Chapter 1:
Carrying two trays of steaming hot coffees and a bag of baked goods, Alice trekked across the street towards the headquarters of Weekly Info Bites. Just past twelve in the afternoon, the streets were lined with people donned in dress shirts, escaping from work for lunch. Alice's heels clicked against the marble floors as she walked with care, mindful of spilling the coffee. Using her back against the glass door, she let herself into the building of Weekly Info Bites and headed toward the elevator. She noticed the door was just closing as she approached so she slowed her pace, ready to wait for the next one. A man inside noticed her approaching and held his hand out to stop the door.
"Thanks," Alice smiled.
"No problem."
When the elevator dinged her to the right floor, the smell of the coffee she carried attracted her colleagues, like bees to a flower. Alice stood back and held the two trays of coffee in front of her as they dived for them.
"Thanks, Alice, you're the best."
"Next time, I'll shout you, Alice."
"Great job, Alice, you've done it again."
"Perfect timing, Alice. I've got the coffees next time."
"Sure, sure," she mumbled and walked away to throw out the empty trays before collapsing in her seat in a small corner of the room. Around her, Alice saw that everyone was back at their computers, either searching for information or typing up an article.
"Oh, Alice," Christine, her neighbouring colleague said.
"Yeah?" Alice asked, looking over at her colleague who still had her eyes glued to the computer.
"Boss wanted to see you," she said, propping up the large black frames of her glasses before continuing to type.
"Oh?" Alice asked, though it was clear Christine wasn't about to elaborate. "Thanks," she grimaced and stood, straightening out her pencil skirt before heading towards the boss's office.
In the few seconds it took for Alice to get from her desk to her boss's office, she'd envisioned many scenarios for why her boss could possibly want to see her. It wasn't like she was a particularly outstanding writer, nor too shabby of one either, she hoped – otherwise, he'd have fired her, surely? Unless, this was what the meeting was about? To fire her? Alice's palms sweated at the thought. Relax, she told herself. Though it was easier said than done. It wasn't as if her boss had any legitimate reason to fire her. The dark brown wood of the boss's closed door was daunting to even look at. Alice wrapped on it three times.
"Come in," came the gruff voice.
Alice pushed aside the door and peered at her boss. Upon seeing her, he put down the paper he was reading and leaned back in his high chair.
"Hi, um, I heard you called for me earlier?"
"Mm, come, take a seat," he said, motioning to the chair opposite him with his beefy hands.
Alice smiled and took a seat beside him, suddenly feeling about ten times smaller opposite his rather large frame. He was so large that the suit he wore seemed to be breaking from the pressure of his build.
"Have a look at these," he said, handing her a stack of photos.
Alice took them and looked at the first image. Was that – Melissa Hamiltons? Hottest celebrity of the year? Alice flicked to the second photo. Yeah, it was. Wavy blond hair, beach-tan body. The third picture showed Melissa mid-kiss with a man – at least, it could only be assumed to be her from the backside of the woman in the photo.
"So, what're you thinking?"
"Um – "
"Alarm bells going off in your head? 'Melissa Hamiltons – caught redhandded!'" her boss went on, waving his hand across the air to signal a new headline.
"Well-"
"Don't you think that'd make a fine caption? The scandal of the century!"
Well, I don't think that's really any of our business, Alice wanted to say, but didn't – partially because she hadn't managed to get a word in edge-wise, but mostly because she didn't dare refute her boss.
"So, why I called you here, you'd like to ask, is because I am giving you this fine opportunity to write an article about this."
Fine opportunity? Alice may have been naïve, but not quite naïve enough to believe that. She knew that apart from the few who actually enjoyed dishing gossip on famous celebrities, people avoided them like the plague when it came to their industry. Alice was definitely not the first kind of person – the kind who enjoyed dishing gossip on famous celebrities. In fact, she strongly believed in the freedom of privacy, even for celebrities. And they printed newspapers, after all, not gossip magazines.
"I want you to write an article speculating into the secret life of Melissa Hamiltons. A secret lover she's been keeping behind our backs? Perhaps the Melissa Hamiltons as we knew isn't the angelic lady we knew."
"I don't know that I'm much good at speculating. I know Janessa would come up with a great article," Alice attempted.
Her boss brushed her off with a wave of his pudgy hand.
"Janessa's busy with her research on her article about greenhouse gases," her boss said. "So you're the one for the job. Speculating's part of your job, Alice, so you better get good at it. Come up with something juicy, the juicier, the better. Deadline's this Friday."
Chewing on her bottom lip, Alice tried to come up with some sort of counter-argument but her brain seemed to have frozen. Why couldn't she have been given the topic of greenhouse gases? She would have been so much more in her element.
"Any problems?"
Er, yes, actually, I have a lot of problems, Alice thought, but the look on her boss's face told her he wasn't interested. And unable to come up with anything that wouldn't sound argumentative, Alice shook her head and left his office. Her shoulders sagged as soon as she was out of his office and her entire frame deflated. Just then, her phone started ringing.
"Hello, Alice Keyton speaking."
"Hey, Al, it's Adam."
Alice relaxed at the sound of her boyfriend's voice.
"Hey, what's up?"
"You free for dinner tonight?"
"Mm, dinner would be great."
"Everything ok?"
Alice sighed, "Yeah, I'll tell you more about it at dinner."
"Ok, what do you feel like?"
"Whatever you feel like. Up to you."
There was a pause on the end of the line.
"Ok, what time do you want to meet?"
"I'm flexible, what time do you want to meet?"
"Let's say six?"
"Want me to come pick you up?"
