On a location shoot photography assistant Raina meets the members of 30 Seconds to Mars and when she catches Jared's eye, she decides to throw caution to the wind.
Raina was a mess Monday morning as she tried to get ready for work. Everything ached, and not in that tingly, pleasant way it had after their previous encounters, but actual hurt. The muscles in her arms that had strained against her bindings screamed when she lifted them in the shower, her bottom stung when the water hit it and every tender membrane seemed to be on fire. She didn't know if she was angrier at herself for not thinking things through or angrier at Jared for being right.
The bruising on her neck wasn't nearly as bad as she thought it would be, and she wondered vaguely how long her health had been off. She couldn't remember the last time she had bounced back this quickly. She would still need a pashmina for a few days but it was nothing shocking. Cassie might even be able to cover it up for her.
She downed a few Tylenol, grabbed some fruit from the refrigerator and headed into the studio. She passed the little vegetarian cafe that Jared had bought her breakfast from previously and on impulse, pulled into the lot. She was surprised at how normal the menu looked. Growing up on a farm she had somehow always imagined vegan and vegetarian food to be some exotic mishmash of tofu and weird vegetables she had never heard of, but these were mostly the same recipes she had grown up with, undoubtedly tweaked just a little bit. She saw the daily special was listed as vegan french toast with a cranberry compote and ordered it, along with some tea. The cashier that took her order was friendly and answered her questions about the recipes with an enthusiastic smile - apparently it was flour and something called nutritional yeast taking the place of the egg that was traditionally used in the preparation - and in a few minutes Raina was back in her car, with a container of yummy smelling breakfast on the seat next to her. This was one area she didn't mind admitting Jared had been correct about. Even if she was never going to learn to cook a thing she could still make better choices about what she was eating.
Work was the same as always, although Val seemed a bit more relaxed than he had been the last month. She wished he would confide in her a little bit what was going on, but she realized how hypocritical that was of her. She never spoke of her personal life to him at all either, not even in the most general or guarded of ways. She got that it was work, but she wondered if maybe they weren't drawing the boundaries a bit too strictly. She doubted however that Val would be open to change and she certainly didn't want to aggravate him by telling him how to live his life.
By the time she got back home for the day she was moving stiffly and the stairs to her apartment seemed to have increased eleven-fold. She started a warm bath before anything else, then poured herself a glass of wine. She heard the notification on her phone telling her there was a text waiting and she scooped it up and carried it with her. Once her bathtub had been turned into a bubbly, perfumed, candlelit oasis she set her wineglass down on the ledge and climbed in. The heat and the alcohol rapidly relaxed her tense muscles and she began to feel better right away.
Once her glass of wine was nearly finished she reached for her phone. Unsurprisingly the text was from Jared. "How was your day, Princess?" Raina smiled typed up her reply, "It was a typical Monday. I'm enjoying a glass of wine and a bath now," she replied. He responded quickly, which told her he was finished with his day as well, and soon they had a conversation going.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
