stolen smile - a mason mount story

o n e

She yawned as she stared at the screen blankly in front of her. Only an hour left and Florence was free to leave. She appreciated her job and the opportunities it provided but god was it tedious.

"Flossie, your new client just wants to drop by to introduce themselves. They're waiting in the reception."

She looked up at her colleague, Kieran, extremely thrilled to be snapped out of the staring competition she had started with her emails an hour ago. "Great! Thanks, Kie."

She stumbled towards the doors that separated her from the new client everyone had spoken about excitedly. Some even expressing their jealousy of her new assignment!

"Hey, I'm Declan."

Declan Rice. A midfielder for West Ham and the England Men's Team. Florence's dad, James, would be ecstatic to hear about this. Though, she was sure he would've prefered a Liverpool player. He had raised her on football and had always hoped that she would've gotten into the sport herself but she found herself more fond of rhythmic gymnastics.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Florence. I look forward to working with you." The girl smiled at him, which he reciprocated. A natural conversation flowed between the two of them and she liked that he shared a similar humour to her, meaning working together would be easier.
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She stood pressed against the doors on the cramped carriage as more people piled on, in an attempt to rush home and enjoy their evening. So many fed up faces slumped into the seats of the Central line train. Some of which she recognised. Most days, Florence created a story for the faces she regularly saw. Paul, a 43 year old man, often sat with his face buried in his phone reading emails from work. He did this because he was convinced that working outside of his contracted hours would give him the new job role he had been wanting for 8 years. The journey to Covent Garden seemed more uncomfortable than usual but there really was never a comfortable journey on the Piccadilly line at 5pm on a thursday evening.

"Florence Martin! What did they do to you at work? You look a state!"

"Well aren't you charming, Sash?!" Florence rolled her eyes at the comment her childhood friend had made. "Anyways, some news! My new client is your Jack's pal!"

Sasha raised her eyebrows, confused. "They assigned me to Declan Rice. I think Camille must've assumed I knew him because of you!" She didn't respond, still listening intently "Well, not you, but Jack."

"Oh! He's lovely!"

"I think I'm a child of nepotism because of you two!"

Sasha let out a hearty laugh, as the duo walked through Covent Garden with their arms linked. They had grown up together, their mums had known each other since finishing secondary school. Despite the slight age gap between the pair, they stayed relatively close and spent the very little of their free time together. The distance between them, not detering them from maintaining a close friendship. Sasha worked a lot in London and would often come down with Jack on match days, as an excuse to see Florence. She loved Sasha and Jack with her whole heart but Florence rarely saw her during the actual match day. Despite her dad insisting it would be the best for her. Free football tickets? Good food? She could hear his voice now "Just say yes! I'll turn up in a wig, no one would know the difference. Everyone says you look the spit of me Floss."

Now? Florence had no choice. She had to work closely with Declan Rice.

Sasha nudged Florence to catch her attention and make her aware that they had reached the restaurant, where they sat for hours catching up on the lost time they had missed when Florence moved down to the capital city. She loved the city and the opportunities it gave her but she missed her dad, her friends and living in an area that also operated outside of the working days and hours.