Reunited and it feels so good. (KingSandy and Notte)

[KingSandy]

Another long day. Then again, every day seemed to be a long ass day. Hour after hour, just staring at the screen. It didn't help that other than the click of keys, the occasional cough there was no sound in the office space. Not a single thing. Why? He had no idea. Just something flat and oppressive here, money and conformity was all there was. Maybe he was just imagining things, his old anxiety. New job, new home. . . Well not a new home so much as an old home made new. Jack had finally moved back to his old hometown. After years and years of growing up away. Away from his father, away from his sister.

It had been a nasty divorce. Each parent had shared ugly truths and even worse lies in order to play up how much this divorce was needed. In the end, it was the children that felt the worst of the sundering. Separated, unable to reach the other. Jack lost more than he thought that day when Mom packed up his stuff and took him to the airport.

He'd learned not to mention his older sister ever again after that.
All it did was make his mother mad. And then she would cry and Jack would feel terrible.

And so he grew up, an only child. It hadn't been too hard. Good grades, good looks. He wasn't very tall, only a shade under the average height. But he had fine cheekbones, a delicate chin. Broad shoulders on an otherwise slender body added an impression of size. His hair was a deep wooden color. He cut a fine figure in his suit which he had carefully ironed, even after having it dry cleaned. He'd wanted to make a good impression on the office and somehow. . . He felt like he hadn't. He stood out. His tie was too loud. His shoes too shiny or too worn. And then that atmosphere here. The young man was not about to deal with the idea that he would have to conform more. Just fill out the sheets. The stress of his first day was getting to him. It was nearing the end of the day. Jack would go home. Make some tea. Check his email.

Maybe he got another email from the sister he could barely remember.
The wonders of the internet, he reasoned, hoping that he would one day meet this mysterious sibling. But he was also nervous about that. . . What if she hated him? They hadn't corresponded very long, he wasn't even sure how she found him. So he tended to avoid setting meetings with her. It was unnecessary to meet right now. He had too many things going on even if he was glad to be back where he had so many good and bad memories. Five o' clock. Time to clock out. He packed his things, dated and signed out for the day and went out to his car. A short drive home.

A modest little apartment. One bedroom, one bath. Furnished with hand-me-down furniture from friends and family. His bed was the only thing new, he'd splurged on it and by God he was going to keep it. It was so comfortable. The large, inexplicably bouncy couch was another source of comfort for it was the first thing Jack had bought for his college suite. Irrationally, he felt that the couch understood him on some level. Or that might have been some lingering pot-smoked memory. . . Good times.

He slumped on that couch, loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt.
It was good to be home. He was too lazy to put the kettle on, too lazy to cook. If he was still working in a lab, still in college, he could have just set the hotplate on and then left the kettle.. That would have been much easier than the stove. He ordered some pizza, thank goodness for smartphones.

 

[Notte]

After the divorce of her parents, Bella got stuck living with her father. Her abusive alcoholic father and a deep hatred started in her heart towards both of her parents. Her wonderful little brother Jack had been taken away from her and although she had searched for many years, she hadn't been able to find them until she searched for her mothers maiden name. They had taken and ruined everything for her. And yet, in the end, she showed her father just what she was really made of. The abuser became the abused and in the end she had left him to die as she made her fortune and changed her name to cut off all familiarity with her father.

She had used her beauty to get her everything. Men were attracted to her long raven black hair, emerald eyes, big breasts, and tiny waist. And she did what she knew best with it, she worked it to get what she wanted. At twenty seven, she had been through three different husbands and made a fortune. Two dead and one who had been set up and caught on camera cheating. From her first husband she had inherited a law firm, which was how they meet as she had interned for him and still practices law when she feels a good case. Her second husband, she had gotten half of his fortune and half of his business from their divorce, revenue was great. And from the last, she had inherited his reality business and offices. Which was ironically how she had found her brother, through a P.I. that had set up in one of the office buildings and now she knew that Jack worked in one too.

