Find me in the Sun

😚 Kiss my muse on the cheek

Ian chuckled when Lara kissed his cheek, shaking his head “Oh God, did I reach the point where I only get a consolation kiss? Like, a pity kiss?” he asked entertained, realizing that maybe he had one too many drinks and that’s why he was babbling nonsense to Lara. “I know it’s lame and different that I’m taking a time to myself but honestly, haven’t gotten any action in weeks, this kiss is the most exciting thing I’ve done with a girl”

Lara was staring at the test in his hands, trying her best not to laugh because yes, he was right… this was either a joke, a mistake or a terrible way of saying he was going to be a father. “Well… you do have lots of sex so there might be a chance this is not a joke. You’re also very attached to your three-dates rule, so maybe they felt intimidated. Have you had unprotected sex lately?”

Ian scrunched his nose, shaking his head. “I never have unprotected sex” He mumbled, sighing. “Like I get it, no method is completely efficient but... why not telling me? Like, if this is not a joke or a mistake, why leave this instead of you know, talking? And yeah, I explain what I want but every girl I sleep with knows it and agrees to it and I’m very cordial and kind and I never end up with scandals or broken hearts so...” He sighed, frustrated. “This is fucked up, Lara, whatever they wanted to achieve, they did it”

Looking around to check in on their surroundings, Liv then realized that yes, it was probably her mind indeed. “I don’t see anyone else complaining or getting scared, so I was probably feeling dizzy or something. I’m alright, I’m alright. Thanks, Ian.” Liv smiled at her boss as she let out a sigh. “How are we on the sculptures damages?”

“You sure? I didn’t feel anything but if you’re dizzy maybe you should sit down, drink something? You want a coffee? Cup of tea?” He offered, since why else would she feel like the Earth was moving? He couldn’t help but feel worried for a second. “It was just one and the insurance needs to take responsibility for it but they’re been really annoying and asking for a lot of bureaucracy instead of fixing the damn sculpture. You’d expect more from them, like, it’s not just glueing the thing back together, restoration should be taken more serious”

She chuckled a bit, smiling softly before nodding. ‘It’s okay,” Kaira assured him. A long time ago she didn’t have experience in the field until her ex came along. Now she felt like a schoolgirl when she was around her crush. “Thank you, and when I get the nerve to do it, I’ll do it.”

“Good luck with that” Ian said, honestly hoping she had good results. “Got to go now, but please keep me updated, alright?” He asked as he stood up. “It was nice seeing you today”

Lara smiled as she took Ian’s arm and leaned against his shoulder for a moment as she started moving so they could walk away from the stand once she had paid and gotten the earrings. Since she trusted him not to let things carried away, Lara was hopeful that they would both be able to have some fun, because in all honesty, she had been missing that for a while now. Some good, genuine fun. Was it possible to have a mid-life crisis in your thirties? “We could start with a beer and something to eat? I could go for some fries. Wanna join me, Dragan?”

Ian nodded, agreeing as they walked towards the alcohol and food zone of the festival. “Always, Miller” He chuckled. “Go find us a table while I buy” He said, before heading towards one of the stands and ordering two beers and two large fries, paying for them before looking around to see where Lara had gone. The thing with festivals was that the crown was hungry and thirsty all the time, so there were always people around, everywhere. Finally, seeing Lara not too far, he headed over there with their drinks and food. “M’lady” He offered as he placed the food in front of her. “For freedom and relaxation and forgetting all your troubles” He said, taking his beer and putting it up, so they could toast.

“Is that what we’re doing today, then?” They had talked about this the other day… about Ian providing a safe environment for Lara to loosen up a little without worrying about people thinking something bad of her or putting things on her drink, or worrying about being a responsible adult. She paid for the earrings and put them inside her small bag, then offering Ian her hand. “Deal. I could use a drink. Let’s start with a drink. You call the shots today.”

“Why not? We can talk about having fun all day if we want but we actually have to do it eventually, right?” Ian figured they could as well start today, and as he promised, he would make sure Lara would have fun in a safe environment and he would make sure she enjoyed it. “Awesome, we should head to the bar zone then. Are we starting with something soft? A beer? Or do you want to go straight for the strong drinks?”

“Why do I even bother with you?” Lara rolled her eyes as she smirked at Ian. He’d never that much helpful whenever she had these kinds of questions to him, which had always made it harder whenever she asked for his opinion on date outfits. “The longer ones are prettier…” She held them close to her ears again, checking her reflection in the mirror, before settling on buying them. “Alright. I’ll take them.” She told the seller, before turning to Ian. “Where should we go next?”

