Annabelle
Four
In the ever so early hours of the morning, dew lay on the grass, the warmth hitting my face like a baseball bat. The sun still hasn’t awakened, darkness sitting over the earth. November brought muggy rainy mornings, the clouds letting off teardrops all over California. I could only pray the sun would make an appearance periodically at the least. A red light flashed as I hit the breaks lightly, the car slowly coming to a stop. It was seemingly a quiet morning, Annabelle absence the cause. She’d barely let go of my jacket this morning when I’d dropped her off at daycare. My heart ached at the sight of her sniffling as I left only twenty minutes before. Even so, today was a very important day. Def Jam Recordings was coming in with one of their new and exclusive artists. Rihanna was recording a new album and most of their writers and producers were busy. Def Jams had helped created the label Big Gun Records, so they often came to us with their artists. Just last year they sent many of their side label The Island’s artists over the summer to record and work with us. I’d personally worked with Justin Bieber recording “Smile.” I opted out of working with the newest buzz around the office. I had stacks of paperwork, more than 5 dozen CD’s to go through just today.
Sipping at my steaming hot Starbucks coffee, I pulled into the parking lot as it was almost full. Five Thirty in the morning is not my ideal time of arriving at work. Only years ago I was helping Sarah by working out of my own house, not being able to bear leaving Annabelle with someone I didn’t trust. It took me almost a year to find the right daycare, and the burden of having to worry about my precious girl all day was somewhat lifted off of my shoulder.
Sluggishly stepping out of my car, I opened my umbrella before locking the car securely. A large sign took over the door, Welcome! sticking out like a sore thumb. I smiled lightly as I walked into the office building, the secretary sending me a warm smile. Tables with assortments of foods were being set up, the assistant’s buzzing around the office like bee’s. Finally reaching Sarah’s office, I heard her boisterous voice booming as she yelled most likely at one of the interns.
Opening the door slowly, I stepped into the rather bright room, shrugging my jacket off and placing it on the hooks near the large wooden door. The commonly messy office was somewhat picked up, the usually messy files cleaned up and only the unopened CD files being stacked on the table. Grabbing a handful of them, I sat down at my desk as I let out a sigh of relief. My iMac had already been turned on, and open to a file. Sarah must have stayed late at the office sorting through some CD’s. Scanning it, a small post it note sat next to the document.
Check out #243453, I left it in your left drawer. It’ll be worth it. Just take a listen. -Sarah.
Smiling lightly at Sarah’s beyond beautiful handwriting, I opened my draw as I wrinkled white medium sized envelope sat untouched. Opening it slowly, I popped the CD in, and placing my headphones over my ears. The melody started off slow, A melodic man’s voice echoing, his voice clear as a glass. Smiling lightly, I doodled down notes, and put the CD in a case, and placed in the pile of keepers.
The next hour consisted off shitty voices, girls who sounded like dying cats and boys like they were being murdered. I just prayed Sarah had brought some pain relievers today. I wasn’t sure if I could take another hour of this.
“Audrey!” A voice shrieked as I almost jumped out of my seat. Sarah came storming into the room, the distant voices of interns mumbling sorries before she slammed the door shut. She slowly lowered herself into the chair, taking a deep breath.
“I swear to god. These interns know NOTHING. How hard is it to unfold tables and put tablecloths down? ITS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE.” She muttered as I told her to take a deep breath. I quickly grabbed a cold water out of the beverage cooler and handed it to her.
“I’ll go take care of them. Take a breather babe. Its going to be a long day.” I spoke softly as she barely whispered thank you. Stepping out of the office, flustered interns hung around the office like lost puppies. Directing them where the tables were to go.
“Ah Ms. Kingsley! So nice to see you again. Is Sarah in her office? Oh and you’ll keep watch on my little assistants today for me, won’t you?” Joshua, One of Def Jam Recordings head supervisors. Smiling brightly, I nodded and pointed to her door. Writing down something on my clip board, a stack of name tags were clipped on. A group of three men and a couple women walked in, looking at me instantly.
