whole thing. " I nodded. "I'm, ya know, fine. " He said, shrugging.
I rose my brows and crossed my arms. "Whoa. " I breathed.
"What? Is something wrong with me? Is my hair imperfect? " He asked, fixing his hair.
"No. As far as I know your hair is still flawless. " I simply answered.
He's being way too weird. Right?
He sighted in relief. "Thank God. "
"Umm... Are you actually okay? I've never seen you like this. " I asked.
"Like what? " He asked, confused.
"All flustered and insecure. " I answered him.
He nodded. "Oh yeah. Insecure. That's what it's called. "
I got two raspberry cupcakes and we sat on an empty table. "What's going on? "
He sighted. "Well, truth is, this time I could use some of your help... In a big way. "
I nodded. "I definitely owe you that much. " He smiled. "Come on. Shoot. What do you have in mind? "
"My parents are in town. " He simply answered.
"... And? " I asked, taking a sip from my smoothie.
"Family dinner is scheduled for tomorrow night. " I nodded. "Not many things in this world make me more nervous. And I make presentations in front of the most powerful men in business. I'm responsible for millions of dollars of company money and hundreds of jobs. " He said, and stopped to drink some smoothie as well. "But family dinners absolutely terrify me. " He added.
"May I ask why? " I asked as he nodded.
"They're more stressful than all the annual reviews, all the last minute deals... All the do or die deadlines. To my parents, I'm not the hot shot who reels in the cash... I'm not the most eligible bachelor, either. I'm just a walking, talking lump of disappointment. Worrying about what they'l say to me is taking years off my life. "
"Sooo... " I trailed. "You want me to kill them for you? " I joked as we started laughing.
"It's worse than that. I want you to be my dinner date. " I drank a little bit of my smoothie. "They're... Disappointed that I'm not married yet. " He said. "I figure showing up with a girlfriend, even a pretend girlfriend, is better than nothing. " He added, explaining. "It won't fix everything but it'll take some of the heat off my back. "
"So you want me to pretend to be your girlfriend... " I said, trying to fix the ideas in my mind. He nodded. "Do I need to pretend to be anything else? " I asked.
"That's... negotiable. " He replied.
"Marco, English. Please. " I said.
"If you want, we can say you're a fashion designer, which is only mostly a lie. "
I nodded. "All right, sound good. " I said, accepting.
He smiled. "You're doing a good deed. Can I pick you up at 6:30 tomorrow? " He asked.
I nodded. "Perfect. " I answered, drinking my smoothie.
"Oh. One more thing. You'll need to dress up. "
"I've got some nice - " I started saying.
He cut me off. "Like, waaaaaay up. Way more up than most people have access to. " I nodded. "I'll swing by tonight and drop off some dresses and accessories. You pick an outfit to wear for dinner tomorrow and you get to keep it. "
I smiled. "Not a bad deal at all. "
"Great. See ya later. " And with that, he left the coffee shop.
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