Little White Lies

Kathy's POV I wait till the clock hits ten before locking up the store and heading home. Another tiresome day at work staring at the door and waiting for customers to flood in. At this rate I'll go bankrupt before Christmas, what am I going to do, I mean I'm just 23 and it feels like my whole life is just crashing down with a failed relationship and a failing business I don't think I can even pay my rent anymore. I'll feel like a fool moving back in with my parents when some of my highschool friends are already engaged, I'll be a laughing stock. Only some K-drama and ice cream could make me feel better now, I'll call Aubry maybe she could cheer me up as well. I get my phone and dial her number, it starts to ring... " Hello" a tired Aubry replies from the other side of the phone " Hey Aubry, can you come over to my place, it's an emergency" I pretty much begged her. "Fine, but you owe me " she answered "YES yes fine whatever, I love you to the moon and back, you know that right?" " Yeah yh save your cliche comments for your romance novels " she retorted with a snort " Hey that's mean " I chuckled . Aubry is like one of the only friends I have, others are either too distant or aren't even my friends at all . Funny since I'm old enough to be considered an adult but still know so little people. I hear the door bell and opened the door to be met with a ruffle haired Aubry panting like she just ran a marathon. "Oh you do not wanna know. Long story short, I missed my bus and ran some miles here" typical Aubry being as dramatic as ever. I engulf her in a bear hug knocking the air out of her. "Are you crazy woman?, can't you see I'm out of breath" she said shoving me away " I miss you too" I retorted understanding her love language is violence and nonchalance. What a weird girl. "I brought fried chicken and beer so you can pour out your sad ass and tell me all about it " See, I knew she loves me " You know I love chicken " I said moping at her. "Yeah yeah, quit moping at me and turn on XO kitty" she demanded. The thought of watching XO Kitty cheered me up instantly. "Good idea" I beamed. We set up the table and began watching XO Kitty while stuffing our faces in deep fried glory. "Soooo" Aubry draged on "What" I acted like I didn't know what she was talking about. As much as I wanted to pour out my heart to her, I suddenly didn't want to relive today and the worries I have about everything. But Bree is my best friend and she came all this way. "Spill the beans" she shouted and I deserved it. "Well, how do I even begin. My business is crashing down and I don't even know what to do. My dumb boyfriend of 2 years Nick just broke up with me over a text and I think I'm going bankrupt" I finally let out. " Oh my gosh Kathy I'm so sorry. If it makes you feel any better I always thought Rick was a good for nothing Mama's boy and and girl his mom didn't even like you. You are beautiful inside and out and if Stan or whatever his name is can't see that, then he doesn't even deserve you" she gently patted my head like my older sister. I was always so grateful for Bree. I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that she could never remember my boyfriend's name. Or maybe she just didn't like him. Either way it was hilarious. "Hey what's so funny" she ruffled my hair. "Nothing" I giggled. "This won't do, we need to do something fun". " What could you possibly be thinking?" "You should totally act like Nicole Remington for a day it would really be of use to you". " The Nicole Remington?" I asked confused. "Yeah" she replied like I was the crazy one here. " How is that supposed to help me achieve anything?" " Just think about it, Nicole Remington is a successful woman her sales are off the charts and every relationship she's ever been in were successful or ended amicably. Sorry to say but her life is the exact opposite of yours". " Think about it. Fake it till you make it". You act like you're rich and successful until you become rich and successful." She kept convincing. " It sounds so crazy. It just might work". I actually thought about it. " I and Nicole Remington are world's apart I would never cross paths with her or anyone she knows at that because I'm way at the bottom of the social ladder." " You see" she grinned " Fine I'll do it, what do I have to loose anyways". " Atta girl" she encouraged me. We were done with our chicken and booze and I was stuffed and drunk. " I'm beat, I think I'm heading to bed". I yawned "Sure boo good night". "Night". " With that response from her I took it as a go ahead to finally head to bed. Tomorrow would be better in Nicole Remington's shoes". ************************************************* Christian's POV I just finished sending the last email to one of my business partners and I was spent. Another late night at the office, all the employees had already retired for the day. I grabbed the rest of my belongings and proceeded towards the elevator. On my way outside the building I noticed that my receptionist was still in her post. Hopefully she wasn't waiting for me again. " Mr. Grey, I've been waiting for you, I thought you would feel lonely working late nights all by yourself". She said in what I suppose was meant to be a seductive tone and motioned towards me. " For the umpteenth time Emily I told you never to wait up for me, do it again and you would be seriously penalized" I couldn't take much more of her desperate advances towards me. " I'm sso-rrr-yy Ss-irr " she stuttered and packed up her stuff. I left before her but waited at a distance and watch her safely get into the taxi she booked until they drove away. I might hate the way she acts but doesn't mean I don't want her to be safe, she's still my employee after all. I think I need a new receptionist. I got into my car and drove myself home. on my drive home I saw