“I honestly don’t know” He shrugged with a chuckle, since he wasn’t the most expert in women’s fashion. He was great at getting rid of clothes but not really good at picking them. “The shorter ones you can barely see them, so why getting something that people won’t see?” Ian asked, satisfied to have been of some help, because even when Lara would deny it, he had helped indeed. “We should go for drinks. You know, help you losen up and relax, be a young woman that is just up to the experience for once, stop thinking for a day”

“If she works for the prosecutor’s office, then she probably already knows how flawed the justice’s system is…” Thomas replied, absentmindedly as he looked around, still a little dumbfounded and feeling like this was a dream and he’d be soon waking–and then he realized he’d just spoken about his possible future boss’ best friend and well… what if Ian didn’t like what he had to say? It wasn’t like he was calling the friend incompetent, but it was also not hard to see how flawed the system was. So Thomas tried to remain focused as he returned his attention to Ian and smiled a bit. “8. Alright.” Thomas nodded, feeling like he could cry out of happiness because, in theory, he would be able to sleep for an extra hour. He waved awkwardly at his future co-workers, giving light nods with this head to whoever spoke to him and welcomed him. Would they judge him if he cried though? His mind was still everywhere, so he probably wouldn’t remember anyone’s name anyway. Once they were alone again, Thomas offered his hand, smiling once more. “I’ll see you tomorrow then, Mr–um… Ian. Thank you so much for this opportunity. I promise I won’t let you down.”

“Oh she knows it all, too bad I can’t use her as a source and compromise her job” It would be great to use all of Lara’s knowledge but well, who would want to work with someone who talked to the press often? No one, so Ian tried his best not to get her involved with any of his investigations.  “It’s just Ian, if you start calling me Mr everyone will make fun of me and that would make me get annoyed at you and we don’t want that when you’re just starting, right? Leave that for when you write a crappy article and it’s my duty to call you out on it” Ian winked, since yes, he wasn’t the nicest editor of all but he thought all of his critics were constructive. He wanted his team to get better, that’s why he was so tough. “See you tomorrow”

Thomas was feeling a bit lightheaded because everything was happening way too fast? A minute ago he had this whole speech prepared and he was ready to fight for this position, but now he was being handed this opportunity and he felt like he needed a break. He stared at Ian a little dumbfounded, but was eventually able to come back to reality when boss–could he call the other man his boss already? “Personally, I feel like I’d do a better job writing about Politics because I’m not passionate about Sports. But then again, I could actually show you I was capable of writing about any topic you gave me, I’d just have thrice the work because I know nothing about sports…” He confessed, but at least it didn’t make him look like he was saying no to Sports because it was easier? “But you gave me a choice and I’m sticking to Politics. And yeah, I read that piece. Honestly, I’ve been following Judge Willis because of two articles I had to write about him a few years ago? And something always felt off about him, you know? I was really glad when the scandal broke loose because it’s not fair that he gets to get away with what he did. And I don’t mind a little difficulty, to be honest. But you should see the places these dimples let me in…” He said, pointing to his own cheeks. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. That was totally unprofessional… I’m not unprofessional. I promise.” Shit. Shut up, Thomas! Right… follow him, idiot. “Okay. Right.” He bobbed his head. “What time is to be on time? Just so I can organize myself.” He made a mental note to tell his boss he was quitting the Café… if this didn’t work, he could find a job elsewhere, right?

“No one really likes sports around here” Ian confided him with a chuckle. Westwick didn’t have a big football or baseball team and the stadium wasn’t a big thing anyways, so yeah, sports was pretty lame to cover, at least in Ian’s opinion. “Chances are he won’t pay with prison or anything, the judicial system sucks, although don’t say anyone I said that, my best friend works for the prosecutor’s office and she would kill me if she knows I’m saying these things” WIllis had too much money and too many contacts, so a big fine, a few years away from politics and he would come back like nothing happened. He would probably work in the private world for a few years and earn even more money that way. It sucked, but heck, at least he wouldn’t be judging anymore.He chuckled at the comments about dimples, thinking that at least the guy had some faith in himself and that was always important. “We start at 8. Some start earlier but we usually meet until 9 to discuss the new edition and then we all do our thing unless we have to meet again for some last minute information or changes” Ian explained as he showed him to his desk, a very simple one surrounded by others. “This is Thomas Parker, he’s going to join us starting from tomorrow” Ian introduced him to everyone, calling out names that he was pretty sure Thomas wouldn’t remember anyways. He was being too quick with them but proper introductions would come later.

