literature

TT and BT: Distractions

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After tying up the meeting with Reg and the financiers, and having obtained and sent the all important "get well cards", Ellie decided that she had better take five minutes out. She'd been on the go all day without a pause to do anything more than take a sip of coffee and the way today was panning out, she needed to be on top of her game. If something did need seeing to that didn't require her specific presence, she was confident her team would be able to handle it.

She grabbed a coffee from the machine in the hotel lobby (it was in Japanese, but it didn't require much working out) and found her way to one of the sitting rooms, deserted at this time of day. Sinking down into the nearest couch, she kicked off her heels and closed her eyes. Focus focus focus. Clear your mind, get in the zone.

"Hello."

There was no mistaking that voice. Ellie quickly opened her eyes, straightening her back and trying to look more alert. She hated being caught slacking.

"Hello," she said, watching Lindsey as he stepped into the room, plastic cup in hand – he must have had the same idea. Or followed me, the suspicious part of her mind suggested.

He settled beside her on the couch. She half-wished she'd picked one of the chairs so he'd have to keep his distance.

"Hello," he said again.

Hello. Such a banal, simple word. It meant nothing and it meant everything.

She tried a smile. "What have you got?"

Lindsey frowned into his cup, swirling the contents around. "I must confess, I don't actually know. I was not sure how to operate such a machine so I pressed buttons at random. It doesn't taste like tea, though."

"Didn't you bring tea with you? I thought you mentioned something about that."

"I did, but that would have necessitated a trip to my room, and I wanted to spend a moment with you." Then, as though his actions required further explanation, he added, "You might have been gone by the time I came back down."

"I'm only taking a tiny breather," Ellie said. "Lots to do."

Lindsey just smiled at her. Ellie looked away. So far, she'd been too busy on tour to pay Lin much attention. The only interaction they'd really had was at the meetings with the financiers, and at them it was strictly professional. It had been easy to pretend that Lindsey wasn't here at all, which was precisely how she was hoping to keep it. While she had enough experience to know she could handle this, tour was still the biggest management task she'd undertaken. It was too important for her to take her eye off the ball, let alone because she was distracted by him.

She knew she was being terribly unfair. While Lindsey hadn't asked for any more of her time than he had naturally received, she still knew full well that he would be more than happy to have some. But Ellie couldn't help feeling uncomfortable around him. Things between them had been in a funny kind of place when they'd left London. And what I most hate, she thought, is that other people will pick up on that. They will make assumptions about us, even judge. I don't want people to think I fixed this up for him, or that I show him any bias or favour because we already know each other. And I especially don't want people getting the idea that we know each other a bit too well.

"Would you rather I left you alone?"

Realising she was wallowing in her thoughts, Ellie snapped back to the moment. "It's fine."

"You are avoiding me."

It was a statement. She knew he'd noticed but it was still crushing to hear him say so.

"It's not your fault," she said. "I'm just…"

"You're doing a fantastic job," Lindsey interjected. "Really. Everyone says so. Organised, cool, calm, collected, getting all the press releases just right. If you're worried about that, I think you can give yourself some liberty to ease up."

"I have to keep focused." Then, because that sounded so bland and she cared enough not to string him along, "I… I'll be straight with you, Lin. I'm finding having you around a little distracting."

He leaned forwards, an intense look coming into his eyes. "Why would I be a distraction?"

"You know why," Ellie was annoyed with herself for feeling flustered.

"One might argue that if you are distracted, then that is simple a consequence of your allowing me to distract you. One might also point out that I have not been seeking to distract you. To my knowledge, I have not suddenly grown three arms and two heads, nor has my skin turned orange, which I think we can both agree really would be distracting. I mean, orange skin! Scandalous."

Ellie opened her mouth to retort – then spotted the twinkle in his eyes. She sighed, shaking her head. "Stop messing with me, Mr Barrister."

"Sorry. Irresistible. More seriously, though, have I done anything improper? Forgive me, but I was rather pleased with the professionalism with which I have been conducting myself."

Ellie decided not to bring up the episode with the candyfloss machine Lindsey had brought for the performers. What they had done with that machine definitely did not come under the heading of "professional". Besides, even thinking of it made her smile. Only Lindsey could quite pull off something like that.

