FICTION

By A.M. Kidd

 

PART ONE - ADAM AND LAURA, A Romantic Comedy

ADAM and LAURA

 

PREFACE - “The Ghost”

 

            Awkward.  That was the only word that could appropriately be used to describe Adam Mills as he was growing up, Teachers, Foster Parents, Peers, Girls, The only word they could use was “awkward”.

 

            As a teenager Adam had no distinguishable features, no birthmarks, no scars, no limp, he was just a face in the crowd.

 

He never spoke a word.

 

Adam Mills was always around in a sense, he never missed a day of school, he appeared at every school dance alone, and then he left alone, if word got out that there was a party, he would be there, usually right on time, and he would most likely be found sitting somewhere in the house, not dancing, not appearing to have fun, nothing.  He was just there.

 

            The concern that Adam was mentally challenged was quelled when he received average grades in school, his homework was in, most of the time, and there were mistakes in them, every now and then, It was apparent that Adam Mills was you average Garden variety human being, Except for the fact that he had the personality of a tea towel.

 

            No harm was intended when someone gave Adam a nickname, and it was one that reflected on Adam very well; “The Ghost” or “Ghost”, You knew that Adam Mills was there when he walked by, or when he sat in class, but if you did not know that Adam was “The Quiet One”, he would have slipped completely under your radar and you may have never known that Adam had ever existed.

 

            The life that was Adam Mills confused many, His classmates, the paperboy, all seventeen of his foster families, nobody knew why he was the way he was, why he always ate the same boring meals every day, why he never considered taking a girlfriend, and above all, why he wandered through a life that was really not his, his person existence could very well have been one big cosmic screwing.

 

This is not a story of science fiction, it is not a love story, it is not a mystery, it would not work as a play and nobody will rise to the cause to battle evil and make their world a better place, Why? Because it is not a Real Life, This is Fiction, and it is about to begin, after it is over, you may never look at a human life the same way again.

 

CHAPTER ONE - TINKER, WRITER, VIRTUOSO, STAR

 

Life had not worked out the way it was supposed to for Adam Mills.

 

In fact, if you had asked one of the several dozen people around him, they would tell you that his life had gotten a whole lot better!

 

These artsy fartsies that had made a habit of surrounding Adam were the cream of the crop in the new York art scene, all of which today are still clinging to their fifteen minutes of fame, even though the timekeeper has long since gone home and had a heart attack.

 

This hero of the night, Adam Mills, had a talent for an art that would probably not make it up onto the walls of the museum he was standing in right now, it would never have it's own velvet rope and motion sensors that send an army of security guards to arrest your kid when he playfully breaches its boundaries, No, Adam was an artist of words, anybody could have it, and at 15.99$ US/22.99$ Canadian, everyone probably would, eventually.

 

Adam was a writer, his brand new opus “the BURIAL” was praised by many reviewers as a “heart, Pounding thriller,” it was “Smart” and Realistic, its author bluntly referred to it in his editors office as “crap” and “Spun in 8 days”, to which his manager and faithful editor, Katrina Sarhin said “you are a beloved writer, trashing your work would be like calling Mr. T a sissy, or Florence Henderson a bad mother” she also told Adam that he could probably write a book called “poop on 400 pages” and make it just that, and the critics would praise it. Adam was not very fond of ass kissing reporters looking to get their quote in print on the back of his book, and among the art Junkies were these critics and reviewers, this may have had something to do with Adam's current desire to pull the fire alarm so he could sneak away during the chaos, and nobody would notice. Maybe if he snuck out, he could go home to his apartment, in a part of town where real people converge.

 

So there stood Adam in the middle of all these, “cheese and cracker eating phonies” all here to praise Adam at the occasion of his book release party, he did not know most of the people in this large room, nor did he really care to know them, except for one, the young woman across the room, standing, actually hiding is the word, behind a Pyramid of books he noticed her, and she was pretending that she was not staring at him, by looking at the books in front of her, however a person of objection would notice that she was looking through the spaces in the pyramid of books, and her attention was on Adam.

 

At the moment Adam was 29 years old, this was his third book release party in as many as two weeks. Los Angeles, “city of angels” next stop, Toronto, Canada, This party now was in New York City, in Woody Allen’s “Manhattan”, not the one on “Sixty minutes” or the eleven o'clock news. The comfort of being so close to home right now made Adam yearn more to get there than ever before, his home was a thirty minute walk away it or a five minute cab ride away and it was that closeness that again, made Adam want to go home to his little corner of the earth, drink a. beer in front of the television and fall asleep.

 

In as many as 9 years, Adam had truly made his mark on the minds of the world in the areas of film and literature, his novels had all been praised by the masses as sheer genius. His first book titled, “The Country Singer” was praised by the masses as a masterpiece to compete with “Catcher in the rye”, it was the story of an old pill popping country singer who was in the midst of suicide, his music was classic, his guitar and piano playing, flawless, and nobody wanted a thing to do with him, as far as the public was concern, he was dead already.  Enter the biggest name in rock and roll, his career is huge and he sells out arenas across the world, and he has just fired his songwriter, a phoney, the rock singer needs real songs about real things in life, Not just “Hey baby, baby, I love you!!”

 

So a chance meeting teams nearly dead country singer with the soul-searching rock singer. The story was one part “Karate Kid”, one part “Oh God!” one part “Eddie and the Cruisers”, and one part Crap.

 

Though the book was praised, it did not have as many sales until it was made into a hit film of the same name, an Oscar was awarded to a famous actor whom played the country singer a la Johnny Cash with a little Richard Farnsworth mixed in there.

 

With the massive success of a second printing of “the country singer”, Adam released “Skippi”, a semi family story of a young boy, negl­ected by his abusive mother, teased by teachers, and his only friend, a babysitter television and a sentient imaginary friend named “Skippi”, The story is told from a third person perspective, yet focuses on the story of “Skippi”, how he learns what is real, what is not (him) and his struggle to become real so he can save his child friend from the abuse that he endures. The book was a huge success, and an even bigger film was released, scoring nine academy awards including best picture, actor, both supporting roles and an Oscar for Adam, who also penned the screenplay, despite knowing nothing about screenwriting.

 

During that awards season, Adam was also promoting the release of “This Man Nobody”, a warped tale of altered history told from the perspective of an anonymous travelling Salesman who picked up the equivalent of Forrest Gump combined with conspiracy guy off the side of the road.

 

This Hitchhiker, this man of mystery had made grandiose claims such as having invented sound on film; he also uncovered a secret German ex­periment in the I930's that involved the brainwashing and reprogramming of the mind of Bela Lugosi to make him a spy. The hitcher also claimed to the sole survivor of a science experiment gone awry, in which a top secret government agency was commissioned to “cover it up”, the top brass of the agency was Bugsy Segal, posing as a gangster, he covered up the Nevada desert disaster, (codename: Stardust) by building a series of luxury hotels and casinos for soldiers, he named it; “Las Vegas”. He also claimed that this agency was responsible for rigging of the 1960 presidential elections by poisoning Richard Nixon so he would look hideously uncomfortable on Television, the man claimed to later become close friends with Nixon during his presidency and often bowled with him, Nixon then trusted the man on the Apollo 11 moon landing, which actually occurred. He knew this because he was the first man on the moon, holding the camera that captured Armstrong making his “First” step.

