Wicked Bitch

“Sarah, did you review this graph of the drug effect on the body over time?...Sarah?”

It was 7 o'clock in the evening and Henry, Sarah, and I were at the library studying. We'd been here for a few hours now and the caffeine from our coffee was finally wearing off. We couldn't pay attention all at once. Someone was always dazed off or, in Sarah's case, texting.

I nudged her shoulder to get her attention. “Sarah! The graph. Did you review it?”

“Huh?” She snapped her head up. “Oh, uh, yeah sure.”

“This is going to be on the exam!” I waved the paper around knowing she hadn't even looked at it twice.”What's so important anyway?”

She snatched the paper from my hand and continued to text on her phone.

“I bet it's Oliver” Henry rolled his eyes. “You said you didn't want a relationship with him, but all you two ever do is talk on the phone or text. For Christ's sake let the man loose!”

“Shut it, Henry!” Sarah threw a cold stare in his direction. She turned towards me, as if to exclude Henry from the conversation. “Oliver just told me that Poppy left rehab. Apparently it's all over the British tabloids.”

“What!” Henry tried to squeeze into the conversation. “She isn't allowed to leave for another 3 months!”

“I know!” Sarah instantly forgave him in order to spill her heart of the information she'd just obtained. “He said she was signed out, but who would approve that? Anyway, She just flew in to London from Paris. I wonder what's on her agenda.”

They stared at each other in silence wondering what grand scheme their cousin could be up to next.

“Alright!” I slammed my book shut, startling them. “As long as she keeps her crazy ass in London and out of New York, I could care less. Now, I'm gonna go home and stuff my face with pizza.”

It was dark by the time I'd gotten home.

Jonah and I hadn't seen each other since he left my apartment on Monday morning. The last couple of days, if I wasn't staying late at school, Jonah was working late at the office. So, as soon I got home I texted Jonah and told him to grab a pizza and come over.

Half an hour later there was a knock on my door.

“Ooh, when did the delivery guys start getting so hot!” I grabbed fists full of Jonah's shirt and pulled him in toward me to give him a kiss.

Jonah smiled in between kisses. “I'm trying to come up with something, but I can't”

I stopped and furrowed my brows “Jonah Cohen at a loss for words? Is that even possible?”

“No, but this is” He held the pizza box in one hand as he lifted me with the other. I yelped and wrapped my legs around his body. He walked into my apartment and shut the door with his foot. He put the box on the dinner table and propped me up on the kitchen counter. His body stood between my knees. Both his hands rested on either side of my legs, straddling my body.

“Where the hell have you been?” Jonah asked.

I wrapped my hands behind his neck and gently placed my forehead to his. “Where the hell have you been?” I repeated his question.

“I don't like not seeing you.” his voice grew quieter the closer we got.

“Well, then I guess it's unfortunate that we have the schedules that we do.”

Jonah smiled and gave me a quick kiss. He walked over and grabbed a couple of plates from the kitchen cabinet. I jumped off the counter and rummaged through the fridge to find us something to drink.

“So, Priyal just told me I have to go to LA next week.” He handed me a plate as I opened the pizza box.

Priyal was Jonah's new assistant. The network required Jonah to find someone to keep his schedule in order. It was part of their "intern" program. It had been weeks of interviewing before it was down to Priyal and Jeremy. Jonah says he isn't playing favorites, but I know he ended up going with Priyal because she's a newly graduated alum of Harvard and, like Jonah, was on the staff for the Harvard Lampoon.

“For how long? What's going on?” I picked off the toppings from the pizza and ate it.

“Only for a couple of days. I have to do Kimmel and Conan and a few appearances for the network while I'm out there to promote the show. “ He smacked my hand to stop me from eating off all the toppings.

“Kimmel and Conan? That's huge!” I threw my arms around him and embraced him in a tight hug.

We spent most of the night catching up on our shows and doing mock interviews. I had to make sure if Jonah was going to do his first major national talk show interview, that he wasn't going to tell any embarrassing stories about me. Every one else was fair game.

It was Friday morning when I was woken up by a call from Kadie.

“Jesus Kadie, can't you ever just let me sleep in?” I croaked on the phone as I rubbed my face.

She sounded too peppy for my ears to handle that early in the morning. “It's past 10, Lynn! It's like an hour away from lunch time.”

“Well what is it?”

“You're coming by later aren't you? Can you grab my phone charger? My phone's on 2%, it's gonna die any minute.”

“Sure Kadie” I sighed. This was why she woke me up? A text would have sufficed. “Did you and Adam ever figure out who the client was?”

“Crazy story” I heard Kadie shuffling across a street as cars honked in the background. That girl was a true New Yorker when it came to jay walking. “The management team won't release the name of the client. Adam said something like this has never happened. Usually people know what their in for, but I guess this client is trying to be as top secret as possible. Which is just making me that much more eager to meet this super famous person. ”

“Wow, talk about wanting privacy.” It hurt to think so early in the morning, but I couldn't help but put two and two together. “...Wait a second, you said the client is internationally known? And Darlington is dropping the client?”

“Yeah, they're on the way to our office now, we're going to have our first meeting and try to draw up a contract.” Kadie sounded ecstatic.

“NO!” I shouted when I realized what was going on. “IT'S A SET UP!”

There was silence from Kadie's end of the phone. I looked down to see that the call had disconnected. Her phone must have died.

I scurried to throw on a pair of jeans and a t shirt and ran out my apartment. Kadie's office was a 10 minute train ride away, but I knew if I jumped in a cab I could get there quick enough.

The cab hadn't even come to a full stop before I swung the door open. I was still a block away but I saw Kadie walking out of the building approaching a blacked out sedan. I threw the driver my cash and jumped out the car and ran.

“Lynn? You got here fast." She made a face as she looked at my messy hair and wrinkled shirt. "Why do you look like that?”

“Kadie! You can't meet with the client! It's a setup!” I huffed as I tried to catch my breath. “She must have only agreed to meet with you after she realized Adam was talking to her manager!”

Kadie, still looking at me weird, held on to my shoulders to calm me down. “Who is she?”

Just as I was about to say it, Kadie stole the words out of my mouth. “Poppy Leroux” we both turned around to see Poppy, with a devilish grin, as she stepped out of the sedan.

“I'm back, bitch”