"I never said you weren't professional and you haven't done anything," she said. "It's just… I'm a little concerned that people will think I'm less than professional. Think I pulled strings to get you in on this, because I wanted you about. It's clear we know each other, and I'm sure people are assuming…" she hesitated. "That there's something going on between us

Lindsey raised one eyebrow, but otherwise his face remained perfectly composed. "What kind of something? And why should that bother you so much?" He paused. "I thought I was the one who was supposed to care what people think."

Good point; normally she had thick enough skin to shrug off the negative comments. "The one thing I can't stick people thinking is that I'm unprofessional," Ellie said. "Anything else, fine, whatever. But that… well, you know what my business means to me."

He patted her hand. "Relax. No one thinks that – and you're only thinking that because you've invested so much in this."

He had a point. "Yeah..." She admitted. "You may be right."

"Anyway," He winked at her. "Would it be so terrible if people did think there was something going on between us? Especially seeing as we have established that I am not orange with three arms and two heads?"

Ellie laughed. She had to give it to Lindsey sometimes – he was pretty charming, especially when he was in a playful mood. "You're discriminating," she pointed out.

"I am," Lindsey agreed. "Atrocious, isn't it. So… you never really answered the question. Would it be so bad, really? If people did assume?"

"Today is not the day to be having this conversation," Ellie said. She'd definitely been here more than the five minutes she'd allocated, and besides, she didn't have an answer for him beyond what she'd already given. "I need to find Reg. This whole lip-sync issue is still unresolved and we need it done and dusted pronto. He should have sorted himself out enough for me to talk to him."

"You can find him," Lindsey agreed. "Though I think there is little point." He placed his by now empty cup on the coffee table and stretched. "I'm one step ahead of you, Els. While you were slacking about downing coffee, I was having a talk with Reg. I think we've come to an understanding. If we don't see the document signed within the hour, I will be surprised."

He said it very factually, as though issuing a report. There was no hint of boastfulness, or smugness. Ellie stacked her cup on top of his and neatly tossed them into the bin on the other side of the room.

"Well, you've certainly eased my headache. How the heck did you wrangle that? He was adamant this was a no go!"

"I used my silky lawyery tongue. No, to be serious, we just talked. Ease up on the chap, Els. He's worried. Shan't say why unless he tells you, but today's a bad day for a reason you're unaware of."

That sounded like trouble. Ellie would prefer Reg to tell her if there was something extra on his mind, but she respected his privacy and Lindsey's confidentiality, so she didn't press the matter. She slipped her feet back into her heels and stood. Lindsey also got up and opened the door for her.

"Thanks," she said.

"When do you think will be the day for having the conversation we could have had just now but didn't?" Lindsey inquired as she stepped out. "No pressure, but I would appreciate it."

"When I am less busy and can think straight. Happy?"

He sighed. "Brutally and crushingly honest – that's one of the things I like about you. Most of the time, anyway. Alright, I take the point. But before you go… would you rather I didn't talk to you while we are touring? As it seems to be something of an issue."

She reached out and patted his shoulder. "No." she said. "I've been unfair, and you've done nothing wrong. And now I really do need to go.

"Cheerio, then."

She took a couple of steps then looked over her shoulder.

"And by the way… The button for tea on that machine is the top right one. Just FYI."

He laughed. "Noted. I am so glad we talked, Eleanor."

I am too, Ellie thought.
Ties in with Ellie and Lin's adventures in #The-Boiler-Tour which I imagine to be before they get together. Specifically, it ties into part 4 of Reg's Bad Day written by *NuisanceBearEull, which you can find here: [link]

If you come over from the Boiler group, PLEASE comment rather than just looking and going, or faving and going. My writing gets so little attention on here so it would be nicer to know if you liked it, and even nicer to talk to some new people who understand the setting of this piece. :)

And if you don't know these two, to give some context: Ellie and Lindsey are dance partners, who are fairly new acquaintances at this point. He's an English lord and she's decidedly less posh. She was annoyed with him wanting to join her on tour initially (she's the manager). He likes her quite a lot, as you've probably gathered, but he's not going to be pushing anything. You can read their adventures in manga form here: [link]

Nothing special but it was really fun to write!

Reg (c) *NuisanceBearEull
Ellie and Lin (c) me
© 2011 - 2024 Larissa-Bright
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Pilcrow9's avatar
It's interesting to read Lin and Ellie in a different story.:)
Lin with orange skin, three arms, and two heads would be scandalous! I could only imagine what he would look like! xD
Lin's so adorkable.