Scarlet Desires (Sample)

Chapter Six

The cab came to an halt in front of the firm. Rosalie paid the cab driver, opened the door and got down. She acknowledged the stout door man with a nod and a smile who instantly opened the door to let her in. She walked through the large but busy ground floor and crossed towards the elevator. She smiled when she remembered how she had played with Marcy's kids in the park on Saturday. They were wonderful and the girl, Jean, kept telling her to be a supermodel. Rosalie laughed quietly to herself now and shook her head. No, she wasn't cut out for that kind of life. She couldn't just imagine herself strutting down runways in weird costumes and without a bra on and not to talk of posing half nude for popular magazine shots.

Fine, several modelling agencies had offered her  jobs to work with them especially when she was still in college but she had turned them all down. She didn't like modeling job but she sure admired some of the models she knew, though most of them grew haughty once they became famous. Thinking of her cat, kittie, she tried to remember if she filled his bowl with enough cat food before she left. The little creature was always fond of wandering out of the house before she was set for work. She had spent the weekend with him and had been looking forward to Monday and now that Monday was here, she felt relieved and mirthful.

She couldn't wait to listen to the updates, Trish always gave on Mondays about her weekend and she couldn't wait to sit at her neat desk and resume work. This was the kind of job she had imagined for herself and it had come true. The pay was good and the office was comfortable and most of all, her boss was understanding. Thinking of her boss now, she glanced at her wristwatch. Shit! She was already four minutes late. It had taken her quite a while to find her favourite pale blue shirt in the closet and also gotten the right shoes since some of her shoes had suddenly dwindled below her foot size.

Her phone began to ring. She looked down at her forearm where the straps hung from and began to rummage through her handbag for the noisy little piece of technology. She was faintly aware that the elevator doors had been about to whirr shut when a hand stopped it and someone slipped in and stood beside her before the doors finally closed and the elevator began its ascension to the fifty third floor which was the second to the last. She sighed in relief when her hand finally came in contact with her phone and she pulled it out and clicked the receive button before the call was cancelled. She placed the phone to her ear and said. "Rosalie."

"Where the hell are you, Roxie?" Marcy's concerned voice came through. "It's past eight and you are no where to be seen."

"I'm in the elevator, I'd be up soon...I hope." Rosalie replied, not yet aware of her elevator partner who was listening with halfhearted interest to her own side of the conversation. "Is Mr. Barrett aware that I'm late?" She asked in worry.

Marcy hesitated at the other end, obviously craning her neck to see through the glass wall of Mr. Barrett's office, if the boss was busy or on seat. "Not yet..." She finally replied. "But it's not Mr. Barrett you should be worried about, it's the CEO...have you forgotten he's visiting today? Do you have the wish to get fired?!" Marcy sounded harried.

Remembering, Rosalie's eyes widened then she relaxed. "You make him sound like he's a god or something." She snorted. "CEOs like ours are only old coots and old coots don't leave their beds till it's midday so we definitely have nothing to worry about..." Then her tone changed to a whine. "I'm so sorry I'm late, Marcy, I had something close to a wardrobe malfunction today. My feet have suddenly grown bigger than my shoes and the buttons of my shirt are threatening to pop off any moment under any slight strain."

Marcy laughed. "I'd have asked you to come borrow some of my clothes till you have enough money to go wardrobe shopping but you are definitely not the same size as I'm. Perhaps, you could talk to Trish, she'd be happy to give you some of her new clothes." She finished with a knowing chuckle.