 

“THIS MAN NOBODY” was made into a cult film called “The Ultimate Conspiracy”- which played one part documentary where real people were interviewed who believed the events told occurred. The other part was like a good episode of “UNSOLVED MYSTERIES” complete with the fog, trench coats, shadows and spooky music.

 

After he realized that his fame was more than fifteen minutes long, Adam wrote a story from the heart, which went for the funny bone! The story, which attracted a wide audience of females 18-35, including one young woman who was currently hiding behind a pyramid of books was called “Flowers” it was a rom­antic comedy about a clown who falls in love with a woman who is host to a series of phobias and twitches, a film version was released and it became a huge date movie. The buzz was that more children were conceived as a result of couples seeing “Flowers” than any other date fi1m ever released.

 

In the three e months of this year, Adam had released a volume of short stories collected from his years of writing in magazines, on the Internet and even a few birthday cards and with the release of his new piece of work “Burial” the story of man being buried alive on the side of a desert road by a mugger, Adam's work was almost as common and read as that other guy. The one who wrote all those scary?

Stories, and got hit by the truck while jogging.

 

And so he was still there, did he dare go through with his escape plan, did he pull the fire alarm; did he bother to stretch and yawn to excuse himself away from it all? Would he leave? No, however if somebody was watching him, they would see that he wanted to escape, and that he may have actually tried something of an escape plan, or somebody was watching . . . which they were”

 

CHAPTER TWO - SHY AND OBSERVING

 

She stood behind the pyramid of books staring at the celebrity. 

Her name was Laura Mitchell, and at 24 years old, had she ever actually looked at herself in the mirror, she would find that she was quite at­tractive, her natural beauty was hidden behind thick, rimmed glasses; cheap lip gloss smacked her lips and her long black hair that was tied behind her head with a sc­runchie, her posture was that of a shy person, somewhat slouched; often looking down to the floor, when she was not focused on the image of Adam Mills.

 

Laura had first discovered Adam a year ago when he released “FLOWERS” and she had become an admirer, and by this point, she had read the book several dozens of times, having each word, each sentence memor­ized, she was no longer an admirer she was a dreamer of the life laid out in the pages, she wished she was there.

 

Laura had come to the party by the invitation of her boss, Ron Milivar, columnist for “Word” magazine. 

 

Ron was 42 and his wife had just left him for the man who trims his hedges, there was awkward­ness there, as Ron had not yet fired the man, and he saw him on a regular basis as he still trimmed the hedges and Ron’s children now referred to Juan as “weekend daddy”, Ron was also losing his hair and feared that his once good life was going down the tubes, he now longed for a simple life, with his children, his steak and eggs, his   morning laps in the pool, his happiness, and the company of much younger women. This brought his attention to Laura as he had had a crush on her, since she was one of the only women he saw on a regular basis; however his crush (If you call it that) was purely sexual.

 

In all defence of Ron, he was not evil, just horny.

 

Ron would often spend his breaks at his desk, watching Laura at her desk, it was there that Ron noticed that she was a fan of Adam Mills, and he felt somewhere in his pants that if he took her to this function, it would pay off.

 

These feelings of Ron’s were a mystery to Laura as she assumed his life was in order, after all; he called home; every day around lunch, little did she know, he also putting the moves on his 32 year old nanny, again, purely just for sex, and this accounted for his phone calls home.

 

Laura’s love life was very much the same dead stark that Ron's was; as she was somewhat new to the dating scene in the scheme of things, Laura was one of those unknown shy girls in high school who got straight A’s at all the academic classes, but practically flunked Home Economics and Shop class, she never went out socially until her second year of college when her roommate finally dragged her out to meet some people.

 

Since then she had a grand total of 5 gentlemen callers, there was Hyper Mike, mAX the Poet. Rick the jock, mAX again, then to hyper Mark and quiet Chris Nick, Rick, Chris and Mark, were all one time only things, dates that were all right but never happened again mAX was a mad poet with low self worth, hence the lack of capitalization on his name, his greatest feat was committing suicide, by driving a stolen ambulance into a canyon.

 

For now, Laura finds her only comforts in her books and in old tearjerker movies, at times; she would cry herself to sleep, fearing that she would die alone, unloved.

 

Ron was a reporter for the ever so spicy “word” Magazine, the Rolling Stone of the book review, he was sent to the book release party to catch an interview or two, in his jacket pocket was a list of names of people he wanted to talk to, among the names on the list were Adam Mills, Katrina Sarhin and Marc Baird, celebrated film director. By the end of the night, Ron would get in one interview, with the gal who stacked the book pyramid.

 

So from behind that pyramid, Laura still gazed at Adam as he chatted with some folks in the gallery, and planned his escape, “was this the same man who wrote those books?” Laura asked herself, “. . . it was his hands that typed those words in “Flowers”, but was his heart there too? Was his soul invested with every word? Did all his true feelings go into what made her fall in love with Martin the Clown or even Skippi and the country singer?”

 

She could go up and ask him, but that would be like asking Superman to tell her his secret identity, it was a good thing that somebody close to Adam would make Laura’s million dollar questions be answered.

 

CHAPTER 3 - Observer Effect

 

From across the room, Marc Baird had noticed a shy, lovely woman staring at his friend, Mare was a keen observer, and this made him a keen movie director, in fact, not only did he notice Laura staring at Adam, he also noticed Ron staring at Laura, a cocktail waitress peering at Ron, a man in a grey suit staring at the waitress, and another man in a boldly flamboyant suit with matching hat staring at that man.

 

Mare was 47 and had made a name for himself in the world of film, at 20, he made his first feature film, “I remember the day” the story of a man who made first contact with aliens in Roswell, new Mexico, the film won a spirit award and started his career, to date he has over 30 flicks under his belt, and a trophy case full of awards, but there is still a place in his trophy case for that golden guy with the sword.

 

Marc met Adam when he was tapped to direct “Skippi” and the two have remained friends ever since, Adam often teases Mark for not settling down with his fiancée of 9 years, Katrina. Sarhin.

 

Marc is currently holding a secret, that the book being released, “the Burial”, is a sure green light at Empire studios to become a film, and Marc, he has been tapped to direct.

 

For now, Marc is cooking up an idea, not for a movie, but for an introduction, his photographic memory has told him that the girl behind the books is a receptionist at word magazine, a nice quiet gal, very polite, works for Ron Milivar, and by the way she stares at Adam, she must be a fan.