“Assistants?” I questioned as one women nodded. Placing name tags down with each of their names printed neatly with a clip. One women found hers as she clipped it onto her neatly ironed suit.
“These will give you access to most of the building. Lunch will be at precisely twelve o’clock. And if you don’t already know, There ARE cameras. So don’t do anything stupid.” I explained as they just nodded and got in some side conversations. Just as I was about to make a phone call, a familiar voice came from behind.
“Audrey?” an oh so familiar voice came from behind as time seamlessly froze. My mind seemed to race a mile a minute as my heart slowly came to a sudden halt. My eyes fluttered and my eyelids shut. i was surprised that i’d managed to take a breath in-between. I never thought that we’d meet again, especially this soon.
Slowly maneuvering my body to face him, he stood tall as a grey blazer hugging his body perfectly. Skinny jeans were a no show, as looser fitted jeans sat along his waist. Glasses now apparent, I looked at him with a slight questioning look. His smile slowly turned into a smirk as I could only sigh.
“I do think I have a name tag somewhere on that table...” He trailed off as his melodic voice barely were picked up, slightly twisting my body to see that there was only one name tag left on the table. Joseph Jonas. Executive Song Writer/Producer. Picking it up carefully, I grazed my hand over his name lightly. I’d read a few of the songs that he’d written months ago, which all of them were full of brilliancy. Snapping back into reality, I cleared my throat slightly before handing him it to him. Our fingers only slightly brushed as my stomach seemed to jump out of my stomach. My brain instantly kicked in as my continuous silently spoke to me. You don’t like him. Your heart belongs to someone else. My ring on my hand seemingly burned as I twisted it lightly before bitting my lip.
“Your married? Figures..” He muttered the end as I didn’t catch his last word. My eyes met his own as I shook my head furiously before a Sarah walked by me, looking over at Joe. Her eyebrow went up and gave me a look as I glared at her almost to make sure she didn’t say anything. Sticking her tongue out playfully, she just walked by us casually, her hand along her baby bump.
“Oh no, I’m not married. Or Engaged. Long story. I actually have some work to get to...” I muttered before walking past the next table, the freshly brewed coffee’s aroma sitting heavily in the air. I was almost tempted to grab some, before remembering I still had Starbucks awaiting me in the office. As I almost reached the door, I heard footsteps behind me.
“With what? I can help you. I mean I do work at a record label too...” he trailed off as my hand sat on the office door, my head whipping around to see him not standing that far away as his hand rubbing his slightly, a cocky smirk still laying on his lips. His brown eyes seemed to sparkle, illuminating almost in the light.
“I have demo’s to go through. I doubt a ‘executive producer’ like you is interested. Have a good day.” I sighed as I opened the office door, walking in slowly. The door shut behind me, hoping that he wouldn’t follow. There was no need for any more distractions than I already had today. Annabelle ran through my mind as Joe’s interaction with her flashed through my mind. Almost any man is good with children. How do you think he feels? Attempting to ignore my brain, I knew I was right. He was just another person.
Just as I was about to sit down, I heard the door crack open as let out a breath of frustration. To my surprise it was not who I was expecting. A sluggish Taylor made her way through the door, her Juicy Couture bag loosely sitting over her shoulder. Her eyes met mine as she smiled slightly before walking over to her desk behind me.
“Morning. Traffic was horrid. I couldn’t even make it to Dunkies.” She sighed as I swiveled my chair to face her. I handed her my Starbucks cup as a smile instantly brightened on her face. Blowing me a kiss lightly she booted up her computer before sitting down. Playing with a strand of my hair, she turned to me as she gulped a sip of the coffee.
“You know what is so weird? Jacobs best friend from high school is sitting in the lobby. I think you met him at the party last weekend right? God, If I wasn’t engaged I would tap that.” She exasperated as my eyes almost bulged out my eyes, laughter erupting in the room. Taylor was very, well outspoken. She would tell you how it is, no matter the time or place. I’d always loved her honesty, and it kept our friendship bound so tightly. Just as I was about to speak, the door creaked open once again as Taylor glanced before quickly looking back at her computer.
