Элла Франк - Exquisite

“Well maybe you could go and get,” he stopped for a moment forgetting the not so cheery lady’s name. “Lena? So I could talk to her?”

Dark glasses smiled sweetly then nodded. “Ok give me a minute. I’ll see if she’ll come out here.”

Mason kept the fake smile plastered on his face. “Thank you so much.”

Then thought, if she won’t come out here I’m dumping her flowers all over the waiting room floor. With that cheery image he turned and took a seat on one of the chairs. Impatiently waiting for the annoying Lena to make an appearance.

Lena had just walked into her office and taken a seat when Brandy came in. She watched her, oh so perky receptionist almost skip to her desk then stop and try to stand patiently for her to acknowledge she was there. Finally, when Lena couldn’t stand the fidgeting, she looked up at her.

“So? Did you find out who they were from?”

Brandy frowned, pushed her glasses back up her nose then shook her head. She crossed one leg then the other and it almost looked as though she needed to go pee. When she didn’t answer immediately Lena probed, “Brandy? Flowers’ focus. Did you find out who they were from?”

“Oh. Nope. He said the card was sealed and that he wasn’t allowed to open it.”

Rolling her eyes Lena sighed. What? The flower guy suddenly had morals and ethics? She'd basically given him permission to check who they were from when she’d asked, didn’t she? Inwardly groaning Lena stood and walked around her desk. Brandy watched her warily and she thought, am I really such a horrible boss she needs to look terrified? Striding past her out into the hall Lena decided, if she was being honest, that she probably was.

She walked down the east hallway and turned onto the main drag that led to the front desk of the Pedi wing, pushing open the door to the waiting room Lena saw a tall dark haired man folded into one of the tiny waiting room chairs clutching a vase with a dozen red roses. The first thing she noticed was he did not look happy. In fact, he looked extremely pissed off. The second thing was his very very long legs folded up at an awkward angle to balance the vase on his knees. Lastly, was his tapping foot which seemed to be getting more impatient before her eyes. Finally, he turned toward Lena and she watched as his face changed from a look of disgust to a fake blank smile. Standing where she was she watched him stretch out his tall frame and walk over to her. Lena stood at 5’7, so in heels she was often taller than most, but even she had nothing on this guy. Gees what did his mom do? Stand him in manure every night as a child? Smirking at that she looked up at him and asked.

“Can you not read?”

Mason stared down at the annoying, yeah he was going to think of her as annoying, woman in front of him and wondered how much trouble he’d get in off his mother if he lifted the vase and tipped the contents all over her. Taking a deep breath he decided he didn’t need to put up with this crap. He'd already been there forty minutes more then he wanted to be, so standing there being patronized was not on his high list of priorities.

“Excuse me? What did you say to me?"

She didn’t step back from his cool tone. In fact he watched her spine, if it was possible, get stiffer.

“I asked you if you could read?” she paused then continued with her patronizing ramble. “Because that’s the only reason I can think of for why you couldn’t Brandy who the flowers are from.”

Mason felt his eyes narrow and the hair on the back of his neck rise. Just who did this snotty thing think she was? The Queen? The psycho who was standing in front of him was in sky blue scrubs and had a stethoscope draped around her neck. She had dark brown curls that were tied up in a high top notch bun on her head with several of them escaping around her neck and on her pert stuck up nose were a plain pair of thin wire rimmed glasses that magnified her big bottle green eyes. He swallowed and told himself to calm down, he was doing this for his mother. One other question he wanted answered was, who the hell would ever by this woman flowers?

“Yes. Surprisingly I was taught how to read all through elementary school. I even managed to graduate. The reason I didn’t answer your little peon over there Princess was because A) I didn’t want to, B) The card is sealed and C) I didn’t want to. My job was to bring these flowers to your ungrateful self. Not stand here and take your condescending crap.”

Mason watched her as she listened to him and wasn’t surprised to see no emotion what so ever cross her features. What was wrong with this woman? He thrust the flowers at her along with the clipboard.

