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Post by leo on Jul 25, 2011 19:18:14 GMT -5
a sad sight you are,
you are slowly unraveling me.
what a strange man who could lose you ,
[/right] Shiny new dress shoes stepped out of the elevator, as Leo walked behind his boss. He was interning at Rideout Firm that summer, and this was his first day. Of course, all the nerves and jitters of your first day of a real job were there. But Leo was doing a great job of playing it cool, and had even made his rather stern looking boss crack a smile. That's what Leo had learned, humor was a man's greatest tool. You could make any situation bearable, if you just put a little funny in it. Like the time The Academy's basketball team had made it to state finals. The tension in the change room was thick enough to cut through, no body was talking to each other, yet everyone was on edge. So what had Leo done? Made a joke about the sweat dripping off his coach's nose. Everyone had laughed, and just like that, the team was at ease and ready to go. His boss continued down the hall, pointing left and right for the tour. Pointing out washrooms, offices, the photocopying machine, the coffee station, and many other things Leo hadn't really paid much attention to. One thing that did and probably would forever stay in his memory was how his boss nodded towards a woman in the front desk. "That's our secretary, Mrs. Kayleigh Williams.' He'd introduced, not that Leo wouldn't be able to recognize that face anywhere. Of course, that moment had him shaken up all day. And he'd walked back and forth from his cubicle in the back of the office to the front, pretending to get something. But it was just to steal glances at Kay. It was complete ridiculousness, but he couldn't help it. That stupid high school crush and all the feelings and memories he had came rushing back. Before he'd known it, the clock in his tiny grey cubicle hit 12:30pm, and he stood up for lunch. Walking to the room designated for the employees with his brown paper bag, he spotted Kayleigh sitting by herself at a table. Leo wanted to walk out right then but what would that do? He took a deep breath and walked to her table, standing in the spot opposite of her. "Hey, is this seat taken?" He smiled, betting she wouldn't even remember him. [/blockquote][/blockquote][/justify] |
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Post by kayleigh on Jul 26, 2011 10:04:10 GMT -5
Work wasn't exactly a good place for Kayleigh. She got too much time to think between phone calls and setting things up for people. She never let her home life interfere with her work, though, because she needed this job way too much to risk getting fired. Kayleigh always remembered faces, voices, etc, so it made the job a lot easier. It was one of the reasons they loved her so much as a secretary. She knew the clients better than most of the accountants did, and she knew the accountants better than the boss did. If he had a question, he came to her. He didn't like to ask Kayleigh about things though, so he tended to make it seem casual every time. In between a few phone calls, she looked up to notice the boss giving a tour to the new intern. It took a couple seconds, but she recognized him after a moment. She smiled at him then went back to answering the phone, using her cheery voice like she always did at work.
There was always two sides to Kayleigh. Her work side and her home side. Kayleigh Williams and Kayeligh Manning-Williams. The latter was not a side of herself that she liked people to know about other than Chord. It was too much to handle for herself, let alone pile it onto her work stress. She did a pretty damn good job at hiding the fact that she had depression, that was for sure. Lunch time came around, and Kayleigh set the phones so they got forwarded to voicemail. If they had been to the company, they knew that twelve thirty to one the phones were unavailable. On most busy days she just ate her lunch at her little desk-counter thing, but today she needed some time think, as much as she hated thinking. She was mostly just staring at her salad, poking at it half heartedly with her fork, when she heard the voice. Shaking her head, she pushed the seat out an inch with her foot. "It is now, I'm guessing. Hey uh, I don't wanna sound like a creep or anything but you're Leo, right? Uh.. You look just like this kid that was in yearbook with me a few years back. Sorry, I'm probably just crazy." Kay shut herself up by stuffing a fork full of salad into her mouth, despite her nonexistent appetite.
