Cinderella | Keanu Reeves

Chapter 4

"Well, sink or swim." she thinks to herself then takes a step forward and the door becomes opened for her.

   Nancy gets inside the huge building and takes a look around. Her eyes become even bigger after seeing the hall she is standing in. Spatial room surrounding her is painted white, with numerous framed pictures hanging on the walls, probably with figures of well-known actors, models and other American stars but she cannot tell. She steps closer to take a glance at them, it is her first time in a place like this and she is purely curious about all of the mesmerizing photographs showing various scenes and people, most likely taken by the best photographers in Los Angeles. Before she gets to finish her little trip around the place she is stopped by a middle-aged woman. She is taller than Nancy, her long blonde hair is tied up in a tight bun on her head and her blue eyes take a suspicious look at the young girl.
"May I help you with something, miss?" she speaks not breaking the eye contact.
"Yes, ma'am. I'm looking for Mr. Reeves, could you please take me to him?" she asks politely with a light smile but the woman in front of her gives her annoyed look.
"Mr. Reeves is busy at the moment, he does not receive any guests." her voice seems to be a little bit bored, probably after saying the same thing not for the first time today and not the last.
"I know but the thing is, I work for him and I have to hand him something important. It's his-" she gets cut off by the woman who thinks the girl is just trying to get close to someone she shouldn't.
"If you wish to see Mr. Reeves you need to make an appointment, miss." the lady puts her palm gently on Nancy's shoulder wanting her to go out but the girl does not move an inch since her eyes catch the silhouette of the man she has been looking for.
"Mr. Reeves!" she calls out his name and he looks directly at her with the look of great surprise and confusion at once. He blinks twice before heading to her, having no clue how could she possibly be here at the very moment.
"Nancy? What are you doing here?"
"You forgot to take your cellphone with you, sir." she would not dare to speak to him so freely as she does at home, she respects the man as well as his workplace too much to do so. She takes out a mobile phone from her old-fashioned backpack and hands it to him.
"She's okay, thank you." he says while nodding his head at the woman and with this she goes away, glancing at the young girl for the last time, "You didn't have to do this, I... Wait, how did you get here anyway?" he asks and puts his phone into the pocket of his black trousers.
"Mr. Smith sent me the address. I just thought you may need your mobile at work and that's it." she tucks a curly strand of her hair behind one ear, "I won't disturb you anymore, I'll go home by now." she adds after a second being ready to turn around and leave but someone else approaches the two of them.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Reeves, but this is not going to work today. He had a car crash, although nothing bad happened but he won't be able to make it on time." a man wearing striped shirt gasps out after rushing towards Keanu with his hand full of papers and a phone in the other one,
"I am terribly sorry for the trouble but could we please reschedule today's plans?" he fixes his messy hair and notices how Reeves furrows his dark brows, yet he is not mad but worried about his photographer's state of health.
"Is he okay? What happened?" he asks immediately with a concern written on his face.
"He is fine, really. Some other driver bumped into his car and it's just a mess." he answers and then realizes that there is one more person standing next to them, "I'm sorry, who are you?" he glances at the young girl and before she opens her mouth to say anything her employer already says:
"This is Nancy Moore, my housekeeper. Nancy, this is Mark Terrace, he works here in the studio." he introduces the two to themselves while keeping his hand on Nancy's shoulder which makes the girl astonished with how freely he feels with her.
"Nice to meet you, sir." she grins widely while shaking hands with the man who also smiles at her.
"Hey, why won't you wait for me a few minutes so I can take you back home?" the man with long hair pouring down his head asks while taking a quick glance at the girl standing next to him. Her delicate jaw drops almost invisibly at his offer but she humbly nods her head.
"With pleasure, sir. Thank you." she simply responds and gets guided by Mr. Terrace into the waiting room where she waits a moment for her employer. The girl intertwines her long fingers behind her back while admiring the rest of the pictures she skipped earlier. Suddenly she blinks twice at the sight of Keanu's face in one of the framed photographs surrounding her. Nancy takes a look at man's figure, his body covered in black clothing and a soft smile plastered on his face which makes Nancy to form a cheeky grin as well. She is full of admiration towards the man who hired her, he seems to be such a famous person and yet he acts so kind in front of others. 