 

Marc’s abilities go further as an observer as he can tell that Ron is attracted to Laura, and with good reason, Marc sees the beauty in Laura that she is hiding, he knows that she is a good person, and that there is no harm in inviting her to speak to Adam, if only for a few moments to amuse her curiosity, And that of Marc.

“Looks like Adam has an admirer” Marc says as he approaches his Fiancée, Katrina, She is strong, Middle eastern, Middle Aged and maximum effort, a rare specimen in today’s world

“Where?” Katrina asks

“Behind the books” Mark whispers, Katrina looks,

“Do you know her?”

“Yeah, Ron Milivar’s secretary”

“The little mousy one right, are you thinking what I am thinking?”

 

            He was thinking what she was thinking, they had a plan to set up these two folks, they had done this a million times with a million other people, and maybe this time it would work.

“Yeah, let’s do it”

“Good,”

“You get her, I'll start on Adam”

“God I love you”! The two give each other a peck on the lips they separate to carry out their plans, get these two emotional defunct, and sex deprived people to meet.

 

CHAPTER 4 -The Pharaoh demolishes his home

 

From the other side of the room Marc works on an approach to introduce himself to Laura, so he walks around the room, the pyramid of books being in the middle, Marc makes his way to the back of the room, by now Katrina had made her way to Adam, and has oddly enough, wrap her arms around his neck, Laura is about 10 yards away from her and she has no idea he is behind her 5 yards how, 4,3,2,1,

 

“Enjoying yourself?” Marc asked, his demeanour sounded sudden and frightening to Laura who was spooked by this quivery, so much so, she accidentally leaped forwards, knocking down the tower of books.

 

The room suddenly froze all conversation as the pyramid fell, and all eyes were transfixed on a shy girl with long hair and thick-rimmed glasses, knee deep in a pile of books.

 

Not even a cricket could be heard, Until one person spoke up, “what’s the matter, you never see a pile of books before” Marc yelled at the gawking crowd “eat your damn cheese and quit staring.”'

 

PARTY resumes.

 

“Sorry there” Marc said to Laura, helping her out of the books, “That’s all right,” a shy Laura replies, offering no grudge,

“I am just here 'cause I noticed you staring at Adam there,” a shy Laura is embarrassed and looks down at the floor in embarrassment

“Are you a fan?” Marc asks, to which she nods.

“Well, ill tell you what, you see that woman there with Adam?”

“Yeah, that’s Katrina Sarhin, Adams manager and Agent” Laura answered with the rapidity of a star trek fan being asked to identify episode 33 of the original series,

 

“That she is,” Marc replied “she is also my wife and-”

“Katrina is not married.” Laura interrupts

“That is true” Marc said the same tone someone would say to a curious four year old “and that is a long story, but I was wondering if you would like to meet Adam”

 

Laura's eyes shot open with an excitement that could only be described as total interest.

“I take it that is a yes” Marc commented with a laugh as he leads Laura by the shoulder to where Katrina and Adam stand, and it appears they have been arguing.

 

CHAPTER 5 - the pharaoh’s wife hits a chicken

 

THREE MINUTES EARLIER

 

As Katrina and Marc separated after their kiss, she quickly led herself towards Adam, as she glanced for Marc, she saw him slipping around the room to intercept Laura who was still standing behind the pyramid,

 

“There you are my boy,” Katrina said as she wrapped her arms around Adam's neck “it looks like you have a secret admirer hiding behind the books”

“Where is your husband?” Adam asked very directly

“He is working on something”, Katrina replied with a little cloak and dagger in her voice, Adam Knew that something fishy was up as he knew his friends all too well, this move of one half occupying Adam, while the other finds him a date is an old routine that they have done many times, they called it helping, Adam Called it “Punishment”, many times did they fish out some playboy model that had no brain, or some brain with the personality of broken microwave.

 

“No, Katrina, I am sneaking out of here . . . home . . . I’m Casper, Whoosh! Out of here'“

“That is not fair” Katrina. Pouted

 

Suddenly, the once proud pyramid of books came toppling down, and the room all eyes focused on Laura.

 

“What’s the matter? You never see a pile of books before?” Marc shouted at the crowd, “Eat your damn cheese and quit staring!”

 

PARTY RESUMED

 

“You are engaged to a moron,” Adam openly admitted to Katrina

“I Know”, She replied in defeat to the comment “But he means well”

“Look,” Adam said with a tired look on his face that he put there to use as an excuse to skip out early “I am not really in the mood to meet anybody tonight”

“You have no choice, you have to”

“I think I do”

“Oh yeah? Look buster brown, if I have to be stuck in this room with all these damn cheese and cracker eating phonies, then dammit, you are going down with me, you may as well enjoy it with the company of a lovely girl”

“Look, in thirty seconds, I am going to pull the fire Alarm and then I am going to get the hell out of here, why don’t you come with me?”

“No, in thirty seconds, you are going to talk to a nice girl”

“Not interested”

“Look Adam, we love you like a son, so I have to say this; if you don't have sex soon you will die, and if you die, you are worthless to me, so I want you to smile.”

“Why?”

“Because here she comes.”

 

Nobody knew it then, but this meeting between these two young people, Adam Mills, And Laura Mitchell, would become something more than just a meeting, but a first impression that would last forever and change the lives of both.

 

CHAPTER SIX - THE FIRST TIME, EVER I SAW YOUR FACE

 

“Adam,” Marc said motioning the shy young Laura towards him, “This young lady would like to meet you,”

Adam took his focus away from Katrina and the wall to look at Laura, as his thoughts were previously invested in pulling the fire alarm, and of course the impending double homicide that he was about to commit against Katrina and Marc.

 

Shakespeare once referred to what happened next between Adam and Laura as “love at first sight,” for when Adam first caught a glance of Laura Mitchell, he had truly experienced what Romeo and Juliet had experienced, minus of course the family war and the eventual poisoning. For the first time in his life Adam began picturing real life, what it would be like to be with this young woman who hid her beauty behind glasses and books.

 

The very second that he looked at the coloration in her eyes, that he saw the style of her eyes, the mix of hazel, green and even a bit of blue in her iris that just briefly he had entered into her very soul.  Adam could see her sitting home alone, reading her books, and even crying to herself, Adam saw the reason she hid the way she did, and why she is the way she is.

 

All of that was for just one moment.  That was what made Adam smile at her, he could see a possibility future with this girl without ever having heard her voice, again, just like Romeo did, however to Adam, it was just a one second dream, something that could never happen in the real world, just ask Romeo, wait, he died.

 

“I am Katrina Sarhin” Katrina introduced herself, “and as you know, this disease free gentleman is Adam Mills . . . well, say hi Adam!”

 

The thoughts that had passed through his head moments ago was gone, nothing was left but a little content and the obligation to say hello,

 

“Hi, how are you, uh . . .” what was her name?

“Laura, Laura Mitchell” Thank you courtesy!

“What a pretty name!” Katrina chimed in

“Thank you ma’am” Laura politely replied.

“Oh, pooh, you can call me Katrina!”

