"Yes, me, got a problem with that?" Cari said.
Nick was just reeling in from the shock when BJ came over to see what was happening. "Hey, whassup?"
"Your brother just had a heart attack when he found out that I'm Cari Sanders." Cari replied.
"He's such chauvinist!" BJ said.
"No, no, no" Cari said laughingly, "He just found out that I was the girl he bitch out just a minute ago."
Turning to Nick, "What? You bitched her out? Your gonna get me fired!" she punched him in the arm.
"Ow!" Nick said rubbing his arm. "Your what, like 23, and your the CEO of LIMPA, that's something I will have a hard time
believing." Brian laughed at his friend's discomfort. "Don't tell me you also knew she was Cari Sanders!" Nick said to Brian.
"Brooke introduced me to her before you told me your story."
"Thanks a lot, Frick!" he said wryly.
"Anytime, Frack!"
"What's wrong if I'm young, and to correct you, I'm twenty not twenty-three!" Cari pointed out.
"Yeah what's wrong with that? She graduated early so she's been handling this company for two years." Brooke informed him.
Before anyone could say a word, Perrier Michaud, Brooke's assistant went over. "Hey, we're really late in our schedule, we
need to hurry up, the Backstreet Boys are up."
"You guys ready? Raina's waiting for you at the dressing room, your clothes are there already." With that Brian and Nick
mumbled their goodbyes.
Turning to Cari, "Your suit's in your dressing room, go change, they'll be finished before you know it."
"Thanks Brooke, it was nice to bitch out some guy once in a while." Cari smiled then turned away.
Shaking her head, Brooke went the other way.
Cari emerged from the dressing room wearing a navy blue Armani powersuit and Prada pumps. Her hair now twisted into curls on
her head. She no longer looked like the female coed that Nick and Brian saw early that afternoon. Coming out of the room she
bumped in to the Boys, all five of them.
A bit surprise with her transformation, "Hey, Cari," Brian greeted.
"Hi, Brian right?" Cari said.
"Uh-huh and you're up next, Brooke told us to get you on our way here." AJ cleared his throat. "Oh, sorry Bone, Cari, this is AJ, Kevin,
Howie, and this guy," turning to Nick, who was busy turning red, "Is Nick. Guys this is Carissa Sanders, CEO of LIMPA."
"Cari, please." she said with a smile.
AJ, taken aback when he learned of who she was said dumbly, "CEO?"
Cari gave a small laugh, "I also got that reaction from your friend Nick, although his was more violent that yours."
"Really? Gee, let's see what caused that reaction." AJ said lifting his eyebrow at Nick.
"Shut up Bone!" Nick said embarassed.
"To ease the curiosity of this group, how old are you? Or should I say, how young are you?" Howie asked for the group.
"20, I'll be turning 21 next month." Cari answered.
Out of nowhere, "Hey, Cari, Geena just paged me, the directors are now at conference room #8, what time will I tell her?"
Brooke said, holding a pager in one hand and a cellphone in another.
Turning to Brooke, "In 15 minutes and oh and tell her to tell Fisher to fire his damnable secretary or I'll be firing his
fucking ass faster than he can say, "Fuck you Cari." and tell her I need my Gucci and Prada files for the meeting. I'll be
there in a minute."
"Wow, that's what I call girl power!" Howie chuckled.
"Well it takes some time in getting used to it." Cari replied sheepishly, "Well, it was nice meeting you guys, but I'm
running late. Brooke will call you to give you the contracs for the release of the picutes."
"Bye," the guys said as they went inside their dressing rooms to change.
"Okay, let's hear it Kaos, what did you do to that lit'l lady outside?" AJ asked while shrugging off his shirt.
"Nothing,"
"Nothing my butt Frack!" Brian said chuckling. "I'll tell them if you don't"
Silence.
"Nick kleptoed Cari's cellphone, she caught him and boy, was there a heated exchange of words!"
"What did she call you?" Howie asked a bit curious.
"An asshole, a bastard, a kleptomaniac and an arrogant son-of-a-bitch."Nick answered.
"What else Nick?" Brian asked already containing his laughter.
"Yeah Nicky, what else?" AJ asked.
"And a fat lump of a male." Nick groaned. With that the other guys laughed.
"I'm not fat!" Nick complained.
"Yeah sure, and I look like Betty Boop!" Kevin said chuckling.
Nick groaned fully knowing well that he wouldn't hear the end of it. But still, he couldn't help to find Cari attractive.
"Dark hair, that's one, a little bit smaller than me, two, has an attiude problem, minus one." Nick groaned, still
couldn't remove from his mind the incident that afternoon, when he met a pretty avenging angel that was really the
sophisticated CEO of a reputed company.
"She looks beautiful when she's angry."Nick thought, then sighed again.
"Well, we just negotiated a 35 million deal with Gucci. Tom was really easy this time." Cari answered, flopping down on one
of Brooke's art deco chairs.
"What?" Brooke groaned, "That means an estimated 6 years of me slaving to them!"
Cari chuckled, "You like it anyway,"
They sat in companionable silence, then Cari broke it. "When will the BSB Milk Ads be developed?"
"Tomorrow it'll be finished. Oh, and I didn't make it look bad, we already played with them before that." Brooke said smiling.
Cari stood up, "Well, I'd be better be back in my office, Geena's thinks all hell will break loose when I'm not there.
Anything else that would need my immediate attention?"
"Yeah, there's one more thing, you know Nick? The blond headed giant? I think he likes you. After he changed clothes, he
watched your whole shoot, blushing, but couldn't keep his eyes off you."
"Your point being?"
"If you two get together, if ever that would happen," Cari rolled her eyes, "don't play with him, he's just a kid." Brooke
said seriously.
"A kid? That, that, that, blond pig?" Cari was shocked.
Brooke's jaw dropped opened, "Oh my God, In the history that we've known each other, I have never seen you blush while
talking about a boy!"
Cari's cheeks turned even more red. "Uh, um..."
"Is that a way of telling me that you also like that, that, that, blond pig?" Brooke teased her.
Regaining composure, "He's one of them, and you know my only purpose when, I "like" them. And why of all the guys
that I can choose, a "blond pig"!" she said disgusted.
"Okay, okay, you didn't have to get steamed off!"
"Sorry," Cari said sheepishly, "Well, I need to go back at my office."
"It's freakin' nine thirty in the evening for goodness sake!"
"I have to work overtime, I missed a lot of work in the last month." Cari sighed.
"You take care of yourself okay? I have to go home now"
They both went out of the glass and chrome office but went in seperate ways.
"No, thank you, you can go home now, I'll just finish up these." Cari said absently.
"G'night Ms. Sanders." Geena said as she went outside.
When Geena was out of sight, Cari sighed, thinking about what Brooke said a while ago, "Well he's cute, in a boyish kind of
look, with childish manners...he looks nice, we just got on the wrong foot."
After minutes of thinking, an image flashed in her mind. Her mother's bloody head with her father yelling all kids of
obscenities. Cari gasped, shaking her head, "He's just another guy, an angel in the exterior, a devil in the interior." She
removed the images in her mind and continued working with a hazy image of Nick at the back of her mind.
"YOU!?!" Nick said horrified.
Inside the Boys' dessing room...
Nick flopped in the couch, groaning. Brooke's office...
"How was the meeting?" Brooke asked.In Cari's office...
"Is there anything else, that I can do for you Ms. Sanders?" Geena asked as she place one of Cari's file on top of Cari's
desk.