“Audrey come on. Please?” I pleading voice came from behind as a sigh could only escape my lips. Taylor slightly looked between myself and the door, presumably looking at Joe. Her lip moved ever so slightly before her eyebrow rose only slightly.
“Joseph. Nice to see you again. Didn’t know you’d be coming today...” She spoke carefully as I nudged her chair lightly, hoping she wasn’t implying anything. I didn’t even know him. I mean for god sakes, I’d just learned his last name a mere twenty minutes ago. Attempting to ignore my surroundings, I skimmed through my emails on my computer, Mostly coupons for Victoria’s Secret and various other chain stores.
“I had no current projects I’m working on, boss thought it would be good for a change of surroundings. Give me a bit of inspiration. I think I have it too.” He cleared his throat lightly as I just rolled my eyes before my phone buzzed from inside my purse sitting inside my desk. Swiftly getting it out of the drawer, a text from Sarah flashing across the screen. Quickly texting her back with her answer.
“Oh yeah. We have a shit load of demo’s we have to go through today, you go ahead and help Audrey and I’m going to go.... go help interns.” She mumbled off smiling brightly at me as I glared her down, her poor excuse seeping with untruthfulness. I knew exactly what she was doing and it was never, ever going to happen. I parted my lips slightly to speak, but held back as Taylor smirked over at me once she was behind him, Giving me a thumbs up and flashing her ever so shiny ring. The door shut loudly as if on purpose, Joe still giving me a look as he stood 100 feet away from me.
“Here. Take these. Write down the code on the top of the package, your personal rating and dump into the box of possible new signings and the crappy ones go in this bin.” I showed him as I pointed to the big blue bin filled with tons of CD’s and opened packages. Beside it was a bright yellow bin with little less than 30 CD’s scattering the bottom of the bin. September through December we’d accept CD demo’s from all across the country, seeing if there was any new talent we could sign to the label. This had been successful over the last three years, and Sarah thought it was an extraordinary idea. Before demo’s would come in every day it seemed, interns taking time out to sort through them. This had been so unorganized, we’d lost more than 50 CD’s over the course of the year. Hiring extra interns to sort through, then people like me re-listen and pick out the best ones.
I’d never been close with most of my family. My father had left my mother when I was almost three months old, leaving my mother to support me alone. I’d been told that he was a musician, expert at bass and drums. Even so, he’d died when I was eight, driving drunk in a main intersection in Chicago. I’d never met him; at least as far as I can remember. It was a forbidden topic when I’d lived with my mother, and I hadn’t bothered to ask. My Aunt had always been the one who filled me in on the latest gossip within the family, always treating me like her daughter. Growing up, my mother was never home anyway. I’d learned to fend for myself as a child. Thats probably why I didn’t mind living alone and why I was so independent. When I’d decided I wanted to get into the music industry at 17, my mother highly disagreed and wanted me to peruse a medical career to guarantee success in life. Lets just say a mere two months later, I was out of the house and haven’t spoken to her since.
When He’d come into the equation only over a year later, my life had seemed as if it was looking up. But god robbed me of what I knew we’d become.
“I don’t get the point if you throw out almost eighty percent of the CD’s...” he almost questioned to himself as I snapped out of my trance and looked over at him, now behind me sitting at Taylor’s desk. He had Beats in his hand, around his neck as a song was playing. Shrugging lightly, I pulled out my earbuds and turned my chair around.
“You know the band Time Chasers?” I questioned as he looked at me, nodding and tapping a pen lightly on the white table. “Five years ago, a demo CD was delivered here. It was almost left amongst the pile of crap in here. An intern had found it and curiously listened to it. Time Chasers, four boys from Virginia were flown out to put out a single and its history from there. Everyone deserves a chance. Even if they sound like dying animals. Thats why I like doing this. Its that small part of you that is happy you might actually be able to make someone’s dream come true.” I smiled lightly, my cheeks tinted only slightly pink. His eyes looked at me in slight awe, smiling ever so slightly.
