Heyy! This is Storm. This is a lil story I wrote. It's a one shot story. I really hope you guys like it. Please leave comments. I'd love to here from you.
An Innocent Wish
Blue Mountains. A blue ocean. A blue sky. A blue elephant. A blue bird. A blue rose. It was a silly dream, Sophia Ferrici mused; she'd gone to a trip with her mom, dad and her aunt Eve. Suddenly, she realized, she was home sick. Well, she was going to see them all tomorrow night anyways at her Dad's surprise birthday party. Even though her dad knew of the party because they celebrated his birthday every year in the same way, her mother insisted on saying it was a surprise party and her dad... well, he was only too happy to give a surprised look every year on that particular day just to please his wife. She felt the warmth envelope her heart. It felt so good to see that her parents loved each other so much even after so many years.
Sophia wondered if she would ever find someone who'll love her and who she could love as much as they did to each other. She missed the food made from her mother's beautiful hands since her own cooking meant too much salt, too little something and too burned at the edge and if she had to eat any more of Antonio's Pizza for another day she was surely going to get sick.
The party rose up another problem for Sophie. Her parents, Anita, Romeo, and everybody else in her life has a problem with her; the problem being she was twenty-four years old and very single. Wow, now isn't it such a big crime, she thought sarcastically. She didn't mind the nagging much because she knew it was love but when they actually did thing to insure a date for her and everything, it got annoying.
True, she was a little too career-orientated but hey, isn't it the age for someone to show and make something out of their lives? She didn't need a relationship. It would just complicate things even more. She had been telling her parents that she had a boyfriend for quite some time now just to stop them from embarrassing her by telling her of all the suitable men in town and introducing her to each and every one of them hoping she'd at least like one of them when she really didn't have one, and she had also promised that she would bring him along with her to the party tomorrow night. Romeo and Anita were no less. They'd try hooking her up with their friends and cousins. She couldn't give an excuse this time, since she'd already given too many on several other occasions and if she did tried turning back again this time, suspicions will be given fuel and then nothing can stop her parents from discovering the truth behind all her lies. Something had to be done, but what?
It was only 5:00 A.M. but New York City was awake and already getting a start at its busy schedule. She wondered if she could have another hour's sleep. She didn't wait another second to reconsider the warmly welcomed idea and had drowned into a deep, dreamless sleep the minute she had shuttered her eyes.
Her eyes opened again, but this time to Jordan Spark's One Step at a Time blasting from the speakers of her music system that also served her loyally as a pungent alarm clock. She covered her head with her pillow and groaned. Sitting up and stretching her long arms over her head she let out a long, tired yawn.
She lazily ambled into the bathroom, and emerged out with a toothbrush still in her mouth a couple of minutes later. She walked into her walk-in closet to choose a smart and classy suit and neatly laid it over her still un-made bed. Peaking at the time, she let out a horrified gasp.
Oh, gosh! She was already running a half hour late and rushed into the bathroom again for a quick, cold shower. After lightly doing her make-up and blow-drying her hair straight, leaving soft curls at the bottom, she slipped into the sandals she'd bought just yesterday at a sale and then grabbed her Prada bag and the empire-waist wool coat from Victoria Secrets which she'd also bought yesterday and headed out the door. Spotting the note on the table, she read aloud, "Out of milk, I'll pick it up." That would be Lily, her room-mate. She was known for her short brief notes though she was a genius and had graduated Harvard Law two years ago. Lily was now working in a respected firm. She was nice but very private and didn't like to talk much.
Feeling her phone buzz in her bag, Sophia flipped it open and greeted the person with a snappy attitude. "Hello!"
"Grouchy, are we today?" Anita Moretti walked into her own office on the 15th floor of the Vanity Fashion House, going through last year's sales report and comparing it to this year's sales report while holding the phone using her shoulders to her ear.
"Anita! Hi! I'm sorry about that. So, what's going on?"
