Taming Lucas

Chapter 5

I peed my pants when I was eight. We were asked to perform on stage for a school play. When my turn came my mind went completely blank, I couldn't utter a single word. So I just stood there, nervous and scared to death. Everyone's eyes was on me as I peed my pants right in front of the whole school. My vision blurred as tears welled up my eyes. That was the most embarrassing moment in my life, up until now.

Hitting your boss's mother on the head with a frying pan beats peeing pants. Just kill me now.

Mrs. Anderson is currently in the hospital. The doctor informed us that she has a mild concussion so she needs to stay at the hospital for a couple of days. I might have been stronger than I thought.

Lucas looks pissed. No that would be an understatement. If it were possible for smoke to come out of his ears, they would be flaming right now. I wish I could disappear somewhere forever. How am I gonna get out of this?

"Yes I'll be right there." Lucas says on the phone. "Keep the clients company."

I'm just standing here like a dog that just got caught stealing food. No amount of apologies is gonna save me now.

"Miss Grayson, stay with my mother for a while. I need to meet our clients for an important deal. I need to close this deal no matter what." He looks at me with eyes full of worry and anger. Worry for his mother, angry about me.

"Yes sir." I don't even have the guts to look at him. This is so embarrassing.

"And you and I need to have a talk. Meet me after office hours." I can feel him glaring at me even though I'm not looking at him. He walks out the hospital doors.

Its a miracle he didn't fire me on the spot. I know he's worried about his mother more than his reputation. I feel like such an awful person. This is one of the many times I wish to be less crazy.

I should apologize to Mrs. Anderson once more. I hope she doesn't think I'm some psycho serial killer who kills people and then hide them in the basement.

"Mrs. Anderson I am deeply sorry for my actions." I hang my head in shame.

"You mean uncivilized actions." She says looking at me.

"Yes more like neanderthal-like actions but I'm really really sorry. I honestly thought you were some robber." I cringe.

"You-you can hit me you want to. It doesn't necessarily need to be a frying pan, uh, you can use anything you want. How about this monitor?" I point to the monitor beside the bed that's beeping ever since we came here.

Yes I have a bad habit of stammering and rambling nonsense when I'm extremely nervous.

I'm expecting her to grab me by the hair or go all bat-shit crazy on me but she reacts in the least expected way.

She laughed. Like a real laugh where you laugh so hard your tummy hurts. I gaped at her reaction. I don't know what's happening right now. Maybe the nurses gave her the wrong meds or too much painkillers.

"Mrs. Anderson?"

"You're adorable. You should see your face right now. You looked like you were about to pee yourself." She laughs again even harder.

Tell me about it.

"Its okay, darling. Its just a slight concussion. Besides a little action was much needed in my life." She wipes a tear from her eyes resulted from laughing too much. "Some skills you got there. I like you." She smiles at me.

Okay. This is unexpected. Here I thought I would be sent to jail or something.

"Uhm thanks?" I question rather than state. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to react yet.

"Relax. Its okay, really. You remind me of myself when I was young. I always did things without thinking first too. I got in a lot of trouble but what's life without a little bit of trouble right?"

She seems rather nice than her son. I like her already.

"Exactly. I do things without a second thought simply because I feel that's what I'm supposed to do." I smile. "Again I'm really sorry Mrs. Anderson. That was really stupid of me." I apologize once more.

"Oh stop apologizing. And call me Margaret. I know you have a kind heart." She takes my hand in hers and looks at me. Hazel eyes with blonde hair tumbling over her shoulders. She's beautiful the kind that gives you comfort by just looking at them.

She reminds me of my mom. I believe we all have an aura, some good, some freaky but Margaret is one of the rare kinds that makes you feel loved even if you just met her.

"Thank you." I smile. But I know my biggest problem is Lucas, he's gonna fire me for sure. What am I gonna do? Why can't I have peace at least for one day?

"Don't worry about Luke, I'll talk to him." She read my mind.

"He's gonna be so pissed at me. No he's already pissed at me. He's gonna fire me for sure, after he goes all wicked on me. He's such a hothead." Realization dawns on me that I just badmouthed her son right in front of her. "Oh my god! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to say that out loud." I clamp my mouth shut to prevent myself from further embarrassing myself.

"I know he can be intimidating sometimes, maybe most of the time but he's a good man. Trust me. Yes every mother in the world will say that about their son but I know Luke, he's just trying to take his father's place. He respects his father like a god. He would always try and dress like him as a child." She smiles at the memory. "Ever since his father died, he's been trying to keep up with his father's footsteps. He feels he's never good enough to replace his father. If only he knew how much his father would be proud of him right now." A tone of wistfulness visible in her voice.

"I'm sorry Margaret, I didn't know." If there is one thing I know, its how much pain losing a loved one feels like. It is a soul crushing experience that I wouldn't wish on anybody. People say everyone dies and that everything will be okay with time. But the truth is that time makes it worse. Your memory of them fades as time passes until you are left with only a snippet of their memories that you make up the rest the way you want it to. Time doesn't heal, instead it makes you forget how soft their hands felt like, how warm their embraces were, how loving their smiles were. Until you are left with nothing.

"He misses his father as much as I do. Its just that he doesn't know how to show his emotions. He puts up this wall so that no one can see how he really feels or hurt him. He wears his facade of an intimidating person every day just so he doesn't get hurt." She looks down and let's out a small sigh.

She recovers quickly and looks at me. "Men right?" She pretend rolling her eyes.

I smile. "I understand, Margaret." I keep my hand in hers.

Just then I get a call from Lucas. My heart is pounding not from romance but out of fear. While I'm contemplating whether to answer or ignore it, Margaret grabs my phone from my hands. She swipes her thumb across the screen to answer it.

"Lucas you are not gonna fire this young lady, you hear me? Or else I will come down personally and embarrass you right in front of your employees. I know you take your "intimidating persona" look seriously." She says sternly that she looks cool right now. Margaret is my new favourite person.

I can hear Lucas groaning from the phone and saying something but Margaret cut the call off right then and there.

"There all done. No need to worry about a thing." She hands me my phone back.

A wide grin breaks on my face. I'll say it again Mrs Anderson totally kicks ass.

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