whenever you call --- THEO

[ANNIE LENORE CARMICHAEL.]

[bg=a6c1b2][atrb=width,400,true][atrb=border,0,true] So Annie had never planned on ending up where she had. She had started her evening off by taking a client out to dinner and drinks. The business dinner had gone well, and Annie was now representing the Hiltons, which was a huge deal for the young lawyer. She had called to tell her best friend the amazing news, and they had agreed to spend the night celebrating. However Annie had now found herself rather drunk on martinis, and suddenly alone. It seemed as though Hannah had decided to go home with a gentleman at some point, leaving Annie key less and car less. With a sigh she made herself comfortable on one of the bar stools, whipping out her phone, and beginning to chat with random people. She hadn't expected to find the offices whiz kid online, but what the hell, she was drunk, formalities didn't matter. That and she was going to have to find someone to feel sorry for her, and come pick her up. After all taking a cab was beneath Annie and she would have to be completely out of options to take one. So Annie playfully chatted it up with the nerd, hoping that he might see past her earlier bitchiness and offer her a hand. But when the offer wasn't coming voluntarily, and her buzz began getting stronger, she decided to just bluntly ask for a favor. Annie was never could at being subtle, and her drunk skills only minorly improved that. When he actually agreed to come get her she was more than relieved. Annie decided she really didn't want to stay at the Hilton Hotel Lounge, after all she suspected it wasn't what Theo was used too, being a lowly It guy and all. Annie felt as though those who made a paycheck 2/3rds smaller than her own probably had no idea how to act in such a setting. The last thing she needed was some guy waltzing in here in blue jeans, and making a fool out of her. Annie took the last sip of her drink, before walking out into the main lobby, deciding this would be the appropriate place to wait for Theo. So Annie waited, dressed in her white cocktail dress, and bright red shoes. She slowly rocked back and forth as her drunk state was making her rather giddy. The red head really wished Theo would hurry up, after all the last thing she wanted was to be spotted by someone she knew. When she finally saw him walk into the hotel, she waived her hand a little too happily, a sure sign Theo was going to have his hands more than full. "Theo." she said happily, a giant smile on her face. Sadly, at this point Annie was loving any familiar face she saw. But what would probably surprise him, and later surprise her more was that she actually walked over to him, wrapped her arms around him, and gave him a friendly hug. Annie grinned after she released him before happily walking towards the exit. Once outside she looked around excitedly. "Which one is yours?" she said the look on her face only being described as that of a kid in a candy shop. "There all soo pretty." came her slightly slurred words.

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[THEODORE ELI FLETCHER.]

[style=width:350px; margin-top: 250px; background-color: #62626e; font-family: raleway; font-size: 20px; text-transform: lowercase; padding: 5px; position: relative; color: fff;]when beauty met the beast, he froze

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It had been just another evening full of work for Ted. A little boring, bordering on monotonous and only livened up by the fact that he'd managed to order in a pizza and crack open a beer or two to keep himself going. He often felt like he did his best work while he was drinking beer, and although he hadn't had enough to even be tipsy, he could feel the buzz brought on by the bitter tasting drink. And so, he had expected his evening to be more of the same, hacking into a site's mainframe, causing mayhem for some of the websites he didn't like, and then turning his attention to work that needed to be completed by the next day. It was going to be a long night, but Theo loved his job, and despite being bored with it on occasion, he knew it was only a matter of time before he took a step up in the IT world.

At least, his evening was boring until he'd logged into the chatroom, only to find that none other than Annie Carmichael was online too. A very drunk Annie Carmichael. Needless to say, Theo was amused. He'd been called into her building to fix computers on numerous occasions, and despite being pleasant enough towards the young lawyer, she'd rebuffed his attempts at friendliness every single time. These days, it had turned into a bit of a game for Theodore, going out of his way to be nice to her when they bumped into each other, opening doors for her, being over-polite. He wasn't sure if she even noticed, but it was fun all the same. So coming across a drunk, almost friendly Annie was shocking, and incredibly amusing.

