The Last Grimm_Red's Hood

by H. L. Wampler

  I wonder if it was her.

  Chapter Five

  My dreams were filled with visions of Connor. They weren’t normal dreams though. Every time I would get close to him, he would be covered in blood and an enormous wolf stood over him. I would turn to run, only to be caught up in a red cloak. As the wolf caught up to me and sunk its fangs into my throat, I woke up in a cold sweat. I glanced at my alarm clock, only three am. I lay back, too terrified to fall back asleep. The dream didn’t even feel like a dream. More like a memory. I slid out of bed and headed for my shower, at least I would have time to stop for coffee before my first day.

  ***

  I stood outside One PPG Place staring up at the massive glass structure. It reminded me of a giant, reflective castle. A very modern castle. The building seemed to fit Belinda's personality. The perfect location for a titan like her. My first day of interning for a fashion executive wasn’t exactly what I expected. I had always imagined I would be staring at models and swatches of clothing all day. That didn’t happen. We mainly went through a lot of magazines and paperwork. While it was fun working next to Belinda, the wretched Blanche did everything she could to make me miserable. By noon, I couldn't help but stare at the clock, anxious for five.

  “Did you stock the kitchen?” a low, ear-grating hiss asked from behind me.

  “What?” I asked in return.

  “The kitchen, is it stocked?”

  “Isn’t that your job?” I snapped.

  “You’re the new girl, you do it.”

  I looked at her, I mean really looked at her. Her nose turned up, her lips pursed into a permanent sneer, and her eye brows stitched together in an angry V. I couldn’t help but wonder if she was born with that sour puss look on her face, or if she had to learn it.

  She curled and teased her bottle blonde hair to no end. She kind of reminded me of an angry poodle.

  “Look, Blanche, I’m not the office bitch. I’m not the receptionist, and I’m not a stock girl. I am Belinda’s intern. I have a desk full of paperwork that needs done. If you don’t want to do your job, then quit,” I said through clenched teeth.

  Nobody had ever gotten me so upset before. In fact, I had never really put my foot down with anyone before that point. She snorted at me and walked away. For the first time today she didn’t have some witty, smart-ass remark.

  “The only way to deal with that one is to just ignore her. She’s miserable,” a velvety smooth voice came from behind me.

  “Connor!” I gasped.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare ya,” he flashed a big grin at me.

  “You didn’t. You, um, startled me. That’s all,” I stammered.

  “Oh, okay. Hey, do you have plans for lunch?” he asked.

  “Not really. I'll be sitting somewhere, alone. Why?”

  “Would you like company?” he asked, his amazingly blue eyes sparkling.

  “Yes, of course,” I smiled shyly.

  “Great. You like Primanti’s?” he asked.

  “Yeah of course, who doesn’t?”

  “Alright, that’s where we’ll get lunch.”

  “We? We who?” I asked.

  “Us.”

  “You and me?” I asked nervously.

  “Yeah,” he said laughing, “never have a guy ask you out for lunch?”

  “Of course I have,” I laughed back nervously. Sure guys have asked me out, but none even came close to being as handsome as Connor. None of them even had jobs, let alone worked for a major fashion company.

  I smiled nervously as he turned away and went into his office.

  I couldn’t believe it. I was having lunch with Connor, and he asked me!

  My heart raced as I slowly walked back to my desk. The inner school girl in me giggled and squealed. I’m not entirely sure why I acted so silly. I bit the inside of my cheeks to suppress the smile that ached to spread across my face. I kept peeking out the window facing the hallway trying to steal glances of my lunch partner. I knew anything more than a crush and flirting would be a bad idea. I already had one work romance sour and turn bad, I didn’t need another. This internship was more important than a relationship. The thought of jeopardizing the internship for some guy was absurd. But oh what a guy! I caught myself checking the time every five minutes; I was too excited and it wasn’t just for a pastrami with fries, slaw and malt vinegar. I needed the break from staring at magazines, dictating notes, and organizing Belinda’s paper work. Not to mention that meant a glorious hour away from Blanche’s gum chewing. I wished the office was bigger.

