Paper Cranes

“Rowena! Are the files for the Kirby case ready?!” Kate called from inside her office. I was arranging the last few documents of the case in order. I put them all into the specified folder and took it into Kate’s office. Kate was my boss; I guessed you could say that since I worked under her. I was her personal clerk/ assistant. Kate was a successful corporate lawyer in the firm we were working in. In fact, she was one of the best in this field. I was glad my first job after graduating from law school was this. I learned a lot throughout the two years that most probably I wouldn’t be able to learn elsewhere.

Anyway, back to Kate, she was thirty-six years old, pure New Yorker, and was one of the most hardworking, determined person I had ever met. She was also pretty with high cheekbones and a pair of bright green eyes. Sadly, she was always so focused on her career that she never had time for her love life. But who was I to judge?

As I handed Kate the folder, she took it swiftly without even looking away from her computer screen. She had her shoulder length blond hair pinned up in a neat bun as usual and a pen behind her ear. “Do you need anything else, Kate?” I asked expectantly. I had nothing else to do for the next hour. All that I had to do for today was done. She shook her head and I left her alone with her work and went back to my table. There were papers scattered everywhere. I sighed and started to tidy them up, whatever that was not needed went straight into the wastepaper basket and those that were needed were filed up.

By the time I was done with all the tidying, it was already four-thirty. Another half an hour to go before the day came to an end. I decided to check my email again and only found a few junk mails. I deleted them and proceeded to surf the internet for a while. I went to my favourite website, E-Bay. I had a thing for purchasing rare items or anything that struck my fancies on the site. There were a set of autographed guitar picks by The Smiths being auctioned. I had already put down my bid and hopefully I would get them by the end of this week when the auction closes. So far, I was the highest bidder so I was pretty sure I would be the owner of the collection soon.

“Hey, Ro! Time to head out the office! It’s five already!” a familiar voice said. I looked up to find Winona standing in front of my cubicle, an excited grin plastered on her face. Winona was my closest friend in the firm, outside the firm, so basically you could say she’s my best friend. I met her when I started my first day here. She was one wacky girl with the biggest heart. She would accept anyone for whom they are and never force you to do anything if you don’t want to. She had wavy short ginger hair and freckles on her pale skin face.

I smiled at her and grabbed my coat. Before I leave with Winona, I knocked on Kate’s glass door, said my farewell and left hand-in-hand with Winona. The first place to hit after work was home! We both lived in the same building since Winona moved out from her ex’s place last month and she had decided to rent a place here. She had rented an apartment downstairs from mine which was the only vacant one at that time. We parted when she reached her floor and I went one flight of stairs more.

I unlocked the door to my apartment and couldn’t be happier to see the familiar place. The walls were all painted a light shade of apple green and there was that comfortable black couch. My hi-fi set which I had to work my ass off in order to buy it and Sparkie, my two-years old goldfish which was swimming lazily in her small fishbowl. I tapped gently on the glass bowl as Sparkie waited expectantly for me to feed her and I did.

Then, I went to my proud CD collection and decided that I needed some John Mayer today and popped in his latest album, Continuum. I turned up the volume of my hi-fi system and went to take a shower. Twenty minutes later, I came out from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around me as I went to my closet. Today was Thursday, ladies night at the local clubs. I wasn’t a usual clubbing person but Winona had tried to get me to go with her for quite some time and finally I had given in and decided to accompany her. I looked through my clothes and picked out a simple black spaghetti strap dress which reached slightly above my knees. I put on my favourite make up product of all times; black waterproof eyeliner and mascara. I added some bronze eye shadow to help bring out the hazel-ness of my eyes. Then, with some maroon red lipstick I was almost ready. I then proceeded to call Winona and put her on loudspeaker.

“Hi, Ro! You done?” Winona asked as I heard her dropped something over the line.

“Yeah. Almost. I’ll meet you at the stairs in five?” I replied, putting on my hoop earrings.

