you had me at hello

“Well it can kickstart a career if anything but i’ll probably be horrible at trying to make videos every week. Don’t worry now you have me to keep you company with the clutzyness.”

“Yeah, I don’t think the Youtube career is for me. But I already have a job, and honestly, I think a viral video might get me fired, if anything. That’s good to know, you can keep all the haters away.”

“I’m confident you’ll find a place. Since the maximum you’re going to be paying for a place is two-thousand five-hundred like I looked up, it’s a cheap bargain out here. Unlike where I used to live in New York where the maximum of housing can go past a million”. As much as his parents were that of rich people and Elijah had his own investment in glitz and glamour, neither of them would ever be that stupid to buy a million dollar apartment. His parents might have had the money to afford it, but he sure as hell didn’t. He actually preferred to live modestly, and his attitude displayed that at times. The closer they got to his car, a familiar smile crept up on his face as Tegan addressed the look of the car as a whole. “Probably the best birthday present my parents ever bought me, even if it’s a hand-me-down. Plus, it’s the same car that Tony Stark drove in Iron Man 3. The inner Iron Man fan of mine was pretty eager to get my hands on it. It’s easily become my baby”. Unlocking the car seconds later from use of his smart key remote on his keychain, Elijah slipped his messenger bag off of his shoulder as he approached the drivers side door and opened it up to get inside.

Once he had sat down in the seat, he kept his messenger bag on his lap for the time being and closed the drivers side door carefully. Leaning over and turning his body a bit so he could place his messenger bag behind his seat, Elijah did so without much issue and soon put his seat belt on seconds later. Taking out his Samsung Galaxy S5 from his pocket, Elijah scrolled through his app menu until he got to his Web Browser. Accessing the bookmarks column of the browser and clicking the site for the apartments in New Zealand, Elijah then handed the phone to Tegan that way she could scroll through and adjust the sliders at the top of the page to suit her necessities and wants as far as rooms and amenities were concerned. “Figured while I drive, you can call out to me where to go and I’ll just put the address in the GPS so we know where we’re going. I don’t know the city that well, but I know it to a certain point where I recognize street names and buildings. Hence why I’m thankful this car has a built in GPS system as well as other nice quirks”. Starting up the car with an ice roar of the engine, Elijah made sure Tegan was all set and ready to go before he would pull out of the parking lot to start their venture.

“That’s an incredibly good deal, actually,” she said, her hopes already rising. “I can’t imagine how crazy-expensive New York must be. Both of my parents are from there, but they moved because they didn’t think it was worth spending so much money on a nice house, when they could spend less money on an even nicer house somewhere else.” Yep, they were definitely not money-wasters, and Tegan had always admired them for that. “It’s a really nice car, and I would totally agree with you on the Tony Stark thing, but unfortunately, I’ve never seen the Iron Man movies.” Smiling, she opened the door of the passenger’s seat and climbed inside- which was just as nice as the exterior. Honestly, she had never ridden in a sports car before; her parents were never interested in owning one. “Did you give it a name and everything?” she asked, glancing at him before looking out the window. She was looking forward to getting a new perspective on the city. 

“But then you’ll be youtube famous and your life is made. I have no idea i can sometimes be a clutz though i should try it.”

“I don’t know about that, I don’t think most people who are youtube famous because successful through one viral video. I’d be interesting for a week. Yeah, I’m probably the biggest clutz around, honestly.” 

Nodding his head in acknowledgement of Tegan’s comments, Elijah adjusted the strap to his messenger bag pressed against his shoulder in the meantime just for comfort sake. As well as took out his car keys and held them in his left hand just so he had them ready to go when the two did get to his car. Since he already had the site of what apartments would be available in mind to look for bookmarked on his phone, all he would have to do is open up his web browser and hand the phone to Tegan so she could navigate the site and scroll through the available options. Nudging his head towards the entrance of the coffee shop as a coax to get Tegan to follow him, Elijah figured he would lead the charge and help move things along himself just for convenience sake. “don’t worry about taking a lot of time to decide where to live. I figure we’ll drive around the city and check out different apartments that are available for viewing. Whatever apartments we don’t find today, we can keep looking for another day. I don’t mind helping out in my free time”. Seeing as his car was parked on the other side of the building, it was easy to see the farther along the concrete walkway the two walked along to get to the parking area.

“okay maybe a little but you can always blame it on the shoes and say they’re new and you’re trying to break them in.”

“That’s what I thought. I really don’t want to be the next viral video. Oh, would that excuse work, though?”

“Obviously” he groaned trying his best to stand up without falling over, “I’m not upset? Why would I ever be upset?” He lied faking a smile and flailing his arms around a bit, “I didn’t deserve to be on the dumb show anyways”

As good as the conversation was, Elijah figured there was a probability that just standing around while talking at the coffee shop was most likely not putting forth effort into their goals for the day. He didn’t want to stop the conversation abruptly seeing as he was actually finding Tegan to be lovely company. But, it was just taking away time from them perhaps finding her the apartment of her dreams. Well, maybe not her dream apartment. But something close to it at least. “Lawyer work is always hectic, I will admit. You pretty much hit the nail on the head. Both irritating, stressful and ridiculous. However, it’s great pay. so the advantages outweigh the disadvantages by a slim margin”. Not wanting to overindulge about his job since the last thing he wanted to do was beat a topic to death, he figured he’d close it then and there to help move things along for Tegan’s sake. “I wouldn’t put it past you if you have a mild rebellious stage. Most likely not as crazy and wild as a college student’s, but seemingly outside your comfort zone or just something you’ve never tried before”. Whatever it may be, at least it was worth trying out. As long as it wasn’t health endangering. “Should we get a move on and venture out into the city? I’d love to stay and chat with you. But I want to make sure you to get an apartment claimed before someone else does”.

