Chapter 10: A Maniac Without a Gun

[Calithin Crest]

"OH MY GOD!"

I shout awkwardly into the phone, causing several people on the street to stare at me.

"Oh. My. God. Kill me life! I woke up late... Again. I missed, I mean, minimum like 5 appointments. I don't even know. I don't want to check. I. Don't. Even know."

I sigh and take a seat on a bench to try and calm myself down.

"Listen listen listen... We have to reschedule everything. Everything. We have to send apology cards and expensive sea shell chocolates. I cannot keep doing this to important people! I need a new alarm clock. LISTEN. Are you writing this down?"

I pause, but not long enough for her to answer.

"AND I'm hungry. Do something. Do. Something."

[Taylor Jones]

Taylor jumps when he shouts in her ear, and holds the phone out at arm's length. "Mr. Crest, perhaps you should invest in an alarm clock." She suggests when its safe to put the phone back to her ear.

"I'm on my way right now, I'll get those apology cards typed up, and find the most expensive sea shell chocolates I can, and get that all sent out." She pauses. "And I'll order you something to eat."

So much for lunch with her new friends. Ah, well, she'd just order herself something when she ordered Calithin his food.

[Calithin Crest]

"Okayyyyyyyyyyyyyy."

I sigh and take a few deep breathes.

"Okay, okay. Where are you? I'll be right there. Seriously. I'm famished Jones. F-A-M-ished. Lets do lunch. We'll discuss things over deliciousness."

I cough a little and begin to walk around in no specific direction while talking.

[Taylor Jones]

Taylor shakes her head a little. "Uhm, I'm right down the road from the office, on..." She looks around for a street sign, and sees Calithin down the road, walking away from her. "Actually, I think I see you." She says, squinting in his direction, and doing a ridiculous looking wave to catch his attention, before realizing how stupid she looked. "Just stay there for two seconds, I'm coming to you." She hangs up the phone.

She turns to Kizu, Hex, Akira, and Hilja with a slight frown. "I'm sorry guys. I have to get to work." She says. "I'll see you around!"

Taylor turns and crosses the street, walking quickly to catch up with Calithin, which doesn't take her long. "Where do you want to get lunch?"

[Calithin Crest]

I turn around to look at Taylor a little wide-eyed when she pops up, but then, I suppose it's a small world... After all.

"Yo, sorry for the aggravated ear assault a minute ago on the phone. I am just super stressed. If I were a super hero, in fact, that would be my name... Super Stressed."

I shrug and try to smile a little to play the whole thing off.

"I hope I didn't... Uh... Interrupt something."

Glancing behind her I notice the small group of people gathered in the distance.

"I know, I know. I need to stop calling you on your down time. My bad! But it seemed like kind of an emergency. SORRY. I don't really care where we eat though. I could eat a horse."

[Taylor Jones]

"It's alright." Taylor says, shrugging a little. "I don't think that you'd be Super Stressed if you were a super hero, though."

"Oh no, I was just about to dismiss myself and head to the office anyway." She checks her watch, sure enough Calithin had missed a few appointments. "We might be able to get your meetings rescheduled for tomorrow morning and early afternoon, you'll be pretty busy though."

"Hm, I don't know anywhere where you can get a horse, but we can go to the cafe over there." She said, jabbing her thumb in the direction of the place she was just about to go to.

[Calithin Crest]

"Okay. 'Over There.' Good name for an eatery. Very hip. Let's go."

I more or less drag her across the street to the cafe', walking past the odd group of people she just left, and take a seat at one of the tables near the front by a window. When a waitress comes by I order myself a club sandwhich and a Cola.

"Listen, I really appreciate this. Although 'busy' doesn't sound to good, and is certainly not what I want to be, I feel much better about the situation now."

[Taylor Jones]

Taylor is dragged across the street, and sits down across from Calithin, ordering herself a coke and some soup.

"It's no problem. My job is to fix your crisis's." Well thats more or less her job. Either way, it's what she usually ends up doing.

"And we'll either have to figure out why your alarm clock is malfunctioning, or get a new one. You're gonna have to be on time tomorrow, Mr. Crest. I doubt that rescheduling again after tomorrow will be an option."

[Calithin Crest]

I moan and roll my eyes.

"ON TIIIIMMEEE!? On time? I don't even know time like that. I don't want to be on time. I need my space from time, in fact."

When my sandwich comes I bite into it with a frown on my face and generally have a very grouchy disposition.

[Taylor Jones]

Taylor raises an eyebrow, putting a hand to her face in an attempt to stifle her laughter. She took a long sip of her coke, and looked at him, his expression reminded her of a three year old, which only made her urge to laugh stronger.

"You know what I mean." She eats some soup, and it burns the roof of her mouth a little.

[Calithin Crest]

"Yeah, yeah..."

I bring my cola up to my lips and take a long drink, thinking about all the work I have ahead of me.

"I want the apologies to be, like, heart felt but professional. Just type a generic one up when you get back to the office and send it to everyone with the chocolates. Don't lay it on too thick though or they'll think I'm not being sincere. I am very sincere. In fact, I put the sin in sincere."

[Taylor Jones]

Taylor nods. "A sincere, professional, generic apology. I can do that." She was already mentally writing the apologies, and making a to-do list.

She blows on her next bite of soup, in an attempt to cool it down some before eating it, but it still burns her tongue, which is going to make everything taste weird for the next few days.

"Is there anything else you can think of off the top of your head that needs to be done?" Shes sure that once she gets to the office there'll be more work waiting for her, but she likes to have a vague idea ahead of time.

[Calithin Crest]

"I need you to fax some memos to our South American offices that I wrote up last night... Uh... Confirm my schedule for the rest of the week. Book me a massage at that spa I like. And... Party like a rock star."

I put some mayo on my sandwich and feel much better now with some food in my stomach.

"So who were those people you were with? Circus performers?"

I say this because it was a very odd grouping of characters. Especially those two creditors I saw. What is up with that?

[Taylor Jones]

Taylor nods again. "Mmkay."

"Circus performers? Uh, no." She says, shaking her head a bit. "They were some friends, I actually just met them. I almost ran into the one woman, I wasn't really paying attention where I was walking. And then the male creditor just came along and asked if we needed help, then Hilja joined us, and then the female creditor came and was insulting Hilja and Kizu's clothing."

"It was rather odd." She admits.

[Calithin Crest]

"I mean... If people aren't dressed well you owe it to them to say something, don't you think? If you let bad fashion roam free for too long you end up with some scary bad fads... Like white powdered wigs. Or anything ever produced by the Gap."

I shudder and shake my head at the thought of this.

"You sure do meet some crazy folks in this town though. I was walking with my girlfriend and we ran across this lady with her shoulder pierced. I mean... WHY? I turn to my girlfriend and I'm like 'Whoa, Angelina, baby, do you see that?' and she says 'How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not Angelina Jolie.' The funny thing is... I don't even have a girlfriend. That was just some lady on the street. She did not smell what I was cooking, but I like to pretend to be in difference scenarios. Life is what you make it, right?"

I take a big bite of my sandwich and chew contentedly.