crème glacée [the fate of coincidences 1]

14: Jade

Jade hated early Monday mornings almost as much as she hated birds pooping on the windshield of her car. But what she hated most was when those two things coincided, like they did today. It was 7:20 and she was about to get into her car when she noticed a pair of ugly yellow-white splatters on the newly cleaned glass. She dropped her bag onto the seat and flopped around like a dying fish while making annoyed whining noises.

After scraping the offending mess off with some baby wipes, she drove to Glen's condo, going just a few miles under the speed limit. She didn't need another accident after she barely got out of this one.

Glen was waiting outside his building when she pulled up. Jade gave him a bright smile as he got in and he grumbled 'good morning' in reply. One Direction was playing quietly through the speakers, but the silence was so thick between them that the music seemed louder than it actually was. Jade glanced over at her passenger periodically. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his eyelids fought to stay open.

When they were about half-way there, Jade decided to speak. "Are you okay? You look like a zombie."

He looked over to her, as if surprised that she was there. "What? Yeah, no, I'm fine. Just a little tired."

Jade nodded. "I get what you mean. I stayed up until 2AM to watch Gossip Girl on Netflix. I feel like sleeping for a week."

"My friend made me go to some club with him last night." He leaned his face against the window. "And now I have to deal with a hangover at work."

Jade gave him a pitying look. "That sucks."

This time Jade found a bigger parking space, although it was a short walk away from the Glacé building. She followed Glen into the lobby dragging her makeup bag behind. The receptionist greeted Glen, looking way too perky for this early in the morning. Despite the fact that he was dying in the car minutes before, Glen greeted her back with a full smile, looking like he had been awake for hours. Jade followed him into the elevator, a little lost at the sudden change.

"Wait, hold the elevator!" A dark-haired man that Jade recognized as the communications director, Zack, ran toward them.

Glen started hitting the 'close doors' button repeatedly, but Zack managed to stick his foot between the closing doors just on time. He gave Glen a withering look, while the latter shrugged and grabbed the coffee from the holder in Zack's hands.

Jade looked back and forth between them and decided to ignore whatever it was that just happened.

"Good morning, Zack!" she said with a smile.

Zack turned to her with a smile as well. "Jade, nice to see you again! I heard you'll be driving Glen around for a while?"

Jade nodded. "How did you know?"

"He's the friend that caused the hangover," Glen grumbled bitterly.

"Ah." Now the unprofessional way they treated each other made more sense.

"Oh, the photoshoot doesn't start in two more hours," Zack began. "Do you want a personal tour of Glacé Cosmetics to pass the time?"

Jade nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, I'd love that."

"Awesome. You'd have to wait a few minutes for me, though."

The elevator doors slid open on the executive floor and Jade followed behind Glen and Zack. A girl with huge hazel eyes popped up from under the secretary desk. Those huge eyes followed Jade's every move with the kind of curiosity usually found in cats. So Jade stared right back, refusing to be intimidated, until the girl's face broke into a brilliant smile.

"You must be Jade Emerson? Ria's stylist, right?" the girl asked as Glen walked into what Jade assumed was his office.

Jade nodded and the girl sat down on the chair behind her desk. "I'm Ella, the secretary. If you need anything you can always reach me on line 3 during office hours."

Jade nodded again, nervous for some unknown reason. Ella smiled again and chucked a stapler at Zack, who was going through one of the cabinet files. Jade jumped back in surprise and Zack screamed like a girl.

"Zacharie, darling, do you mind not going through my things without permission?" she asked, without breaking the smile, and suddenly Jade was very afraid.

"Ella, you almost stapled my arm!" Zack looked more annoyed than terrified, almost as if he was used to it, unlike Jade. "I promised Jade a tour, I need to be in one piece for that."

Ella stood up from her desk and walked around to Jade's side. "Tour? I'll just show her around instead."

"She's already scared of you," Zack protested.

"It's okay, I'm only scary to morons like you," Ella said, gesturing for Jade to follow her into the elevator. "Come with me, Miss Emerson. I give the best tours."

Jade now found Ella's ever present smile a tad bit creepy, but she smiled back anyway, waved to a distressed-looking Zack, and stepped into the elevator, a little against her better judgement.