Gentlemen, All in Alabaster

I

From across the circular table he could see her desperation; a lovely red-haired woman by the name of Megan Campbell clearly at her wits end. She scrapped her painted black nails across the base of her coffee cup- a continuous little scream as she raised it to her lips. Megan had been going on for hours about the new girl at her job.  Zari Montase, the intern born from Haitian parents. She was always sweet, always on time and exceptionally brilliant.

For three years Megan worked the creative end of Porcelain Koi, a cosmetics company that due to stiff competition was now focusing on a new line of nail polish. The sudden shift in perceptive brought everyone out of the woodwork, including the accountants, the pencil necks from IT and unexpectedly Zari Montase. During lunch hours while Zari surrounded herself with books, in the break room Megan found her usual quota of men dwindling only to find out down the hall the intern was becoming their new source of intrigue.

Though this sort of office jealousy was becoming a rerun within their midday rendezvous, Neils listened folding his articulate hands on the table. He had barely touched the blueberry cheesecake Megan had ordered for him not fancying the café’s baker, the modern artwork on the walls, let alone their sweets. Neils preferred food that was prepared by his own hands or at least those who could be trusted. But despite all these little inconveniences, the man in the pinstriped suit would be patient in eventually hearing his date’s request.

Megan sighed in frustration setting down her cup a bit too harsh. “I just hate how everyone swoons over her. Every meeting she’s has an idea. First into the office, first to pay the compliments, and so overly sweet. She’s unreal Neils! No real human can find interest in everything. She has to be faking it.”

The gentleman before her watched as Megan swept the ruby waves of hair behind her left ear. The color was undoubtedly from a bottle and the exposed jewel earring likely cubic zirconia. She had grown thinner since their last meeting; her jealously literally eating away at her waists and hips. Neils smiled a little.

From behind the woman, a customer with equally dark hair walked in brushing the rain out of his curls. He stomped the dead leaves off his boots and scanned the small space as if searching for someone. His pale eyes connected with Neils’ but he slowly turned away approaching the bakery counter girl with a smile.

Megan continued. “I know I have said this a thousand times before but this one really needs to be gone. If Zari is out, the competition is not there. I just know things we’ll work out for me then.”

Neils played with a napkin. “Tell me what she looks like.”

“She.” Megan stifled herself.  This question was new. As long as she had known Neils, he had never asked about the women she ranted about. Never their looks. “If I tell you what she looks like, will you kill her? I can tell you where she lives. I know everything about her. I just need to know that you’ll really do this for me this time.”

“All I asked was what she looked like, Ms. Campbell. “ Neils shifted his plate of cheesecake, inspecting it. “I wouldn’t advise a restaurant without first telling you about the food, hm?”

The gray in his eyes complimented the weather swirling outside the café. The unpredictable rain of summer had finally reached the city, attacking with full force and blanketing the tall buildings in darkness. It could be said that heaven’s wrath had finally been unleashed or just a couple who had overstayed their welcome; a wanderer and a man in a pinstriped suit.