The Red Flag

Part VII - "If looks could kill"

The next morning I awoke to a strange noise that came from the other side of the room. My eyes shot open from the sound of someone's heavy footsteps walking towards my bed.

What the hell was going on?

I felt my heart beating erratically in my chest.

The only light I had was from the alarm clock which glowed a foot away from my face. I would have reached for my phone, but I never removed it from its charger on the far end of the room. So, that wasn't any help.

Even with my blurry vision I was able to make out the precipitous movements that were happening all around me. It wasn't until I heard my closet door open that I finally sat up and reached over to turn the lamp on next to me. There, standing in the open door of my closet, was Aralyn rustling through my hangers.

"What in the actual hell are you doing?" I shouted. She ignored my question and proceeded to pull out two blouses and a stack of denim shorts.

"Um, isn't it obvious?" She held up a flowy teal colored top and compared it to another that was a dark shade of plum. "I'm helping you get ready for your date with Dr. Broderick."

I'm sorry, did we miss something? Does this crazy bitch actually think this interview is a date?    

I wore a look of disbelief. "Okay, first off, this thing that's happening at ten is not a date. Secondly, why are you up before the crack of dawn on a Monday morning?"

I threw one of my oversized pillows at her. Of all the years of us being friends, Aralyn has never woken up before noon on the weekends, and weekdays were no better. The earliest I've ever seen her awake and fully functioning was at nine when her and I moved into college.

"If your goal is to get me to kill you, consider it achieved," I growled. 

Her voice was chipper. "You were given a second chance to capture this man's heart," she explained.

I rolled my eyes at her idiotic idea. "Aralyn, if by some friggin miracle I land this job, my priorities are solely set on the work. I have no intentions of capturing his heart, or anything else for that matter."

As usual, she disregarded me and went on with what she was doing.

"Well whatever the reason may be, you should still look drop dead gorgeous. You need to "dress to kill". I'm talking about a sexy ass outfit, doing something with your hair, and putting on legit makeup." Aralyn braced herself on the edge of my bed and stared into my eyes. "I want you to walk into that man's office with the physical appearance that could stop traffic. And if, by some chance you don't get the job, then I at least want you to walk out looking your best."  

Warmth spread throughout my chest with empathy for her actions. A lot of the time Aralyn could be pushy and a tad bit overbearing when it came to relationships. Nonetheless, she was still a girl that held true intentions. For that I could never be truly mad at her.

Even if the bitch did wake us up before eight.

. . . .

I couldn't believe I was back here, again.

The parking lot was much more crowded than it had been on Friday. Luckily I found a spot that was somewhat close to the front doors. Grabbing my bag from the passenger seat, I locked my car and began making my way towards the entrance.

I decided on wearing one of my sundresses that was a pretty violet color with a silver pair of sandals. Aralyn had helped me tie back part of my hair into a twisted braid. She insisted on doing my makeup, but I wasn't about to risk walking out of my dorm room looking like a clown crossed over with a stripper. Thankfully, we reached an impasse and settled on a gentle face palette paired with a smokey eye.

Aralyn carefully applied the eye shadow. "It's definitely edgy for an interview, but it will surely help get the point across." The point being that I'm was not about to be toyed with by some doctor who is clearly aware of his sex appeal.

I headed over to the elevators where I joined a group of people that waited for the next available one. Once we were all inside I proceeded to push my intended floor.

I thought quietly to myself, "What would happen if I never showed up for the second interview?" Would he seriously come find me?

The idea left a dangerously enticing thought in my head. I could picture him driving up and down the streets of my university in a gorgeous black Chevrolet Camaro. He would be wearing dark jeans with a white shirt under a leather jacket. Once he spotted me coming out of my afternoon class he would get out of the car. I would stand frozen in place with my heart beating vigorously in my chest as I watched him make his way over to me. There's fire in his eyes along with a vicious smile that held consequence for disobeying his demand. What would he do?

My stomach turned with the vision of him throwing me over his shoulder and hauling me back to his office. The sight of seeing him pull at his clothes along with my own made me quiver with want.

The doors of the elevator finally opened at the top floor. Just as I was about to exist, a tall woman wearing a dark red dress cut me off. My senses were smacked with the overpowering aroma of lavender. Veronica.

I watched her saunter towards Dr. Broderick's office in her same open toed stilettos. By the way she swayed her hips it was obvious she wanted to attract attention. And I had a pretty strong feeling I knew exactly who was her intended victim.

A smile pulled at my lips at the woman's performance when she walked into the waiting room, up to the main desk. Charlotte was still sitting behind the desk with a face that read "done with life". However, her eyes lit up when she looked past Veronica and caught sight of me.

"Amelia!" She waved me over.

"Hey, Charlotte." I weakly smiled. Did she happen to see my mad dash to the elevators on friday too? She didn't look at me like I was crazy, so I took that as a no. 

"Dr. Broderick is waiting for you in his office."

Veronica smiled coyly and began heading in the direction of his office. Charlotte and I shared a look of confusion.

"Ms. Cross," she called. Veronica stopped moving and turned around. "I must ask you to wait here until Dr. Broderick and Ms. Peterson have finished their meeting."

Veronica's green, piercing eyes were filled with loathing. If this woman could have thrown daggers with her eyes I would probably be dead. It was no surprise that I was intruding on this woman's plans to shack up with Dr. Broderick. Hell, if I were her, I would be pretty pissed off too if some girl was about to take my time slot. 

"Don't worry yourself too much. I can guarantee that this interview will last all of two minutes," I thought.

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Hey Everyone! I'm sorry for not making a note of this before- but whenever you see quotes or wording in Italics it's meant to represent the inner voice of Amelia's other half. Again, not sure if you picked up on that or not. Hopefully it's not too confusing going forward.