Oops! My Disguise Worked Too Well!

Time For A Change

William Thorn

—

Liz found the note left by Alexis. I really couldn’t believe this was happening. I knew she wasn’t happy about me getting her life settled, but I never thought that she would run off. I felt my whole world spinning. All I wanted was to make sure she was safe, protected and happy. She really doesn’t understand how hard the world can be.

Unfortunately I still had Jackson and Ryan here for breakfast. I really didn’t feel like playing host, but considering I had pushed them to stay I couldn’t just send them off.

I went downstairs to the dining room and both of them were already there eating breakfast. I’m glad I had told LIz to let the kitchen staff get their breakfast when they were ready. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind a quick goodbye and they could get back to their life. It’s not like they were here because they wanted to be.

“Good morning boys,” I said to them as I sat down.

They both returned the greetings and waited held off eating while I ordered my coffee. I didn’t feel like eating this morning, I had absolutely no appetite.

“Please continue eating,” I told them.

Ryan started finishing his breakfast. It looks as though Jackson didn’t have much of an appetite either.

“So, when are we going to meet Alexis?” Asked Ryan.

I felt the sting in my heart as he asked that. They wouldn’t be meeting her anytime soon. Hopefully she will give up and be back before a year, if she does I won’t try to force her into a career or marriage she does not want, I promised to myself. I really wish I would have listened to her when she was telling me she didn’t want what I was offering her.

“I’m very sorry to have kept you overnight. Unfortunately Alexis is unwell and won’t be able to see any company today,” I said to them. I doubted that they would be spreading any gossip, but I wasn’t going to let anyone know the truth about Alexis leaving. I wasn’t going to add a scandal or people searching for her while she wasn’t under any sort of protection.

“Oh, that’s a shame, I was looking forward to meeting her,” Ryan said.

—

Jackson

—

I really can’t believe that Mr. Cooper just referred to me as a boy. I was one on the most respected men in this city, as a matter of fact, the this country. Since he was an old friend of Grandfather’s I won’t bother correcting him.

When Ryan started asking about Alexis, I was truly hoping that we weren’t going to have to wait around longer. Couldn’t this girl have enough manners to meet people on time rather than have them wait for her. This is the reason I declined all the setups and blind dates that Grandfather tried to set up for me. The last thing I needed was a some woman making me wait for her all the time, and her throwing fits when I have to work.

When Mr. Cooper said that she wouldn’t be coming down and that she was unwell, I was actually relieved. That means we can leave directly after breakfast rather than wasting a couple hours on frivolous small talk. Especially with someone that we would probably never meet again.

As soon as Ryan was finished with his breakfast, we all stood up and made our way to the front door. We said our goodbyes and then we finally left.

We got into the limo and headed back to the city. I told the driver to skip taking us home and just go straight to the office.

—

Alexis

—

We had a fun girl’s night at Jenny’s apartment. Her parents were off in Europe somewhere on a business trip so she was even more excited to have me over. We had spent the night talking about what our future plans were going to be. She was going to be going to the university nearby, very elite, and work at her parent’s company a few days a week. Her parent’s had a fashion company and Jenny has always wanted to become a top designer, so she was more than happy with how things were turning out for her.

Jenny was also an only child, but her parents always just told her to follow her dreams and they would support them. Jenny’s parents were really cool people, they treated me like a second daughter when I was around.

I was telling Jenny about all the plans that my Grandfather was arranging for me. I told her that I just couldn’t live that life. I was not just arm candy to some boring guy. She just laughed at me.

“I don’t think an average guy could handle you Alexis,” she threw a chip at me. “You would never just take a backseat to anything. Doesn’t your grandfather know that you were top of our whole school?”

I nodded, “He was very proud of me, but he wanted a life that would be safe for me. That I didn’t know how to survive in the real world.”

“I think most the boys at school were intimidated by you,” Jenny said.

“I know he loves me, but I need to choose what kind of life I want,” I said. “I left a letter to Grandfather when I left. I told him to give me a year to make my life work, if I couldn’t, I would return home and accept my fate.”

Jenny just looked at me shocked. “There’s no way you would be happy with a life like that.. and there’s no way that the kind of men your grandfather would choose would end up happy either.”

“That’s why I have no choice but to make things work, and sooner rather than later,” I said with resolve. “I will actually go home earlier if I can prove to him that I have succeeded. Then he will have to accept that I am capable of anything a man can do.”

“Ok, what’s the plan?” Jenny asked me. “Whatever you need help with, I’m in.”

I smiled, I knew I could count on her. She is more of a sister than a friend. Maybe even closer than most sisters are.

“Jenny, I need you to keep an open mind about what I am going to be telling you,” I said to her.

“It’s nothing illegal right?” She asked looking a little worried.

This time I threw a chip at her. “Jenny you knew me better than that, I always follow the rules.”

“Ok, my mind is open and ready to hear something that we are both probably going to regret,” Jenny said winking at me.

“There is no way that I will be able to amount to anything as Alexis Cooper right? Grandfather will probably be keeping his eye out for me at all the larger companies, especially tech companies, since he knows that is what I am interested in.”

“So what are you going to do? Even if you move to another city.. you would be flagged pretty fast,” she said.

“Exactly, and it’s one thing to fail on my own, but there’s no way I’m going to accept failure because someone won’t let me try.” I said keeping eye contact with Jenny. “Also, he will probably give a description of me as well, he knows that I would also try to use an alias. That is why you are going to have to say goodbye to Alexis for the year.”

“Where are you going to go?” She asked me wide eyed.

“Alexis is going to vanish for the next year, you are going to be helping your cousin Alex, who is visiting you for the year.” I said to her.