Authors Note:

Christian

"...No... this is Joan."

Right, Joan.

"Yes hello, this is Christian Ivanov."

The line went silent for a while. "Jane- I mean, Joan, are you still there?"

"Y-Yes my apologies, how can I assist you Mr. Ivanov?" She stuttered into the line. I must have caught her completely off guard with this phone call.

"Sorry for the abrupt call to your personal line. Alex has you listed as an emergency contact."

"He had me listed under Janet?" She asked. I sort of froze, then pulled my phone back to take another look at the scanned document. Nope, it said Joan there. I was just an idiot.

"Hard to read." I lied. "Anyways, I'm having a difficult time locating him right now and we have a meeting in about-" I glanced down at my watch, "Seven minutes. Have you heard from him?"

"He hasn't called." She replied. "Aren't you in NYC? I couldn't imagine he would go far. What did he say when he left?"

I thought for a moment, remembering the brief conversation we had before he hurried out of the lounge. "I think he got a phone call. Something about needing to take it. I just told him not to take too long but I don't think he said anything after that."

Joan took another pause over the phone.

"Give me a minute, and I'll see if I can reach him. I'll give you a call when I find out more information."

"Thank you." I replied to her before the line went dead. All I could do while I waited, was pace around the entrance. There was a woman who sat at the front desk. Maybe she had seen Alex leave, or knew in what direction he took off. When I approached her, I realized she wasn't the woman that had helped us get checked in, this was someone else.

"Hi!" She greeted me as I approached. "How can I assist you today?"

"I was wondering if you saw someone go through those doors about forty-five minutes ago?" I pointed to the entrance. "He would have been wearing a blue button down with a gold/tan tie. It's a Giorgio Armani tie, one that I gave to him because he tends to come to work without any ties- I know, the fucking disrespect right?-" I cut myself short when my eyes found this desk clerks, and I realized I had just disclosed far more information than she probably needed.

"A man in a blue shirt and gold tie?" She clarified. I gave her a nod.

"If it was over thirty minutes ago, I think it was Emma who was working here. She stepped out for a break but should be back in the next ten minutes if you have some time to wait." The lady explained. I gave her a nod, and took a seat at one of the benches located near the front door.

As I waited, I pulled my phone out and gave John's office a call.

Alex

I stared at the series of missed calls from Christian.

I should call him back, right?

"Bartender!" I called out. "I-I-I..." I trailed off, forgetting what I called him over about in the first place. When it came back to me, I yelled out "Aha! Yes. Do I call my boss back? Do I not call my boss back? What do I do?"

The bartender looked back at me with the goofiest smile. "Okay kid, I'm officially cutting you off. I have no idea what you're asking me about at this point."

"Noooo!" I whined, "we've gotta keep the whiskey coming-" before I had the chance to finish that sentence, I saw my phone buzz again. This time it was Joan. It took me a few tries to get the phone off the counter and into my hand.

I was having one of those moments where you realize you've gotten far too wasted and now you're here and you don't know how to leave... here.

"Hello?" I slurred into the phone.

"Jesus Christ Alex, are you drunk right now?" Joan snapped back.

"No..." I mumbled back. I heard her sigh heavily.

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Alex..." Joan pushed. I took a seething breath.

"My mother called." There was another pause.

"That piece of shit." She whispered under her breath, but I had heard it clear as day through the line. Joan was always capable of saying the words that I was too much of a pussy to say myself. "Hand your phone to the bartender, please."

"Yes ma'am. Bartender!" I called out to the blonde haired blue eyed man that was assisting the few other customers who were ready to pay. He made his way over to me. "My people are trying to get in touch with your people." I slurred, before thrusting the phone into his hand.

"Hello?" He called out into the line. "Yes, yeah I cut him off like 15 minutes ago. I've been serving him Jack and Coke's, hold the Jack."

That traitor, I thought as I stared down at my brown drink. No wonder it tasted so sweet.

"I'll make sure he stays here until then, yeah. No worries. Yep, bye." He ended the call, then handed the phone back to me.

"Sir. I demand you give me some whiskey right this minute." I said in the most serious face I could muster. Instead, he chuckled to himself, poured me some more Coke, and went on to assisting other customers.

How dare he? Just for this service, I wasn't leaving a tip. Well, not that big of one anyways. He was going to feel my wrath in the form of three one dollar bills instead of a five dollar bill and-

My thought process was cut off there, when I felt a hand on my back. "Alex, what the fuck are you doing?"

Christian's voice had startled me so suddenly, I almost fell off the bar stool from how high I jumped. "I j-just came a drink for." I tripped up over my own words as I turned to face him. His hair that was once neatly styled, was tossed everywhere. His tie had been loosened, and a few buttons were undone.

"You're drunk." He stated. His face seemed tight and annoyed, yet his eyes looked at me with concern. "Come on Alex, it's time to go."

"But I've got a bone to pick that that bartender! He served me Jack and Coke without the Jack. This is just Coke, Christian." I pointed to my drink. "I think we are well within our rights to sue." I saw Christians hand move to massage the bridge of his nose as he did he best to mask a smile that threatened to spread.

"Okay, Alex. Let's go. Thank you for for cutting him off." He said to the bartender.

"You're a traitor, too." I mumbled, but let him help me off the bar stool.

"Don't worry about it. I'll cover the Coke. Just get your man home safe." The bartender replied as he gave both Christian and I a quick wave, and went back to helping other customers.

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