Seeking Her Soul

Chapter Three - The New PA

Ok, so that was weird. But, it's probably from lack of sleep. Right? I slowly get up from the bar stool and walk over to the sink. I turn on the water and splash my face to try and wake myself up a bit. I wipe my face dry on my shirt, and walk over to the fridge to grab a bagel. Popping it in my mouth, I snatch my coffee off of the bar and return to my bedroom. I find my phone on my nightstand, dead. I plug it in and then finish off the bagel and coffee before heading to the bathroom to take a shower.

About thirty minutes later, I'm dressed and ready to go. I'm already dreading walking into work today, and I haven't even left my apartment. Sighing, I lock up my apartment and walk down the lavish hall towards the elevator. My neighbour, Ms. Lane, walks up beside me.

"Good morning, Mr. Arquette," she smiles up at me. Ms. Lane is an older woman, in her early sixties, and falls just short of 5'0". She's a kind lady, and always watches my apartment when I'm away on business. Her husband died years ago, and her only son hasn't come to visit her in at least a decade. So, I try and be kind to her, since she doesn't have much family, and she's sort of taken me under her wing. I visit her every now and then to have tea, and she gives me all sorts of odd advice. She gets this glint in her eye sometimes, usually right when she realizes something that I haven't quite managed to understand yet, and I always know to listen to her, especially then. She's like a mentor to me, since she ran her own business years ago.

"Good morning, Ms. Lane," I reply with a bit of strain in my voice.

She doesn't miss this, and looks at me with a scowl. "Were you up late partying last night?" she berates me.

I look away sheepishly. "I mean, I wasn't partying, so to speak."

But she knows me too well at this point. "It was a work night boy," she sighs, "if you don't start to screw your head on right and take a step up, you're going to watch everything slip away."

I look at her, thinking about her words, and sigh. Deep down I know she's right, but it still stings. "I know, Ms. Lane." I smile weakly. "I'm trying to do better." With that, the elevator dings and we both get on. She presses floor number two, to my surprise. "Ms. Lane, I thought I was your only friend in this building, I feel considerably less special now." I say in a mock hurt way.

She smacks my arm lightly. "Oh you, I'm allowed to make new friends."

I laugh at her defensiveness. "Is this someone, how should I put this... someone special?"

"Adrien Arquette, the mere fact that you would even suggest such a, such a... preposterous thing is insulting. You know that I am very loyal to my late husband."

I smirk. "Yes, but a woman has her needs." She only scowls at this. "I'll see you on Saturday at two for tea," I say as she steps off of the elevator at the second floor. "Say hello to your friend for me!"

As soon as I get to work Adeline bombards me with information.

"Woah, Ada, slow down!" I put my hands up defensively.

She clenches her jaw at me. "You're hungover, aren't you?"

I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Yes, I am." Normally, she just rolls her eyes and leaves me alone, but today, she snaps.

"Adrien, you need to snap out of it," she seethes. "You are about to become one of the richest men in the city, and one of the most prominent. You can't be going out with Warren every night to your clubs and bars, wasting away your nights and mornings. It's already 10:30, and you just got here. I've been here for three hours already. There's so much to do in order to get ready for the retirement party, there's going to be press, which means we have to do our best to look ready to take on this job, and that's not going to happen if you're passed out drunk in the corner! So clean up your act, and start to act like the man you were born to be." After she finishes ranting at me, I take a step back. I can only look at her in shock. In all our lives, Adeline has never told me what to do.