First Encounter (A Perri Kiely story)

Chapter 2

Perri hopped out of the car with more energy than usual. It was 8 am and he'd only had four hours sleep at the most because Ash had decided their routine needed more wow factor. But yet, he found himself almost running from the car into the studio building. His heart beating as fast as if he had just finished a hard dance class. He chose the long route to his room, the one past the offices. As he approached the office door, he found himself holding the door handle, then turning it and without intending to, he walked into the office. It was early so there were only three people in. They all stopped what they were doing and looked at the celebrity that had just entered the room.

Perri scanned the room, no sign of her, worse still, he had no reason to be in here, judging by the terror on the employees' faces, it wasn't normal for the contestants to be there either.

"Um, is everything OK Mr Kiely?" the eldest of the three quietly asked. She seemed to be expecting a complaint or maybe an unreasonable demand.

"Yeah, no, er, it's all good" he stammered. "I um just came to er ask for more...tea" he stated and cringed inwardly. They would know he doesn't drink tea. The woman hopped up and riffled through a cupboard and handed him a box of tea. She looked up at him.

"Do you need anything else?" She asked. Perri felt like a pupil at the school office, he took the tea and started to back out of the room.

"Nope that's it, thank you." He muttered and forced a big smile. He could hear their excited chatter start as the door shut but he didn't hang around to hear what they were saying. He cringed gain as he shoved the tea into his rucksack and swung it onto his back, he was still cringing when he slammed into a small figure as he rushed down the corridor. His quick reflexes enabled him to catch the figure before it fell to the floor. He looked at who he had caught. It was her. He was holding her. He pulled her upright and let go as if she was lava. The girl looked shocked.

"Once again I'm sorry", he grinned "I'm not attacking you on purpose I swear!" He put both his hands up in mock surrender. She smiled at him and Perri almost fainted. He could get addicted to her smile.

"It does feel that way" she laughed, then looked down. 'Was she shy?' Perri thought. She tried to step around Perri, she looked like she was trying to get away as quickly as she could. Pure instinct kicked in and he stepped in front of her, blocking her way. She stopped before she made contact with him and looked up in surprise. Perri didn't want to scare her, he just didn't want her to leave. He mentally kicked himself for forgetting he was now 6 foot 2 and not an unintimidating 5 footer. It wasn't that long ago that he would be looking up at girls not looking down at them.

"Can I buy you a coffee to prove it?" he asked. His face was serious, it looked to the employee like a demand, he was the talent and her training told her that there was no such word as no to anything they asked for. Her training also told her that she could lose her job if someone saw her having coffee with a celebrity. A battle raged in her brain for a moment and she bit her lip in thought. Perri's heart stopped and he wondered if it would ever start again as he stared at her chewing her full lips.

"You don't have to do that." She finally replied, trying to tactfully decline. She stepped out to the right in another bid to move past him. This time, he didn't bar her way. He simply watched her walk away and enter the office. He stared a little longer before making his own way to his room. It had taken just two encounters with this girl but he already knew he would fall in love with her.