And of course, Theo couldn't deny that he was very attracted to Annie. She was beautiful, and Theodore often found himself thinking about her when he shouldn't have been. So when she asked him to help her out, he was saying yes before even knowing what it would entail. Thankfully, it was only picking her up from the hotel in town, a short drive from his place. Signing off with a smile on his face, Theo grabbed his keys and was out of the door in under five minutes in his rush to come to Annie's aid.

Retrieving his beat up car from the underground parking lot, Theo glanced inside, glad he'd cleaned it out earlier that day when he'd arrived home. It was reasonably clean, smelled fresh enough, so once he'd unlocked it and started the engine, he was on his way.

Although he'd never been to the Hilton before, Theo had certainly seen it. It was grand, a long way out of his price range when it came to hotels, but it seemed like the perfect place for Annie. Finding no parking spaces in the hotel's main lot, Theo drove around the corner, eventually parking on the street. Running a hand over his face, he opened the door and straightened up, locking the car behind him.

Finding the lobby was a breeze, and at the sight of Annie, Theodore couldn't help but let a smile spread across his face, echoing the redhead's expression perfectly. It was unusual to see her so happy to see him, but stranger still was when she wrapped her arms around him. "Uh..." Ted managed to get out, patting Annie's back awkwardly. No doubt the hug was the result of the alcohol she'd been drinking all night. "It's nice to see you too, Annie." He said, his tone light and jokey, despite genuinely meaning it. He followed her through the exit, laughing when she asked which car was his. He shook his head slowly, tugging her arm gently in the other direction. "None of these ones. I parked around the corner. C'mon."

Walking next to her in case she was slightly unsteady, Theo made his way around the corner to his car, making a sweeping gesture when it came into sight. Expecting to see Annie's face screw up in distaste, Theo turned towards her. "That's my car." he nodded his head towards the old vehicle. "It's not much, but it's all I can afford to run, at the moment." With a shrug, Theo didn't really know why he was explaining himself. He certainly wasn't looking for pity. Unlocking it, he came around to open Annie's door for her, bowing low. "Your chariot awaits, ma'am." he teased, waiting for her to get in.

[ANNIE LENORE CARMICHAEL.]

[bg=a6c1b2][atrb=width,400,true][atrb=border,0,true] Annie had never been nice to Theo, if anything she had been purposely rude so that he never attempted to befriend her again. The red head treated most people like they were beneath her, unless their bank account happened to be larger than her own, or better yet if their reputation simply was to die for. Annie had pretended not to see how well mannered Theo was, or how much he genuinely a hard worker. She knew she admired those traits about him, but socially he was unacceptable. Annie knew she would never be able to bring someone like him home, her father would laugh him right out of the house. Annie came from Texas oil money, she was dirty, filthy rich from the day she was born. She had always been given the finer things in life, and had been raised to view men by their success and nothing more. If a man was successful his friends loved him, the public adored him, and his bank account was large enough to support a family from the start. Annie was raised to crave stability, but deep down she wanted love, even if she didn't know it yet. She wanted a man who would take care of her with every fiber of his being, love her with every ounce of his heart, and protect her even if it meant shattering his own bones. She didn't want to end up like her parents. Her parents were the 'it' couple in Texas, but behind close doors they were anything but. Annie's father had another family in New York, which they all pretended not to know about on the holidays. Her mother wasn't much better. She had a fondness for younger men, and had been caught more than once in one of her wicked lies. Annie's older brother was successful but addicted to coke and prostitutes. Her sister already had a baby, and had been forced to marry the father even though he wasn't what was best for her. Annie hated being home for these reasons, mostly because she knew it was only a matter of time before her father began prodding her about when she was going to get married. Or her mother would jest with her that she was going to be an old hag. Annie shook her head subconsciously before returning her attention to Theo. "Thanks." she said happily as she bounced about, not acting anything like the Annie Theo had encountered on his visits to the office. "I would have been so embarrassed to take a cab." she said with a smile, a smile that dissipated when he began leading her around the corner to where he had parked. When she saw the car, she couldn't help but to frown. The frown however didn't lead to nasty words, Theo could thank the alcohol for that. "At least you have a car." she said smiling in his direction. That little statement had to have been the nicest thing she had ever said to him. Annie usually didn't hesitate to attempt to make him feel as big as an ant. She was mean, and hateful, well those were the words many used to describe her. However her co-workers preferred the term ruthless, determined, and quick witted. Whatever you wanted to call her, she was one confused girl. Annie smiled when he opened the door for her, she had to admit he was more mannered than most of the suites and tyes she went out with. "Aren't you cute." she snickered getting into the car, and fastening her seat belt. When Theo got in the car she looked at him once more, struggling to focus on him. "In case your wondering, I cannot go home. My dad is staying in my guest bedroom for the week, and quite frankly I'm not in the mood for his shit." she said with a smirk. Theo had probably never heard her cuss, but boy was he in for a lot of surprises.