“Actually, it is a Very lovely name,” someone who had just possessed the normally shy around women Adam added, “you know it is so hard to come up with names for characters in my books, so when I am writing my first drafts, I name my lead female character Laura, nice little tidbit of info there for you”

“Huh.” A puzzled Katrina commented

“I just wanted to meet you because I wanted to tell you that I am a big fan of your work, I have read ‘Flowers’ about a million times!” Laura told Adam

“Well thank you, that really means a lot, you know I love to hear from those who read my material . . .” Adam enjoyed the company of this girl, and was looking for any excuse to make small chit chat, so he did. “You don't seem to be like anybody else in this crowd, what brings you here, other than me?”

“Other than you! Hah” Laura laughed, “Well, I work for “Word” magazine . . .”

“Word” Katrina interrupted. Katrina decided to be a little deceptive, as she knew that Laura, was a receptionist for “Word”, Not a Journalist as she was about to intimate.

“. . . I have an idea, why don’t you get an interview with Adam tonight?”

“Oh, I, you don’t understand . . .”

“What a perfect idea,” Marc said, joining in on the deception “you never forget your first interview with this knucklehead here”

 

Laura was in a spot here, she knew that she did not have the poise to interview anybody and pass of as a reporter, and she also did not want to take any work away from her boss Ron, who was currently focused on a thin blonde who was picking up the books that were once the pyramid.

 

           . . . But then again, when would she find another opportunity to be alone with Adam Mills, for the expressed purpose of asking him the questions that she always wanted to ask, but was afraid to ask?

 

“Ah, if it is alright with you Mr. Mills”

“Please,” Adam replied, “Call me Adam, and yes, it would be a great idea”

“Well, isn’t this nice?” Katrina said amidst the closeness that or may have not been occurring at the moment between Adam and Laura,

“But if you will excuse me, I have to be leaving now, the call of nature and everything, Marc Hun, come with me” Katrina said excusing herself as rudely and politely as possible.

 

In actual fact, Lovely Katrina did not go to the bathroom, but for about 20 minutes, was to keep an eye on Adam and Laura from a safe distance.

 

CHAPTER SEVEN - PEPPERONI, CHEESE AND PINEAPPLE PIZZA

 

Adam and Laura stayed at the party for about twenty minutes before slipping out the back to a restaurant a block or so away.

 

“Is this a good place to eat?” Laura asked

“Oh yeah, it's great uh . . . to be honest, I have never been here before” Laura Laughed

“Oh, look at the menu here, not a single cheese and cracker on the menu”

“Yeah”

“So . . .”

“So . . .”

“You are a writer for ‘Word’, what is that like?”

“Actually, I am only an assistant,”

“Assistant writer?”

“Uh, assistant to a writer, I am a receptionist”

“Oh . . .”

“ . . .”

 

AKWARD SILENCE

 

“So . . . who do you assist?”

“Oh, uh, Ron Milivar”

“Ah, good writer”

“Yeah”

“Too bad about his wife huh?”

“Pardon?”

“Is it true what they say about his wife?”

“What about his wife?”

“That she left him for the gardener?”

“I really don’t know, I don't talk much to him, I just proofread and make his calls-”

“Uh huh”

“Pick up dry cleaning, that sort of thing”

“I see . . .”

 

More awkward silence, though this was supposed to be an interview of sorts, now that the knowledge was there, between both parties that Laura was not a journalist and there would be no interview has put a bit of awkwardness into the whole meeting, as though it does not show in print, these two people have an obvious attraction, but neither have the gusto to do anything about it, they were like those two shy friends that people were always trying to set up, but nothing ever happened because they were both too shy to look at each other in the face.

 

“I am totally starved”, Adam said to Laura, but not directly to her as they sat in their booth across from each other, looking into the menus,

“'I could eat too!” Laura replied,” she has the menu in front of her, however she is not looking at it, instead, she is glancing at Adam, who is taking up the behaviour of glancing at her, but only when she looks down into her menu, with no interview, this time together is one of two things, it is either a date, or two people who are going somewhere fun together to avoid something very boring, say a book release party.

 

If it is a date, then Adam's logic centre is telling him that if this “Date” goes well, then who knows, maybe there will be others, complete with kissing, stays over at the others place, dating, sex, moving in together, Falling in love in a spoon position, getting married, having kids, getting old with this person, and eventually dying in their arms in a happy old age. Needless to say, it was a lot.

 

It made Adam Nervous, as he began to feel a tightness in his chest, and then he thought of another possibility, which he had forgotten of as he was worrying about putting braces on his third child in his earlier vision of those future Ramifications of this potential “Date”; what if this was nothing more than two strangers going to a secondary location to avoid a boring primary location, this could be as Bogart put it, “The beginning of a beautiful friendship”.

 

But Adam had already experienced love at first sight with this woman! And he knew that if he had become “Just Friends”, than he would have to hang out with her in that 'Friend' way, being the consultant on how she should handle first dates with other men, how he would to make her feel better when she has her heart broken by some guy, and telling her, “There are much better guys out there” when deep down, he wanted to be that guy!

 

Both futures were visible in his mind, but at the moment, Adam just wanted to get to know her, Pick her brain . . . and nothing more.

 

“What time is it?” Laura asked

“10:03” Adam said looking at the clock on the wall immediately behind her.

“Oh, what time does the release party end?”

“12:30-ish, something like that, you want a pizza?”

“Sure”

“And a beer?”

“Yeah, sure, why not, I have been good today”

Adam looked at the pizza menu.

“Wow, look at all this, every topping you can possibly think of, what the hell is a Pan seared pea snap?”

“I don't know”, Laura shrugged with a laugh.

“Ooh and pineapple . . . Do you like pineapple on you pizza?”

“Oh yeah”

“Me too”

“Really?” Laura asked

“Oh yeah, trouble is though, that whenever I am out with people, I have to go without it because everyone else hates it”

“Yeah but for some reason, I end up suffering through some meat lover’s junk with hamburger and bacon on it”

“Hamburger belongs in a Hamburger, not on a pizza, the only meats that I should see on my pizza are pepperoni, and maybe some ham”

“I Agree”

“Hells yes!”

“So Pepperoni, ham and pineapple it is?”

“Actually I am not much of a ham fan myself”

“Well then, Pepperoni, cheese and pineapple

“ . . . SERVER? Can we get some Service here? Damn, we don’t even have drinks here yet” Adam said out loud with a humorous tone, “This is great, I am a celebrity, and these people don’t give a damn, I got to remember this place

 

Laura laughs.

 

Adam and Laura sat in the unnamed restaurant, chatting, they also ate pepperoni, cheese And pineapple, and for this brief period of time, neither of them were the same people they were an hour ago, Adam was not a nervous wreck hiding behind his non-sequiter (the famous Writer), Laura was not even the slightest bit mousy, in fact, she had removed that cheap lip gloss from her lips with a napkin, and even let her hair hang behind her shoulders, she even worked up the courage to Ask some question from Adam, some professional, some personal.

