Some Kind of Magic

It was three days later. The two females living in the house, in the course of those three days, had managed to rebuild the bridge of friendship that college and real life had burnt down. Of course, the friendship wasn’t the same as it was when they were fifteen. The brunette found herself irritated by the way Alicia and Travis would show their “affection” at any moment they felt was opportune. Unfortunately that was all of the time, and the constant reminder that she was all alone, drove Vanessa crazy and eventually led her to stay confided in her room for hours at a time. Only until Travis would realize that his ‘best friend’, or so he called her, had disappeared. Then the brunette, against her will, would be pulled back out into the living room, only an hour later to do the same thing, go to her room.

There was of course an upside to her spending large amounts of time in her room. With the low hum of indie music, Vanessa had managed to reconnect with her artistic side, and with the money she still had in her pocket, she spent all of it at the local craft store on canvases, paints, and brushes. Setting up the canvases against the wall, she sat Indian style in front of them, and just painted. Whatever she felt, whatever came to her mind traveled through her body, down her arm, and right out of the tip of her paintbrush. Soon, after the first couple hours, it was as if the paintbrush was an extension of her hand. Swiftly moving her wrist back and forth, she looked like she had been painting for decades.

Her behavior resulted in a stack of painted canvases in the corner of the room. As she placed the last one on the pile, a loud buzz rang through the house. It was not the doorbell, it was not any sort of signal that her food was finished cooking or the oven was preheated. The buzz was from the small clock on her night table. Eyes placed on it, the brunette ran a hand through her hair and let out a more than stressed sigh.

Today was the big day. Travis and David had spoke with the heads of the Devils organization and persuaded them that they should ‘invest’ in a talented, beautiful, smart, commercializing agent that had just moved into the state. At first, the men were skeptical. They though, so what if she was beautiful and smart? Did the organization really have enough money to pay someone big bucks to make them nice posters, commercials, and organize ran/player events? When Travis realized that it looked bad for her to get the job, he took it into his own hands and quickly compiled a bunch of the best commercials, posters, and write ups on charities the Knicks and Rangers had done. Presenting them to the men, they were won over and Vanessa was summoned to their office the next day for an interview.

Another sigh filled the bedroom. As the brunette turned her head to the window, she held back the urge to cry. It was seven in the morning. The sun was just over the line of buildings and trees reminding her that she had three hours to make it down to the Prudential Centre. Once there, she would be put through a vigorous interview. Running off of ten hours of sleep in the last two days, she was not prepared. Sure, when she needed to be she could be as professional as possible, but the mood she was in and the pain still lingering in her bones wouldn’t allow her to paste on that huge perky smile that had won so many people over.

The loud buzz rang through the room again, and the clock was now blinking seven ten in huge green numbers. After four long buzzes, it was silenced by her hand pulling the electrical cord out of the socket. As the green numbers dimmed and faded, her eyes stayed connected with the sunrise just outside of her window. From here, it was beautiful. The swirls of reds, oranges, and blues mixed together in an almost breathtaking way. Form in this room, Vanessa was safe from all of the real world problems. Out there, no matter how beautiful it may have seemed, it wasn’t.

The real world was harsh. It was all a huge game, every minute you needed to plan your next move. Beating people, being better than others, that was the whole reason of playing. For the game of life, there were no rules. Everything went. Also, in the game of life, distractions would be thrown at you. The most commercialized one, love. What did falling in love ever do for people? Make their life easier was sure not the answer. Love was just something to make everything more complicated. Love was something inflicted on the best of people to bring out the bad in them, to bring out the failure in them. Love made dreams crumble. Love did nothing but kill people. And Vanessa was not going to be brought down by life’s obstacle anymore.

Still recovering from her last collision with it, Vanessa dragged her body out of her room, an arm full of beauty products and fresh clothes. Her eyes were slower than normal, surveying the area around her. The doors in the hallway were shut, all electronics were off, and all of the artificial lights in the house were turned off.

Finally reaching the bathroom, she inhaled deeply and put her hand on the doorknob. Opening the door, she went to take a step in when a loud male scream echoed through the house. Raising her eyes up, she let out a glass-shattering scream of her own and quickly stumbled backwards. Tripping over her own feet, Vanessa landed in a jumble on the floor. Beauty products scattered around her. The pieces of fabric fell on top of her, and with all of her luck, the one piece of fabric that was more on the personal side had decided to land right on her face.

