ICanBeAnyone

"Not Part of the Plan"

(dress s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/4b/b..)

Kat walked away from the meeting amused. Paul was a damn good looking man, and she had almost wished he had been sincere in asking her out. She had been alone for a long time, and it would be nice to have someone to talk to at the end of a long day. She threw herself into her work, and spent a good portion of the day handling one minor crisis after another. She finally felt that things could progress without her long enough for her to go home and get dressed.

She took a good two hours to ready herself for the event. Her hair went up, and her makeup went on, but the true show of the night was her dress. She had chosen a dress that was light grey, not a metallic silver, or the darker grey that was barely a shade away from black. This dress hugged her curves, and had a built in cape that flowed gracefully from her shoulders. She wore only the thinnest of bracelets around her wrist as her only accessory. Once she had decided she looked as good as she was going to for the night, she called downstairs to make sure that the Limo Grandda had sent was already there.

She slid from the limo at the venue and headed inside. She slipped a small earbud into her ear. It was small, but if you stood too close you would definitely notice it. She needed to keep on top of all the goings on, and sometimes it was not a good time to have others approach, this way she could handle anything that needed her personal attention, but do so subtly.

She stopped and took a deep breath as she caught sight of Paul on the other side of the room. She was only slightly surprised to see him here. So many of their VIP's would welcome the recognition a reporter of his stature would bring. She turned her attention back to the wife of one of the many Vice Presidents and gracefully excused herself. She moved gracefully across the room, pausing to exchange pleasantries here and there. This was old hat for her, she knew all of these people very well.

She slowly approached and lightly touched the arm of the man talking to Paul. "So sorry to interrupt. Mr. and Mrs. Murphy were looking for you. They had a question about the photographer you used for your Daughters wedding." She said with a smile. That was all it took for him to make his excuses to Paul and move on.

Kat smiled and looked at Paul approvingly. He looked even better all dressed up. "You looked like you could use a rescue." She said offering her reasoning for interrupting his conversation.

Serge & Lucia |EasilyAmused & ICanBeAnyone|

She smiled a little as he apologized, and assured her it was her job. "Serge..." She said leaning forward and lightly touching his arm. "Your job is to be here in the unlikely event my identity is discovered, not so much because I need protection, but because footage of me kicking a reporter and calling him a nasty name wouldn't go over well. That being said. I have no intention of ever mentioning this incident again. If it does come up however, my response will be that You left me in a previously secure location to remove what you judged to be a threat, you exercised your judgement that leaving me momentarily alone was the lesser threat than allowing the situation to remain."

She let go of his arm, and pulled her hand back to glance at her watch. It was after 11. She was supposed to be off at midnight. She didn't have any tables currently. "My Shift? I can make it over pretty quick." She turned in the booth and hollered across the room. "Bill. I'm fried... I am done for tonight. Cool?"

Bill set down a glass on the bar and kind of glared at her, but decided better of it. "I was hoping you would pick up the next shift." He said grumpily, "but since you have other plans... I guess letting you go now won't do any harm."

Lu grinned and turned her attention back to Serge. "Officially done as of now. Our best bet is to catch a few hours of sleep, and we can hit the gym in the morning. I am seriously considering taking what my Mother always called a Mental Health Day tomorrow." She said as she stood up.

"I'll be right back." She hurried back to the bar and waited a minute until Bill gave her an envelope full of her cash out from the nights credit card receipts. She appreciated that Bill still did it this way rather than make her wait to get them on a Paycheck. She blew Bill a kiss as she turned to head back to Serge, tucking the envelope back into her apron. "Ready?"

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

When they arrived back at the apartment Lu handed Serge the key so he could let them in and of course perform his inspection. Things were a little different this time. There was a double size air mattress already set up in the middle of the living room. It looked more like an actual bed than an air mattress. It was one she had borrowed from her neighbor. His mother in law was picky, so she bought one that had a built in pump that ran almost constantly to keep it at a constant inflation. The counter in the kitchen was littered with grocery bags with all non cold items.

Lu walked to the stack of folded towels on the couch and read the note. "Chica, Jesus saw you bought towels, AND that you have an overnight guest. He assumed that the latter was the reason for the former, so he washed them for you. Have fun. Don't do anything we wouldn't do, and we want ALL the details. XOXO Carlos and Jesus"

Lu couldn't help but laugh as she read the note and waited for Serge to complete his inspection before heading to the kitchen. She began looking through the bags and laughed again. She had asked the right guys to go grocery shopping. She hadn't had this much food in the house in forever. Heck she wasn't sure she even KNEW what to do with half of this. She shrugged and started putting away the groceries.

"I love my neighbors." She said with a smile. "THIS is why they have a key to my place by the way. I have a key to theirs too, but I did get a present for you." She said and reached into a brown paper bag marked with the words PRIME NOW She pulled out a brand new dead bolt and a box of long screws holding them up for him to see.

"I figured this would help you sleep better." She told him setting the package on the counter before walking out of the kitchen towards her bedroom. She left the bedroom door open and got down on her knees digging around under her bed to find her drill. She just used it to repair one of the drawers in the dresser, so she knew it held a charge. She would replace the lock before bed so he could get a solid nights sleep.