 

“This may sound weird” Laura said leaning across the table at Adam,

“Probably not as weird as the answer” Adam replied as he put down his glass of beer and gulped the last mouthful he had taken in, “Go ahead and ask away”

“What disappoints you about your career?”

“Wow, good question” Adam said taking in a breath of air “well for one, I hate to write! -- Just kidding, seriously though, I think my biggest pet peeve about this job, is that I never know how to write about real life”

“Of course you do!” Laura reassured

“Well, that’s nice of you to say, but honestly, I can’t write real life, it is something I just can't cope with . . . I can simulate it, but I can never come close to the real thing”

“I don’t understand”

“I Don't know how to explain, it is a problem I have had from the first day I began writing, that is why I always put weird things in my books, like Imaginary friends, Clown Colleges, crazy conspiracies; because they are not real; I can write about fake and pass it off as real, but I wish I could ‘Insert Emotion Here’, if you know what I am saying”

“I think so,” Laura replied, very interested “I have a similar problem.”

“Oh yeah, what’s up?”

“Do you know that expression “You can read a person like a book”?

“Of course, it's pure crap”

“Come again?”

“Nobody can read another person like a book, you can imagine what a person is like, but the only person that knows you, is you and the ones you share who you really are with” “Wow, and all this time I thought it was just me”

“No, so remember, if somebody says that they can read you like a book, Chances are they want to either have sex with you, or make you feel like an idiot.”

“That's deep!” Laura laughed

“I think Freud said it?”

“Who's Freud?” Laura joked; Adam caught the joke and laughed loud with her

“That’s funny!”

 

Twenty minutes later

 

“So what’s on the slate for you next, I mean, what is your next book”

“Glad you asked, it is a complex story . . . about how people think . . . and how they, okay, really, I got nothing, on top of the fact that I can't write about real life, I am also unable to write about anything else for that matter, I got writers block,”

“I'm sorry to hear about that.”

“Too bad there is not a card for that”

“Yeah”

 

AKWARD SILENCE

 

For the next hour, Adam and Laura opened up to each other in ways neither of them had ever opened up before, Personal items that are best left between Adam and Laura for the time being, and it was only after the hour that Adam realized he had promised to take some press photos at the end of the party, that he decided it was time to end this dinner.

“We should do this again, I had fun” Adam said

“Ah yeah, it was a great night”

“Shall I escort you back to the party?”

“Yes, you shall”

 

Adam and Laura walked through the restaurant, past a booth occupied by Katrina and Marc, they did not notice the two had been watching them for the past while, and did not notice them in their booth as they had walked by;

 

“Nice, Isn't it?” Marc said to Katrina

“Yes, and let’s make sure it stays that way, we need Adam happy for once.

 

 

Adam walked Laura back to the party, and as they walked they conversed, it was a floating conversation, you know the kind that starts out being about a restaurant they both enjoyed, and then an element of that conversation leads to another conversation, like about how they saw a picture of Paul Anka on the wall, leading to a block of chat about the career of Paul Anka, then on to how he wrote “Puppy Love”, which “was a huge hit for Donny Osmond,” who had a weird period in his career, weird periods would carry on to a conversation about somebody who had a weird phase in their life,

 

This degree of banter would be used to avoid those awkward silences that were spoken of earlier, the ones that could kill a person who does not know how to use them the way they were meant.

“I had a good time Adam Mills”

“I had a good time too Miss Laura Mitchell, of “Word” magazine.

“So”

“So”

“Yeah . . .”

This banter of full names, so’s and yeah’s had taken place back at the party, which was still in full swing, those bantering were used to avoid the silence they both dreaded, as they knew, that one of them should act upon it, Maybe she should kiss his cheek, or give him a hug, maybe he should do the same, or maybe he should sweep her off her feet and plant that huge kiss on her lips that he wanted to do ever since they were first introduced.

 

“Yeah”, Adam continued, trying to find an excuse to keep her near him, “I can’t believe the party is still in full swing, what time is it?”

“Midnight”

“Wow, I thought it was later”

“Nope”

“Really, man look at that, we have managed to overcome space and time”

“I guess so”

 

By this time, Ron had finished chatting with the gal who stacked the books and was finally ready to leave for the night.

 

“Laura, there you are”, he said as he broke the silence between Adam and Laura,

“Oh, Mr. Milivar”

“Please, you can call me Ron, you know that” he winked at Adam.

“Well than Ron, have you met Adam Mills?” Laura introduced,

“Many times indeed, Mister Mills, How are you this evening?”

“Not bad Ron”, he said as he shook his hand, Ron seemed pompous this entire time and was possibly throwing in a bit of an English accent to impress both Adam and Laura, to Adam, Ron was a cheese and cracker eating phoney.

 

“Look, I was wondering Adam, if I could get a couple of quotes, or maybe a Q and A with you for the Magazine?”

“You know Ron,” Adam Yawned, “I have a meeting at the crack of dawn, and I have got to get home, but I do believe there is a Q and A in the press kit” and I would be glad to send over all autographed copy of the new book for you”

 

Ron smiled, facing the rejection of the interview quite well,

“Well then, I’ll look forward to that, Laura, we must leave too”

“Well I am sure you can stay for a bit longer, there is still another half hour left in this party,” Adam said to Ron, but hinting to Laura,

“No, Like you said, big day tomorrow, I have a Q and A with Tom Arnold about his new book”, Ron Lied.

 

Adam kind of knew it was a lie because he knew Tom Arnold, Tom Told Adam about the whole “wife leaving him for the gardener,” and also, Tom and Adam had also made plans to play Nintendo tomorrow.

 

“Tom Arnold, huh?”

“Yeah, should go on for most of the day”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Well I gotta go too,” Laura said to Adam.

 

“Hang on a sec” Adam called out to Laura, as he reached for a copy of his new book, which was at the bottom of the new pyramid of books, well not anymore, as the tower came toppling down”

“Oops” Adam said as he noticed what he did, and with only a beat missed, he opened the book and autographed it.

“This is for you”, he said, presenting the book to Laura

“Thank you” she said as she received the copy and then began to walk away.

 

And as she and Ron began to walk away, Laura turned around and approached Adam one more time.

“I had a good time tonight”

“Me too”,

 

And then she kissed him on the cheek.

 

“Bye,” she said

“Bye,” he said.

 

Adam stayed at the party for another 10 minutes, and then with a sigh, he went home, to his end of the city, Laura went home to hers, and after she neglected to play into Ron’s game of seduction in the car, she entered her apartment, slipped into her night clothes and lay in bed, staring at the autograph, she had met him. And he was the very person she had hoped he was.

 

- More than meets the eye

 

Adam lay in his bed, he could not sleep, he tried all the tricks, counting sheep, playing Johnny Cash records, eating some leftover turkey in the refrigerator, nothing worked, he walked into the bathroom and looked deep into the mirror.