“Oh, Vanessa are you alright?” Zach looked at the girl on the floor and quickly felt his whole body grow warm. Blood rushed to his cheeks as he crouched down next to the girl. With a shaky hand, he removed the bra from her face and placed it down next to her. The blue orbs that he had let take over his mind met his and he managed to get a tight grip over the raging hormones screaming in his head.

She blinked. Her mind was reeling, trying to remind her that the boy next to her knew her better than most. He saw her in one of the lowest points in her life, and that’s when true personalities come out. On the inside, the inside that only Zach knows, she was a broken hearted little girl trying to find someone, but on the outside, she was a confident businesswoman. She was Vanessa Cooke; she was successful, confident, perky, determined, beautiful, funny, and fake.

Finally, words formed in her head and traveled down to her lips. As they parted, she pushed herself up watching her sweatpants fall into her lap from her chest. “I’m fine”, her voice was music to Zach’s ears. A smile lit up on his face as a twinkle entered his eyes. “What are you doing here?” The question hung in the air. Vanessa managed to turn her head so she was staring directly into Zach’s huge brown eyes that only stalled him in answering. How could he really focus when he has eyes like that looking at him anyway?

“Zachy!” The two on the floor looked up at Travis who had exited the room down the hall. He was in a pair of sweats and a tee shirt. “Glad to see you actually decided to get dressed today”, with a small silence after the words, Vanessa blushed deeply as her eyes trickled down Zach’s bare, strong chest. Once her eyes met Zach’s again, she scurried to her feet, the embarrassment burning up in her cheeks. Quickly gathering all of her things that had scattered around the floor, her legs brought her into the bathroom where she slammed the door shut and immediately started beating herself up for making a fool out of herself. It wasn’t like she’s never seen a man’s bare chest before. She had no good reason to be blushing like this.

Laughter echoed in from the hallway, only forcing Vanessa to turn the water on full blast to drown out anymore possible reticule she might overhear from the two boys. Embarrassment was something Vanessa could not hold. Anything that put her in the spotlight was something Vanessa naturally withdrew from. Her father told her that she got that form her mother, so after her mother had died, she embraced anything and everything about her mother that she had in her.

A tear slipped from Vanessa’s eye as she stripped off her clothes and threw them on the floor carelessly. By now, tears were a normal thing followed by the thought of her mother that had left her way too soon. Only two years ago, when she was twenty-two, her mother had died from heart disease. The feeling when someone that close to you dies is unbearable. It went from seeing the smiling face every day, to seeing the smile in worn out, faded pictures.

Stomach knotting, Vanessa stepped into the shower and let out a heavy sigh. As the water beat down on her back, a much needed smile finally forced its way to her lips. The steam in the air, the warm sensation on her body, it all settled down the raging emotions and head pulsing thoughts. Here, all of those thoughts escaped her head, all of those emotions became dormant. When the water shut off, they would come back, but that wouldn’t be for another ten minutes or so.

The water shut off. The thick fog of the room was gone as the slightly cracked open window took out all of the steam and replaced it with cold air that nipped fiercely at bare skin. The mornings in New Jersey were never warm, even on Summer days when the temperature high would be ninety-eight degrees, the mornings would still hold a nice chill to the air.

“Are you done in there?” Alicia’s tired voice echoed though the door followed by a short pound. Eyes trickling to the counter where all of her things were, she sighed heavily and quickly changed into her clean clothes and moved the mound of wet hair over to her shoulder.

Silently, she walked over to the door and opened it. The blonde on the other side of the door looked up and gave her a huge smile, bearing all of her perfectly straight white teeth. Taking a deep breath, Vanessa’s eyes connected to the two boys in the room across from the bathroom, more commonly known as the living room. One was Travis, and the other was the boy that made Vanessa’s blood boil, and not in a good way.

“Oh, I see you are taking a liking to Zachary”, she said using his full name and sending her good friend a sly smile. When the brunette simply shook her head, the blonde huffed and ordered her to move. Doing as she was told, Vanessa made her way back to her bedroom, all of her beauty products and dirty clothes in hand.