“Don’t worry i have that happen many times but its probably when im piss drunk.”

“That may be true, but wouldn’t it be embarrassing if that happened to me while I was sober?”

“Yeah I know that. It’s the Wi-Fi though, not my data. I have unlimited data anyway so yeah…” he shrugged, a sigh of frustration escaping his lungs.

“Oh...” she muttered, feeling a little stupid. “Did you try disconnecting from the wifi and just using your cellular network?”

Oh go for it,  its just yourself expressing to the music around you.

“But honestly, I’ll probably just end up on my face.” 

“I don’t despise it as much as I used to. I mean I’ll be honest, I do despise it at times because there are clients who can really be a pain in the.. you know what. There’s never a shortage of people wanting to go head to head against one another over this or that, suing business or family members, husbands or boyfriends. It’s a never ending web of chance and circumstance. You’d probably laugh at a few cases I’ve had to deal with in the past. I can almost count on two hands how many cases I’ve taken to court that were just completely stupid and I had to act like the bad guy because I was defending this person and trying to make their stupidity make sense”. Shaking his head at the memory of those very cases, Elijah couldn’t really stand stupidity anymore. Half of him wonders why he even takes these cases, but the other half of him knows that no one else probably would and it’ll just add to his rapport in the firm. No matter how dumb the cases may be, at least it adds to his resume. ”Yeah, I wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed when it came to alcohol and women. I suppose my ideas of rebellion back then were more so acting out then anything else. But at least I’ve regained my composure, sanity and maturity. That much is for a fact. I’m glad that present me is like worthy, Same can be said about you too, Tegan”.

“Sure, go for it,” he shrugged with indifference, a glance shooting her way and his palm holding itself out with the phone rested in it for her to take.

She took the phone and tried to see what the problem was. “You don’t have unlimited data, do you? Because if you don’t, you can only use a certain amount per month.” 

“Well, troubles is probably an understatement but yes. Unless you can help, can you give me some space please?” the male queried as nicely as possible, pent up anger, not at the female but at his phone, building up inside of him, ready to erupt like a volcano.

“Uh, I didn’t major in technology or anything, but I can try to help?” He did seem like he wanted some time alone, but the least she could do is offer help, since she is kinda bothering him and all. 

“I don’t hate it necessarily. But, it’s frustrating at times. But I’ve become a pro at enduring harsh elements and wading storms. Figuratively speaking, that is. I played soccer for about six years. Seventh and Eighth grade, than all four years of high school. I wanted to play in college, but my parents wanted me to focus directly on academics and nothing else. Coincidentally, college were the same years that I started to rebel a bit and stray from being what my parents wanted me to be. Drinking, partying, sexcapades, so on and so forth. What you see today is far different than who I was in college. I was actually a riot to be around. Nowadays, not so much”. Once more he found himself confessing just a bit more about his background to Tegan and he wasn’t as ashamed to admit it as he would be confessing to just some random stranger. Plus, he wanted to continue to prove that he wasn’t a carbon copy of his parents. That was the least he wanted to be. “I’m sure that despite your parents always being busy, they still love you and appreciate you for who you are and who you’ve become. You seem like a smart and intelligent woman who knows what she wants in life and is willing to work hard to achieve it. I respect that”.

Muttering to himself, a frown graced the built-up males features, “What the fuck do you mean ‘wifi usage allowance limit reached’? That’s the most stupid restriction ever!” A growl of aggression escaped his lips. He then glanced upwards from the blaring light of his iPhone screen and saw someone standing there. He cleared his throat and then asked, “Er, can I help you?”

Tegan watched as the stranger angrily looked at his phone. When he noticed her, she quickly looked away and took a step back. “Uh- no, I’m good,” she said, not able to find an excuse as to why she was trying to butt into other people’s businesses- as usual. “Are you having some phone troubles?” she asked him. 

“My parents.. are hard to get used to. They always seem to have their chin up, nose up and think they should be admired or praised for their success. One of the reasons why them and I have a love-hate relationship. I was pretty much forced to go to private school, forced to go to Harvard and forced to become a lawyer. If I had it my way, I would have kept up playing soccer and have my goals set on FIFA. But alas, life dealt me an impossible deck and I ended up folding”. Despite the fact that the two hadn’t left the coffee shop yet and they were still in a public area, Elijah didn’t think that releasing a bit of information about his parents was that bad. Yes, his last name did hold a certain weight to it and a bad reputation in Manhattan. But, he had to deal with it. Despite being the wildcard of the family and trying to prove that he wasn’t like them in the slightest. “I can really only see your parents not getting along if they ever had to rival each other in court. That would be a disaster. It’s a very busy occupation so, it’s pretty understandable if they’re always busy and hardly ever home. My parents hardly ever were. I’m Elijah. Elijah Vanderbilt. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Teagan” Elijah greeted with an offered handshake.