Alliance

Progress

~Chapter Seven~

Victoria quickly rose off the table when the front bell jingled and made her way to the front counter tying her apron on. She kindly smiled to an old man who stared down at the display shelf and she inwardly thanked the heavens for it.

"May I help you?" She asked.

"Yes, I would like a chocolate cake, full sheet." He replied, tapping an index finger against his chin.

"We have a great selection of cakes in this binder as well. You can take a look if you'd like. May I ask who the cake is for?" She asked. She lifted the heavy portfolio from under the till and set it over the glass counter in hopes of making a sale today.

"My granddaughter is turning twenty eight and she had a fascination with butterflies." He replied.

Victoria grinned and gestured for him to take a seat on a small wooden stool near the register. She was excited to finally start baking, something she hadn't done in nearly two weeks.

***

Alex parked outside the bakery and took a deep breath before slipping out and gripping the handle to the front of the shop. The bell jingled as he pushed himself inside and came to find Victoria talking to a customer. She spoke to an old man with pants up to his armpits and a pair of thick glasses. They both sat near the register talking over a birthday cake that was to be due in a few days. He saw her look his way from the corner of her eye and gripped the note pad in her hand.

So she is upset," Alex thought walking a little distance from them. He leaned against the red brick wall and stared at the black and white picture frames that took up most of the wall space. Soon the old man finished and the front door jingled signaling his exit. He watched as she gathered her paper work. She rose away from the counter and walked towards the back door ignoring him all together. He followed behind and took another deep breath before approaching her. Alex did not know why he needed to explain himself, part of him realized that such stunts as those would mess with the deal they had made. When he walked into the kitchen he came to find her sitting before the same laptop she had carried this morning.

"Vicky about Kim being..." He began.

"That is none of my business nor should you feel the need to explain yourself." She said, clicking away on the screen.

"I want to explain." He stated, taking a step forward.

***

"There is no need for you to waste your time in explaining anything Alexander, clearly you can't help who you are." She pointed out. The phone rang at a distance and she pushed out of her chair to answer.

"I can't help who I am, what the hell is that supposed to mean?" He asked his tone curious. Is he really that dumb? She thought. She shook her head at his lack of intelligence and simply replied, "Please just go home Alex, Kim might grow upset over your lack of absence, I won't be the reason why she gets mad...not anymore." She whispered.

"If you wanted to say that I'm a man whore then why didn't you just come out and say it?" Alex said, walking after her. Victoria bit her lip trying to keep her mouth shut, she didn't want to disrespect him.

"I have work to get done." She said.

"One, I am not dating Kim, I threw her out, two, we are supposed to be working on our plan." He pointed out.

"The deal is off, I will work with what I can to help my family business." She replied. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly balling her hands into a bunch. She did not want to get mad, Alex clearly was a waste of time and she did not want to deal with any of this.

"The deal is off? All because I slept with Kim. What did she do to you. The instant you took one look at her you bailed like a bat out of hell." He asked, studying her. He quickly captured her broken expression but she was fast to compose her features and smile instead.

"I have nothing against Kimberly, I simply cannot waist my time relying on you." She replied, turning her back to him.

"I think there is." He insisted.

She felt her body shutter at another memory slipping by her and closed her eyes to flood it away. It was as if it was only yesterday that the incident had happened. Kim had pushed Victoria into the school swimming pool knowing that she couldn't swim. It was the most humiliating incident that had ever happened to her in front of her one and only crush. She quickly brushed it away trying to think of a happy memory instead, something to make her smile rather than frown.

"Alex I fail to see where you care." She stated, crossing her arms in defense.

"I don't, I'm just curious, I knew she didn't like you in High School, but I never knew why." He replied.

Her body went rigid as Alex placed a hand over her shoulder and turned her to face him, she hated that it felt comforting. She quickly shrugged his hand away and furrowed her brow to show her displeasure.

"She was my bully and I was her punching bag end of story, okay?" She said.

"Kim...bullied you?" He asked surprised.

***

Alex noticed the discomfort she felt talking about her past and decided to change the subject instead. He wanted to know more for some reason, but he decided to leave it at that. The question was why? Kim had never hated anyone unless they had done her wrong, in High School she seemed more like the sweet type, he never pictured her as a bully.

"So what where you looking at back there?" He asked. She shifted from foot to foot and then looked up to meet his eyes. Something in them told him that she was arguing with herself, he felt suddenly intrigued by the way her eyes searched his and quickly broke their gaze.

"I really am not that difficult to work with, I swear. I'll behave from now on." He promised. She blinked a few times before walking past him towards the laptop. Alex followed and took a seat next to her, looking at her work. She had been working on setting up a web page. The gesture clearly implied he was once again on her good graces.

"This look's good, but you seem to be missing something." He commented.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Well, you have no real good pictures; you need to make it look professional. And you also need a few pictures of you and your father in here."

"I-I don't have any pictures of me." She quickly mumbled.

"You mean to tell me that you aren't photogenic?" He grinned.

"Not really." She confessed.

Alex found himself suddenly so interested in Victoria past, she was a big mystery and she refused to let anyone in.

"Why don't you pay a professional photographer to come and take you a few pictures, bake some cakes and have him snap a few of those as well." He advised.

Victoria simply nodded and tucked the loose strings of hair behind her ear. She easily forgave and he was happy for that. He tended to screw up a lot.

***

The day soon came to an end and she was surprised to have had Alex spent the entire day with her trying to finish up a few things on the web before starting on it tomorrow again. They sat across from each other digging there chop sticks into a few Chinese meals. The sun was finally setting and the clock against the cream colored wall marked eight thirty.

"I guess you should head home, I'm going to be closing up soon." She said. Alex looked up at her and nodded. Silence filled the room as they both stood there not knowing what to really say to each other.

"Uh, I guess I'll see you tomorrow. He mumbled scratching the back of his head. She simply smiled and began to gather the mess on the table. Alex turned and headed for the door feeling he should have said more but ignored it.

"Alex thank you for your help." Victoria said. He turned and smiled at her feeling for the first time it wasn't forced and then turned and walked out of the bakery.