  I somehow managed to last until lunch time without going insane. Connor and I slipped out the door without anyone noticing and into an almost empty restaurant. I slid into a booth and picked up the small menu. The agony of awkward silence fell over us. I looked up at him and saw that he chewed on his bottom lip lightly. Every now and then he glanced up at me, but quickly turned his eyes back to the menu. Our waitress finally came around to get our orders, so no more distracting menu to keep us from talking.

  “So, how’s your first day going?” he asked with just the slightest hint of nervousness in his voice.

  “It’s good. I can’t complain. At least I’m not in class.”

  “Yeah, I can understand how that is. How old are you?”

  “I'm eighteen."

  “Oh, that’s cool. I’m twenty-one. I was the intern last year, but not with Miss Hexe, with the old web developer.”

  “Oh.”

  Awkward silence again.

  “Abigail?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Your last name is Grimm. Right?”

  “Uh, yeah. Why?” I asked.

  “So, your father’s last name is Grimm?” he asked.

  “My father isn’t in my life. He took off before I was even born,” I snapped.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize…” his voice trailed off.

  “It’s fine. You didn’t know.”

  He quickly changed the subject, “How did you end up in fashion?”

  “My best friend and I were always drawing and making things for our dolls growing up, so I went into PR and she followed.”

  “How did you go from designing clothes for dolls to PR? And why did your friend follow you?”

  I laughed lightly; it was a big jump, “Anna did the designing and sewing, while I did all the promotions. She followed because, that’s what she does. She didn’t want to go to school alone, so she went to Pitt with me.”

  “So you guys are a team?”

  “Yeah, the plan is to open a shop or start a clothing line when we graduate,” I dumped malt vinegar on my sandwich and took a big bite. “What about you?”

  “I finished school a few months ago. The old web developer quit without notice, and Belinda asked if I wanted to stay on full-time.”

  “Why would he quit like that?”

  “We have no idea. He stopped showing up, never answered his phone or his door. I was set to move to New York, but decided to keep the job here.”

  We turned our attentions to our respective lunches and finished with idle chit chat. Our walk back to the office was painfully silent.

  My mood still seemed to stay pretty sour for the rest of the day. Talking about my absentee father usually did that to me. I couldn’t wait to go home. But as good turned bad days go, they always got worse. I felt like the unluckiest person in the world, stuck in the most awkward place. Blanche and I ended up on the elevator together, again.

  We said nothing; just rode the thirty-nine floors down. Out of the corner of my eye, I couldn’t help but watch her. She seemed to have a permanent scowl. Honestly, if she smiled or stopped teasing her hair, she could be really pretty. Hell, if she tried to be a little nicer I might have tried being friends with her, or at the least a friendly acquaintance. She must have caught me watching her because her head suddenly snapped toward me. Her eyes bugged out, and she looked like a rabid animal.

  “Why are you staring at me?”

  “I’m
not,” I whispered.

  “You’re weird,” she snapped.

  “What is your problem?”

  “I don’t have a problem,” her spittle landed on my face.

  “Yes, you do. You’ve had this serious chip on your shoulder since my interview.”

  “I don’t have a chip,” she sneered.

  “Whatever you say,” I mumbled.

  “Oh and stay away from Connor. He’s mine.”

  My heart sunk a bit, but it made sense he had a girlfriend. His good looks could not be denied, had a great job, and had the most pleasant attitude. No man that good looking is ever single. Ever. What baffled me though, how could she be his girlfriend ? Why would he have asked me to lunch if she was his girlfriend?

  The more she talked, it made me just blink slowly and shake my head.

  “Don’t shake your head at me. You girls always throw yourselves at him. It’s pathetic really,” she continued.

  “I haven’t thrown myself at him and I don’t plan on it.”

  “I’m just letting you know,” she said as she exited the elevator.