“See that’s true dedication and love for music. Rare, Audrey, very rare.” He spoke in almost thought, a smile still present on his face. I couldn’t help but grin myself, slowly turing my chair back to my desk. Popping back in my earbuds, light piano filled my ears as I sat back and listened, smiling as Joe’s words were on repeat in my head. It was a strange thing to me. I’d never felt happy, never mind over a guy. Sighing slightly, I looked down at the shimmering ring sitting on the wrong hand, my lips parting slightly as I licked my lips. I knew it was wrong and I was still unsure why I’d felt this way. I wasn’t sure what I was, but it was something and I was sure of it. Popping a CD out of the drive, I put it in the case, throwing it in the yellow bin. I still wasn’t sure if it was my mood that made the song good, or the actual quality of the track. Over the course of the next three hours, I’d only found two tracks I’d actually liked, Joe one. As the clock neared twelve.
“Hey Aud, lets go grab some lunch. All this work is starving me.” He moaned as I laughed lightly, pulling my purse out of the draw next to me. Making sure my wallet and phone was inside, I got up from my seat and stretched my muscles. Walking over to Sarah’s desk, I took out a pen and a sticky note, sticking it to the front of her desk calendar.
Out to Lunch. Should be back in a couple hours. Found a few good demo’s, take a listen if you have time.
Xoxo,
Audrey.
“Ready?” He questioned as he looked over at me, shrugging his jacket over his broad shoulders. He pushed his glasses up to his nose once again, his nose twitching lightly as it hadn’t seemed to phase him. Grabbing my jacket, I placed my purse over my shoulder as we exited the office. Checking my phone nervously, I’d made sure Annabelle’s daycare hadn’t called or left any messages. She’d always had a hard time going down for a nap when it wasn’t in her own bed. She was just like her mother.
Exiting the building with ease, a black mercedes blinked twice as Joe’s hand swiftly pressed the key on his keychain. It was almost a double take at how beautiful the car was. Looking over at my old car, my shoulders slugged lightly as I walked toward the car, opening the door. Stepping inside the sleek leather car, the smell of his cologne filled my nostrils as the engine roared before we both shut both of our doors.
“She’s my baby. Got her almost two years ago.” He smiled lightly as I a smile cracked my lips, his hands gliding along the black steering wheel, exiting the parking lot as I sat back into the seat, Joe turing up the radio.
Looking over at my casually, He spoke softly as a softness was in his tone. “Where to?”
Sipping at my steaming hot Starbucks coffee, I pulled into the parking lot as it was almost full. Five Thirty in the morning is not my ideal time of arriving at work. Only years ago I was helping Sarah by working out of my own house, not being able to bear leaving Annabelle with someone I didn’t trust. It took me almost a year to find the right daycare, and the burden of having to worry about my precious girl all day was somewhat lifted off of my shoulder.
Sluggishly stepping out of my car, I opened my umbrella before locking the car securely. A large sign took over the door, Welcome! sticking out like a sore thumb. I smiled lightly as I walked into the office building, the secretary sending me a warm smile. Tables with assortments of foods were being set up, the assistant’s buzzing around the office like bee’s. Finally reaching Sarah’s office, I heard her boisterous voice booming as she yelled most likely at one of the interns.
Opening the door slowly, I stepped into the rather bright room, shrugging my jacket off and placing it on the hooks near the large wooden door. The commonly messy office was somewhat picked up, the usually messy files cleaned up and only the unopened CD files being stacked on the table. Grabbing a handful of them, I sat down at my desk as I let out a sigh of relief. My iMac had already been turned on, and open to a file. Sarah must have stayed late at the office sorting through some CD’s. Scanning it, a small post it note sat next to the document.
Check out #243453, I left it in your left drawer. It’ll be worth it. Just take a listen. -Sarah.