a huge baking store and remembered my mother's birthday next tomorrow, I'll stop by tomorrow and get some baking supplies. I usually buy her luxurious gifts but this time I wanted to do something more thoughtful for her. It hasn't always been so lonely in here, I used to be in love, heck maybe I still am in love with her even though she broke my heart into a million pieces. Her name is Fiona and she was my world. I lived for her. I lived such a boring life but she added colour to my black and white life, I saw the world through her eyes, damn I fell in love so hard that I hit rock bottom. I was at an all time low when I found out she has been dating my own stepbrother Nick and just using me for my money. It was like what we had meant nothing to her. A whole year seems like a little to long to be leading someone on don't you think?. Anyways I've had my fair share of love and I think I'll stick with business and increasing my cashflow. Love is just a figment of your own imagination, it's a pleasurable hallucination, it's nothing but a dream or in my case a nightmare that I still can't wake up from. That's why I'd always choose business, statistics and digits can never fail me. From day one my stepbrother Nick always hated me. He was mad that I was more successful and always came second best to me. When he stole some assets from the family my Father severed all ties with him and he's been after me since then. I just never knew he was after my girlfriend too. Oh ex girlfriend. Ouch, that stings a little. Why is it still stinging? . I decided to head to bed and forget about Fiona. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was the next morning and I had barely gotten any sleep. I promised myself I would stop thinking about Fiona but my heart had other plans and she was in my dreams, maybe nightmares. Nothing a good cup of black coffee couldn't fix. I headed down the stairs and made myself coffee. Feeling better already. I got ready and headed towards my car, I'll take a quick stop at the baking store and then go to work. The drive there was unusually fast, maybe it's because I was lost in thought. I got into the store and the aroma of bread and what I make out to be chocolate cake flooded my nostrils. Why have I never been here before. I took notice of the fact that the building had a bakery section and a shopping section with various aisles where baking supplies are sold, smart business strategy. I move towards the shopping section and started searching. I could've sworn I passed the same flour tower like three times, I think I'm lost. I decided to turn back to the only route I was familiar with and find a staff member to help me but I felt someone bump into me. °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°° Kathy's POV I woke up late and hungover. I think I was having a migraine, what even happened yesterday. I couldn't remember a thing because of the alcohol. I decided to take a shower. I got out and found a fancy looking outfit on my bed, I couldn't remember the occasion or why I decided to wear this today but I went with it anyways. Maybe I wanted to feel good about myself. I got ready and headed towards the pan shop, I needed new pans for my bakery, no better time to do it than today, it's not like I have any customers or anything. The store smells so good my nostrils are in paradise. It was kinda making me hungry. I made a mental note to grab some breakfast bagels on my way out. I knew this store like the back of my palm so I wasted no time and headed towards the shopping section. My phone was ringing and it was Aubrey, I picked up and speed walked, time wasn't on my side. 'Hello miss CEO' she chirped 'Aubry what are you talking about, who are you calling CEO' I asked confused. ' Are you that hungover, don't you remember anything that happened yesterday?". She asked returning the same confused tone. I looked at the phone to make sure I wasn't seeing or hearing things and felt myself bumping into something hard. Just my darn luck. I hung up on Aubry and prepared to face the angry face of my victim. I lifted up my head to apologize only to be met with the most dashing set of pearly white teeth smiling back at me. Smiling, why is he smiling I just launched into him right now. That's when I realized he was on the phone with earpods. " I am so sorry sir". I apologized " I didn't mean to bump into you". " I'll call you back Luke" he ended his call and took off his earpods. " Stop apologizing love it's fine" " I know how you could help me though, do you maybe know where the heart shaped pans are, and any other thing that may be needed to bake a cake, my mum's birthday is coming up soon and I..." He paused. "Nicole Remington, CEO of the Remington group of restaurants. The heart shaped pans are in aisle 6 together with some baking supplies and ingredients". Why in the world did I just blurt that out. Just then I remembered the deal I made with Aubrey last night and the phone call and everything started making sense. " Is that so, I was just heading there now, can I get your business card". He asked me. My What!! " Sorry it's not on me right now, you could get my business number though " This just keeps getting worse, my mouth is not my mouth anymore and it certainly isn't working together with my brain. Unfortunately for me we exchanged contacts. I grabbed some pans and left I a hurry while he kept shopping. I got into my car and looked at the business card he gave me. Hmm Christian Grey, wait the Christian Grey!! As in the CEO of Grey's automobiles which is only the biggest and most successful machinery enterprise. What the hell is Christian Grey doing in a freaking pan shop and why in the world did I introduce myself as Nicole freaking Remington. "OH KATHY RACHEAL MATHEWS, WHAT HAVE YOU GOTTEN YOURSELF INTO!!!". Oh and I forgot my breakfast bagels. Crap.