The Eye of the Beholder [slow updates]

4. Look Me in the Eye

4. Look Me in the Eye

Look who updated. ;)

"Hey!" David's voice was light when he answered the phone that night. Thunder was still bellowing outside, creating a loud breeze that shook the glass windows and almost tore the trees from their roots.

"I am so going to kill you," She hissed and turned her head to make sure the door to her bedroom was securely locked. She crouched down on one knee and poked her eye through the keyhole to make sure that Joseph was not spying on their conversation.

"What happened?" Something in his voice strained as he asked this question. She could already imagine the cute crease adorning his face as his eyebrows forrowed when he looked serious or worried. It had been happening a lot of times lately.

"Believe it or not, a package was waiting at my door this afternoon," She said. She had been pacing back and forth for thirty minutes in her bedroom before she finally decided to give her brother a call. It was probably midnight in LA right now, but the topic of discussion was too important to wait. "Fucking Joseph Gareth."

There was quite a long pause after that, before David finally spoke up.

"Are you for real right now?" He asked. The fact that he didn't comment on her lacking a filter with profanities was pretty unsettling. Nothing was ever serious enough to distract him from pointing out that it wasn't nice to swear a lot, be it a boy or a girl. He himself had stopped cursing a long time ago. "Holy shit!"

Well, until now.

"I have no idea what the hell is going on, David," She snapped into the speaker. She stopped by her vanity table and checked her reflection in the mirror. She squinted her eyes before looking away.

"We just had lunch two days ago. He didn't even mention it," David said. "Did he say why he came?"

"No!" She cried. "He just dropped by uninvited and walked in like he owned the place."

"Um, he kind of does, Rosy."

"Shut up, David," Rosaline snapped. "And his excuse was, and I quote, 'I'm here to make sure you aren't going to change your mind until the time of the meeting'."

David paused for a short moment. "That doesn't sound very convincing."

"It's pure bullshit, I'm telling you." She slapped her hand against her thigh. "I should have never agreed to that sham of a marriage. I don't have time to deal with your younger cousin's mood swings, David."

"Look!" He said in a gentle, slow voice, as if trying to calm her down by just his words. It always worked. "You don't have to worry about this. I'll take care of it."

"You better," She said with one dry, emotionless laugh. "You're the one who suggested the idea of this stupid contract in the first place."

"I'm going to call him first thing in the morning," He promised, completely ignoring the dirty, not-very-true accusation she threw his way. "Now go to bed and try to sleep."

She heaved a long sigh. She had known that one second when Joseph stepped into her apartment that she wasn't going to get any sleep tonight. "Say hi to Leila. And Caleb."

"I will," He promised. "Good night, Rosy."

And with that, she hung up. She threw the phone on the bedspread and took a seat on the backless stuffed chair of her vanity. She scanned her surroundings. She was the one who had chosen every single tiny detail when she had first come into that apartment, about two years ago. She was still eighteen back then, and her unthoughtful whims took over. Black and hot-pink swirls covered the wall behind her silver, sparkling king-sized bed. A shiny metallic shade painted the rest of the walls, where there was her vanity table, her desk, a loveseat, shelves and a walk-in closet. It hadn't been easy to find a flat with so many facilities and at a good distance from the college she attended, but Joseph must have done a very good job at spotting the perfect deal from miles away. It was proof that he was actually qualified to lead her late father's company, but she would never admit that out loud, not even to herself.