  “He never told me he had a girlfriend,” I said.

  “When would he have told you? At the coffee pot?”

  “At lunch today,” I said quietly.

  “He went to lunch with you?” her voice shot up an octave.

  “He asked me.”

  Her face turned four shades of red, and I could tell she was pissed.

  ”If I had known the two of you were dating…” I let my voice trail off.

  “We’re not!” she sputtered.

  “Okay, then why are you getting in such a tizzy?”

  “I’m not. Just stay away from him. I will date him.”

  That girl had some serious issues; some real psycho, stalker issues.

  At the bottom floor Blanche shot me a look of death, almost knocked me over, and stormed out of the building. I was really making an impression on the people around here. One thought I was nuts and another hated my guys. Once again I walked slowly across the square to the bus stop. I sighed, and realized that my first paycheck was going to be paying for a damn parking lease.

  Screw this bus shit. It’s too cold.

  I stood a few blocks down from Blanche, and saw her light up a cigarette. I could see the glowing, red end through the snow. She stood there puffing away with her arms crossed. She had to be one of the most miserable, awful people I’d ever met. How does someone like that live each day so angry at the world?

  I almost felt bad for her. Something at some point in her life must have gone horribly wrong for her to be so bitter. I did not want to imagine what that was or could have been.

  Yes, I felt a twinge of sympathy for the badly teased poodle.

  Chapter Six

  As the coldness sunk in, I turned and went in search of my bus stop. There was nothing I wanted more than to get home, into my jammies, and into bed. Surprisingly I wasn’t even hungry. Not cooking wouldn’t be an issue since my mother rarely ate with me anyway. I stared out the window as the barren landscape blurred into dirty snow and houses. The roads were clearer than the day before, nothing was left but muddy slush. The mall parking lot was also fuller. You can’t keep people from spending their money for too long. I pulled out of the parking lot and headed south on fifty-one. Half an hour till home.

  I managed to get into the house and in the shower before she realized I’d gotten home.

  “Anne? Are you eating?” she called up to my room.

  “No, mom. I’m not hungry. I’m just going to go to bed.”

  I waited to hear some sort of a response from her. She was silent as usual.

  I sunk into the soft mattress on my bed and quickly fell asleep. Morning came much too quickly. My alarm clock blared some ridiculously upbeat song. Groaning, I reached out from under my mountain of blankets and smacked the alarm. As silence descended on the room, I closed my eyes and rolled over. Six a.m. was just too early to be awake, and eight a.m. was too early to have to deal with office shit. I pulled the blankets down so I could see out. My windows were covered in a fresh layer of frost, and it just screamed cold. I wanted the long winter to be over.

  I crawled out of bed and began to get ready. I had been debating with myself all night whether I was going to tell Connor about the crazy girl stalker tendencies or not.

  ***

  Blanche was already at the office when I got there. I took a deep breath and groaned. She glared at me as I walked through the front doors. I sighed heavily, and decided to just dish out what I had to give her a taste of her own medicine. Maybe not nearly as horrendous as her, but a nice splash of sarcasm never did anyone any harm.

  “Good morning,” I muttered walking past the desk to the oak doors behind her.

  “Whatever,” she grumbled.

  “Who pissed in your Wheaties this morning, sunshine?”

  She just glared at me from beneath tarantula eyelashes.

  “Glad to see you woke up on the right side of the bed today. I thought you might be cranky."

  "You don’t need to talk,” she said while thumbing through a magazine.

  “Don’t work too hard,” I said as the heavy door slid shut.

  Work place drama always irritated me, especially when it was unwarranted. I contemplated again, for half a second, telling Connor about it, but realized I didn’t really care. If she wanted to be a crazy stalker, that was on her, and he seemed to be able to take care of himself. The only thing that was bound to really suffer was his private life, which I had absolutely no business worrying about.