Before she gets to think of it, the girl feels a light grip on her fragile wrist and she immediately turns around just to find Mr. Reeves standing next to her.
''We can go now, let's go.'' he simply says while letting go of Nancy's arm and she obediently nods her head not wanting to slow him down. A few moments later both of them are sitting in the car heading home. The car radio is turned on with a song of Bruno Mars playing on which makes the girl start beating out a rhythm with her index finger.
''You know you didn't have to come here, right?'' he speaks up all of a sudden, ''I mean, it's not part of your job, it was my silly mistake.'' the man takes a quick glance at the girl and realizes how stunning she looks with her thick hair almost shining in the sun.
''I know, sir. I just wanted to help'' she answers after licking her dry lips.
''You sir me once again and I won't take you to a dinner.'' he says with a twinge of dread in his tone although his eyes are shimmering with joy, waiting for her response.
''Wait, what dinner? Are we going out today?'' she asks with her green eyes wide opened and focused on Keanu's figure. A gentle smile does not leave his lips as he answers:
''Since my plans are cancelled and you have nothing to do today, I thought we could eat something out.'' his eyes are focused on the road but he occasionally peeks at the girl who seems to be embarrassed at his polite offer as she blinks and her whole body tenses up a bit.
''Is that okay? I don't want to trouble you, besides I'm your employee and-''
''Nancy, please.'' she gets interrupted in the middle of her sentence, ''Stop perceiving yourself only as a worker, we live together now and I would like you to treat my home as your own, as long as you stay there. Can you do that for me?'' he takes a look at the girl, confusion mixed with awkwardness all over her face and her cheeks painted with the slightest shade of pink.
''Yes, of course. I just...'' she starts hesitantly, ''I've just never done that before. I was always perceived as an employee and employee only. This is a brand new thing for me to have such lighthearted relations with my employer.'' she confesses eventually.
''Are you okay with this?'' he questions and turns his head towards her direction before he stops his car at the driveway. She's taken-aback at his actions towards her, she thinks she does not deserve to be treated so well because no one ever truly cared for her, except for her mother. So why would he care?
"It feels so strange and yet makes me so happy." Moore takes a glance at the man and notices how his features soften. All he wants for her is to slow things down after so many years of hard working, he can see clearly that she needs some rest.
"I'm glad it does." he smiles gently at her and soon after turns the engine off, "Let's go, shall we?" he unbuckles his seat belt and the girl follows obediently. After they get inside, the man leaves his keys on the table in the entrance hall, as well as his phone, not to forget about it again.
"So, where would you like to go for a dinner?" he takes two glasses from the cupboard and pours some apple juice inside them.
"Uh, I..." she stutters in embarrassment, the sudden realization of not knowing any restaurants in Los Angeles hitting her right away, "Honestly, I don't really know any place, I'm used to eating at home." she replies after a moment of silence, feeling a huge wave of awkwardness for having no clue where they could eat, yet Reeves does not seem to be bothered by this. Instead of leaving a comment, he hands a glass of juice to the girl.
" It's fine, don't worry about it." he opens up one of the drawers in search of something, "I have a few leaflets in here, you can just take a look at them and decide where to go." after a few seconds his hand is full of little paper booklets, which he puts on the table, "What do you say?" Keanu takes a sit by the table, taking a sip of his drink right after. Nancy's lips form a wide smile at him and she takes her sit next to the man.
"Can we pick something together?" she asks happily while looking him in the eyes with her own filled with joy, as she was just a kid asking her parent for a permission to play outside. And Reeves does not see anything wrong with it as he feels the urge to become someone like a guardian for her, since she has no one else standing by her side. He wants to show her the other side of the world she has been living in, take her somewhere beautiful and watch her bright smile more often.
And her heart is about to fall for the man who treats her so dearly although she has no idea about it just yet.