“Just sign for them sweetheart so I can get the hell out of here."

Her eyes narrowed at the false endearment and she grabbed the clipboard out of his hands. She scrawled her name across the bottom then snatched the flowers up into the crook of her arm. Turning without another word she stormed back through the swinging doors. Thank God, what an uptight little shrew. Mason turned to see Brandy peeking at him from over her desk then he smiled slightly and waved.

“Good luck with that one.”

By the time Lena reached her office she was furious. Furious with herself for behaving like an obnoxious jerk. It wasn’t as though she didn’t know she was doing it, she did. Her excuse, well the one she used, was that she did it too keep people away. The less people in her life meant the less likely she had to give a shit and that equaled the less possibility that she’d get hurt. It was a good theory, if she didn’t have a soul. Lena put the vase on the edge of her desk and walked around flopping down into her chair. Staring at the flowers she willed them to go away, as if that would actually work. Then when there was no other choice, than to drive herself bat shit crazy, she leaned forward and snatched up the card. Tearing it open Lena thought of the mule headed, freakishly tall flower delivery.. what could she call him? Certainly not a boy. Ok mule headed, freakishly tall flower delivery man. What was his problem anyway? It wasn’t like he knew her, so what the hell did he care if she was the biggest bitch in the universe? Another random thought also came on the heels of that one and it was far less welcome. Why on earth could she not stop thinking about how blue his eyes had been? Pushing his irritating presence out of her mind she looked down at the card in her hand knowing exactly who they were from;

“Lena, Go visit her today. She would want you too.

Mom and Dad”

See? This is what she does to me, Lena thought as she stared at the ceiling. This is why she wanted that moron to tell Brandy. So she could get rid of the flowers in advance and feel no guilt for not visiting her sister’s grave. Just like she'd done for the last nine years.

Mason was pissed off as he stepped off the elevator. God what a piece of work! His jaw hurt from clenching it as he dialed his mother’s number. He mentally told himself not to take his anger out on his mother, or his phone. It rang twice then his mother’s voice flowed into the ear piece. “Precious Petals, how may I help you?”

Mason smiled automatically. “You can take me to dinner to thank me for taking on your customer from hell.”

“Who? Lena?”

Mason clenched his fist as he walked out to his car parked on the street. That name all on its own upped his headache to migraine status.“Yes Lena. Or as I refer to her, Queen Bitch.”

“Mason Nathan Langley!” his mother admonished. “Don’t you dare talk about her like that. That poor girl.”

Opening the car door, to his blue Nissan GT-R, Mason folded his tall frame in. “That poor girl just made me wait forty minutes then had the nerve to ask me if I could read!”

“Well, well. It isn’t often that someone dares to take you on, so good for her.”

Mason pulled the phone away from him and stared at it. Good for her? Is that what his mother had just said to him? What the hell was the world coming to and how did his mother know Queen B anyway? Grumbling to himself Mason pulled the phone back to his ear.

“Never again.”

“Oh come on now Mase."

“No mom, never. Bye.” With that he snapped the phone shut, realizing he hadn’t got an answer about her taking him to dinner.

Mason finally pulled into his reserved spot behind his restaurant, Exquisite, in downtown Chicago. He sat in his car with his hands in his lap just taking a moment to himself. He hated starting his day on a negative note. It always made for one long ass day. Thinking back to only an hour ago he kept picturing the tall infuriating thing, yeah he’d upgraded her from The Queen to a thing now, only because his mom had made him. Still, he couldn't make any excuse for her absolutely obnoxious behavior this morning. More to the point, he couldn't believe his own reaction to her. He was never rude to anyone. Especially a woman.

Usually he had no trouble in that department, women fell all over him and he didn't mind one bit. He loved women, always had. However, that woman, had made his blood boil and it seemed that was the very reason he couldn't get her out of his head. He shut his eyes took a deep breath then unfolded himself out of the car. Stretching his back he sounded the lock and strolled through the back door of the restaurant.