Right as she was about to touch the door knob, a strange feeling washed over her, and her small body quickly turned around. A smile joined with scintillating brown eyes was the first thing the brunettes blue orbs landed on. As the orbs trickled down the figure in front of her, a sigh escaped her lips. “I was just wondering”, he took in a deep breath and looked into her blue eyes making his stomach flop. “Do you need a ride to the Prudential Centre? It’s not really in the greatest part of New Jersey, and I know you’ve never been there before. Wouldn’t want you to get lost”, Vanessa’s eyes met his and quickly formulated a list of pro’s and con’s.

Pro’s; She wouldn’t have to use her own gas. Also, she would cut out all of the time trying making u-turns because she went the wrong way. Of course there was also the overbearing suspicion that if she showed up with a player as a friend it would make it look even better for her, on top of all of the written down recommendations, and samples of her work.

Con’s; Vanessa would have to torture herself for a good half an hour. Sitting next to him trying not to remember the last time they met. It was the past; maybe a year into the past, but the vision of her crying into him wouldn’t leave her head no matter how hard she tried. On top of the extremely awkward car ride, she didn’t have to drive, and the need for sleep was slowly increasing as the minutes ticked by. Quiet in a smooth car ride, nice and warm in a comfortable seat? There was no need for her to be groggy at a huge job interview.

Although the cons were slightly heavier than the pro’s, the game of life and the push to be successful had Vanessa looking up into Zach’s huge brown eyes and forcing a tight smile. “Sure, I’d love to get a ride”, with that Zach smiled, showing off his teeth, and felt the tug on his lips disappear. The smile effortlessly stuck on his face as words fell over another in his head.

“Great, Let me know when you’re done!” His smile was huge and Vanessa could only let out a small chuckle as she turned away from the boy and headed to her room down the hallway. When she reached her room, she took a deep breath and started right away on fixing herself up for her job interview.

Hair straightened, make-up even, business attire on, Vanessa took a long inhale and turned to the mirror in her room. Inspecting over every inch of her, another puff of air escaped her mouth as the ends of her lips twisted down. She looked good, she looked professional, her self esteem was high enough to tell her that, but there was a twisting pain in her stomach that made her frown. The thought of being rejected from a job that she needed so desperately rumbled in her stomach.

With a deep inhale, Vanessa grabbed her things and shoved them back into the black fabric bag on the bed. Putting it over her shoulder, she walked out of her room and down to the living room where Travis and Zach were sitting next to each other on the couch. As the brunette studied their faces and felt the tension in the air, the only thing she could do was lift her eyebrows questionably.

“You ready?” As Zach looked at her, his hands grew sweaty and he tried to inconspicuously wipe them on his pants. After he looked at her and noticed her blue eyes off in the room, he smiled and motioned for them to walk out as he leaned over to the couch and grabbed his coat. Shrugging it on, Zach waved to Travis who decided the only thing appropriate would to make a kissy face at him. A low growl rumbled from Zach’s throat as he sped up to Vanessa who was standing at the passenger’s side of Zach’s fancy silver SUV.

Vanessa’s mind was focused on one thing and one thing only throughout the beginning of the silent, with the exception of the light bass of music, ride. What if she didn’t get this job? What could she possibly do without this job? There was always the possibility of becoming a waitress or a cashier, but how could a commercializing agent go from making over two hundred thousand dollars a year at the most famous arena in the world, to working at a little restaurant in New Jersey?

“I’m sure the guys will love you. The owners I mean”, Zach said in a small attempt to knock the serious look off of Vanessa’s face, but the only thing she did was sink lower in her seat. Her mind was reeling, thinking about all of the horrible things that might happen if she didn’t get the job. She would be nothing, and the only thing Vanessa wanted when she was thinking about the future, was to be something. She didn’t need to be famous; she just wanted to be important.

With a heavy sigh, Zach leaned back in his seat and continued the rest of the ride in silence. When the huge building finally came into view, Vanessa took a deep breath and started cracking her knuckles. The cracking sound caught the ear of Zach, and he turned in question. When he saw Vanessa sitting straight up, staring up at the building in fright, cracking her knuckles, he smiled a little and quickly pulled into a spot in the parking lot. Turning the car off, he turned to her and without realizing it, put his hand on her cheek and turned her face to his.

