Fan Fiction |
by Sensitivegal
The next couple of days were a blur to Charlene. She would still go to lunch with Edison and Gillian as it was there afternoon virtue. Edison had mentioned they didn’t want Gillian to be suspicious. But Charlene got the feeling he was using Gillian as an excuse.
Gillian was quite odd the past few days. She kept hanging with Nicholas lately. Something stirred inside her but she couldn’t pin point what. Was she having feelings for Nicholas? But that couldn’t be true. She was in love with Edison.
She also felt something amiss with Edison and Charlene. There was this vibe coming from them. Something wonderful. Was there something going on with Charlene and Edison that she didn’t know of? But that couldn’t be true. Edison was the type that didn’t get involved with his employees. He fired his last receptionist and secretary for falling in love with him. It was all proof that there is nothing going on.
Edison was trying his hard not to think of Charlene more than a friend. Once or twice he would forget that they were friends. He was breaking apart inside. He loved her too much. He didn’t know what to do as her friend. Yes, be there for her, care for her and let her get around it. But he wasn’t very good at waiting. How did things go wrong for him?
Patrick Velcois was another case. He wouldn’t agree to a meeting. It has been six months he has been trying with no luck. Now that Patrick’s daughter had runaway made things more difficult for him. Patrick would not come out of his mansion. He was apparently a wreck blaming himself for being a bad father. He wondered what drove the girl away. What happened with the father and daughter? He had a PI looking for the runaway daughter’s information. Nothing would come up yet.
He was determined to find the daughter so he can continue with his business to destroy Patrick Velcois business life.
Charlene’s cell phone rang startling her out of her dream world. She flipped it open when she read Gillian’s name on the ID caller. Gillian was meant to be here half an hour ago.
‘Hello,’ she said over the phone. ‘You coming?’
‘I’m really sorry but my parents turned up at my doorstep abruptly so I can’t make it,’ Gillian said in one breath. She usually talks like that when she’s guilty.
Charlene had arrived at Edison’s penthouse half an hour ago thinking that he was ready but to her dismay he was no where near ready. She had apparently woke him up. She scolded him for a while then went downstairs to wait for him in the lobby as she got too hot seeing him only on boxers. She wondered what was taking him so long.
As if in queue she saw Edison stepping out of the elevator. He had changed his clothes to a pair of slate gray trousers and a dark-blue dress shirt open at the collar. She noticed people in the lobby turn and stare. He walked in her direction, oblivious to the whispers. Charlene doubted the conversation were about his collar size or the fact that his pants didn’t have cuffs. ‘Listen I gotta go.’
‘Our man has arrived?’ There was a flirtatious tone to Gillian’s voice.
‘Has he ever?’ Charlene pretended to joke. If only it were true.
‘Well call me with an update. And be careful. This is New Jersey, we’re talking about.’
Edison stepped in front of her. He slipped his hands into his side vent pockets. Charlene tried not to stare at his crotch, which was exactly at her eye level. Then she decided why not. ‘The man is definitely ready,’ she said slyly into the phone.
‘What? Details? More?’ she heard Gillian screech. Gone was the pretence of the jade sophisticated.
Charlene flipped her phone shut and slipped it into her denim jacket. She smiled conspiratorially.
Edison looked puzzled. ‘What was that all about?’
‘That was just Gillian. Seems like she won’t be able to join us on your house-hunting expeditions.’ She rose.
Edison slipped on a pair of mirrored sunglasses. He let her lead the way to the revolving front door.
‘Tell me you weren’t planning on driving to Jersey on that bike of yours,’ Charlene said.
‘I’m not planning on driving to Jersey on that bike of mine. Feel better?’
‘Much.’
‘I ordered a rental car instead. It should have been delivered already.’ The liveried doorman nodded to them as he stood on the side walk under the entry way of the hotel. ‘Ah, there it is.’ Edison nodded towards the spanking-new, racing-green sports car. The prancing horse logo was unmistaken.
‘That’s a rental car?’ Charlene did a slow inspection of the car. It was all she could do not to kick the tires. ‘I don’t see the Hertz sticker. No, of course not. Nothing to mar the paint job on a Ferrari, right?’
‘Amazing what you can rent these days, isn’t it?’ Edison seemed mightily pleased.
Charlene tore her eyes away from the gleaning hunk of metal and raw power that just about dared a driver to pull it through its paces. ‘The motorcycle. The car. You have an undiagnosed obsession with speed and limited storage space?’ she asked him
‘It’s pretty isn’t it?’ Edison grinned and looked appreciated at the Italian sports car.
Charlene rolled her eyes heavenward. ‘Pretty is not the word I would have chosen. Lunatic is more how I’d characterized renting a Ferrari for driving from Manhattan to New Jersey.’
‘Aww, you’re just jealous,’ he accused.
‘Me?’ she stepped back to look at him with wide eyes. ‘What should I be jealous about?’
‘That I love the car more that you.’
‘Please!’ she laughed. ‘Jealous of a car!’ She shook her head laughing hard now.
‘I guess the car is a little crazy. But you know boys and their toys.’ It earned rolling eyes from Charlene. ‘It must be symptomatic of a latent death wish. C’mon, get in. I can’t wait to put it through its paces.’ She was right.
Charlene hesitated before climbing in. She thought she should be able to trust him to drive safely. Edison got in after her. He leaned forward and put her seatbelt on for her. In doing that he brushed his lips on hers.
‘Hey!’ she exclaimed. ‘That was really sneaky of you!’
‘Hey, I got to get something out of doing things for you.’ He shrugged his shoulders at her.
She stared at him. ‘Do you do this to all the women you’re with?’
He shook his head. ‘Only you.’ He grinned sheepishly. She turned to face out the window not wanting him to see her blushing.
‘The amazing thing about windows,’ he began. She faced him. ‘Is that sometimes you can see the reflection.’
Her blush deepened when she realized that he meant that he saw her blushing. ‘Whatever,’ she muttered trying to hide her embarrassment.
Edison glanced her way before putting the car into first, and then stopped. He then smoothly shifted into second. The car glided effortlessly forward.
The traffic was heavy but it didn’t appear to bother Edison. He headed south to the Lincoln Tunnel. A stretch limousine made an aggressive move from the left lane, attempting to cut them off. He barely pressed the accelerator pedal, and the Ferrari surged forward, leaving the limo caught behind a bus that had slowed down to make a left-hand turn. The car hummed contentedly. Edison smiled. ‘Listen, if it makes you any better, you reached my forth requirement of a perfect wife. A woman who knows about cars.’ He turned briefly in her direction in time to see her screw her face pretending to be angry. ‘Not many women know anything about sports car or what make it is.’ His grin widened.
Charlene smiled. She let him go on about his requirements of a wife. She also noted his restrain when he didn’t speed up to run a yellow light for her. ‘If it makes you feel any better, I think the engine sounds wonderful.’
‘Yeah, it does, doesn’t it?’ Edison tapped the steering wheel with his fingers. ‘Even within the speed limit.’