A/N: Hello, babies! Alright, so my goal for this will be to update every other Sunday, so it follows the story line of every Sunday evening. And if I feel inspired or generous, I'll post a chapter on a Sunday that I'm not scheduled to post it- like NOW. The way the 'story' that Eliza tells will be placed in the little
~~~ <Those things.
And, yeah. I'm super stoked about this. ANYWAYS. Here you go.
--------------
[Eliza]
"Keep going!" Kat sat up in her bed moving her light brown hair from out of her little face. Brown eyes wide with excitement to hear the story she had heard so many times. I felt a smile creep onto my face at the girl's enthusiasm for something that she already knew the ending to. My head tilted to the side, and raised an eyebrow.
"It's getting a little late, Kaitlyn. And your mommy will be home soon." I said warily, glancing out her white bedroom door where I expected to see my sister standing.
"Patricia can wait." she folded her arms, with a pout.
"Patricia?" I laughed "When in the world did you learn your mother's first name?"
"Aunt Eliza, please?" she stuck out her bottom lip, ignoring my question. I sighed in defeat.
"Fine, fine. 10 more minutes....Where was I? Oh, yes."
~~~~~
It all began on a Thursday evening. The day had passed by slowly, once again for Lauren as she piddled about the apartment aimlessly. Fog gathered on the windows, as snow had been falling all day. Her eyes drifted about the lights of the city before her, traveling from glowing yellow light to glowing yellow light that filled every other window of townhouses, apartments, and hotels.
"Jane!" she called out, her voice echoed through the tall ceilings. This beckoning followed with little, short footsteps that grew until they stopped, indicated that the person she called was in her prescence. Lauren turned over her left shoulder to see the familiar face of her house keeper, Jane. Jane was slightly older, in her middle forties with no children. She was tall, slender, and an aging beauty. Her jet black hair had begun to gray ever so slightly, crows feet threatened to break out next to each of her blue eyes, and her smile lines were evident.
"Yes, dear?" Jane asked routinely.
"I think I'm going to go downstairs and visit Daniel." Lauren said, looking back outside the window at the still-descending snow.
"Well, that sounds fine. Take one of the muffins I made today to him. I'm sure he's hungry, he'll be working late tonight." Jane replied, Lauren did not turn.
"He works late every night." she said, with a matter-a-fact tone. "He's the night guard."
"Just don't go outside, you'll catch a chill." her housekeeper replied, and her quick footsteps sounded again, fading toward the kitchen.
Lauren's normal, faint smile appeared on her face. It was the smile that was automatic when she heard something that she didn't want to hear. Her thoughts wandered, she thought of the touch of the snow that she felt as a child, the time her sister and her went sledding-
"Here we are." Jane's voice broke through the girl's thoughts. "Make sure you tell him that there aren't any nuts in them. You know he's allergic."
"I know, I know." Lauren sighed, and turned to see a small white tuber ware container that held two of Jane's famous banana-nut muffins, that obviously did not contain nuts. She took the container from the woman's hands and made her way to the elevator, taking it down 15 floors, as she does almost every day. A quiet 'ding' announced her arrival to the bottom floor, and she stepped out, her eyes meeting the receptionist/guard, Daniel.
He stood to be a pretty big guy, towering at 6 feet and 7 inches. Short, cropped, gray hair sat on top of his head, his brown eyes shooting from me to the container in my hands.
"Is that what I-"
"Yes, it's a banana- no-nuts muffin." Lauren teased, holding it out for his large hands to take. Within a matter of moments, he had scarfed down the two treats and was grinning at her happily. He took a seat in the swivel chair behind his desk and looked at Lauren expectantly, waiting to hear her usual questions.
"How was your day?" she started
"Fine, busy." his normal reply
"Anything exciting happen?" Lauren continued
"Nope."
"Any new residents come in to rent a floor?" she questioned.
"Actually...." he began, Lauren's eyes widened to the size of basketballs. "We will be having a new resident..."
"How can they afford it?!" she pressed, popping herself up onto the marble slab desk.
The thing was, in order to keep Lauren safe, they couldn't have a random building with only one tenant- that would look too suspicious to the public. So, every few months or so they'd sell another person a suite. But, this person went through numerous background checks, and had to pay a GREAT amount in order to purchase one of these levels. Also, a set of rules came with purchasing an apartment level.
1. Any person that would EVER visit you have to have a background check.
2. Any person that wishes to visit you has to have their name on the list of 10 people that are given to (Daniel).
3. The list of 10 people cannot be changed, exchanged, or added to. If the tenant wishes to take out a person- they may do so.
4. Absolutely NO other public may know where they live, and if they wish to leave and come back, they may not disclose any information about the other tenants to those that don't live in the complex.
5. If any rules are broken, the resident will be evicted immediately.
Currently, few people had floors. An rich, elderly, retired couple that lived on the 2nd floor, A foreign couple that showed up every other weekend to 'get away', and lastly a rich businessman that used his floor twice a year when he came to London for his work.
So, the guidelines of living here were strict- which posed the question: Who in the world would want to live here?
"They're a celebrity." Daniel said in a 'duh' tone "He's been looking to get away from all the media attention since his band has gotten to big."
Lauren nodded thoughtfully "Who is i-"
Daniel quickly turned away from her as his desk phone rang. He quickly picked it up.
"Yeah?....Alright....Okay...Great. I'll be looking for him." he said quietly into the phone and then hung up. He looked back to the curious girl before him. "He's here!"
The bulky man stood up and walked toward the complex's front doors, punching in a code to unlock the brass colored doors. A louder beep sounded through the lobby, and he opened up the hefty door just as a guy entered. He wore a bigger black pea coat that was buttoned tightly shut, and although it was evening dark RayBans covered his eyes. The mystery boy smiled at Daniel, shortly introducing him to the two security guards behind him, that left moments later.
Lauren slid down into the swivel chair behind her and studied this new tenant as he talked to Daniel. He took off his sunglasses, revealing sweet, brown eyes, highlighting his strong jaw line tremendously. His brown hair was cropped, and spiked slightly in the front, and with a pearly white smile to match his overall great looks. This boy looked so familiar, and just as he walked up to Lauren, it clicked who this mystery tenant was.
"Hi." he stuck out his hand politely over the marble desk. "I'm Liam."
Y