  I paused at the door to my own little office and stole a quick peek at Connor’s. His door was shut but the lights were on. He was there. A small smile crept across my lips. I had something to look forward to at work, a forbidden temptation I could hungrily stare at.

  I could take him coffee and say hi, but I was not trying to come off as a bat shit crazy woman. I did not want to be another Blanche.

  I couldn’t get him out of my mind now. I hated having someone tell me who I could and could not talk to. Blanche’s plan on keeping me from talking to or thinking about Connor backfired. He encompassed my thoughts now. In fact, I think it was more out of spite that I wanted to sit down and chat with him. Biting my lip I opted for getting to work. I didn’t need any more unwanted grief.

  Begrudgingly, I marked Connor as off limits. While lunch was interesting and I couldn't complain about having such a delicious piece of eye candy sitting across from me, the only way things would remain peaceful was if I looked outside of work for anything more than a lunch buddy. I slumped into my chair and prepared for what Belinda gave me today. I stared at the mound of papers still sitting in the in-box. Sighing heavily I scowled into the mirror that hung opposite my desk. I ran my fingers through my poker straight hair. What curls stayed after I left the house were completely gone. The hair was straight and lifeless as ever. Maybe it was the light, but I looked so unhealthy. I looked so pasty and pale. Northeastern winters weren’t known for their sunny days, just the cloudy and snowy ones. The warm, golden tan from summer had long faded, and in its place was translucent-looking skin. My blue eyes seemed to have an icier color to them. I pinched lightly at my cheeks trying to create some poor excuse for color.

  As I kept watch on my reflection, my office door opened slightly.

  “Knock, knock,” an amazingly soothing voice said.

  Connor walked in. He was so very attractive. Now that his head wasn’t buried in papers, and we weren’t sitting in the dimly lit Primanti’s I could really see him. He was tall, wearing brown pants, and a white button down shirt that stretched just slightly over his muscular torso. His light brown hair was feathered back, which he had a habit of running his fingers through, a lot. His beautiful blue eyes were soft, and looked to be full of questions. My heart pounded, and the butterflies in my stomach fluttered. I bit my lip lightly, horribly naughty thoughts raced through my mind. Thoughts that were wildly inappropriate for work.r />
  Stop it! He's just a guy. Just a guy so ridiculously gorgeous he makes you want to leap across your desk and just do things you'd never tried before to him.

  “Hi Connor. Is there something I can help you with?” I smiled at him, thankful he couldn't read my thoughts.

  “No, I wanted to give this to you,” he placed a mug on my desk.

  “You got me coffee?”

  “Yeah, I didn’t know how busy you were and it is early, so I figured you may want some morning juice to help you wake up.”

  “Thanks,” I blushed.

  “I guess I’ll see you around the office then.”

  He started to walk out, but I had to stop him, “You can stay, if you want.”

  “I can?”

  “I mean if you aren’t too busy. I enjoy company.”

  “Okay,” he sat across from me and sipped from his own mug. “I’m sorry about yesterday.”

  “Sorry about what?”

  “Bringing up your dad,” he said.

  “Oh, don’t worry about it. I tend to overreact about it sometimes. No harm, no foul.”

  “Do you mind if I ask what happened to him?”

  “Well, I can only tell as much as I know,” I replied.

  “What does that mean?” Connor asked.

  “My dad split before I was born.”

  “Ah, I see.”

  “Yeah. My mom told me he went out one night for work, and just never came home. They never found him, his belongings, nothing. It was like he just vanished off the face of the Earth.”

  “That’s crazy.”

  “I know. I think he just didn’t want to be a dad, my pregnant mom must have freaked him out somehow.”

  “Do you think he’s dead?”

  “I don’t know. Either dead, or in some far away land I guess,” I answered.

  “A far away land?”

  “Europe or Asia. Some literally, far away land,” I laughed.

  We sipped our coffees in silence for a while. Connor created feelings in me that were so new. I have had crushes on guys before, but something seemed so different about him. I tried so hard to resist him, but the longer he sat in my office the harder it became.