High Stakes, No Return

Nina Stanford was sitting in a Starbucks outside the departure lounge at the airport. All her friends and family had already said their farewells, and wished her good luck with her new job in America. There was only one stubborn idiot who refused to bid her goodbye like the rest.

Her business partner Liam Nover.

Of course, due to Nina moving, they were no longer working together. They had done many successful projects, which had earned them a world wide reputation as some of the best creative directors in the business. It was a pity for the advertising world they would no longer be collaborating.

However Nina was somewhat glad of this separation.

Three years was, in Nina's opinion, too long to be working in one place. She had always wanted to travel.

Nina was in her mid twenties, and had held all the aces her entire life. 'The luck of having talent is not enough; one must also have a talent for luck' was her motto. For not only was she talented and clever, she was blessed with good looks, and a wealthy family.

Not that she needed to rely on her family any more. She had a good steady income from all of her projects, and was looking forward to the release of her last collaboration with Liam.

When Nina had first started working on tv adverts, she had thought that she needed to change things. The adverts tended to be boring - only telling you how much better or cheaper than everything else they were. They were so tedious that they caused you hit the mute button straight away. She realised that when creating an advert, she needed to keep the viewers watching.

The first company she'd worked with was Specsavers. In a moment of pure genius, she'd thought up the now well known phrase 'should have gone to Specsavers'. After working on a few adverts, she'd been given a better offer, and had then left. Although to her delight, her idea had lived on.

She had done quite a few adverts of Linx. And again, her successful idea of angels falling from heaven just to find the man who was wearing the deodorant, had continued to be used.

She had been doubtful, at first, about working with Liam Nover. He had created the adverts for company's such as confused.com, and Money supermarket. In Nina's opinion, these adverts were highly cheesy, annoying, or cringeworthy, with the most annoying 'jungles' possible.

But she had to admit his adverts were successful.

The first time they met was back in 2009, when the company 'Compare the Market' had asked both of them to work together and create a tv advert.

Both of them had had profound trouble coming up with a sellable idea. But when Nina accidentally misspelled the word 'market', an idea was born.

At first they disagreed, Nina thought it would be too unrelated, but Liam had insisted, and he had been right to do so.

Sadly this advert had also caused a lot of problems - such as having to create a website, and stuffed toys - but now Aleksandr Orlov & his companion Sergei were famous, and the adverts were successful.

Nina had worked with Liam for three years, until her contract with the company had been for filled.

Liam, however, had decided to stay on, and continue working.

She glanced over at him.

He was sitting opposite her, wearing a smart business suite, which complemented blond hair, and his sharp features.

Liam noticed her looking, and returned her gaze with his piercing blue eyes. "Have you had everything moved to your flat in New York?" He asked.

"Yes. There wasn't much to move actually, it surprised me. I can't wait to be off. America is said to be the land of opportunities."

He laughed, and took a sip of his coffee, "And what's wrong with England?"

"Nothing. But the jobs I've been offered in New York pay better."

Liam place down his cup, and took one of her hands. "I don't care, I don't want you to leave. You should stay with me, no matter what."

"Liam-" Nina started to say.

He cut her off, "listen, Nina. Do you want to make a gamble with me?"

Nina paused - she always had been one to make a gamble, and was proud of the fact she had never made a significant loss at a casino. It was her backup plan which she used when she was tight on cash.

"If this project is a success, marry me." Liam said.

Nina couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Hey, don't joke about like that!"

Liam was offended, "I wasn't joking - I'm serious!"

Nina smiled, "I know. But I can't take it seriously." She was laughing so hard she was crying. She hadn't laughed like this in a while. Nina Nover was not a name she had ever imagined herself to inherit.

Liam sighed, and released her hand, "You didn't have to laugh that much, it's a bit offensive."

"Ah, sorry." She said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "But - you would know - that's a bet I can't make."

Liam looked confused, so Nina explained.

"There's no way this project won't be a success, I worked on it after all. I'm not willing to bet on something where the stakes are completely against me." she stood up. "If you want to win against me, then come up with something better. If you do, I might be willing to listen."

"How cold." Liam said. Nina smiled and picked up her bag. "But does someone like that even exist?"

"No, they don't." Was Nina's final reply, before she left to go to New York.

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Thanks for reading <3

This was a short story that I came up with during an interval in a tv program I was watching(although you might have guessed that). I might also change the title, as it isn't relevant to the story.

I would be really happy if you vote and comment :)

Please also take a look at my other stories.

XXX

A quick disclaimer: I do not own Starbucks, Speck Savers, Linx (for men), confused.com, money super market, compare the market/meerkat, Aleksandr Orlov, or Serge. Any similarity between names, or appearances to any of the characters is purely coincidental. Also all remarks about adverts are purely for the purpose of this story, not my own views.