"Only if it's convenient for you."
"Al, you know it's never an inconvenience to pick you up."
"Thanks."
"Alright, I'll pick you up at six then."
Six o'clock couldn't come faster for Alice. The rest of the day since her boyfriend's call, she sat slumped in her corner of the room, staring at the photos that her boss had given her. She'd made several attempts to start writing but writer's block served as an obstacle every time and she'd ended up deleting every attempt she made. It just didn't feel right, writing from a perspective she couldn't agree with. Sighing, she went back to writing her article on the current housing market.
When six o'clock had finally rolled around, Alice was ready and waiting for her boyfriend to pick her up. The sound of a car pulling up outside her house told her he was a little early. The sight of her boyfriend's familiar warm smile and chestnut brown hair lit a smile on Alice's face.
"Hey," he greeted, leaning to kiss her on the cheek. "Oh, you're wearing that pink lipstick I gave you last Christmas."
Alice nodded, happy that he noticed. Though she thought the bright pink made her pale skin look more sallow, it had been a gift from her boyfriend.
"So where've you decided for dinner?" she asked as they walked to his car.
"Well, since you left it up to me, I picked Italian."
"Oh… That one in town?" Alice asked, hoping Adam wouldn't say yes. Though she knew he liked it, it was a little out of her price range. Not that she couldn't afford it, persay, it just hurt a little every time she had to pay up. And she didn't exactly want to look cheap, always ordering the cheapest thing on the menu.
"Yeah. You ok with that?"
"Um, yeah, sure! I know you love that restaurant."
"But do you?"
"Hm? Of course. I like it if you like it."
Adam didn't say anything after that. When they got to the restaurant, neither of them bothered to look at the menu. They'd been to this restaurant enough times for Adam to know what to order for the both of them, every time.
"… and spaghetti platter with parmesan cheese for her," Adam said to the waitress who nodded. "So what happened at work today?" he asked after the waitress had left.
Alice let out a sigh, "My boss wants me to write an article about Melissa Hamiltons."
Adam listened patiently, "What's wrong with that?"
"He gave me some photos where she was found kissing a man. Apparently this is all very scandalous and he wants me to speculate into what's happening. Basically, he wants me to tear into the private life of a celebrity and make up some gossip about her."
"And you're not ok with that?"
Alice gave Adam a crazy look, "Ok with that? Of course I'm not ok with that!"
He nodded, "Then did you let your boss know?"
Sighing, Alice slumped back in her seat, "Do you know how intimidating my boss is?"
Adam laughed, "Really, Al, I'm sure he's not that scary."
"He is! You haven't met him, he's huge!" she exclaimed, gesturing wildly with her hands. "I'm too scared to say anything so I sat there for the rest of the day, being very unproductive. Seeing you was the only thing I had to look forward to today."
Adam smiled, "Good thing I called when I did. You know, I think if it's really bothering you that much, you should just talk to your boss."
Alice pulled a face.
"You've got to try, Al."
"I know, I know. I'm sorry for being such a downer. How're things with you, anyway?"
"Alright. The project I'm working on now's going great - we've had a few setbacks and delays but things'll be on their way again."
Alice nodded as her phone began to ring, "Sorry, I'll just get this. Hey, Stella, what's up?"
"Hey beautiful, what're you up to?"
"I'm having dinner with Adam at the moment," she replied, looking at him with a smile. He smiled back.
"Ooh, sorry, should I call back later?"
"No, no, it's ok. Is everything alright?"
"Me and Veronica are thinking of having a girl's night out tomorrow, are you in?"
"Sure. What time?"
"Five-ish? At the usual."
"Alright, see you then."
After she hung up she explained to Adam what the call was about and they carried on with their dinner. Alice invited Adam in for a cup of tea when he'd dropped her off after dinner. They'd sat on the couch and chatted for a while and before Alice knew it, the space between them had come to nothing and a stop for a cup of tea had turned into a full make out session. It wasn't that Alice had a problem with that, it was just that the longer she and Adam 'made out' each time, the more she found worrisome thoughts floating into her head. She wondered where it would lead, for example, and whether or not Adam was enjoying it too and then of course she knew that all her worrying was starting to distract her and would Adam notice?
Adam pushed her back against the couch so he lay down on top of her. His arm travelled down the side of her torso, until he fingered the end of her shirt.
"Do you want me to keep going?" Adam breathed against her face.
"O- only if you want to," Alice replied.
"You know what I want, Al, but what do you want?"
Breath hitched in her throat, Alice couldn't respond. Adam continued staring into Alice's eyes then after a few moments when neither said anything, he pulled back and sighed. Alice felt her heart fluttering. She didn't know what to say as she sat up, peering at her boyfriend from the corner of her eye. What had gone wrong with her? Of course she wanted to be with Adam, she loved him, didn't she?
"I think I'd better go home for tonight. We both have work tomorrow so get some sleep," Adam said without looking her in the eye.
"I'm sorry," Alice whispered.
"Alice, you know that when we do do it, I want it to be because you want it too, not because you want to do what I want just to please me. That may get you by in other areas of your life, but I'm your boyfriend, Al."
Alice bit on her bottom lip.
"Well, I'm gonna go, I'll see you later."
After Adam left, Alice sighed and hugged herself. Why hadn't she just said yes to Adam? They'd been dating for over a year now, it had to be about time. But was that what she really wanted? Or had Adam been right to think that she'd only have agreed in order to please him? Alice shook her head. Since when had it been so hard to distinguish between what she truly wanted and what she wanted in order to please somebody else?
ns 15.158.61.20da2
