Fan Fiction |
by Sensitivegal
More than three hours later Charlene felt bored. Actually she was bored to death. Edison for some reason was keeping to his driving – not that she has any complaints to that – but it wouldn’t hurt to talk. And she didn’t mean just two or three words per conversation.
‘Edison?’
‘Hmm?’ She didn’t bother answering. He gave a quick glance her way. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing.’ She sighed thinking there was no point lying. ‘Is there any chance we could go back?’
‘Why?’ he asked in concern.
‘I don’t feel so good.’
‘What is it?’ he quickly ushered her to answer. Worried was plastered on his face, if she didn’t bit her tongue she might have laughed out loud.
‘It’s my head,’ she touched it to emphasize that it hurt her there.
‘I’ll take you to the hospital!’ he informed her.
‘I don’t think the doctor can help me.’
He glanced at her. She could see sweats forming on his forehead. ‘Don’t say that! There should be a hospital off this junction.’
‘No, Edison,’ she sighed. ‘The doctor can’t help me because I don’t think there is a cure to boredom.’
Edison made a screeching stop making her haul forward. If she didn’t have the seatbelt on, she would have been flying to the windshield.
‘Oh my God!’ she cried out. ‘Why did you do that? Do you want to kill me?’
He turned to face her. She coward down when she saw the glint of anger in his eyes. ‘Don’t ever…’ he paused inhaling in frustration. ‘Don’t you ever do that ever again!’
A shiver ran down her spine. She had never seen him this angry before. She hadn’t ever seen him angry. It scared her. ‘I… I’m… urgh… sorry,’ she stuttered. Her voice shook.
‘And you should!’ he scolded. He then realized that he was shouting. He quickly quieted down. He saw the frightened expression on her face. ‘I’m so sorry.’ He felt guilty. ‘Charlene, please don’t be scared of me,’ he pleaded. ‘I was just frightened of you. I thought something really was wrong with you. I’m sorry.’ He was feeling guilty as ever when he saw a tear fall down her cheek. He raised his hand and wiped the tear away. ‘Don’t cry,’ he begged.
She shook her head. ‘I’m not crying!’ she told him. She gave him a smile that came out wryly.
‘Don’t lie to me.’
‘Fine. But for future reference – if you want to live that is – you better keep this to yourself!’ she threatened him.
Edison had to laugh at that. ‘You can make a joke when you’re crying.’
‘Thank you.’ She took the comment as a compliment.
‘For future reference – if you don’t want to see me angry that is – don’t joke about being hurt or anything.’
She smiled that he had took her joke to his heart. ‘I will.’ She leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek.
‘Actually forget that. You can scare me anytime you want.’
She laughed.
‘Are you bored?’ he asked.
‘Not anymore.’
Charlene gazed out the window. When Edison said New Jersey, she had naturally pictured landfills and oil refineries. Silly girl. Of course, New Jersey also offered rolling hills and quaint towns. It was convenient for him to pick a place here since central New Jersey offered close proximity to New York City along with advantage of suburban-slash-rural living.
They met up with the real estate agent Sandra – pronounced ‘S-ah-ndra’ like ‘San Gimignano’ she had informed them on first meeting –seemed less rigorously groomed and maniacally on display.
Sandra showed them nine out of the sixteen houses in less than two hours. Charlene’s back ached and her shoulders. She wondered why she was here. Oh yeah! Gillian had offered when Edison said he was going house-hunting ‘alone’ and he sure emphasized the word ‘alone’ looking straight at her. She had avoided making eye contact in case she would give into those dark mesmerizing eyes. Too late! She should have made sure Gillian was wearing sunglasses but something told her that it still wouldn’t work. Now Gillian didn’t turn up and she was alone with Edison. Wait. If you count the real estate S-ah-ndra then they weren’t. But who was counting?
The houses that they had seen so far were a different matter. What can you say about a pseudo – Georgian monstrosity with an indoor basketball court and circular drive large enough to park a whole battalion of tanks? Or a twenty – room modern ode glass and brushed steel that had five hot tubs – topped only by six bidets? It was like plumbing system of steroids.
Were there shrines to conspicuous consumption really what Edison wanted? So far he had made polite comments, but had shown no real enthusiasm. His low-key response was more than compensated for the bubbly tone set by S-ah-ndra, on the other hand. Her reveries about rising local property values and the remarkable craftsmanship of the custom-made wet bars, Charlene had yet to figure out what a dry bar was, was bordering on maniac. What she had to say about fully finished basements with ten thousand – bottle – capacity wine cellars was positively frightening. And her delight in pointing out front to – back entry halls rivaled the ecstasy of St. Theresa. Was it an entry or an exit hall, then? Charlene wondered.
At least Sandra gushed on about the properties instead of fawning over Edison. For that, Charlene was eternally grateful. In fact Sandra made a big show out of not making a huge deal that Edison was a mega rich gazzillionaire. Still Charlene knew – she just knew – that Sandra was dying inside to be next to Edison.
‘These kitchen counters are made from a type of granite found only in Scotland, and they’ve been specially finished with four layers coating.’ Sandra ran her hand along the stone surface in the latest monster – size house on her list. It was a crenulated, stone bastion with central air conditioning. The signet ring on her pinky helped balance this sapphire and diamond number that lavishly hid the skin up to the knuckles of her third finger.
Edison ran his hand over the counter. ‘What do you think of the counter tops?’ he asked.
Charlene did a double look at Edison when she realized he was talking to her. ‘Counter tops?’
He nodded, looking perfectly serious.
Charlene stopped. ‘Well, I’m no expert.’ She noticed that Sandra was glaring at her intently. She didn’t want to jeopardize a potential sale. Maybe her ring wasn’t completely paid off. ‘I think they’re very hard. And very, very…’ What did you say about large slabs of rocks? ‘Very gray.’ Well, she had done her best.
‘Yes, very gray.’ Edison agreed. He looked over to Sandra. ‘Maybe a little too gray. Perhaps there’s something else on your list you’d like to show us?’
Sandra eyed Charlene. ‘Something without gray counter tops?’
Charlene clasped her hands together. ‘Really, any kind of counter tops. I’m just the receptionist.’ She shouldn’t be here and has no reason to be, she thought. ‘It’s all about what Edison wants,’ Charlene added, pointing in his direction.
‘Yes, well.’ Sandra arched a knowing brow, and they all toddled off to her car, Edison and Charlene following in Sandra’s liners woke. Miracally, her two-piece, buff-colored linen dress refused to winkle as stiff as her perfectly highlighted hair and calf less legs.,
‘I didn’t mean to say anything bad about the counter tops,’ Charlene whispered desperately to Edison.
‘They looked like petrified elephant hides,’ he whispered back. ‘Frankly I thought you were very, very, very diplomatic.’
‘I thought I’d committed some terrible real estate faux pas. Next time you want me to be the fall guy, give me a signal.’
‘What kind of signal?’ Edison bent close to her ear.
It tingled. Charlene hoped she wasn’t blushing. ‘How about you tug your ear?’ She had ears on her brain. That wasn’t all.
Edison smiled. She was pretty sure that he knew that wasn’t all. He bent closer. ‘If it works for you, it works for me.’ He knew.