"My god I am an ugly man" he said

"No you are not!" a voice reassured him

Adam looked into the bathtub and saw his Imaginary friend sitting there, playing with a little plastic sailboat.

 

I Know what you are thinking . . . Imaginary friend . . . "Where did that come from? I thought this was a romantic comedy!"

 

I (The Author) will tell you.

 

1. This is Fiction, and it is subject to editorial changes for creative purposes, if you don't like it, close the book, mind you you will never know how it ends.

2. if you are still reading, it is obvious you don't mind the fictional spin (Who cares about real life anyways?) and you are in for a good book (now that my mother has stopped reading past this point as she is not fond of my use of fiction, from here on in i will lace the storyline with plenty of "F" words and drug refrences.)

3. Just Kidding, however it is a good story

4. (On the imaginary friend subject) People have layers, I know that had been said before, but it is true, for example; if you are all by yourself and, citing a less than extreme scenario, you happen to cut the cheese, when you are by yourself, you may just let it happen, who knows, you may even sniff it and enjoy it.

 

if you are with a good friend that you do not need to set an example of good humanity, however you dont want them to think you are a fartsniffer, the next time you squeeze off a dry one, you may put on a layer and just let it out, but you may not inhale, if it is a good buddy, you may woft it over to them, but you would do things differently as opposed to what you would do if you were by yourself.

 

If you were with somebody new, and you happened to rip a beefer, you may pretend that you didn't even do it.

 

When Adam Mills is alone he tends to let his mind fly, to the point where sometimes, even things that are not there seem as real as everything else.

 

Such is the case with his imaginary friend, Skippi

 

One of the reasons the Origional story of Skippi was so successful was because it was based on a true story . . . sort of.

 

you see when Adam was a small child, he had his imaginary friend just like every other boy and girl out there, except his friend never let him win at checkers, and would always try to control the conversation, Skippi also did not leave when other Imaginary friends did, at age 13, Skippi was still there, however you would never know it. he only came out when nobody was looking, and he was really only interested in conversation.

 

For the first time in this story we see Adam Mills by himself, so now you can see under his skin, to the core person that is under all that misery, depression and lack of confidence.  actually those are personality traits of the real Adam Mills, he is genuinly depressed and has a total lack of confidence

 

"Hey Skippi" Adam said as he sat down on the toilet lid

"that was some night huh?"

"Yep"

"Nice Girl"

"Yep"

"you know Katrina is trying to hook you up"

"Yep"

"You Know only losers say yep right"

"Yepp"

"What a Guy!" Skippi said to the reading audience

"stop that" Adam said to Skippi

"Look, I am just playing around"

"Well it is not funny"

"O.K. Sorry, so back on topic, what do you think of Laura?"

"Nice Girl" Adam Replied with a little blush in his cheeks

"Ooh,

 

 

 - The Morning After

 

            Katrina sat in a large leather seat in her fab office, though she may have had a lot of work, it seemed quite obvious that she was not doing any of it, instead she was receiving a temple massage from her personal assistant, Georgy O’Coin.

 

Georgy was a thin man in his late twenties with a disposition that cried out “Fabulous”, he wore a button up pastel shirt, khaki shorts and a pair of sandals, his hair was frosted.

 

To the outside world, Georgy was a fashionable, Affemminate, Homosexual, The outside world included Katrina.  To anybody on the inside of the story, Georgy was Moderatley Effiminate . . . It had rubbed off after being raised by five sisters, and the fact that the “way Hetero” Georgy was a father of three girls himself.

 

Some years back he walked into a job as an assistant for Katrina, and ultimately realised that he did not know what he was doing.  So he decided to hide his wedding ring, sell his chopper and pretend to be a member of a visible cultural minority, that way, in the event he messed up, any attempt to fire him could be looked at a disimination.

 

This plan got complicatd when he became close friends with Katrina and developed a sense of job security.  Good for him, but could he really tell her that he lied about his orientation in order to secure employment?  Of course not, not without hurting feelings.

 

So the wedding ring was kept on the opposite hand and his wife picks out his clothes.  The plan is that one day, he will change sides and find a nice girl with three daughters, and ease his way out of the lie.

 

This secret of Georgies was known to few, his wife, a friend that occasionally plays “Boyfriend” whenever Katrina gets suspicious, and Marc Baird, a man who understands that you don’t lie to Katrina.

“Faster Circles Georgy” Katrina told Georgy as she slipped off her shoes, ready to take a break from the harsh world of sushi lunches and speakerphone calls.

“You are just dying today!” Georgy told Katrina as he increased the rate of circles on her forehead.

“My Life is hard!”

“I Know”

“But I did good for the world last night.”

"I Know" Georgy replied

"It is not easy being me"

"I Know"

"And I am going to shoot you!" Adam said as he entered the office and flopped down on the puffy leather couch by the door

"I Know" said Georgy

"Adam my boy!" Katrina said, "How was that girl?"

"We had a good time, but that is not the point . . . Why must you meddle with my life like that?"

"because it is good for you"

"No it is not, i am never going to get a girl like that ever again, you are just setting me up for disappointment"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because it is me, I am a depressing individual who thrives on that depression to become successful, your "Sex" may just be the death of my career as a writer"

"You are such a loser"

"I Know"

Katrina finished her temple rub and stood up from her desk, she walked around the room and finally plopped herself down on the couch next to Adam

"What is wrong with you Adam?"

"What?"

"You are Rich, Successful and lets face it, a moderatley semi-good looking person, why won't you go for this girl?"

"Because i am not a good person over all, and i am not ready for happiness, not if I want to keep writing for you"

"What are you saying?"

"I Don't know, why am I here again?"

Katrina stood up for a moment as if she was about to go to her desk, but as she stood halfway up, she plopped back down on the couch, "Meh, too tired"

"what's up?"

"We are going for a trip next week"

"I thought the tour was done" Adam Complained

"Nope," Katrina Replied "This is not tour business, actually, this is a fun trip"

"Ooh, a fun trip? where?"

"Remember that contract you signed for millions of dollars so that Empire Studios could put a "Skippi" theme park ride in the Gardens?"

"No"

"Well you did, and it is done, the ribbion cutting is next week"

"Oh, do i get to ride it?"

"yes"

"Cool, can I visit the wax museum?"

"They tore it down!"

"What!"

"Yep, nobody was going to it"

"Damn", Adam had always been fond of the empire gardens "Wax Museum" which had been there at Americas favourite theme park since the 1960's, he used to sneak in there and re-dress the statues, for example, he would switch the clothes on Richard Nixon for the clothes on Marilyn Monroe.

"Looks like you will not be able to play with your dolls anymore" Katrina said

 

 

Adam had been home for a few hours after his interview, staring at a piece of paper, it contained Ten numbers and Two dashes, Katrina had given it to him, she told him to use those numbers in that exact order and his dreams will come true, the first three numbers were 212, there were letters above the numbers, Five of them to be precise, L, A, U, R, A.