Sophia grimaced as Anita reminded her about the meeting at nine that morning. "Oh, yeah... Don't worry about it. I'll be there. I'll make sure everything runs by smoothly." She raised her hand to hail the cab that was just passing by but it just rudely ignored her and drove ahead. "Have the papers that I gave you been copied and put in each folder?"
"Sophie... Actually... No... Nothing's going right. The folders have gotten mixed up with last year's fashion show and apparently ten people are too busy and occupied trying to sort out all the papers. The show tomorrow doesn't look good either. The company that was supposed to have all the clothes delivered by today evening is saying that they cannot reach the deadline because the worker's are going on a strike. Romeo is freaking out because he just found out that the accounts aren't tallying up correctly as expected. Mr. Miller is getting only angrier and angrier because everything's haywire before the day that is the most crucial one for the company and he keeps threatening us with our jobs! We desperately need you, cara. Where are you right now," rambled Anita.
Isn't this just the perfect way to start one's day, Sophia bitterly thought to herself and was instantly awarded with a rush of guilt since Anita and the others were also dealing with this chaos along with her and it was too selfish of her to talk like that. "Ok, now where do I start and what do I do?" she thought to herself.
"Oh... gosh. I'd just talked to Glamour Inc. yesterday. They had said everything was fine. How could they do this to us? We've been giving them our orders since almost a decade now," she mumbled and rubbed a finger between her brows to ease the tension.
"Ok, do as I tell you now. Call Glamour Inc. and ask them to connect you to Jason Elias. Talk to him about our situation and forward the email that I'm going to send you in just a minute. Then ask Romeo if he had included the money spent on the extra fabrics bought last month in his calculations. I'm sure that's the record he's missing since Shelly probably didn't get time to add. If not tell him to talk to Debbie; she probably knows exactly where and how much money has been spent. Leave Ethan alone; I'm sure he can cope with watching the problems by sitting behind his expensive desk, on his fat bottom, and doing absolutely nothing else quite perfectly fine. Don't worry, Anita. I'm on my way and I'm sending you the email from my PDA in a minute now," she said.
Anita, who was ever so grateful to Sophia for taking the responsibility, said, "Ok... I'll do that. You're going to be here on time, right, Cara? I'm not having a good feeling. And Lisa wants me to tell you that the Mr. Rivera's going to come in today to make sure that everything is going fine but she says it was planned to be a surprise visit."
The problems just seemed to pile up more and more. She most definitely didn't think she got paid enough for the amount of work she did. It's time she got a promotion and Ethan, a demotion. "Ok, I'll take care of them as soon as I reach the office. I've got to go Anita. Text me if there's another problem or question. Bye, love," she said ending the call and then slipping the phone back into her bag.
She had exactly forty three minutes to reach the office so the tube was most definitely ruled out. The only option she had was taking a taxi which she so seldom took and groaned again when she remembered the vivid image of the traffic she'd been stuck in the last time she'd taken a taxi. All she seemed to be doing this morning was moaning and groaning.
She didn't have time to whine that fine morning; she had a lot of work to do. Quickly typing the message, she sent the email to Anita and stepped out of her apartment buildings in search of a taxi.
It was raining! It wasn't raining hardcore, but it would do the honorable job of puffing her hair up. Great! Another delightful thing delivered right on time, when it was so urgently needed. Ugh... Gosh! Her street was pretty isolated and hardly any cabs passed by; the ones that did pass by rudely ignored her or were already occupied. She felt like ripping her hair out in frustration.
She started walking up the road to get to the main street. The odds were that it was more likely to find a cab there, she thought to herself. She could hear her stomach growl and thanked herself for throwing a banana in her bag. Reaching into her bag, she retrieved it and carefully pealed it; before she could take a bite of it, she noticed an empty cab driving by. She raised her left hand and was just going to step by when, out of nowhere, a car dashing through the air and barely managed to dodge around her. Before she knew what was happening, her coat was drenched with ugly, slimy mud.
Tyler Miller looked in his mirror and swore roughly under his breath. Stopping the car on the side of the street, he rushed out to make sure everything was alright. He saw the woman standing there staring at him angrily. He looked at the mud on her coat. "Um... I'm sorry about that. It's just that you were crossing the street all of a sudden and I lost control over the car. I honestly didn't mean to splash the mud on you."
