- Jessica's Point Of View -
"Good afternoon, Jessica," Ellis, he owns some of these really cool bookstores and he asks Syco for albums every time he runs out of them, says. Little problem, he's Andrew's cousin.
"Good afternoon, Mister Ellis." I keep looking at my laptop, I don't want to look at his face who looks a little like Andrew's. "Our meeting's in ten minutes, and as usual, I have the right to have a five minutes break."
"Sure, take your time." He smiles at me. Unlike Andrew, Ellis has a British accent. "Would you mind if we have my cousin attend this meeting with us?"
I look up to see who's his cousin, and I just, I regret my life. Why dear god? Why? Oh my god, what happened to his face? He seems so beaten up.
"I don't think Eric allows manipulative assholes to attend his meeting." I shrug. You have no idea how much force I had to gather to be able to say this, I have no idea how I did that.
"Is she your-" Ellis starts but both Andrew and me cut him off.
"Yes."
"You said she's a teacher." Ellis looks confused.
"Was." I correct him. "Now if you excuse me I want to smoke a little."
I smoke so much more than before. Angelina's even noticed that I spend most of my time in the balcony smoking, she's complained to mom. I live now in an apartment, it's not that big, but it's enough for Angelina and me.
I miss Andrew so bad, when he kisses me, when he touches me, all of him. It's just that what he did, it's unforgivable. I don't even know if I should trust him anymore or not. Remember that night when he said he didn't sleep with me because he didn't want to use me? Well, he did. I'm so tired of being used. It'll pass.
"Thank you, Miss Styles and Mister Cowell for having this meeting with us." Ellis shakes hands with both of us.
"Andrew, right?" Eric, my boss, asks. Andrew nods. "What brings you here?"
"Ellis and I are cousins and my father's asked me to check on the United Kingdom's business, because he thinks I can learn a little from him," Andrew replies. I can see from his eyes that he's lying. "And learn more about how Business goes in here. Since I've just graduated."
"If Ellis doesn't mind, you can spend a day or two to see how it goes, Jessica can explain all of it to you." He offers.
"Mister Cowell, I am sorry but I can't do that," I say, so quickly but it's a saver.
"Why so?" Andrew questions, that asshole.
"Columbia Records, their CEO is coming tomorrow," I state the first thing I see on my calendar.
"Sorry mate, that one's important." Eric apologizes. "Maybe another time."
"Thank you anyway, Eric." Andrew fakes a smile. "It was nice being here and attending this meeting."
"So you want me to believe that your boss doesn't know about Andrew?" Emilia, my roommate, says. I couldn't afford an apartment alone. Emilia's a teacher at Rosewood High, where I used to teach. She teaches maths, though.
"He knows I had a horrible ex, but he doesn't know his name's Andrew," I tell her while handing Angelina apple slices to eat.
"And you want me to buy that?" She asks, raising her eyebrows. "He fricking offered him to spend time with you."
"Mommy, I miss Andy," Angelina states, bored. "Can we go back to California?"
Ah, she's so cute when she doesn't know what really happened.
"Angelina, Andrew is from the past now, you should move on." I sigh.
"That's why she saw him today at work." Emilia laughs and Angelina glares.
I mouth a thank you to Emilia because we all know Angelina's going to throw a tantrum.
"Mommy you told me if you see him you'll let me do that too, and I'm already sad because he didn't say goodbye." Angelina starts crying a little. I go hug her.
"Listen, Angel, Andrew came to work today and he said he misses you but he can't see you because he has so much work," I whisper in her ear. I know I'm lying but I can't tell her the truth, it's too complicated for her. "He told me he'll call you sometime later."
"Really?" She raises her head and wipes her tears.
"Yes." I nod and fake a smile. "Go sleep for now. I'll wake you when he calls."
"Nighty, mommy and aunt Emilia." She kisses my cheek and goes to my bedroom, where we both sleep.
"Such a liar." Emilia playfully shakes her head. "How are you going to contact him if you don't even have his number?"
"I went to Harvard for a reason," I smile at her. I pick up my phone and dial Annabel Sanders' number, known as Ellis' assistant.
"Good evening, Jessica." She answers, "anything I may help you with?"
"When's Mister Haddad free tomorrow?" I ask her. "Mister Cowell asked me to book an appointment for him."
"Let me check." I can hear the sound of her keyboard, damn that woman hits them so hard. "He's free from ten to eleven a.m. and from three to four p.m."
"Ten to eleven a.m. sounds amazing to me," I confirm. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." She hangs up.
"Such a sneaky assistant." Emilia laughs. "You did go to Harvard for a reason."
"I'm doing this for Angelina, that's all," I state.
"Are you?" She asks, sarcastic. "I get that he hurt you, but at least, he hasn't cheated on you. And if he didn't really love you, he wouldn't have come all the way from Los Angeles to London for you."
"The thing is, I love him. But what he did-" I start but she cuts me off.
"Look, Jessica, what you have with Andrew is amazing, and I admire it, but if you wanna keep it, you're gonna have to let it go." She grabs one of my cigarettes, great.
"I don't know." I roll my eyes and grab a cigarette myself.
I'm heading up Ellis' firm and damn it is huge. I'm sort of stressing, but it doesn't matter, as long as Angelina's happy. You needed to see mom's reaction when I told her about the bet shit, oh my she gave me the longest I told you so look. Dad started comforting me, we had a long talk and it made me feel a little better. I check my wristwatch again, I'm on time, let's go.
"Last time I checked, your name isn't Eric Cowell." Annabel remarks.
"Cowell's busy, he asked me to go instead of him." I look her straight in the eyes. If she doesn't buy it and call the company, I'm dead. "It's sort of important."
"Make it quick." She rolls her eyes.
I knock on his office and he motions for me to get in. I take deep breaths and try to look as confident as I can while walking. I stay up just to seem polite.
"Oh, you're not Eric, sit down." Ellis seems confused, leaning back on his expensive chair.
"I know I'm not Eric." I roll my eyes and sit down.
"What is the Jessica Styles doing in my office?" He asks, smiling.
For some reason, Ellis, Eric and some other persons think I'm the best assistant in the United Kingdom, just because I get my work done fast and effectively. Back to our story.
"There's nothing Mister Cowell actually wants from you," I confess, smiling.
"Oh, Jessica, I'm a married man." He says, running a hand through his hair. This is how I know they're cousins.
"I'm not here for you, either." I roll my eyes.
"Then what do you want?" He asks, standing up.
"I want to talk to your cousin, Andrew," saying his name out loud in front of Ellis seems so weird now.