"Flynn..." The word escaped her mouth before she could stop it. He continues to look at her, then extended his hand. She shook it.
"I'm Leia, you asked for me?" She was a bit anxious but she wasn't going to let that show. She was going to sell an apartment and she was going to do it well.
"Yeah, some guys I have been living with mentioned that I should come here and ask for you. They said that you were the best?" He posed that as a question as if he was unaware of anything of this sort. It put Leia in a difficult, though, should she agree or be modest.
"I really don't think so, but since you're here, why don't we get started?" She pointed him towards her office and followed after she managed to calm down a bit.
"So, what are you looking for?" She asked as she entered her office, a small glass cubicle near the restrooms. It was not as disgusting as she had thought, on the contrary, it was handy.
"Something small but airy. I'm going to be just living there for one and a half months or something on those lines. I haven't decided. I really like ocean views, so preferably something close to the beach and the seafront?" Again, he posed it as a question. Leia was a bit speechless because none of her clients had ever known what they wanted, which made it easier for her to do her job. She just predicted what people wanted, but he, he knew what he wanted and therefore it increased the stakes. What if he didn't like anything she showed him?
"Wow, you know what you want." She left the door handle and walked towards her chair. It was an eccentric blue swirly chair that went with the entire subdued gray of the room.
"Yeah, I do." He said with a straight face. Gosh, if this guy showed emotion, it would be much easier to her.
"Okay, I have a few places in my head. We should leave if you want to finish seeing them all." She pulled out some keys and a notepad. She made sure that the phone was in her pocket and got up to head out.
"Are you that girl in today's paper?" She stopped short, her fingers an inch away from the silver handle.
"What?" She turned around, unsure of how she had landed up in the papers.
"Yeah, I knew you were familiar, I just realized you were in the local papers and that's why I have been seeing you everywhere." He victoriously smashed his fist on her chair handle.
She shifted the notepad from one hand to another and opened her mouth to ask him a question. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Your sister and her husband are in town and apparently he's this really famous dude?" Again, a question.
"Oh, the tabloids probably got that. Yeah, that's my sister. I hate to break this conversation short but we really need to get going." She turned around so quickly that her head bumped into the glass door. She winced in pain and Flynn let out a short laugh behind her.
She clenched her teeth together and turned around while rubbing her head.
"We. Should. Go." She said, holding onto the door and pushing it. She held it open for him and he walked through while putting his black blazer on. He thanked her and walked toward the reception as she followed miserably.
What else was she going to do today that would end in her becoming a heap of a hot mess?
-
They got into her car and as soon as Leia put her keys into her car the most obnoxious song started playing: Pretty Girls by Britney Spears. Flynn narrowed his eyes at the song said, "Interesting choice."
"This isn't the kind of music I listen to all the time." She said hurriedly as she switched playlists. The truth is that this was her guilty playlist: the music she enjoyed but she couldn't let that information leak out. She protected that information with all that she had.
"Right, it's completely okay. No judgment." He said laughing. She grimaced and drove out of the parking lot of the office. There was silence in the car except for the soft music playing.
"So what brings you to Tahoe?" Leia asked first. He turned to look at her and shrugged.
"Needed to get away." She assumed that he didn't want to let out more information, probably something personal. She didn't know what else she could ask. If she brought up the band playing yesterday, she would seem like a weird stalker, but he had brought up the newspaper thing.
"So, I heard you play The Alcove yesterday. I thought it was really good." She turned onto the main road and drove towards the first house.
"Yeah? That was just an impromptu gig, usually, there would be a more set list and there would be a flow to the songs. I think it was a rather okay show." Wow, it was hard making conversation with this guy.
"No, I really liked the set list. It was quite good. It was calming and well played." She nodded and drove straight towards the apartment building at the edge of the town. It overlooked the Lake and had a nice view of the mountains as well.
"Thanks, it means a lot. So, how long have you lived here?" He was making conversation, that was an improvement, right?
"My entire life." It sounded quite lame coming out of her mouth but it was true. She had enough money saved up to visit places but she never quite wanted to leave Tahoe. It was hard for her.
"Whoa, how can you live here for your entire life? It's so small!" He exclaimed. She laughed and took a left as she entered the parkway for the building.
She answered while parking: "I don't know; it's got a sort of beauty. You get used to the thrill of silence." It was her one of her dad's lines. He used to keep repeating 'thrill of silence' whenever he saw an opportunity.
"That's deep, but have you ever visited proper cities?" She unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door.
"L.A, once, but that was two years ago." She still remembered that day too.
"L.A is gorgeous." She nodded in agreement.
"So, this is the first apartment. It's got one bedroom, a kitchen, and a bathroom, but apart from that not much. You can see the entire lake and some of the mountains from the windows. You've got these long French windows and they're pretty cool. It's also fully furnished so you only need to move in with your clothes and other necessities. The building allows pets and you get hot water-" They had been walking towards the main lobby of the building and Leia had been retelling all the facts that she knew about the apartment. She stopped midsentence when Flynn laughed out loud.
"You can sell me the apartment after I see it, Ms. Real Estate Agent." He opened the door for me this time and she walked in a bit bashfully. Leia smiled and greeted the doorman. When she had chatted up James she went and pressed the lift button.
"That's James, he's really nice. He'll get you whatever you want, just name it." She whispered to him. He gave her a thumbs up sign as they got onto the elevator.
-
She showed him the apartment and he immediately fell in love with it. Especially the view.
"Jesus Christ, this is beautiful." She laughed as he knelt in front of the window and looked at the clear blue afternoon sky.
"Yeah, it is. And it's quite cheap. You get it for 300$ for a month. There were some problems in this building a year ago and that's why it's quite reasonable. We can go to- "
He was looking at her with an entertained expression on his face.
"You really want to sell me this apartment, don't you?" He leaned back on his knees and looked at her. She pursed her lips and shrugged. She walked to the other side of the apartment to give him some space. She fiddled with the vase in the kitchen nearly dropping it when he screamed in the bedroom.
"Are you okay?" She hurried to see him and found him sprawled on the bed, the queen size bed to be precise.
"I'm in heaven."