 

over a period of three days Adam tried to use these numbers and sometimes he even got close enough to a telephone to use them for their actual application, to call Laura and ask her out, he tried to talk, however for the most part, he would get her machine, and when she would actually pick up the phone, he would chicken out and hang up the phone, to be honest, Adam would have never spoken to her again had it not been for his meddling manager Katrina, who in an act of professional intervention, walked into the WORD headquarters, approached Laura's desk and inform her that she is about to be set up on a date with Adam, all she has to do is take the rest of the day off of  work, go with Katrina for a free facial, peticure and massage, go with Katrina for a new dress and shoes and then be outside the door to Adam's Apartment at 8pm where she would knock on the door and let Adam whisk her away for an amazing night that could possibly last the rest of her life.

 

Katrina's only fear was that Adam would mess it all up.

 

 

 - Date

 

Adam stood at the foot of the door in the presence of the very person he had wanted to be with all week long, but was afraid to pursue, it made things easy for him, the generosity, or rather the very evil of his dear friend Katrina, he had just put the pictures of the past day in his head, he figured maybe Katrina had shown up at Laura's workplace, or perhaps even her home, told her that He was interested in seeing her again, and possibly even took her out shopping.  It was devilish of Katrina, and he was going to get back at her; however underneath that revenge was a big hug full of "Thank you Katrina".

 

"Hi" Adam said finally acknowledging that Laura was at the door

"Hi" Laura said back

'What to do next, what do I do?' Adam thought to himself, he had said hello, what was after that, he wanted to do something, he wanted to take her out, but he also wanted to let her in, 'oh no, what if she thinks I have a messy house, damn, damn, damn, I should step out into the hall and close the door behind me, don't let her in, don’t let her see all my stuff.  Yeah, that’s what I ought to do'

"Come on in" Adam said, inviting Laura into his apartment.

'Idiot!' he thought to himself, 'now she is going to see your crappy stuff, your horrible little place, I cant believe you live in this little hole, you are a celebrity worth . . . how much are you worth? Never mind, she is going to look in here and see that you live like a pig'

"Nice place" Laura said to Adam as she entered

'Phew'

"Yeah, it is my little hole in the wall; I should probably get a bigger place"

'Dummy'

"No, it’s nice, it kinda keeps you grounded, gotta hate it when some big celebrity buys an underground city or a theme park to live in"

"Yeah I guess"

"…"

"…"

"So"

"So"

'You idiot let her sit down'

"Would you like to take a seat?" Adam gestured towards the couch.

"Thanks" she said as she sat down.

'Drink!' Adam thought

"What?" he said out loud to himself

"What?" Laura said to him, not knowing what he was thinking to himself

"Drink?" he said to her, recovering from the blitz

"I'm good for now."

"You hungry? I can open a can of ribs?"

"Huh?"

"Sorry, Idiot gland kicking in"

 

Adam sat on the couch in his living space, right next to Laura.

 

The hard thing about dating somebody for the first time, if you want to call it dating; is that if it is somebody you are interested in, and you know that the person is interested in you the same way, there is always an awkwardness, you know you want to talk about it with them, you want to suggest a place you can go, you want to say many things, but as you are about to say what you want to say, they do the same, this usually leads to the one syllable breakdown, where you both utter some noise, the beginning of a word or a sentence, and what you have to say is probably stupid banter, because all you want to do is be acknowledged in the others presence and not be invisible, so once you realize that the other person has something that they want to say, you think 'maybe their thing is more important or more interesting, so shut up' and you do so, but so do they and for a brief moment afterwards, you are curious of what they had to say, so you say, 'what were you going to say?' their response is generally, "Nothing, it was stupid"

 

            This happened to Adam and Laura

 

In these awkward moments, you also find the desire to want to kiss the other person, so every now and then you look at them, and maybe even move your head in for the kiss, but the other person may move their head, unbeknownst to the fact that you are about to kiss them, you also giggle a bit, or smile when you catch a glimpse of the others eyes.

 

            This happened to Adam and Laura

 

If you are fortunate and mature, a kiss may actually take place, and when this kiss occurs, it is like a wrecking ball smashing into the side of a castle door, for before then, you could not enter the castle where people make out for hours, or hold the other person in an intimate way.  it usually takes just one kiss to knock down that door, a brief, but intimate kiss lasting no more than a few second, and then you pull apart, and sometimes kiss again, this kiss lasting longer, as now that you can enter the castle at your own free will, you want to give your respects to the king, you want to be there, because at that moment it is possible that the other person is thinking the exact same way.

 

            This did not happen to Adam and Laura . . . Yet.

 

"I was thinking we could go out and eat?" Adam suggested

"Sure", Laura answered.

 

 

            The great thing about any big city is that there is a whole world at your fingertips, when it comes to food, why in eight square blocks you can go to China, India, Canada, Mexico, London or Italy, and for one night, Adam and Laura went to Italy.

 

            They sat in the back of a big restaurant, it was for couples and families, in fact, the owner had probably witnessed several couples come into the place, and keep coming in, as they became families.

 

The works were implied on this meal they would enjoy, big plates of fine ravioli, bread as long as the booth they sat in, fine wine, ice creams and a jukebox in the corner of the room that played romantic Italian ballads.

 

In this public place, Adam found it easier to be a comfortable human being, despite the fact that he was in the company of a young woman he was trying to impress, several children were jumping up and down in their seats, it had seemed that either they had never sat on thick stuffed leather upholstery and were amused by the bounciness, or they were just animals, Adam entertained them by putting breadsticks in his mouth to simulate tusks, he then made walrus sounds that made them laugh.

"Those kids remind me of my old Commanding Officer in the Army." Adam joked

"I Bet" Laura replied

"He was a crazy guy who sat at a desk all day long and when he wanted to break in the fresh meat, he would bring them into his office, and try to convince them that they hated the army, and he would get them going, and then he would get them on top of his desk, and they would jump up and down on the desk, up and down, and he has cheap desks, I mean he gets these at Ikea, so when they break, and they always do, he would just pull out another box of wood parts and build a new one!"

Laura laughed at the story as required of the opposite party during the date, and the conversations continued, the two chatted back and forth about TV, Movies, Reincarnation, Ice Cream, Art Class, and at one point in time, while playfully explaining the technique he learned when having to draw a hand, Adam reached out and used Laura's hand for the demonstration purposes, but for some reason, as he finished his demonstration, he did not put down her hand, he just held it.

 

And the music that played filled the silence between the two, he looked at her face, her glasses, her hair, her dress, but not her eyes, She did the same, she looked at his brow, his nose, his lips, his chin, his tie, but for some reason she could not look into his eyes, they were both positive magnets that repelled each from the other.  And then Magic happened.

 

The Jukebox changed songs, it was an old Roy Orbison song, "Crying", and as the chorus came in, suddenly their eyes met, and Adam saw that world in her eyes for the second time, for that moment he put all his thoughts aside and just did what he felt needed to be done, He got out of his seat, walked around the table, sat beside Laura, and took hold of the side of her face with his palm, and after he looked into her eyes, he kissed her.