“Okay. See you there!” she said in her cheerful voice and hung up. I tied my waist length wavy black hair in a high ponytail and stole another glance of my reflection before leaving to turn off the hi-fi system and put on my pair of black four-inch heels, took my handbag and left.

I descended the stairs as careful as I could and there was Winona by the staircase. Winona was wearing a green cocktail dress that was slightly shorter than mine. She also had on an emerald necklace. We gave each other an approving wink, linked our arms and went down the remaining stairs.

“Where should we have dinner tonight?” I asked in a sing-song manner as we stood outside our apartment building. She thought for a while. “We had fast food last night, so no fast food. We had Chinese the day before, so no…” she had her hand on her chin, thinking hard on what we should eat.

“What about Mama Lisa’s?” I suggested. Winona looked at me and smiled. “Mama Lisa here we come!” she exclaimed and dragged me with her as we walked down the street towards the diner. Mama Lisa’s was a twenty-something year old diner which served the best hamburgers in town, plus it’s affordable!

We reached the diner within minutes and fortunately, we managed to get our favourite seat which was by the window. We sat opposite each other and ordered our favourite hamburger with fries and Coca Cola.

“So, what are your plans for tonight?” I asked Winona. She smirked at me mischievously. “Let’s just say I feel lucky tonight.”

I chuckled at her answer. Winona meant finding her Mr. Right. She was always looking for her Mr. Right which was someone who was taller than her (which wasn’t hard to find since she was 5 ft. 5 only), kind, understand her and would treat her like a princess.

For the rest of the dinner, we joked about how Winona would meet her Mr. Right and gossiped about whatever that was new in work today. By the time we were done, it was already eight (when we start talking, we could barely stop even though we see each other every single day of our lives). We decided to head for the bar which required us to take a cab and traveled a few blocks downtown.

When we reached the place, there was already a queue going on but thank god it wasn’t very bad. Winona and I got into the club after fifteen minutes standing in line. Inside, music was already booming and there were already people dancing away on the dance floor. Multiple colour lights were flashing all over the place. Winona and I decided to head to the bar and ordered something to drink first. Before we finished our first drink, she was already whisked away by some dude with dark brown hair. So, I ended up sitting there by myself, enjoying my glass of margarita. Just as I was about to head for the dance floor, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

Then, there was a guy with shoulder-length black hair and red tips. The next thing I noticed was his familiar striking ocean blue eyes which matched his gentle smile and high cheekbones. “I don’t see you here often!” he shouted over the loud music.

I nodded. “I’m new to all this,” I gestured around the room. The guy nodded and smiled wider. I couldn’t help but returned his smile with what I hoped was my best smile. He was wearing a plain white shirt with a black bandanna tied loosely around his neck and a pair of skinny black jeans. He ordered a glass of margarita and surprisingly he ordered another for me. Then, he turned to me again and once again I was blown away by his blue eyes. How rich they were.

“My name’s Jared. And yours?” he asked, extending his hand.

“Rowena,” I took his hand with mine and shook it.

“Rowena?” he repeated with a thoughtful expression. “That’s a very nice name.”

I smiled and felt myself blushed slightly. I didn’t know how but he noticed my pink cheeks and chuckled. “You’re adorable, you know that, Rowena?” he shouted once again to overcome the loudness of the music.

I didn’t know what to say. No one had ever called me adorable before, especially not by someone who was as fine looking as this guy. I just stared into his twinkling blue eyes and felt somewhat safe. Mentally I kicked myself when I realized I was staring and turned my gaze to the crowd on the dance floor. He saw my sudden diverted attention, downed his drink. “You wanna dance?” he asked with a smirk. I nodded and finished my drink. He had his hands on my shoulders and was pushing me towards the crowd. I rolled my eyes but did not shake them off. He guided me to the middle of the dance floor and started to show off his dance moves. I didn’t have any second thoughts and followed suit as I felt my own body moved according to the beats of the music being played.