She nodded reluctantly and said, "It's ok. It was kind of my fault too. I should have looked before crossing the street but I was just so excited that I'd finally found a taxi and then..." she looked at the sleek diamond watch on her wrist and frowned. "Well, anyways... I'm kind of sorry for scaring you like that. I really didn't mean to and now I'm getting late so I've got to go."
"Wait," he said thoughtfully, "maybe I can drop you off?"
It seemed like a good idea so she said, "That would be great but are you sure? Won't you be late?"
"Don't worry about me. That's the best part of having your own business and being the boss; you can be late to work without the fearing your boss." He smiled at her before shutting the passenger seat's door.
"So... where are we going?"
"It's near City Hall. Have you heard of Vanity: The Fashion-House?" He nodded and she smiled. "That's where I work."
"Don't you guys have like a fashion show tomorrow? It must be hectic work." He added when she nodded.
Just then her phone beeped. She gave him an apologetic smile and he said, "No problem. I understand." Anita had sent her smiley face with a thumbs-up emotion. The message was understood. She had sent the email and talked to Jason and that problem had been solved. She let out a soft laugh and sighed.
She looked out the window and was puzzled. "What street are we on?"
"Don't worry. This is a short cut to the London's heart. You reach ten minutes earlier than you would if you took the highway." He winked and sent her another dazzling smile making her heart flutter.
And true to his word, he'd driven them there ten minutes earlier than usual. She thanked him profusely while grabbing her bag and stepping out of the car and then made her way hastily into the building.
Walking fast, ignorant to the sound of her heals slapping the floor, she entered her office. Pushing the dirty coat off her shoulder and draping it over a chair, she picked up the files and entered the board room smiling amiably to everyone. It wasn't the time to show them her moodiness. It was the time for everybody to be calm enough to finish the work and everyone to be understanding. Receiving a smile could be all someone might need at a time of such stress.
"Hey all you guys! I know you guys are busy and everything but give me five more minutes and please don't get upset about the work assigned. I'm sorry about that but just bear with me for two more days and you guys will be awarded properly because of your interest in our company. If you look at the graph..." The meeting was successful. The important people were satisfied and no longer were a threat to the disaster of the show.
Everybody in their department was working so hard but Sophia was working harder than anyone else there. Putting a hand on growling stomach; she'd skipped her lunch, she mused. Oh, well. It wasn't that unusual and this work just had to be finished as soon as possible since she was honestly getting sick of it.
"I tell you this girl is absolutely crazy. I really wonder how her body runs without any food. No wonder she's such a stick!" Anita and Romeo sighed as they watched Sophia's head buried in a pile of files. "C'mon, let's go get her. She needs a break," said Romeo. They walked towards her while Romeo's hand gently rested on her waist. He flashed her a grin and she gave him wary glance. She was his friend but lately he'd been bugging her about wanting to change their relationship to something more serious and complicated which Anita felt hesitant about because if things went wrong she didn't want to risk losing one of her best friends.
They entered the employee break room and Sophia automatically walked to the coffee machine but was stopped by Anita. "No more coffee from you and I don't even know how you could drink it; it tastes like mud." Romeo placed a cold roast beef sandwich, an apple and home-made cookies in front of Sophia and angrily ordered her to eat. Sophia stepped forward, beaming at the cookies, kissed him on both his cheeks "Thanks."
Romeo laughed and kissed her right back. The minx! She knew exactly which strings to pull to soften him all up. She thought of him as her older brother and he liked it. "You're welcome. Now sit and gulp it all down." Anita set a milk carton in front of Sophia making her grimace. Milk? Ugh... there was no point in arguing anyway, since she knew Anita wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"So aren't you excited for the show that's tonight? I just can't wait. I just hope everything goes well. Oh, and then what about tomorrow? And... did you find a date for the party?" Sophia looked at them both and noticed both of them were smiling.