Vanessa’s face tingled, and her eyes, which were wide, connected with Zach’s. As they looked into each other’s eyes, Zach was fighting the urge not to just lean over and kiss her with all of his built up compassion, and Vanessa was fighting her mind, telling herself over and over again, that she wasn’t going to go through this. Zach was a professional hockey player, not just an on the side player like Matt, Zach was probably five times worse than Matt, Zach was…

He snapped. Although the seatbelt tried to hold him back, Zach fought against it and leaned over, lightly pressing his lips to Vanessa’s. For the first few seconds, he was applying all of the pressure, but what felt like days later, there was a small amount of pressure from the other end, and Zach’s mind suddenly escalated to cloud nine. Hand caressing her cheek, he was about to deepen the kiss when reality kicked back into Vanessa’s system and she quickly pulled away.

The brunette was out of the car quicker than Zach’s mind could comprehend. As Vanessa fought back tears of anger, pure anger at herself, she managed to make it across the parking lot and up to the huge glass doors. Zach, shocked and confused, sat in the car, keeping a tight grip on the steering wheel as he mentally cursed at himself.

Not really sure where she was headed, Vanessa walked into the building and looked around at the signs on the hallways and whatnot. A few pointed to the locker room one pointed to the ice, and the other simply said ‘office’. When her blue eyes connected with that, she took a deep breath and walked down that hallway until she saw a man who gave her a small smile.

“Hello miss, who are you looking for?” Taking a deep breath, Vanessa smiled and informed the man she was here for the interview for the job of the commercializing agent. As the man’s cold brown eyes trickled over her, his face washed off all of the fake friendly emotion and nodded. “Follow me miss Cooke”, Nodding, she trailed behind the man, all the way down the hall to a door at the end. When he opened it, she took a deep breath and looked up at the three suited men around her.

They all looked at her and smiled a little. “Why miss Cooke! Right on time”, she nodded and walked in. Thinking quickly, she exhaled smoothly and stuck out her hand to the first man.

“Mr. Parise gave me a ride over here so I wouldn’t be late”, the men smiles grew wider, and when she reached the last man, he was standing. “He’s a great guy”, Vanessa said through grinding teeth but managed to make it look like it was a genuine, sincere, smile.

“Speak of the devil!” Vanessa turned slowly and when her eyes came into contact with the deep brown ones of Zach’s, her stomach flipped and she took a deep breath, trying to tame her wild emotions. Zach watched her and took a deep breath, then looked at the men. He gave them a smile and went to sit in one of the chairs in the back when they called him up. They chatted for a few minutes about how he knew Vanessa, just generally information, and then they turned to the girl.

Question after question hit her. Where she got her degree from, how many years she had in the business, how she did this, what were the time amounts in which she had to make things, and other annoying questions. After a while, the questions died down, and the men told her, that she was fit for the job. She was perfect for it.

Vanessa had a smile on her face, bigger than she has ever smiled in a good year. As Zach noticed her smile, he felt a smile light up on his face, even though the picture of her angrily walking out of his car after his emotions won him over ran through his head. This was all he wanted to see Vanessa do, so even though there was a bad taste in his mouth from the previous events, he couldn’t help but smile.

“Look at you two”, one of the men said, the shook his head. “Vanessa. You’ve got the job. You’re over qualified, you should be working at places way better than here. We’d be honored to have you work here”, Vanessa was beaming, but happiness can only work for so long.

“You two”, the man that was the owner of the organization chuckled, “You have to be dating. Aren’t you?” When Vanessa shook her head wordlessly, the man chuckled and whispered something to the other man. As both of them shared a chuckle, Vanessa’s cheeks grew to a deep red and she felt herself shrinking in embarrassment, the one emotion she absolutely dreaded.

After a moment of silence, and chuckles Zach stood up and noticed the pure embarrassment in Vanessa’s eyes. Not thinking it through completely, Zach walked over to Vanessa and took her under his arm. With a smile, he kissed her on the cheek and looked at the men who were in full smiles.

“We’re just really good friends”, Zach said watching the men chuckle and roll their eyes suggesting that this friends was actually ‘friends with benefits’. As this sunk down into Vanessa’s head, more embarrassment fell over her, and her hate for Zach was now overflowing.

As they looked up at each other, Zach realized that he had screwed up. Bad.