The Office Scoundrel

Chapter VIII - "Was It The Same?"

The day after the party everyone was packing up all of the equipment and getting ready to leave. Katerina was wandering about outside the building where she found a familiar face wandering about too. Nathan noticed her noticing him and he hurried over to her. “Hey” he murmured to her as he brushed his hand through his own head of hair. Kat was still a little embarrassed by what she had seen last night so she refrained from looking at him directly “Hey Nathan…” He began mumbling on a little bit “About yesterday…” Kat started laughing as he spoke – it being more of a nervous laugh than anything – you don’t have to explain yourself to me, it’s fine.” He extended a hand towards her as she began to walk off “wait, it’s just…” She carried on “You’re a famous rock star I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.” Nathaniel was left speechless as she wandered off.

On reaching the other side of the building Kat bumped into Jakob. She knocked them both down to the ground, and he dropped what he was holding. She sighed “I’m sorry!” He laughed it off with that usual childish grin he had on his face “It’s fine, I was just looking for you actually.” He got up and held a hand down to her, beckoning for her to take it. She held his hand and stood herself up. He picked the brown bag up off the floor and passed it to her. She looked inside the bag to find two Subway sandwiches inside. “I thought you’d like to eat lunch together with me today.” Her face instantly lit up as she gratefully thanked him.

They sat down on a nearby bench and tucked in. Jakob finished his fast whilst Kat left half of it in the wrapper. He leant back resting his hands behind his head and looked up into the sky. Kat watched him as a smile appeared on his face. She found this different to his previous grins, it was sweeter. “What are you thinking?” she asked him. He turned his smile into a little chuckle “I hope that one day my dream comes true.” She was confused “Wasn’t your dream to become a rock star?” He sighed slightly “I mean it was always something I liked doing but I think my dream is very similar to everyone else…I just want someone to spend my life with.” Kat looked at him with admiration momentarily. He turned to her, his face now more serious than before and said “Someone like you.” She turned away from him, blushing slightly.

When she looked back at him he was still looking at her. He took her hands in his and leant towards her. Kat’s face went pink. As he got closer to her he released his hands and placed them around her waist. He pecked her on the cheek then moved across and kissed her on her lips. They both closed their eyes in sync. Placing both of her hands on his cheeks, she pulled herself towards him, embracing him as they kissed. In the middle of the kiss her eyes opened looking at him she realised something that alarmed her. As they parted, Kat looked at Jakob. He shared this plain expression for a short while until a fully grown grin appeared on his face. Forgetting what had puzzled her she joined his grin with her own and started laughing. He held her hand and looked at her, smiling warmly.

Stood away from the pair in the distance was Nathaniel. He took a long gaze at them both before walking off. He left without saying anything, letting a strange feeling he’d never felt before flood into him.

Later that day Nathaniel found himself in the head office of Prestige Starz. The atmosphere among Jaspar and Nathaniel was tense. Nathan held a moody facial expression on his face when looking at him, which puzzled Jaspar but he didn’t let it bother him. Jaspar sternly said to him “I’m a busy guy Nathaniel, what’s wrong? What do you want?” Nathaniel looked him in the eye and bluntly said “I want to go solo.” Jaspar dropped his pen to the desk and brought his arms to his chest. He gave Nathan a serious look and asked “Why do you want to go solo all of a sudden?” “I can’t see me and my band mates getting along in the future. I obviously have the most potential in the group too, I sing the best, I play five instruments, I’m eye candy to the girls, and even my popularity is the highest amongst the group.” Jaspar sighed a little “Black Abyss is at the highest peak it has been in since they formed, and you think I should just split the band up for no reason, right through the release of their second album because the main singer isn’t getting along with a band mate. Come on tell me is it Jakob or Damien?” Nathan rolled his eyes, reluctant in answering his question he threw a tantrum “Fine, they can release the second album without their main star, I refuse to sing tomorrow, or for anything to do with the band.” Nathaniel stormed off out of the room.

Jaspar yelled after him “Oi Nathan! You brat get back here!” He stood up, leaning his legs against the front of his desk, refusing to chase after him. He slid his hand inside his suit jacket pocket and withdrew out a lighter and a packet of cigarettes. He held a cigarette in one hand and lit the edge of it elegantly with the lighter. Sitting himself back into his office chair he took a long drag of his cigarette and muttered to himself “That damn brat.”