"Oh God, Alita!" She heard her best friend exclaim as she made her way into her apartment, she knew it was a mess, she was a mess.
She'd gotten home and began thrashing everything and everywhere, it was a far cry from the kind of person she was but after she was done, it had felt right, to have settled herself in the middle of the chaos and think, think of what the hell she was meant to do next. Mrs. Williams had her physically thrown out of her home spewing degrading names at her while she was kicked out, Alita had never felt so humiliated.
"That damn woman! I'm going to kill her!" Sarah swore, pulling her into a hug, she smelt right, and felt right, at least her best friend was here, it was going to be fine, but she found herself bawling a few seconds later.
"It's okay, it's okay," Sarah repeated stroking her hair soothingly, she let her cry until she'd had her fill.
"Now that the waterworks are done and over with, let's talk about how we're going to sue her and her husband for defamation, physical, verbal and sexual harassment. She's not going..."
Alita shook her head. "I don't want any of that."
"What do you mean you don't want any of that?" Sarah shrieked. "You're doing it again, if you'd simply listened to me when I said to threaten him with a lawsuit when this whole thing had started, you wouldn't be in this predicament to start with and now you're refusing to sue them for what they've done to you? Are you out of your mind?"
Alita knew Sarah was right and she should sue, but she had no energy for that nor money, although she couldn't bring up the money talk because Sarah would easily offer to pay for all the expenses but, she wasn't a parasite, Alita enjoyed doing her things, her self. It was why she never asked Sarah's help for anything concerning finance even though she knew she'd help without batting an eye, but it still didn't feel right.
She had been hurt today but she wasn't willing to fight anyone or prolong the case more than she deemed necessary, she didn't hold any ill-feeling towards either of them, it was the course of life.
"It's not worth it, they deserve each other, and knowing they'd be miserable together is enough recompense." She said shrugging with a small smile on her face.
Sarah's face remained the same for a while until she let her lips curl into a smile. "They do deserve each other. I can't believe she attacked you instead of her cheating husband. Some women are unbelievable."
"It's not surprising, some people would do anything to hold onto a life of luxury, I'd do anything to be able to never worry about working and money too you know?" She asked giving Sarah a cheeky smile that she knew would piss her off.
"Don't say that! Money isn't all there is to life." She argued.
Alita nodded and said nothing, people like Sarah wouldn't understand, they'd never had to starve for days, or their next meal solely dependent on their next paycheck, it was why she never indulged her in any of the bants.
"Enough about me, how was your day?" She asked switching topics, she saw Sarah's eyes narrow in recognition of what she was trying to do before they lit up as though she'd just remembered something.
"You won't believe what happened to Mr. Alastor!" She said.
"Grumpy face?" Alita asked.
Sarah nodded. "Grumpy face." She affirmed before diving into one hell of a story about h finding a baby in front of his door, it sounded unreal, but Alita knew how very much possible it was, it was like she'd said, people would do anything for money, or in this case, do anything to not have to experience more of the poverty they were already experiencing. It was obvious to her the only reason a mother would dump her child in front of the house of a man so rich, going through all of the troubles was that she knew her child was likely to have a much better life with the person than they were going to have with her, she was probably too poor to afford the necessities.
Alita chuckled to herself, here she was dissecting another person's life like hers hadn't just gone to shit.
"It's horrendous, why bring a child into this world if you can't take care of them? And not just that but why not work harder to provide your child a good life at least? Dumping them with a stranger? That had to be the shittiest thing ever!" Sarah said all the anger in her tone evident. "And poor Mr. Astor, having to deal with this, I could see how frustrated he was but because he's a good man, he simply took her in for the time being."
"I didn't know grumpy face could be so nice," Alita said.
"He is nice and it's been two years, you have to stop calling him that," Sarah said nudging her.
Alita laughed, "I saw him on TV recently, he still looks very much grumpy to me."
She'd met Mr. Benson Astor at some work event she'd escorted Sarah two years ago and she'd come across him, he was effortlessly the most beautiful man in the room, her eyes had been drawn to him immediately and so were the eyes of every other woman who stood surrounding him, hanging onto him and attempting conversation while he stood, with an obvious scowl on his face, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else, Alita called him nothing but grumpy face since then.
Sarah lit up and Alita recognize it was the one she always did when an idea occurs to her.
"You could work for him!" She said excitedly.
"Who? Grumpy face?" She asked confusion etched in her forehead.
Sarah nodded. "Grumpy face, you lost your job with the Williams and Mr. Astor needs someone who'd help take care of the kid until he can figure out what to do with her."
"Did he tell you that?" She asked.
"He doesn't have to, it's what he needs!" She said. Alita felt her heart skip, she didn't want to get her hopes high only for it to be dashed if he says he doesn't need her, but still, she couldn't help the excitement she felt at the possibility.
"You can't be sure." She said.
"No one knows Mr. Astor better than I do Alita, and I know he needs you. Come to the office with me tomorrow, I'll set up a meeting okay?"
Alita nodded her head because if she spoke she might just begin another round of tears but she let her eyes convey her appreciation and Sarah understood it
Sleep came hard that night for Alita, the possibility of seeing Mr. Astor again leaving something unsettling in her stomach, it was the same feeling she'd felt the first time his eyes had met hers in the party and he'd caught her staring at him, she'd turned away sharply but the fluttering feeling had remained and now again, she was experiencing it.
She hadn't told Sarah, it had been hard to admit even to herself that Benson Astor had aroused a feeling in her she hadn't felt in a long time from simply just staring at a man across the room, and tomorrow she was going to be talking to him fave to face, her insides twisted.