"You know, honey... since you can't manage a date I could come with you. Your parents will be charmed by me," Romeo said while exchanging a smug smile with Anita. They said it as if they pitied her. Did he think he was doing her a big favor? Did they think she was pathetic and wasn't capable of getting herself a date?
"No thanks!" she spat back nastily, "I've found myself a date... in fact he even drove me to work this morning since I was getting late." Lying was the only way around them. They compelled her to lie. "He's gorgeous and really tall, about 6'4"... and umm... he has the bluest eyes I've ever seen and he's brilliant and smart and he's really rich and he's really, really gorgeous." Anita and Romeo looked at each other and burst out laughing. "Nice joke."
"I'm not kidding!" she spoke indignantly.
"Sure..."
"Whatever. You guys can keep thinking what you want. Why should it bother me, right?"
She wanted to give both of them one good smack on their heads but walked towards the refrigerator instead and was looking through it to see if there was any pop... Coke... Ginger-Ale... Pepsi... Monster... yes! Monster! Just as she went to grab it her hand was smacked away! "I said no caffeine and you're going to drink Monster! You're crazy! Drink water if you want but no caffeine!"
Mumbling under her breath about bossy people, she grabbed a bottle of water and opened it. Anita and Romeo left since they needed to get back to work since they'd already taken their break before. She was drinking the water when she noticed Tyler standing at the door and spit out the water. "You! What are you doing here?" And to her further dismay, she felt the blush rise from her throat to her face. Giving her another knowing smile, he shook his hand where he was holding her cellphone. Her cellphone! Oh, God... she'd probably dropped it in his car when Anita had sent her the text message.
"Umm... sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out like that," She grabbed the cellphone he was handing her, "Thanks."
"Yeah, no problem. I would have brought it sooner if I'd known you'd dropped. You've got a couple of missed calls and I'd check the voicemail."
"Yeah... thanks. I'll do that." Because he was still standing, there she added, "I'm really sorry for all this. Really. I am... did you want to say something?"
"Oh, no, nothing. Ok, I'll be going then. Bye." He smiled and reluctantly left.
She let out a deep breath as he walked out. It was time to get back to work. She didn't have time to swoon over a stranger.
The next evening found her collapsing on the huge four-poster bed in her maghony room, she shut her eyes and let out a long, tired sigh. The show last night had been a blast just as she had imagined it. Everybody had loved it. A lot of business proposals have been anticipated from what she was hearing. Today had been no different. She could not even imagine how much more work she'd done already. Several things had to be tied up and filed into folders and in the cabinets.
All she could think about now was a soaking her body in a hot, bubbly tub and just relaxing but she couldn't do that. But she would have to go home take a quick cold shower and get ready for the birthday party. No... she still didn't have a date. She was in a big trouble. She'd have to come up with a really good excuse. There was no way in the world that she'd ask Romeo for help; her ego was too great to do that. How about: his grandmother had fallen down a flight of stairs and needed hip-surgery? No... it was an excuse already used before.
After sliding her feet into her heels, she turned to face the full-length mirror. The black dress was elegant and not attraction-grabbing and her make-up, as usual, was done to the bare minimum. She looked nice but something was missing... her earrings! She quickly grabbed her diamond studs and put them through her pierced with fluent ease. Clutching her bag she opened the door when she heard her cellphone go off.
"Hello."
"Hi! Are you ready? You take too long. Shouldn't we have left half an hour ago?"
Not sure who was on the other side of the line, she said, "Who is this?"
"Don't tell me you haven't guessed all ready because I won't believe you... I'm your boyfriend? Tyler?"
Oh, my god! So he had heard everything she had told Anita and Romeo. How embarrassing! "I'm waiting outside in my car... so are you going to come?"
She coyly smiled and said, "Yes. I'm coming."
The night had seemed the best she'd ever had. Her parents were charmed and so was she. She might just find that perfect someone in him. "It didn't quite seem as impossible as it had before," she thought as she watched him cajole her mother for a dance.
❤️ Storm
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