A Fatal Passion Forged In Black ~Motionless In White

~ Chapter 16 ~

Abigail's POV

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I make my way to the elevator and press the button to the 3rd floor. The short ride up seems to drag on forever until a dinging sound rings, indicating I'm on the 3rd floor. I self consciously smooth my hand over my hair and dress before taking a deep breath and walking to a desk with a woman behind it. Her hands type away at the keyboard, not even looking up at me until I speak.

"Um, I'm Abigail Sola. I'm here for an interview," I say nervously and her head snaps up to me.

"Oh yes, Ms. Sola, Mr. Parente will see you in his office, the third door to the left," She smiles and points her finger down the hall in front of her. I walk down the hall to the door I was told and knock softly. Within moments the door swings open and I am met by a man who looked nothing close to anything I expected. Tattoos cover his neck and his dark hair doesn't quite reach his shoulders, just barely revealing the large gauges in his ears. A wide smile forms across his lips and he extends his tattooed hand out to me for me to shake. 

"Ahh, you must be Ms. Sola," he says stepping out of the way to let me in the room. I walk in and he shuts the door behind me. After a second of standing self consciously, he gestures for me to sit down in the black leather chair in front of his desk.

"Now, Ms. Sola, I understand that you are interested in an internship here at Black Casket?" He asks. A smile spreads across my face and I nod my head.

"Yes sir, I have always had a passion for reading and writing and I believe it would be an honor to work here," I tell him and he nods. He goes on asking more questions, nodding every time I answer before typing something into the computer.

"Well, I believe it's safe to say that you would do excellent here Ms. Sola. My secretary will show you to your office and explain everything to you." He says smiles and my eyes nearly pop out of my head. Office?! I honestly didn't expect to have my own office. I didn't even expect to get the job really. Hell yeah!

"Office?" I say, still shocked and he chuckles.

"Yes ma'am, your office," he says again and I laugh. I shake his hand and thank him probably about 100 times before he buzzes his secretary to come down to show me to my office. I hear heals clicking down the hallway and the door comes open, the lady I talked to earlier behind it. She smiles at me and gestures for me to follow her. We pass a few more doors before she stops in front of one and slides in a key before handing in to me. I walk in the room and am immediately blown away. The walls are covered in a light gray paint and a black desk sits in front of a rather big window in the middle of the room. I walk over to it and gently glide my fingers across the surface before plopping myself into the chair behind it. The lady closes the door behind her and sits in front of me.

"Well, of course you can decorate it however you want," she states looking around briefly before returning her attention to me. "Okay, you will receive multiple manuscripts a day and if you think they are any good just forward them to Mr. Parente. If you are not interested within the first one hundred pages, trash them. Pretty easy," she states and I just nod in response.

"I would assume that he has already discussed with you your schedule and salary?" She speaks. Salary? Boy this day just keeps getting better and better. I shake my head 'no' and she goes on to tell me that I will be working on Tuesdays and Thursday from 9:00 to 5:00 and will receive college credit. She also explains to me my salary and when to expect my paycheck.

"Thank you, Ms..." I say as she gets up, still not knowing her name.

"Ms. Young, but please, call me Rebecca." She says and brushes her long, black, pin-straight hair across her shoulder.

"Thank you Rebecca," I reply and she leaves. I sit back down in my seat to take everything in. My eyes flick to the Apple computer on the desk and some plants around the room. I turn around to look out at the view of the window. It isn't much, but I think it's beautiful. I sit there for at least thirty minutes taking everything in before pulling my phone out of my purse to text Ricky.

Hey, the interview went well. Uh, can you come pick me up?~Abby

That's great! And yes, I'll be there in 30~Ricky

I smile and put my phone back in my purse and wait. Thirty minutes later I make my way back down to the lobby, waving goodbye to Rebecca as I pass her. When I reach the glass doors, I see Ricky already parked in front. He leans up against his slick black car dressed in a black on black tux, flowers in one hand, cigarette in the other. When he notices me, he smiles before taking one last drag from his cigarette and squishes it beneath his shoe. He hands me the flowers and pulls me into a hug.

"I told you so," he says into my hair. He releases me and open the car door. I climb in after I thank him and he shuts it. When he starts the car, Marilyn Manson blasts in my ears before he quickly turns it down. His hand finds its way to my thigh and I feel a smile spread across my lips.

"So would you like to tell me why you're all dressed up?" I ask and he grins.

"We're going to celebrate," he says.

"Yeah, I finally accomplished something in my life, better cherish it while it lasts," I say sarcastically and roll my eyes. His smile fades and he looks over at me before looking back on the road.

"I was just kidding, I think it's really sweet to finally have someone give a shit about me actually doing something right for once in my life. Thank you," I say reassuringly.

"You deserve it, and you know that I care about you," he responds and I nod. We pull up in front of a small Italian restaurant. I always wanted to go here as a kid, but of course, Dad would never dream of taking us somewhere, especially somewhere expensive.

He opens the door for me and we walk inside. He tells the woman at the front his name. She gives us both a slightly disgusted look before wiping a fake smile on her face and shows us to our table. As expected, we receive odd looks from people as we pass them on our way to out table, which is thankfully near the back, secluded away from most of the people but romantic nonetheless. We take our seats and menus are placed in front of us. The woman walks back up to the front and a couple minutes later a waiter comes up to the table. He looks nervously back and forth between Ricky and I before asking us what we would like to drink. He comes back and gives me my tea and Ricky his water, along with some champagne, which I kindly reject. Ricky, clearly amused by the waiter's nervousness, smirks up at him as he orders his lasagna and I order chicken alfredo. As we are waiting, I notice Ricky playing with the hem of the tablecloth nervously. What's up with him?

"Is something wrong?" I ask him and his head snaps up.

"Uh, no, I'm, uh...everything's okay," he stutters, clearly not convincing me.

"Obviously everything's not okay," I push him.

"I said I'm fine," he snaps and I'm a little caught off guard. I feel some of my happiness shrink. Damn it, today has been the best, but Ms. Pissy over here just had to ruin it. I try to shrug it off and pick at my fingernails under the table, not looking up until the waiter comes back with our food. He smiles sheepishly and I return one before he walks off. I eat in silence for a minute until Ricky breaks it.

"I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm really sorry," he says looking at me regretfully.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," I say.

"No, it isn't. You were just asking me a question and I just had to be a total ass about it. I'm sorry," he replies and I smile.

"It's fine, I just wanted to know why you were so on edge,"

"Let's not worry about that right now and eat this food, I'm fucking hungry," he says and I laugh before he shoves a forkful of lasagna in his mouth. We continue to eat and by the time we are done, I can tell he's on edge again. He looks at me nervously before sighing and reaching into his suit pocket. A small black velvet box appears and my breath hitches in my throat.

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A/N: Sorry for not updating as much recently. All I have been focused on is school so I can keep my grades up and hopefully convince my Dad how much I care about getting an electric guitar for my birthday next month. As always, thanks for reading and voting...I hope you all are liking it so far. :)~xmotionlessbridesx