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Post by leo on Jul 26, 2011 14:38:08 GMT -5
The fact she remembered him caught Leo completely off guard, but he regained his composure right away. "Yeah, I used to work on layouts. You were editor. A damn good one, too." It was possible, maybe, Leo thought, to have facts in your mind that weren't facts at all. You could build up a whole life's story on false assumptions. You could make truths out of untruths and untruths out of truths. Until you spoke them, really said them out loud, or checked for sure, you may not have known which was which. He had always been convinced that Ms Manning, the most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes on, wasn't aware of his existence. Maybe there had always been more to their story than he realized, or maybe he was getting hopeful again. But something sparked up in Leo right then, a hope that they could start writing a longer story right then.
Leo pulled out the chair and seated himself. He rifled through his bag and pulled out a ham sandwich in a plastic bag. It was squished. He hadn't quit got the hang of making his own lunches yet--he made a mental note to put it in a box next time. He took a bite, thinking of something to fill the silence between them. "So Mrs Williams now, huh?" It caused a sharp pain in his chest to even say it, but he kept the playful smile on his face. He was curious, and everyone knew Leo's strongest trait wasn't being subtle. He wanted to know, so he'd ask. He had graduated a year before her, so this change was new to him.
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Post by kayleigh on Jul 26, 2011 15:51:44 GMT -5
If anyone had to take a guess at Kayleigh's life, they would have guessed that it was perfect. It was far from that, though. Her parents were never around and when they were they didn't bother to even stop arguing long enough to pay attention to their daughters. Her marriage with Chord had been nice at first, until the depression sunk in. Now, every passing day was worse and worse than the last. Nothing was going the way that she wanted, but that was probably her own fault. In Kayleigh's eyes, everything was her fault. She was a fuck up, and it was ruining her marriage. Kayleigh smiled lightly to Leo, blushing the slightest bit. "Yeah, I thought that was you. Oh, and thanks." A small laugh slipped from her lips. It felt empty, though; forced. Kay wondered if she would have a real laugh ever again. She quickly lifted her arm up to cover her mouth, turning her head away as she coughed.
The sad part was, Kayleigh wasn't so sure her 'cold' really was a cold. She'd gotten strep throat in the past, and now every time she got a sore throat she worried about it. She pushed the thoughts aside though. She couldn't be sick. She had to be healthy for Maddy, and for the sake of her job. Biting down on her lower lip, Kayleigh stuffed another fork full of salad in her mouth at the question, delaying her answer with a gentle nod. She finally swallowed her food and cleared her throat. "Uh, yeah. Got married right out of high school.." she shrugged as if it was nothing, but she had been wondering more and more lately just how stupid of an idea it had been. She wanted things to work with Chord, nothing felt right, though. Kayleigh had lost herself in all of the mess that was going on, and she didn't know how to fix it. There was nothing to do but sit through it and suffer and hope for the best, even if her hope was basically broken.
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Post by leo on Jul 26, 2011 16:29:45 GMT -5
Every memory Leo had of Kayleigh, she was smiling. That's what had made him have a crush on her. She had a beautiful smile, the type that could light up the entire room. She seemed like a good person, the type of person that Leo desperately wanted to be friends with. He'd tried countless times to work up the guts to go over and talk to her during yearbook meetings. He would think to call her over to ask how this design looked, or walk over to her and try and flirt while she organized deadlines in the middle of the room. He thought about offering her a ride when he'd seen her waiting outside the school. But something always stopped him, or rather someone. When he'd get up, fix his hair and start towards the middle of the yearbook room, a blonde haired boy would slip in, and creep up behind Kayleigh. He'd wrap his arms around her waist, and kiss her shoulder and Leo would turn around and head back to his desk. When he'd start to roll the window down of his car, Chord would come running out of the school, apologizing to her for being late. Leo just never stood a chance.
The Kayleigh that sat before Leo right now, though, looked different. Maybe growing up did that to a person. But it wasn't just that she looked older, right then, she just looked hollow. "Robitussin," he'd said as she coughed before pulling out a can of Sprite from his bag. The way she said she was married bothered him slightly, wasn't marriage supposed to be the highlight of a young girl's life? But the way she said it made it sound like she'd just bought a new pair of shoes or something. But then again, Leo had seen people more excited about shoes before. "Was it to that blonde boy you used to date?" He had slipped his hand onto his lap, where he crossed his fingers, praying it wasn't Chord. He wanted to have a chance for once in his life.
