[18+] Mark just wants a quiet life. With plenty of action at work, he has no interest in bringing the drama home with him. But he does need a flatmate, and when blonde bombshell Zoe crashes onto the scene, she's more than he bargained for.
Zoe is a...
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January 2012
MARK
Helen Matheson is a force to be reckoned with. This no-nonsense forty-year-old has the career of a nineteen-year-old boy all planned out. It's impressive, if slightly terrifying.
We're sitting in the back room of his recording studio. It's not kitted out for meetings, but Helen has rearranged the furniture into a circle so that we can have a serious discussion in a semi-formal environment.
First order of business: last night's antics.
"You just need to bear in mind that if you become big, anything you do now could come back to bite you," she tells Ed.
"Like what?" He frowns, lips pressed together.
"Like those girls could talk about the size of your dick," I say, blunt enough that even Helen flinches.
Of course the cocky teen doesn't react. He just smirks and says, "Let them talk. I'm confident in that department."
"You're missing the point," Helen tells him. "Your private life might not stay private. Skeletons won't stay in the closet. Bad hook-ups will be all over the internet. I'm not saying don't have fun, but just be conscious about who you're having fun with and how much fun you're having."
His expression turns thoughtful, eyes pin-balling between Helen and me.
"Look," he says eventually, leaning forwards to rest his forearms on his knees, "despite what Deputy Do-gooder here might have told you, I'm not into all that. I kissed a few girls last night, but I never had any intention of going home with them. I'm not a casual sex kind of guy. I'm just a guy on the rebound who finds kissing fun."
Finds kissing fun. Reminds me of someone I used to know. Better make sure they never meet. Not that it would matter. She's probably married to Richard now. I bet she hasn't thought of me in months.
"Now is probably a good time to curate your image." Helen is back to business. "You're new enough and young enough to work off a clean slate. Nobody knows you."
"Okay..." He draws out the word with intrigue and trepidation. "What does that mean?"
"So when they do get to know you, what do you want them to know? Are you a good guy with a clean image or a bad boy with a darker reputation?"
It's clearly a test to see how he envisages his career going—this woman knows exactly what she's doing—but God help me if he picks the second option. I can't have another Curtis on my hands. Especially a wannabe Curtis who'll try extra hard to join the dark side.
"I have to be one or the other?"
"No," she says, "but it's a starting point to help us build a brand and PR strategy."