Smiling lightly at Sarah’s beyond beautiful handwriting, I opened my draw as I wrinkled white medium sized envelope sat untouched. Opening it slowly, I popped the CD in, and placing my headphones over my ears. The melody started off slow, A melodic man’s voice echoing, his voice clear as a glass. Smiling lightly, I doodled down notes, and put the CD in a case, and placed in the pile of keepers.
The next hour consisted off shitty voices, girls who sounded like dying cats and boys like they were being murdered. I just prayed Sarah had brought some pain relievers today. I wasn’t sure if I could take another hour of this.
“Audrey!” A voice shrieked as I almost jumped out of my seat. Sarah came storming into the room, the distant voices of interns mumbling sorries before she slammed the door shut. She slowly lowered herself into the chair, taking a deep breath.
“I swear to god. These interns know NOTHING. How hard is it to unfold tables and put tablecloths down? ITS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE.” She muttered as I told her to take a deep breath. I quickly grabbed a cold water out of the beverage cooler and handed it to her.
“I’ll go take care of them. Take a breather babe. Its going to be a long day.” I spoke softly as she barely whispered thank you. Stepping out of the office, flustered interns hung around the office like lost puppies. Directing them where the tables were to go.
“Ah Ms. Kingsley! So nice to see you again. Is Sarah in her office? Oh and you’ll keep watch on my little assistants today for me, won’t you?” Joshua, One of Def Jam Recordings head supervisors. Smiling brightly, I nodded and pointed to her door. Writing down something on my clip board, a stack of name tags were clipped on. A group of three men and a couple women walked in, looking at me instantly.
“Assistants?” I questioned as one women nodded. Placing name tags down with each of their names printed neatly with a clip. One women found hers as she clipped it onto her neatly ironed suit.
“These will give you access to most of the building. Lunch will be at precisely twelve o’clock. And if you don’t already know, There ARE cameras. So don’t do anything stupid.” I explained as they just nodded and got in some side conversations. Just as I was about to make a phone call, a familiar voice came from behind.
“Audrey?” an oh so familiar voice came from behind as time seamlessly froze. My mind seemed to race a mile a minute as my heart slowly came to a sudden halt. My eyes fluttered and my eyelids shut. i was surprised that i’d managed to take a breath in-between. I never thought that we’d meet again, especially this soon.
Slowly maneuvering my body to face him, he stood tall as a grey blazer hugging his body perfectly. Skinny jeans were a no show, as looser fitted jeans sat along his waist. Glasses now apparent, I looked at him with a slight questioning look. His smile slowly turned into a smirk as I could only sigh.
“I do think I have a name tag somewhere on that table...” He trailed off as his melodic voice barely were picked up, slightly twisting my body to see that there was only one name tag left on the table. Joseph Jonas. Executive Song Writer/Producer. Picking it up carefully, I grazed my hand over his name lightly. I’d read a few of the songs that he’d written months ago, which all of them were full of brilliancy. Snapping back into reality, I cleared my throat slightly before handing him it to him. Our fingers only slightly brushed as my stomach seemed to jump out of my stomach. My brain instantly kicked in as my continuous silently spoke to me. You don’t like him. Your heart belongs to someone else. My ring on my hand seemingly burned as I twisted it lightly before bitting my lip.
“Your married? Figures..” He muttered the end as I didn’t catch his last word. My eyes met his own as I shook my head furiously before a Sarah walked by me, looking over at Joe. Her eyebrow went up and gave me a look as I glared at her almost to make sure she didn’t say anything. Sticking her tongue out playfully, she just walked by us casually, her hand along her baby bump.
“Oh no, I’m not married. Or Engaged. Long story. I actually have some work to get to...” I muttered before walking past the next table, the freshly brewed coffee’s aroma sitting heavily in the air. I was almost tempted to grab some, before remembering I still had Starbucks awaiting me in the office. As I almost reached the door, I heard footsteps behind me.
“With what? I can help you. I mean I do work at a record label too...” he trailed off as my hand sat on the office door, my head whipping around to see him not standing that far away as his hand rubbing his slightly, a cocky smirk still laying on his lips. His brown eyes seemed to sparkle, illuminating almost in the light.
