chapter 2
          by the time chloe reached the office, she was 10 minutes late. but thank goodness for new york traffic, her clients weren't there yet. she took the extra time to brush out her long sun streaked blond hair. as she brushed her hair, an image of nick popped into her head.

'what the hell? why'd i think that for?' chloe said unbelievably to herself. her hair was an identical shade to nick's.

          after brushing out her hair, chloe made sure that all the documents were ready on the meeting table, and that none of them were short of anything. at 10:02 a.m., her clients came in, and they apologised profusely for being late. chloe graciously forgave them, and proceeded with her presentation.

          30 minutes later, the contract was signed, and chloe was on her way to lunch with her clients, to get to know them better.

          during lunch, chloe and her clients, mr mcandersen, miss lavender and mr murray, were caught in a session of ice breaker.

'miss mckade, exactly how old are you? you look rather young to be the director of such a large company...' mr murray asked.

'i'm flattered mr murray--' chloe got cut off by miss lavander, who insisted chloe called them by their first names, duncan, jacquelin and nathan respectively.

'i'm flattered nathan, i'll be turning 23 in the coming january. as for the mystery of being the young director of the company, i guess part of the reason's because i skipped 4 consecutive grades, and the other part's because my father owns the company.' chloe explained.

'i guess that explains alot then,' duncan commented, and they all laughed.

inwardly, chloe rolled her eyes, and thought fake bastards.

'so, is there a special someone in your life right now?' jacquelin asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

'i'm afraid not. i just got out of a relationship not too long ago, and i've been too busy to look for a new one. how about you jacquelin?' chloe asked.

'her special someone proposed a week ago... on her birthday,' duncan cut in, and winked at chloe.

they all burst out in fake laughter again, and chloe decided that she couldn't stand anymore of the fake laughter.

'i'm sorry everyone, i'm afraid that i have another meeting to attend. so if you don't mind, i have to take my leave.' chloe started to stand up.

'of course, you're a busy woman. we were just thinking of leaving as well... we have a plane to catch in 5 hours, and i'm afraid we haven't done any sightseeing of new york yet,' nathan said, grinning.

'i haven't done any sightseeing either. but i guess that can wait till tomorrow, can't it... goodbye, hope that our business relationship will last long.' chloe said, then walked towards the elevators.

          when she was safely in the elevator, she finally rolled her eyes, and mumbled to herself, 'disgusting plastic people.'

          the first 2 interviews went well, with no signs of screw-up. until the radio interview, nick was afraid his brain had been clogged up.

          he couldn't stop thinking of chloe, and the way that she had laughed at andy's hilarious last name. he didn't hear the dj ask him questions, and that happened 4 times. andy had to bail him out, and said that he wasn't feeling well.

'what's up with you? are you feelin alright?' andy asked nick when they were in the bus, on their way back to the hotel.

'i guess... i cant concentrate.' nick said the obvious.

'oh, i couldnt tell,' andy said sarcastically and continued, 'what's on your mind? the manager thing?'

but by then, nick had already floated off to build castles in the sky. he was staring at his shoes, and andy had to poke him. hard.

'OW! whatcha do that for?' nick recoiled.

'you spaced out on me man! how could ya? what's on your mind?' andy asked nick again.

'sorry. you know that chloe girl? i cant stop thinking about her and her tousled hair, and her laugh...' nick said, looking at his shoes again.

'ooh. little nicky boy's in lurve.' andy teased.

'quit that!' nick snapped, and hit andy in the stomach, and knocked the wind out of him.

'oof! i was kiddin! anyway, you're in luck. little miss tousled hair just returned to the hotel as well...' andy spotted chloe going into the hotel just as their bus pulled in in front of the door.

'ask her out for dinner! go! hurry!' andy shoved nick down the bus. nick lost his balance, and nearly slammed into the potted plants at the door. he shot andy a dirty look, and went into the hotel, chasing after chloe.

          he caught up with her just before the elevator door shut, and tried to look surprised when he saw her inside.

'hey!' he said, wincing inwardly, as he said it too enthusiastically.

'so we meet again... hi,' chloe appeared not to have noticed, 'so where's your bodyguard?' she asked.

'umm... i sorta dumped him by the bus...' nick said. he didn't want to lie to her.

'ooooooook... why'd you do that for?' chloe asked again.

'i....um....' nick stuttered for a second or two, then when he finally got his nerves working, he asked, 'would you like to have dinner with me tonight?'