She tilted her head and started at the clock and watched the minutes tick by. It was too late to go to the office building now and check him out. Tomorrow, tomorrow she would and with that thought, she closed her eyes and slept.

The alarm clock blared a frustrating tattoo of beats and she swept at it with manicured french tipped nails. As she crawled out of bed, she stretched and a dark smile covered her lips. Today was the day he would get to meet his sister, only he wouldn't know it. Stepping into the shower, she scrubbed her body with a darkly sweet smelling body wash and washed her hair with the matching shampoo and conditioner. After she finished she stepped out and blow dried her hair until it made curls and waves that cascaded down to her ass and shined. A blood red silk top, black skirt, and a tight black blazer that showed off all of her curves and pushed up her breasts. Matching red six inch heels and bare smooth legs. As she checked herself out in the mirror and touched up her make up, she smiled wickedly. "Knock out."

She pulled into the parking lot and cut the engine to her Lexus, getting out she walked up and through the doors to Jack's building and a flurry of eyes and men directed towards her. A short man, pudgy, and almost looking like he would have a stroke right on the spot greeted her and introduced himself as the manager. Leaning down slightly, she gave him an eyeful of her cleavage and smiled sweetly. "My name is Bella Montgomery, my husband owned this building and I'm on a tour of all his properties. Would you be ever so kind to tell me about it and the company that is stationed here?" Her voice dripped with honey sweetness and the tour was on.

 

[KingSandy]

Cold pizza for breakfast. One of the plus sides to living alone, leftovers were always still there. Mom had always thrown them out, citing "Dad used to do that" and then things would get awkward. Jack had solved this problem by getting a tiny fridge for himself and keeping whatever ordered in food in there until he ate it at three in the morning. He thought about calling her up this morning. Then again, she must be happy enough with whoever she spent time with nowadays if she wasn't anxious to call herself rather than waiting on her "darling boy". He thought it wise to forgo the call and headed into the shower. A long, hot shower. . . for all of five minutes. Damn water heater. Super said he'd fix it. Man was all talk and burger grease. Granted, it was a nice building with all kinds of kooky folks living in it. . . but still. A water heater. He had a half a mind to lodge a complaint.

Then again, should one really complain against the guy that maintains everything you need to live comfortably?

He'd put in a reminder.

Jack carefully ironed his clothes. He switched out his tie for a drab gray one, forwent the Green Lantern buckle. He'd checked his email between getting dressed. Nothing from Bella. Jack felt somewhat relieved. No "When can we meet?" or "Remember that time I poured cereal down your pants?" But he was also a bit down and ashamed of his apprehensiveness. She was family. The only family that he could honestly say was happy to talk with him anymore. Well, his father never liked to talk to anyone, let alone actually be happy. Mom was. . . moving on.

Finally.

He drove to work. Traffic, as usual. It brought out the worst in him. He cursed and swore and flipped the bird. He tried not to yell so much because he wasn't about to go into work feeling hoarse because some jackass didn't use his goddamn motherfu-Calm, Jack, calm. It was another accident. Could no one in this city drive without a horrible mistake every morning. Thirty minutes in and Jack had a vicious headache. He turned up the radio, drowning out the honking horns with illegally chipper DJ chatter. He sighed. Second day of work. Second. It'll be good. He'll get his first paycheck at the end of the week and that would make things so much better. And maybe after that, he'd see Bella. After a little while. After all, everything took some getting used to and a sister from decades ago was something that would take some definite time.

At the office, he noticed that the floor manager wasn't at his station. Odd but not alarming. Man had to take a leak sometime. There was some sort of buzz in the office, the boss's ex-wife/business co-owner had shown up to check up on her finances and such. Recent divorce, of course she wanted to see what was going on.

He caught a sight of her, beautiful and darkly alluring. He felt rather shabby at the image. Long legs, curvy body and dark dark hair. Very classily dressed, too.

Jack went to his cubicle.
"Time to punch keys until five pm," He muttered, "Must be nice to be rich and everything to come check in on what makes your money and not have to work for it. . ."