“I have demo’s to go through. I doubt a ‘executive producer’ like you is interested. Have a good day.” I sighed as I opened the office door, walking in slowly. The door shut behind me, hoping that he wouldn’t follow. There was no need for any more distractions than I already had today. Annabelle ran through my mind as Joe’s interaction with her flashed through my mind. Almost any man is good with children. How do you think he feels? Attempting to ignore my brain, I knew I was right. He was just another person.
Just as I was about to sit down, I heard the door crack open as let out a breath of frustration. To my surprise it was not who I was expecting. A sluggish Taylor made her way through the door, her Juicy Couture bag loosely sitting over her shoulder. Her eyes met mine as she smiled slightly before walking over to her desk behind me.
“Morning. Traffic was horrid. I couldn’t even make it to Dunkies.” She sighed as I swiveled my chair to face her. I handed her my Starbucks cup as a smile instantly brightened on her face. Blowing me a kiss lightly she booted up her computer before sitting down. Playing with a strand of my hair, she turned to me as she gulped a sip of the coffee.
“You know what is so weird? Jacobs best friend from high school is sitting in the lobby. I think you met him at the party last weekend right? God, If I wasn’t engaged I would tap that.” She exasperated as my eyes almost bulged out my eyes, laughter erupting in the room. Taylor was very, well outspoken. She would tell you how it is, no matter the time or place. I’d always loved her honesty, and it kept our friendship bound so tightly. Just as I was about to speak, the door creaked open once again as Taylor glanced before quickly looking back at her computer.
“Audrey come on. Please?” I pleading voice came from behind as a sigh could only escape my lips. Taylor slightly looked between myself and the door, presumably looking at Joe. Her lip moved ever so slightly before her eyebrow rose only slightly.
“Joseph. Nice to see you again. Didn’t know you’d be coming today...” She spoke carefully as I nudged her chair lightly, hoping she wasn’t implying anything. I didn’t even know him. I mean for god sakes, I’d just learned his last name a mere twenty minutes ago. Attempting to ignore my surroundings, I skimmed through my emails on my computer, Mostly coupons for Victoria’s Secret and various other chain stores.
“I had no current projects I’m working on, boss thought it would be good for a change of surroundings. Give me a bit of inspiration. I think I have it too.” He cleared his throat lightly as I just rolled my eyes before my phone buzzed from inside my purse sitting inside my desk. Swiftly getting it out of the drawer, a text from Sarah flashing across the screen. Quickly texting her back with her answer.
“Oh yeah. We have a shit load of demo’s we have to go through today, you go ahead and help Audrey and I’m going to go.... go help interns.” She mumbled off smiling brightly at me as I glared her down, her poor excuse seeping with untruthfulness. I knew exactly what she was doing and it was never, ever going to happen. I parted my lips slightly to speak, but held back as Taylor smirked over at me once she was behind him, Giving me a thumbs up and flashing her ever so shiny ring. The door shut loudly as if on purpose, Joe still giving me a look as he stood 100 feet away from me.
“Here. Take these. Write down the code on the top of the package, your personal rating and dump into the box of possible new signings and the crappy ones go in this bin.” I showed him as I pointed to the big blue bin filled with tons of CD’s and opened packages. Beside it was a bright yellow bin with little less than 30 CD’s scattering the bottom of the bin. September through December we’d accept CD demo’s from all across the country, seeing if there was any new talent we could sign to the label. This had been successful over the last three years, and Sarah thought it was an extraordinary idea. Before demo’s would come in every day it seemed, interns taking time out to sort through them. This had been so unorganized, we’d lost more than 50 CD’s over the course of the year. Hiring extra interns to sort through, then people like me re-listen and pick out the best ones.