 

A kiss is a magic one if it is with the right person, for it shakes the whole body, you feel a shakiness in your hands and fingers and for that moment, you do not need to live, because that kiss is more important that oxygen.

 

As they pulled apart from each other, Laura smiled, and for some reason, they worked their way up out of the seat, and for no particular reason, they stood up, and they worked their way over to the dance floor, he put one hand on her waist, the other in her opposite; her free hand was placed on his shoulder.  And they kept dancing.

 

"Can I see you again?" Laura asked as Adam walked her home

"Definitely!"

"When?"

"I have to go away on a business trip tomorrow, but I am back in a week!"

"How about after then?" she asked

"Of course . . . Can I call you when I am on the road?"

"Yes."

And as they reached Laura's apartment, Laura had a dread in her voice, as she did not want the evening to end.

"This is my place!"

"Nice," Adam said as he stood on the sidewalk,

"You want to come up?" She asked

"I can't, I have to be up early"

"Okay"

"Alright"

Adam kissed Laura goodnight, "I will call you" he said as she let go and she worked her way up the steps and towards her front door.

"Okay, Goodnight", she said, closing the door behind her"

"Night . . . I'll call" Adam promised,

 

            And he did, Twenty-Seven minutes later.

 

 - About Last Night

 

            Adam opened up a pack of complimentary peanuts and scarfed them down, he chased this with a can of sprite, he had to love first class flying.

 

Adam was en route to Empire Studios and Empire Gardens on a business trip, he was here to promote the opening of the new “Skippi” themed ride that was boasting a three hour wait line. But as fun as this may be, Adam had his mind on other things.

 

LAST NIGHT

 

"Okay"

"Alright"

Adam kissed Laura goodnight, "I will call you" he said as she let go and she worked her way up the steps and towards her front door.

"Okay, Goodnight", she said, closing the door behind her"

"Night . . . I'll call" Adam promised,

 

The Door was closed.

 

For moments Adam stood at the doorstep, he had found a bit of happiness this evening that he had never found before and he knew that once he took a few footsteps away from Laura’s apartment, it would be all over.

 

On the other end of the door, Laura sat on the floor with her back against the door, she was in a state of euphoria that made her giggle, After all, It is not every day that you manage to meet somebody that makes you feel that good, and when emotions are finally expressed, you never want to be away from that person.

 

Laura Had a feeling that he would not call back.

 

As Adam walked home he began imagining other outings with Laura, and how they would all be perfect . . .In a perfect world, these were the thoughts where you compile a series of ideas into one walking fantasy, and each part of the fantasy comes without any regard to time or space, and even objection is taken out of the way, though the specifics of Adam’s thoughts will not be gone into here, as they are his thoughts, it goes without saying that he had a desire to see much more of Laura.

 

Laura Lay on her bed in her dress, she was crying, she saw the same visions in her thoughts that Adam had seen and was worried that none of the fantasies would ever come true, how could they, she was a lonely receptionist and he was a big time celebrity, these things never happen, celebrities marry other celebrities and receptionists marry nobody, At least she had this one night.

 

Adam entered his apartment and lay down his keys. He went into his living room and set an alarm clock that was placed in there, 4:15 A.M. It was now 12:07, he may get in four hours of sleep before he had to leave for his flight. He crashed on the couch and made an attempt to sleep, but for what felt like an hour, he had many more fantasies in his mind and the feeling of butterflies in his stomach as he came to the realisation that he was head over heels crazy for Laura, he would not be getting any sleep right away.

 

It must be time to get up now he thought, after all he had been fantasizing for what felt like hours. He looked at the clock.

12:11, hours of daydreams compacted into four minutes.

What to do?

How to kill the time?

Wait, I have her number, Nah, she is probably asleep by now, I won’t do it.

 

The sound of the dial tone ended as Adam began punching in Laura’s Phone Number.

 

Ring 1 - Oh god this is so stupid

Ring 2 - She is probably sleeping

Ring 3 - I should hang up right no-

 

“Hello?” Laura said as she picked up the phone.

“hi there”

“Oh, It’s you”

“Did I Wake you up?”

“No, I was just getting ready for bed”

“Well I can call back some other time”

“No, That’s quite all right, I am not that tired at all, You?”

“Can’t Sleep a wink”

“Crazy huh?”

“Uh huh”

“So what are you doing right now?”

“Just relaxing on the couch”

“Oh yeah”

“Yep”

“That’s nice”

“Yeah”

“I had a good time tonight Adam”

“Me too, you looked great”

“Thank you”

“did you do something to your hair, it looked really nice.”

“Yeah, Katrina sent me to a place.”

“Come Again?”

“Katrina sent me out for a dress and a haircut”

“Well I have to hand it to her, she is persistient”

“What”

“She really wanted us to get together”

“Really?”

“Yeah”

“So did we?”

“Did we what?

“Get together?”

“Ooh, Uh, I want to, how about you, are you attached to any guy in particular?”

“No, Are you?”

“What?”

“Attached, to a girl I mean.”

“Oh, uh no, but I would like to see more of you”

“Okay”

“Really”

“Yeah” . . .

 

Adam and Laura Spoke all night long, Laura lay in her bed, wrapped up in her pyjamas and a large comforter, and Adam Lay on his couch, though they were a mile or two apart, they may as well have been in the exact same room, because right then they were in the exact same place, a place they really wanted to be, with each other.

 

Sometime around two a.m. Adam began to read Laura poetry, and it slowly lulled her to sleep, and she awoke moments later, still hearing his faint voice, moderately drunk from sleeplessness, and the sound of him drifting off and dropping the phone, the sound woke him up and he picked up the phone again.

 

They continued their conversation until the Alarm on Adam’s table went off at 4:15 am

 

“I am afraid that we must depart.”

“Why?”

“I Have to catch an airplane”

“Where to?”

“Empire Gardens”

“Sounds like fun”

“well after tonight, the only place I really want to be is here”

“Me too”

“I Don’t want to hang up, but I have to”

“What if I hung up”

“Okay”

“ . . .”

“What’s Wrong?”

“I Can’t Hang up”

“I can’t say goodbye”

“Neither Can I”

. . . .

“I have an Idea” Adam Said

“What?”

“let’s plan for a call tonight.”

“Okay”

“I will call you from florida, It won’t be saying goodbye, it would just be hanging up long enough to change phones”

“Okay”

“See you in a bit”

“Okay”

 

“How was it last night?” Katrina said as she sat next to Adam, who was getting ready to take a nap on the plane.

“Hmm?”

“Don’t leave me hanging, You had a date last night and I want to know how it turned out”

“Date?”

“Don’t Play smart with me boy, you had a date, and I want to know how it went.”

“I went home early. I went home around twelve . . . She left at Three A.M.”

“Really!”

“No”

Adam Rolled over and got some sleep.