Martha had known Charles about seven years ago when they were both studying textiles at Glasgow's School of Art. Charles was an exchange student for a year and they had been close friends, back when they were teenagers. They lost touch over the years and now here he was in this dark and dusty basement in New York.
"This is fucking crazy!" Charles exclaimed again, "I mean, I can't believe this!"
"I know!" Martha laughed along with him. "This wasn't really what I was hoping for when I got up this morning." She said gesturing around the room " But now you're here it doesn't seem too bad at all."
"Yeah well, the dementor isn't too happy, she wasn't expecting you until next week and there is no job for you yet, so she put you in here with me. I'm being punished you see." Charles laughed wickedly.
"Why? What did you do?" Martha asked intrigued
"I'm leaving, I'm moving to Vegas to work with Cirque du Soleil, but i have to work my two weeks notice or she won't give a good letter of recommendation, she actually said that to my face! When I came to work last Thursday she told me I could cut my way to Vegas and sent me here." Charles looked at Martha with pursed lips, waiting for her response.
"No! Can she do that to you? What a dragon!" Martha responded with the appropriate amount of dramatic horror,
"I know, but I won't let her see that it bothers me, bitch! Anyway now you are here it will be fun" he said clapping his hands. "So tell me what happened to you? You are a very long way from Glasgow now..."
"I moved here about two weeks ago, I wanted to try something new, start again, you know, a new life." Martha started cringing as she heard all the cliches.
"Fuck, running from a broken heart or the law?" He giggled, his blue eyes sparkling through the gloom.
Martha laughed, "You got it I'm a fugitive, just don't tell the dementor or she might give me the kiss..."
Charles wretched dramatically,"She'll give us the kiss for sure if we don't do any work."
"Shit, I forgot about that!" laughed Martha
Charles showed her the pattern peices and where the fabric was and she set to work chalking, pinning and cutting. They got a little sytem going and they were working well, getting through the pile of fabric and getting ready for the next lot of cutting for the workroom above.
"So Viva Las Vegas?" Martha commented as they worked hoping that Charles would forget about her 'new beginning' story. "I've always wanted to go to Vegas, The Killers are from Las Vegas and I love The Killers." Martha said in a dreamy voice.
"Why didn't you go there then? Why New York?" Charles asked with a little accusation.
"Eh, I don't know actually, the land of opportunity and all that, I suppose. I don't know why I didn't think about going to Vegas, I've always wanted to go." Martha smirked, shaking her head, surprised at herself.
"Well you wouldn't have met me again I suppose." Charles said nudging her and laughing. "Hey, come with me to Vegas, I could get you a job at the circus and we could stalk the strip looking for Brandon Flowers, I hear he is single."
"I've only just got here and I've got this job and a lease on an apartment, I can't just get up and move to Las Vegas, because Brandon Flowers is single. I don't think he hangs about the strip either." Martha giggled at the thought of Brandon Flowers hanging out on some street corner on the Las Vegas strip.
"Why not? You've no job as yet, you can sell your lease on your apartment and you could totally move to Vegas with me and when Brandon claps eyes on you he will propose on the spot, because you are so hot!" Charles said bubbling with excitement.
Martha laughed, caught up in his excitement, "Hardly, I'd die within twenty feet of him!"
"Oh shut up, you are a goddess, he'd be lucky to have you!" Charles said, looking at her with a diva face.
Martha burst out laughing at his diva pose. She was struck by his use of words that echoed what she and Lauren had always said to each other since they were young. The seed was sown and the thought of moving to Las Vegas with Charles was growing roots in her brain. Forget about Brandon Flowers, a real chance was forming for her to be happy again.
"Let's do it!" She said suddenly, shocking herself a little.
"Yes!" exclaimed Charles, "I can't wait to see the dementor's face!"
YOU ARE READING
Something Better
FanfictionA Brandon Flowers romantic fan fiction. Martha moves to New York to escape life in Scotland after a sticky divorce. Life in New York is not as easy as Martha had hoped and after meeting up with an old friend, Charles, who is based in Las Vegas, she...
