You are mine

The morning after

Anastasia pulled on her sweater and closed the door of her bedroom silently. It was 10 minutes before 7 and lazy Sunday morning. After the night she had, coffee was a wake-up kick she despertly needed. Although it was Sunday, they needed to do some work. Clark was setting shorter deadlines for their articles and Anastasia felt as she been stuck by a train of paperwork towering on her desk. There hadn't been a day off since two weeks. All the planing for Laura's wedding and looking for an apartment filled her days with phone calls and running around in the city.

Laura and Mike were engaged and soon to be married, and ofcourse she had to move out. It was Laura's place and she even hadn't asked her to help with rent. She guessed that after her break-up with Shaun, Laura just didn't want to put any more pressure on her. After a week of shuffling throw real estate pages and newspapers, she finally found a one room apartment only 4 blocks away, in a red bricked 5-story building. It had an amazing view on the nearby park and rent wasn't high. Actually it was extremely low.

She filled her cup with steaming hot coffee and open the fridge to get some milk. That then Laura opened her bedroom door and with a lazy movements she dragged herself toward the kitchen. "I think I'm sick!" she pleaded and almost fell on the chair behind the kitchen table.

"Here, let me touch your forehead!" Anna touched her and she felt burning up. "Yeap, you have a fever!" she said, taking a kitchen towel and souking it under the running cold water.

"Here!" she handed it to her, "keep it on your forehead and go lie down! I will make you some tea!" Laura almost crawled to the sofa, unwrapped a fleece blanket and cocooned herself like a butterfly waiting to be born. Her arms were shaky when she took the tea Anna had made her. "Thank you!" she said quietly and blew on it before taking her first sip. "Was anyone here last night? Because I hear voices." she said, huddeling on the couch, her nose barely sticking out from the pile of blankets and pillows she had gathered around her.

Anna stilled, her fingers ran throw her hair and she blushed. "James came to see me," Anna mumbled, taking a large gulp of her sugerless coffee, "he brought me wine!" Laura's eyes traveled to the bottle sitting on the island. It looked expensive and neather of them had enought money to even purchase a glass of it in a restaurant. "And?" Laura asked curiously, buttoning up her shirt and wrapped the blanket more carefully under her feet.

"Mhh... ," Anna shook her head and argued with herself if she should even tell Laura what happened, "Something happened!" She meant the kiss. The way he pushed himself on her again. Even though she even wanted for him to do more, but afraid to let her desire to take power, she enjoyd the kiss and pulled away. Having a crush and real life were entirely different things. In a dream she could change the way things ended but in present time there was no control of an outcome.

"You slept with him? Didn't you?" Laura blurted out, almost spilling her tea.

"No!" she stopped for a minute, "he kissed me again. He said it was my reward!" Anna's face lid up as these words slipped from her lips. 

"Reward? For what?" Laura asked, kicking off the blanket and pushing herself of the couch. 

"For the interview. Clark called me into his office and told me that he had called the office and had given a review of my work." 

Her fast breathing kept getting more rapid and her cheeks started to turn more red. 

"He called me after midnight and he was outside, holding a wine and when he asked, if I would let him in, I did. Before thinking, I let him into my bedroom."

"And then?" Laura asked, now sitting across Anna on the stool behind the kitchen island.

"He trapped me, like a creature he cornered me in my bed and kissed me." Anna took another large gulp of her coffee and somehow it tasted more bitter than before. She swallowed hard and let out a sigh.

"You lucky girl!" Laura said bursting out to laught.

"It's not funny, I... " Anna stopped her, stumping her heal against the floor.

"You liked it. I can tell," Laura pointed at the smile on Anna's face. She didn't even realize that she was smiling.

"I thanked him and told him to leave!" Anna poured her coffee down the drain and left the coffee cup on the counter. 

"Please tell me that you are going to call him!" Laura said, her voice almost furious as Anna had done anything wrong.

 "No, if I do, then I give him more hope and this I don't want to do. I'm still getting over Shaun." She responded, taking her bag and walking toward the door to put on her boots. 

"You're not. And he would be good for you. He will make you forget." Laura said, her voice cracking.

"Its not like our relationship would work. He is rich, I'm nobody!" she said, as she felt a tear escape her eye. "What are you saying? That's not true. And what about every thing that has happened. He's intrested of you, and obviously you are intrested of him too. Give it a try. Belive me, you won't regret it!" Laura argued.

Anna sighed, her eyes traveling back to the bottle on the counter. "I need to go to work! Get well, ok?" she said, before baseing out from the door.

Laura's POV

I can't belive Anna didn't tell me about James. On the first time and on the second time, and now she's telling me that she has no intension to find out if they would have any chance of being together. That girl is so stuborn. Yesterday Mike told me that he asked Shaun to be his bestman. I was against it but knowing Mike, he would never hurt Anna this way. When I told him what Shaun had did to Anna, he was surprised. Shaun lied to him, saying that Anna left him because she didn't love him anymore. I was pissed. Angry at both of them.

Before Mike started working for New York Times, he worked on construction. He and Shaun studied to be architects and after college, Shaun took over his dad's business and hired Mike. They were good friends since then. That's why Mike asked him to be his bestman. And this was something I just didn't know how to tell Anna. Even thought Mike got angry at Shaun for being such a dick, he still wanted him to be by his side at the altar.

The wedding was in two weeks and I still didn't know how to break the news to Anna. The last time they saw each other, Shaun almost made her cry. And like a miracle, a saviour with a stunning good looks and every woman's dream appeared, saving her from his torture toward her. And knowing how guys are around other guys, the wedding wasn't going to be a walk in the park. Shaun was taking his new girlfriend and Anna had nobody. That's why I was pushing so hard to get her together with James. It would be the end of Shaun if Anna and James would come to the wedding together. 

Mike told me that Shaun and him got drunk few days ago. Shaun, being the drunk he is, confessed that he still had some feelings for Anna. Not very strong ones but he was still jealous. 

And that got me thinking, a plan started to create itself in my mind.