8 hours..8 hours was a long time without any e-mail or news from her, she might have given up but he hadn't, no way, she had another thing coming if she thought he was giving up on her, rejection was not his game, if anything her silence made him even more determined to find his mistery friend, wait when was the last time he had called anyone friend? Co-workers, assistants, brother, crew members, golddiggers, opportunists, sure, but never friend..until her, first get up, out of this plane and then bed, kill this jetlag and..yeah then what exactly? Sighing he got up from his seat and out of the plane where Shayla was waiting for him. "Don't! I don't want to hear it, Shay" he jerked away from her attempt to hug him "just get me out of here and in a bed..". Shayla trotted after him "but Jay..", it was times like these that he missed Emma, this assistant was just a poor man's spin off of the real deal, "don't you 'Jay' me, I don't want to hear it alright? I flew thousands of miles in 36 hours, I'm jetlagged as hell, don't fucking mess with me right now, alright?" he blew up at her before he quickly slipped into the car and slammed the door shut. Köln..gate 5..right ok, not exactly the sexiest city in Germany, nice cathedral though, she'd only seen it once when she was little on one of those endless summits her father had to go to..no, don't think about that! 'all passengers for Köln, please proceed to gate 5' the overhead voice urged her to get a move on, oh the joys of travelling, being squeezed in a way too small seat for 8 hours, terrible food and...a whole lot of time to read a book, now that was something to look forward to, one of the only times she didn't feel so alone, yay!
Ooohh, Germany was even colder than New York, a sharp, cold wind had her shivering in her thin leather jacket at the taxi stand, what was the address again?, she dug out the frumbled piece of paper where she had hastily scribbled the name of the hotel on. "You couldn't find her? What do you mean, you couldn't find her?" Sean nervously shot at the guy who was supposed to go and pick her up at the airport "that's impossible, her plane landed an hour ago", fuck, Harper, don't you dare chicken out on me here..he put his phone to his ear, why the fuck did she never pick up the bloody thing? Shayla was gonna get in trouble for this, no she already was, the way Jared had lashed out at her and it was all his fault! Why did he even come up with this ridiculous idea?..
"Excelsior Hotel, Fraulein" the taxi driver said as he stopped in front of the hotel, woww, good old Sean wasn't doing too badly for himself with this whole tour thing, "Danke schön und ich wünsche ihnen ein angenemen aufenthalt in Köln" the cabby said as she handed him the money, "Danke, tschüss" and got out of the car, one of the perks of such an aristocratic childhood and upbringing was that she was quite fluent in Europe's main languages, now onto something less aristocratic: finding Sean. Aaah, the splendor of these old, renowned hotels, the heady scent of leather and powderboxes, the hideous, bombastic chandelier right in the middle of the lobby that made the entire place look like a nativity scene on steroids, "Harp? Harper?" hearing her name being called she turned to see Sean come running up to her. "Hello Sean" she whispered as he wrapped her up in this big hug that made her feet leave the ground, finally someone that put his arms around her, finally some human contact, don't put me down, don't let go of me, just let me hang in your arms for a little bit longer, please, you obnoxious, tall weirdo. "Ahum" Shayla made her presence known, jealousy stung a little the way they were so wrapped up in each other, and she was breathtakingly beautiful too, fan-fuckin-tastic..why couldn't this be some awkard, ugly, little troll like most of these artistic people were?. Just be nice, be professional, "You must be Harper, hi, I'm Shayla", Sean put her down while this woman introduced herself, "Hello Shayla, it's nice to meet you" Harper greeted her with a handshake, great, not just stunning but impeccable manners too. "Sean, why don't you take Harper for coffee so you two can catch up, and I'll go get her checked in and call Jared so he can meet you too, I just need your passport" Shayla looked at Sean, was this such a good idea to have her come over? this girl was making her way too uncomfortable and insecure which was definitely a first.
