"Elle, would you PLEASE concentrate. I need that report in one hour. Now, are you going to have it for me or not?" Miranda yelled from across the conference room.
"Oh, yeah, sure...one hour, you got it…" Elle said, coming out of her daze. It had been two weeks since her fight with Nick and the effects were still showing clearly.
"Elle, I need this report. Do you understand me? If I don't send in an article about this new group "Sour Grapes, management is going to kill me."
"You'll have your report." Elle said as she walked out the door towards her office. Once there, Elle shut the door behind her, sat down at her desk, and stared out the window, which was facing Central Park.
. As she watched the people jogging in the frigid January air, her thoughts drifted towards Nick for the hundredth time that day. All her attempts to call and try to work things out always ended with Elle listening to Nick's cryptic answering machine recording. She always hung up before the recording was over. Just the sound of Nick's voice brought back all the feelings that Elle had been experiencing in the past two weeks. Elle glanced at the clock on her desk. She had only 45 minutes to finish her assignment.
At 5:00, Elle was stuck in rush hour traffic on her way back to her hotel. After finishing the report, Elle had figured that she might as well go home. She had been no help to Jive Records in the past couple of days. Half an hour later, Elle was setting down her shoulder bag and briefcase on the table in the foyer of her hotel room. "I really have to find a place to live," Elle thought. "I am so sick of this damn hotel room." As she sat down in a tattered chair in the living area, her cell phone rang. Full of hope, Elle ran to her shoulder bag and began searching through its contents until she found it. She pushed the TALK button
"Elle Bradley, Jive Records New York."
There was no answer. Elle could hear shuffling on the other end and finally the connection was broken. Sadly, Elle walked to the bedroom, lay down in the bed and fell asleep.
"Damnit!" Nick yelled as he stared at the phone that only moments ago had been used to call Elle. He deeply regretted hanging up on her. Just the sound of her voice made Nick want to fly back to New York and tell Elle how he felt about her. "What the hell is wrong with me?" Nick said to himself.
Nick walked into the family area of his apartment and picked up "The Monthly Jive" with Elle's picture on the cover. Nick tossed the magazine back on the table and laid down on the couch. He had one hour to kill before he was supposed to meet with the rest of the group to discuss as second tour schedule. In no time at all, Nick's eyes were closing and he was falling into a deep sleep.
An hour later, Nick awoke to the sound of someone knocking impatiently at his door. As he wearily walked over to it and peeped through the peephole, he saw AJ's face. He opened the door and with a "Hey AJ," Nick was walking back over to the couch to continue his sleep.
"Have you forgotten something?" AJ asked, not even trying to hold back his annoyance with Nick.
"No, I remember, I need to meet with the group to talk about the tour dates."
"Then what are you doing sitting on the couch. Let's go. We are already late enough as it is."
Nick gave AJ a somewhat cold look before putting on his shoes, standing up, and walking out of his apartment with AJ close behind.
It was 7:00 when Nick finally was back in his apartment again. The meeting had gone well, although everyone could tell that Nick was still in need of Elle. It didn't help when Nick had blurted out: "Maybe we could get help from Ell...Denise" when the group of five were going over ticket prices. Despite constant teasing about the subject, Nick declined from one of his usual wisecrack comebacks. Without Elle, nothing else really mattered to him, including his job. At that thought, Nick decided to go to sleep early that night. His last thoughts before drifting off to sleep were of Elle and possible ways that he could fix his situation