High Card Bluff (House of Cards Series 5)

(10) Mutually Beneficial

Adrianna nearly pulled at her hair in frustration, stuck between a rock and a hard place. To get to the amazing mentorship opportunity she had to drive like six hours one way. She could drive, had the license and everything, but had never really needed to be a long distance driver on her own before. It was silly and she knew it, so she told no one how the idea of it bothered her. She'd also never been on TV like this before. Although some of the catwalks had been filmed, she'd never been featured; a pretty face anonymous in a sea of pretty faces. Adri had no idea how to be a mentor let alone one on TV, but she knew it was a smart move to use Desmond's show in the same way he was using the stir over her being Honey's lead model.

Mutually beneficial business, the behind the scenes infrastructure all the pretty show pieces hung off of. Like the ridiculous package Desmond was using to entice her out; two nights stay at a deluxe hotel, all meals included, and a paycheck bigger than her last two combined. All she had to do was act like she knew what she was doing and hope it was a skill she could teach.

As always, she took out a note book to write it out. She all but locked herself away on Tuesday to try and determine what she was doing, and had planned to use Wednesday to figure out how to get there, and that's where all her careful planning fell apart.

She didn't want to drive for 6 hours alone, but couldn't exactly ask anyone to go with her. It was last minute now, they'd get nothing out of it, and have to share a room with Adri because the hotel was closed except for those on the show. It was just a drive; she could survive it. Even if the idea of doing the drive, doing the show, and then having to drive back the next day left her feeling queasy with anxiety.

[I'm having the damn thing] her fingers texted without her brain's permission.

[wait, not working -will be there to share] It surprised Adri that Tom wasn't working, he basically always had to work.

Adri lifted her head and listened; the puppies were quiet. Training was proceeding well and her parents were both still out so it was safe enough. She was out the front door and waiting at the end of a driveway as the growl of the Supra arrived.

It felt like comfortable habit to slide into the passenger seat, feeling him take off while she pulled the joint and lighter out and dropped them in his waiting palm. And instead of asking her why she was so stressed she had been about to smoke without him, Tom instead asked, "Where'd you used to go to smoke?"

"I'd climb the roof above my room and lay flat to look at the stars." It had been calming, a sense that she could let go a little but still be safe overall.

"There's no tree outside your house," he pointed out as if she didn't know that detail and Adri laughed, relaxing into the seat as he lit the smoke.

"I lean out the window, grab the ledge and pull myself up." she didn't explain that it was probably a little more acrobatic than that, and far less graceful than it sounded. No one ever looked for her up things because no one believed she could get herself up item.

"So if you're ever spooked, look for you on the cupboards." He teased, passing the joint by resting his hand on the stick shift so it stayed out of sight, never taking his eyes off of the road. The mental image of herself on a kitchen cupboard like a pissed off cat made her smile, something she suspected he intended.

"Why aren't you at work?" she accidentally flipped them into a serious conversation judging by the scowl on his face.

She nudged Tom's thigh with the back of her hand so he could find the smoke while driving. "The owner is coming in, we don't get along, so I'm off until Monday." Adri waited, having lied the same way too many times to not read into what wasn't said. His anger indicated he didn't know this was happening, and it wasn't appreciated though she knew first hand how much he could use the sleep.