“Are you–giving me an option or…?” Thomas asked a little confused, while rubbing the back of his neck, mostly because he wasn’t expecting anything to just be handed to him like that. He had never had anything easy in his life and he wasn’t going to expect things to get easier for him at this point in his life just because Noah had been nice enough to give his friend some of his works. “But like I said, I’m good with working with deadlines.” He nodded. Granted, the topics he had written about required a little less investigation than Politics, so he could take the easy route and choose sports, but then again, wouldn’t it be more work to him, since he couldn’t care less about the topic? Politics on the other hand? It was all around and it was easier for him to write about it. “If you’re giving me a choice, then I’d choose Politics.” He nodded. Thomas tended to read a lot on the topic and of course, there was a personal interest in there too. “No… No, I’ll—I’ll take it. I want in.”

“Yeah, I’m giving you a choice, I have another interview after lunch but the articles weren’t as good as yours so you get to pick for coming in first” Ian said in a simple tone, since he didn’t really troubled himself much. Things were simple. If he thought someone could do the job, then he would give them the chance to do it. If it worked, great, and if it didn’t, well, someone else would come. There wasn’t a lot of rotation in The Sun, everyone was very committed to their work, but two journalists had moved away from Westwick and another one started her maternity leave so Ian needed new people to join the team. “Politics is a great choice, specially because it could lead you to investigative journalism more quick. Did you read the article we published about the judge a few weeks ago? We are not in best terms with the court so they won’t like to hear you’re from The Sun but heck, what’s journalism without some difficulties to uncover the truth?” Ian asked with a chuckle. “Great, then let me show you your desk. I know that with internet lots of places don’t ask their employees to actually work at the office but we are old school and well, we never know when we have to do meetings with all the team. So unless you’re covering something on the streets or court, be on time and make sure to come to work every day”

“Ian. Okay.” Thomas nodded, still sporting that childish smile of his. He could see some papers in Ian’s hands and wondered if he was reading his work or if this was something for the paper, but didn’t let himself get stuck on that for too long or else he’s zone out and the last thing he needed was to be seen as someone who would lose their focus easily. “I’m good. Excited to be here, actually… My mom used to read the Sun when I was a kid so this feels kind of—I don’t know… surreal?” He chuckled a bit as he shrugged, trying not to talk his mouth off. He bet Ian couldn’t care less about his memories with his mother, and a lot of people who entered that office had probably said the same to him. He wouldn’t be impressed (and shouldn’t, really).

“Honestly, I prefer working on short deadlines? Pressure keeps me focused and I make sure everything is spotless when I turn in an article.” He commented after Ian mentioned deadlines, even if the editor hadn’t asked him that. “Um… the Coachella criticism I wrote on a weekend, the two chronicles I wrote in around two to three days too… wait, no. One of them was written in one afternoon, but that was because I felt super inspired. As for a specific position, I’d say I’d be okay with anything you could offer me… but I love investigative journalism. That’s what made me pursue this career… playing Thomas-the-detective and exposing the truth, especially when everything these days seem to be fake news… but I’d be content with writing anything but the obituaries and like—the horoscope?”

Ian loved The Sun, so hearing that his family used to read it in the past was actually a nice thing to hear. He wanted the newspaper not to lose its essence, and even in a world where the internet quickly replaced everything written in paper, he wanted to believe they could still gather a family together and make them trust the news that they published. He let the other talk, impressed at the investigative journalism mention because that’s what Ian did himself, that’s what had gotten him to publish the best piece he had ever written only a few weeks ago and well, the reason why everything in his life felt suddenly so hectic.

“Deadlines are something you’ll face a lot in here, I’ll probably give you more than one piece to work at the same time and then a new one can be added depending on the contingency. Deadlines are to be respected, so there are no excuses not to send something in, although I am flexible because just as I demand a lot, I am willing to give a lot too” He was not a monster and if Ian himself had to spend a whole night without sleep editing his work, he would do it. “I have a position free, no investigative journalism yet because first we got to see how you fit into The Sun and if your pace is one we like. I have an opening in Sports and another one in Politics. Entertainment is also a little dead but I would like to give that to an intern since it’s easier. If you’re interested then you can start tomorrow” He explained, looking at him  “If you’re not then it was nice meeting you”