She got up with a soft groan and headed back to the living room. She sat down on the couch and started to unzip her boots, setting the drill on the coffee table which had been shoved out of the way of the air mattress. She moaned softly in relief as she slid the three inch heels off her feet. She set the boots on the floor and leaned forward so she could reach under the couch and grab a tennis ball. She set the ball on the floor and began rolling her feet over it letting her eyes close slowly. "I am kind of glad I didn't pick up that extra shift. It has been a very long day."

She sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Let me change that lock, and then I will wash my face and get out of your way so you can get some sleep." She stood up, moving a little more slowly than she had earlier in the day. "My room has windows, but since we are on the third floor, I don't think those are a concern, but I can either sleep with my door open or out here on the couch. Which ever makes it easier for you." She said as she reached for the drill.

"Not Part of the Plan"

Kat had just taken a sip of her coffee when Paul asked her out. She coughed a little and dabbed at her mouth with her napkin. "I'm sorry...What?" She asked as she set her coffee cup down. Sure, she got asked out fairly frequently, but mostly it was because of Grandda's money.

She looked at Paul as if trying to figure out his motive for asking her out. "You don't have to take me on a date. I'll still give you my direct line. I can probably get you a 15 minute interview with Grandda if that is what you are after." She said finally as she sat back in her chair reaching into her jacket pocket and removing a small case that held her business cards. She scribbled her personal cell number on the back and pushed it across the table towards him.

She gave him a small smile. "I do appreciate it though. Makes a girl feel good to be asked once in a while." She did her best not to sound bitter. It was really hard for her to find people who were interested in her, rather than what they thought she or her family could do for them. It had been that way since her parents died when she was a kid. Her Grandda was rich, he was powerful and well connected among the who's who of Boston society.

She slipped her arms into her suit jacket and shrugged it on to her shoulders as she prepared to leave. "If you call me after the event tonight, I can get that interview early next week if that works for you." She said softly. "I do appreciate the coffee, and please let me know if you need anything else." She said as she stood up. She offered him her hand just as she would at the conclusion of any other business meeting.

Lottery Winner

Aliyah laughed as he showed her his ID and the name on the book. "I did. I did say I would read it. I am looking forward to it actually. I have a tendency to read with anything with words." She bit her lip again as he mentioned it being pretty heavy on the science. "Well I am no Michio Kaku, but if they are well written enough to make the NYT Bestseller lists, I am pretty sure I can follow along." She would have said Stephen Hawking, but everyone knew of him, and well she had to make sure he knew she wasn't a complete idiot. She did know the feeling of a brain that didn't shut down though, although hers was likely much different. She instead had what was commonly known in the industry as Server Nightmares. She could be in the middle of something simple like showering before her brain would suddenly send her into a panic because table 35 never got the extra side of ranch.

She grinned a little listening to him ramble as he asked her out, and then jumped into his world travel plans. She thought it was absolutely adorable. She got asked out a fair bit, but not usually by someone she wanted to take up on the offer. As soon as he finished talking about his travel plans she tilted her head a little to the side and grinned. "What? Why on earth would you ever want to leave the peace and serenity of lovely Las Vegas?" she said with just a hint of teasing sarcasm. She seemed to gloss over the question of going out with him, at least at first. She was thinking. It could be fun, but she was definitely not a reservation type of girl.

"As to your earlier question. You can take me out anywhere with three conditions." She said holding up three fingers. "One, no where that requires a reservation, the second, because I would like to get to know you, should be something YOU would enjoy. Finally, my final condition should you chose to accept it is simple." She said brushing a few strands of hair from her face that had escaped from her ponytail during her morning rush. She picked up the cash that had been sitting ignored on the table until this point. She quickly and easily counted out a pile with $500, and a second with $100. She handed the larger still uncounted out pile of cash to Gary. "You hold this." Then turned her attention to Duncan with a smile pushing the $500 towards him. "You are a spender, which is cool, but to avoid giving my frugal self a heart attack, THIS is your absolute max budget." She said as she reached into her apron and pulled out her notepad and scribbled her name and phone number.

"Aliyah 702-555-4321" She slid her number across the table laying it on the $500 before picking up the stack of $100. "And a date, well that means this girl is going to have to go shopping."

"Not Part of the Plan"

"Electronic leashes."

Kat turned her head and slowed her pace a little to look at the man who had spoken to her. She narrowed her eyes, it was certainly a strange way to start a conversation. Her face visibly softened as he mentioned his late wife, he seemed so young, too young to be a widower.

"Yeah, Shutting off would be nice." She said dismissively. She wasn't rude, but she was giving off a clear "I'm busy" vibe. She took a few more steps, but he started to introduce himself. She was going to take his hand, but once he said her name she froze. She was more than a little wierded out. It wasn't every day she was met on the street by someone who knew who she was. Her shoulders immediately relaxed when he mentioned Good People She knew the site well, everyone in the non profit and community support organizations knew of it. It was one of these sites that if you got good coverage, you could increase your donations.

That decided it for her. She reached out and firmly shook his hand. She smiled as he joked about the lame name of the site, and shrugged a little as he said he had wanted to pick her brain.

"I was just headed out for a quick cup of coffee actually. I needed a quick pick-me-up. It's been a long day and its only just starting." She said with a smile. "Although, I don't know how much help I will actually be. I am just the event coordinator. AKA Grandda wants me close enough to keep an eye on, and I have zero skills other than making things pretty." She said matter of factly. "But I'll help with what I can."