Finding the room was easy enough; all she had to do was quietly exit her office so that William’s EA didn’t take notice, and take the emergency stairs down a floor where she took the elevator down to floor 42. Once there, she acted innocuous enough so that nobody took notice, and then asked a random employee where room B2 was.

“Morning Will,” Tony poked his head in from the adjacent door, not bothering to knock – a habit that had been formed in the early days of their university days together. “Got the info on Molly girl you wanted.”

“Thanks,” he took a long sip of the coffee in his mug, the hot liquid feeling like a salve to his exhausted soul. Jesus Fucking Christ. He had been in the office with his team till four in the morning and had slept on the futon in his office.

Molly was sat on her fire escape, wrapped up in a navy throw that she’d pulled off from the living room couch. Kensington market was in full swing below, as was normal. It didn’t matter if it was Monday, Wednesday or the weekend, the narrow streets of the market were always filled with people, and the air was always chock full of smells of smoked meat, curries, frying veggies and spice. The chilly fall wind swept through her air, as she guiltily opened the packet of Belmont Blue’s that she’d pulled out from her secret stash. She’d been trying to quit for the past year. It was a bad habit, one that she’d gotten into during the stress of university, and one that she was having a hard time leaving.

Molly’s face felt warm, all the blood in her body rushing to her cheeks. She had expected the worst, but she hadn’t expected this. The restaurant around them seemed to slip away in a quiet hush, and all she could feel and see were his sharp eyes staring across at her. He seemed unaffected by her reaction, relaxing in his white button up and black tie. She’d only taken a few sips of the beer, but she already felt foggy from the rush of adrenaline.

Molly didn’t have much time to mull it over or debrief it with Olivia. Burying the feeling of regret in the pit of her stomach and hoping they wouldn’t resurface until much later she took the hour to shower, drink a litre of water to counter her hangover, and then got ready for her shift at the library. Pairing a loose dress with a pair of sheer stockings, she bundled herself in her favorite Fall scarf before heading outside.
            She had only just stepped onto the street when she heard the daily barking she always did from across the street. She paused and looked up to see Pluto, a black mutt peering down at the street from a second story window, barking as it always did at this time in the morning.
         

“What an absolute prick,” Olivia said over her third lemon martini, the alcohol warming her cheeks with a rosy tint. “I honestly feel like we could go to Peoples magazine with this.”
Molly sipped on her drink, the gin and tonic running down her throat like a salve for her internal wounds. She was on her second double and was ready for two or three more. Anything to forget the day. “Prick doesn’t even begin to cover it though. I’ve never met someone so egotistical.”
“You could make so much money selling this story.”
Molly narrowed her eyes, “you know I want to do? Crash the Audi he probably drives.”
“We could totally stalk the building and crash into it when we see an Audi driving out.”
“I love it. Who needs to spend time working or making money, let’s spend all our free time stalking the guy.”

This was great, just fucking great. Her first big interview out of college and here she was, unable to squeeze into the only pair of dress pants she had in her closet. Twenty-one, well over thirty thousand dollars in debt for school, and exhausted from working mind-numbing retail shifts, this was supposed to be her big break and now the only thing that she was breaking were the zipper on her pants. The rain outside pelted against the window sill, the leaves outside brushing against the glass from the wind. Molly shook out of the pants, and then sat on the ottoman.