Luck & Intuition

AUTUMN SLAMMED DOWN the stack of freshly printed photos onto her desk. She ran her fingers through her hair and closed her eyes as the screen shots of the news and magazines popped into her mind. As if her life didn’t have enough stress, now there are rumours flying around that she is dating Joe Jonas and they have a kid! Great, that’s just fan-fucking-tastic.

If acting like nothing happened were ever possible, then everybody would be acting like nothing happened. It would be easy to pretend that your smile was real and your tears were from laughter. But the human race is getting too smart and can see through everyone’s pathetic attempt of pretending that everything is okay.

Nothing is ever okay, there is always something wrong with someone in this goddam world. Hell, we’re probably all phonies for Christ’s sake! Holden Caulfield said it the best in The Catcher in the Rye, so no one could probably ever top that shit. If we all just pretend that we didn’t give a damn that maybe, just maybe everything would go away.

“Autumn.” A voice echoed in her mind but it was too far away from her to comprehend the familiar sound. “Autumn!” The voice was closer now but still distant, and the voice was easy to identify.

Autumn’s eyes peeled open and looked directly at Lily standing on the other side of her desk.

“You have a call on line two.” Lily’s voice lowered from her shouting and set down some colour palettes, then exited her office.

Autumn sat down in her black leather office chair and picked up the phone, pressing the flashing light.

“This is Autumn Lowe.”

“Autumn, it’s Joe.” Autumn clenched her teeth together. Her fingers gripped around the phone tight. “I heard that you heard about the magazine... and the GMA report.”

“Heard it. Saw it. Living it. Great, huh?”

He sighed over the receiver. “Autry, I didn’t think that something like this would happen. I honestly didn’t. The paparazzi and magazines are just picking on us because Britney Spears hasn’t done anything scandalous lately. It will blow over. It isn’t a big deal.”

“Isn’t a big deal? I have news trucks and flashing cameras outside of my apartment trying to get to talk or snap pictures of me and Ella, Joe! I’m getting calls at three in the morning from London reports because I am the daughter of an international designer! So don’t you dare tell me this isn’t a big fucking deal!”

The door of her office swung open and Joe stepped inside. Autumn looked up and glare, slamming down the phone to end the pointless call. Her hands rested on her hips as Joe slid his phone into the pocket of his insanely tight skinny jeans. In his other hand held a Starbucks cup.

“And you have the nerve to walk your popstar ass right into my office to smooth things over right?”

“I guess that’s what it seems to be.” Joe shrugged and leaned against the back wall with his arms crosses over his chest.

“You guess? You know what I’m thinking Joe; I’m thinking that you hired those paparazzi people to take pictures of you and Ella just so it will boost your ego even higher than it already is. So that your pretty little face can be in the limelight.”

“You think I have a pretty little face?” Joe smirked and eased his crossed arms.

“Would you just shut up? I don’t know what kind of scheme you’re up to, trying to get my attention and all that shit. I don’t like you okay? Never have and never will! What don’t you understand about that?”

Joe laughed and shook his head. “You think this was some kind of stunt for me to get your attention? Is it so hard to believe that even a celebrity can be nice and help out a friend that was in desperate need of assistances? Is it so hard to believe that I make mistakes because I am human? Your name slipped by accident and now your fucking lashing out at me over a mere little incident?!”

Autumn’s eyes dropped down to her desk with a sigh. She shuffled the papers in front of her into a neat pile, and then cleared her throat.

“What do you want from me, Joe?” Autumn spoke low. “Do you want me to say that it took two weeks for me to fall in love with you? We aren’t a movie; this isn’t Dear John or The Notebook. I am not the Allie to your Noah, or Savannah to your John.”

Joe stood there in silence with his eyes falling close only to reopen moments after. He nodded and set the cup down on Autumn’s desk.

“Peppermint Mocha Latte.” Joe’s eyes feel to hers for a split second. “Have a nice day.” The door closed silently behind him as he was gone. His presence, however, still lingered throughout the office.

Autumn picked up the cup and sat back down in her chair and sighed, pressing her lips to the opening of the lid. The hot liquid burn her as it slid down her throat. She turned the cup in her hand; her eyes widened seeing the writing on the other side of the cup.

The Way I See It #44

I pick up all your tears

throw 'em in your backseat

leave without a second glance.

Somehow I'm to blame

for this never ending racetrack, you call life.

Autumn set down the cup and covered her eyes with the palms of her hands letting out a deep sigh. Autumn stood up and grabbed her purse off the hook and threw on her Twill Military Jacket. She opened the door and stopped, quickly snatching the coffee cup off of her desk.

“Lily, cancel my appointments for the rest of the day.” Autumn said while walking past Lily’s desk and towards the elevator. She jabbed her finger into the button causing it to light up.

“Autumn? Autumn, where hell are you going?!” Lily called out from behind.

“Just cancel them, Lily!” Autumn stepped into the elevator, watching it close as Lily stood in front of it with a complete confused expression written across her face.

[&&]

Surprisingly the paparazzi had left from their usual camp out site along the perimeter of the building, probably because he had began to rain. The radio stations had changed topics from their usual gossip. Autumn walked into her apartment later on that evening with too many thoughts running through her mind. She set her keys on the table and kicked off her shoes.

Murmuring was apparent in the other room. Autumn raised an eyebrow and walked into the living room where suddenly the murmurs had come to a halt. There in the living room stood Kevin and Nick with their heads lowered. Storm stood with her eyes red and stain marks from her makeup. Next to Storm was a police officer, in his late thirties.

“What’s going on? Where’s Ella?” Autumn placed her purse on the floor.

“Ella’s fine. She’s with Taylor in the bedroom.” Kevin was the only one to respond. “But um...”

“What? Did something happen to Joe?” Autumn looked at them. All four said nothing for a good two minutes. “Someone better tell me what the hell is going on right now!”

“I’m sorry to inform you Miss, but your brother has passed away.”