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Post by kayleigh on Jul 26, 2011 21:43:54 GMT -5
Kayleigh's mind seemed to be everywhere, but nowhere lately. She just felt numb a lot of the time, little things could make or break the numbness into good or bad moods. Mostly bad, really. Chord should be able to make her feel, to make her lose the numbness.. But all he made her feel lately was angry. It wasn't that she wanted to be angry with him, she just was. Sometimes she wondered if they'd be having problems had she never gotten pregnant with Maddy. Her last few months of senior year was when she'd started to show, that was after Leo had already graduated. Right, he was a year ahead. Kayleigh figured that was why he didn't know anything about her life. Everyone that graduated the same year as them knew about the baby and the marriage, which had all come on just a little too fast for her liking.
Blinking at the comment, she had to think for a moment before she realized why he'd said it. "Oh. Right, yeah.. I had some medicine before I came in this morning.. Must be wearing off or something." Honestly, it hadn't helped to begin with. That's why it was worrying her so much, but she refused to go to the doctor or anything. Chord and she didn't have the money to be throwing it away on hospital bills when it could just be a stupid cold that was kicking her butt. All the talking at work was wearing on her voice. Sure, that sounded legit. Kay nodded at his next question, focusing more at pushing her salad around in it's little container. "Chord. Yeah." The lack of enthusiasm wasn't intended. She was just tired, and her act was getting harder and harder with each conversation she had. Especially those about Chord.
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Post by leo on Jul 27, 2011 0:01:33 GMT -5
Leo had always felt like Kayleigh had rejected him. Even if he'd never asked her out. He could even pinpoint the moment he thought she'd turned him down. He had volunteered to stay after hours with Kayleigh to help finish some pages before the deadline. It was the most ballsy thing he'd done during the time he had been crushing on her. But when he'd gone in at seven that night, he found Chord sitting at the computer, fiddling with the senior basketball team's page. The blonde boy had turned around and given him a grin, with that raised eyebrow he'd heard so many girls fawn over. 'We're good,' He'd said, and Leo had left the room as fast as he possibly could. Now, it wasn't true rejection, but in his seventeen year old mind, Leo made it out to be much worse than it truly had been.
"Summer colds are a bummer," he'd sympathized, chewing away at his lunch. Dark eyes fell to her lunch, which she only seemed to be pushing around. Not that Leo wouldn't have done the same, he hated salads.When she confirmed his suspensions, he heard the tone of her voice again. It didn't even sound like a girl in love to him. Poor like someone trapped, someone drowning. "Do I sense trouble in paradise?" One again, he was snooping. But that's what Leo did, maybe it was a trait from growing up with three sisters. But of course, he was fishing for the hope that maybe he could finally get the chance to go on a date with Kayleigh Manning. Er..Williams.
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Post by kayleigh on Jul 27, 2011 20:10:52 GMT -5
Chord and Kayleigh had always been attached at the hip, inside and outside of school. Anywhere there was a Kayleigh, there was a Chord. Any time she had to stay after school, he'd stay with her to help her out with whatever task it was so that they could spend time together. She never got sick of having him around, and they'd seemed like the perfect couple. No, they had been the perfect couple. He gave her reasons to avoid home, and she loved being around him. There wasn't a single day that she walked down the hall not holding his hand. Days that he missed school were lonely for her, but she would surround herself with the other cheerleaders to fill the hole. All through the day she'd be texting Chord if he wasn't at school, making sure he's okay and whatever, then she would go over to his house after school with homemade chicken noodle soup to make him feel better.
Nodding, Kay agreed. "Yeah, s'what I get for working around a bunch of people all day, though. Germs are bound to get passed." Nothing seemed appetizing anymore. It was like the worse she fell downhill, the less she ate. She used to love salad, but even it seemed unappetizing lately. So, she stuck with pushing it around. Most nights she could get away with avoiding meals at home, as long as she made sure that Maddy got her food. Shrugging, Kayleigh kept her eyes focused on her food, poking at a cruton. "Kinda.. No.. I don't know. It's complicated." She shrugged again, biting down on her lip and avoiding all eye contact.
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