I’d never been close with most of my family. My father had left my mother when I was almost three months old, leaving my mother to support me alone. I’d been told that he was a musician, expert at bass and drums. Even so, he’d died when I was eight, driving drunk in a main intersection in Chicago. I’d never met him; at least as far as I can remember. It was a forbidden topic when I’d lived with my mother, and I hadn’t bothered to ask. My Aunt had always been the one who filled me in on the latest gossip within the family, always treating me like her daughter. Growing up, my mother was never home anyway. I’d learned to fend for myself as a child. Thats probably why I didn’t mind living alone and why I was so independent. When I’d decided I wanted to get into the music industry at 17, my mother highly disagreed and wanted me to peruse a medical career to guarantee success in life. Lets just say a mere two months later, I was out of the house and haven’t spoken to her since.
When He’d come into the equation only over a year later, my life had seemed as if it was looking up. But god robbed me of what I knew we’d become.
“I don’t get the point if you throw out almost eighty percent of the CD’s...” he almost questioned to himself as I snapped out of my trance and looked over at him, now behind me sitting at Taylor’s desk. He had Beats in his hand, around his neck as a song was playing. Shrugging lightly, I pulled out my earbuds and turned my chair around.
“You know the band Time Chasers?” I questioned as he looked at me, nodding and tapping a pen lightly on the white table. “Five years ago, a demo CD was delivered here. It was almost left amongst the pile of crap in here. An intern had found it and curiously listened to it. Time Chasers, four boys from Virginia were flown out to put out a single and its history from there. Everyone deserves a chance. Even if they sound like dying animals. Thats why I like doing this. Its that small part of you that is happy you might actually be able to make someone’s dream come true.” I smiled lightly, my cheeks tinted only slightly pink. His eyes looked at me in slight awe, smiling ever so slightly.
“See that’s true dedication and love for music. Rare, Audrey, very rare.” He spoke in almost thought, a smile still present on his face. I couldn’t help but grin myself, slowly turing my chair back to my desk. Popping back in my earbuds, light piano filled my ears as I sat back and listened, smiling as Joe’s words were on repeat in my head. It was a strange thing to me. I’d never felt happy, never mind over a guy. Sighing slightly, I looked down at the shimmering ring sitting on the wrong hand, my lips parting slightly as I licked my lips. I knew it was wrong and I was still unsure why I’d felt this way. I wasn’t sure what I was, but it was something and I was sure of it. Popping a CD out of the drive, I put it in the case, throwing it in the yellow bin. I still wasn’t sure if it was my mood that made the song good, or the actual quality of the track. Over the course of the next three hours, I’d only found two tracks I’d actually liked, Joe one. As the clock neared twelve.
“Hey Aud, lets go grab some lunch. All this work is starving me.” He moaned as I laughed lightly, pulling my purse out of the draw next to me. Making sure my wallet and phone was inside, I got up from my seat and stretched my muscles. Walking over to Sarah’s desk, I took out a pen and a sticky note, sticking it to the front of her desk calendar.
Out to Lunch. Should be back in a couple hours. Found a few good demo’s, take a listen if you have time.
Xoxo,
Audrey.
“Ready?” He questioned as he looked over at me, shrugging his jacket over his broad shoulders. He pushed his glasses up to his nose once again, his nose twitching lightly as it hadn’t seemed to phase him. Grabbing my jacket, I placed my purse over my shoulder as we exited the office. Checking my phone nervously, I’d made sure Annabelle’s daycare hadn’t called or left any messages. She’d always had a hard time going down for a nap when it wasn’t in her own bed. She was just like her mother.
Exiting the building with ease, a black mercedes blinked twice as Joe’s hand swiftly pressed the key on his keychain. It was almost a double take at how beautiful the car was. Looking over at my old car, my shoulders slugged lightly as I walked toward the car, opening the door. Stepping inside the sleek leather car, the smell of his cologne filled my nostrils as the engine roared before we both shut both of our doors.
“She’s my baby. Got her almost two years ago.” He smiled lightly as I a smile cracked my lips, his hands gliding along the black steering wheel, exiting the parking lot as I sat back into the seat, Joe turing up the radio.
Looking over at my casually, He spoke softly as a softness was in his tone. “Where to?”
♠ ♠ ♠
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!Tina.