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[THEODORE ELI FLETCHER.]

[style=width:350px; margin-top: 250px; background-color: #62626e; font-family: raleway; font-size: 20px; text-transform: lowercase; padding: 5px; position: relative; color: fff;]when beauty met the beast, he froze

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In all honesty, Theo had no idea what he was doing. It was blatantly obvious Annie was just using him, taking advantage of the fact he was nice to her or that he was definitely attracted to her, though he hoped Annie wasn't even aware of the latter. He was hopeless, unable to help himself when she had asked for help. And now here he was, driving her home, only to be snubbed the next time they crossed each others paths. The thought made him heave a sigh.

The reality was, though, that Annie was much higher than him. Much more sophisticated, wealthy, and well, to Theo, he thought she was pretty much perfect. The fact that she was rude to him didn't even factor into his head. He wanted her to smile at him like she had earlier, without having to be drunk. And for that reason, he wasn't going to give up his playing nice until they lost contact, or she made it clear she was dating someone else.

"What's wrong with a cab?" Theo asked, seemingly oblivious. Of course, he should have guessed that she was far too good for the run of the mill cabs that drove around Carmel day and night, despite them being the easiest option. His car was probably older than a lot of the cabs driving around, but he guessed it was better in that he owned it, and it didn't smell like sweat. Or vomit. Even just imagining the smell made him a little sick. He was glad that Annie managed to keep her thoughts to herself upon the sight of his car, despite knowing he wouldn't have taken it personally. Even some of his poorer friends laughed upon the sight of it, so a harsh comment from Annie had certainly been expected.

"Uh..." Theo was caught off guard by the almost nice tone in Annie's voice as she reassure him. "Yeah, I guess that's true." He agreed with a shrug, knowing it to be true. Nobody would take his technology expertise seriously if he rode around town on a bicycle. He flashed her a cheeky grin as she called him cute, knowing that he was never going to let her live that down. Making sure she was in the car properly and he wasn't going to shut her dress or anything in the door, he closed it, circling around the car to open his own door and jump in, fastening his seat belt once he'd fished his keys out of his jeans pocket. He listened as Annie spoke to him, his eyes widening involuntarily at her use of the word shit. "Well, where are we going, then?" he asked slowly, not really sure what she was getting at. It was odd to hear about something that wasn't perfect in Annie's world, even if it was something as simple as her relationship with her father. "Is there a friend's place I can take you to? Or a boyfriend's?" He was teasing by the last suggestion, but he couldn't keep the resentful tone out of his voice. He had no clue if Annie had a significant other, and this was Theo's not so subtle way of finding out if she did or not.

[ANNIE LENORE CARMICHAEL.]

[bg=a6c1b2][atrb=width,400,true][atrb=border,0,true] When he had the nerve to ask her what was wrong with cabs, she scoffed. Her eyes leaving the hem of her dress and making contact with his own. Annie had never really slowed down long enough to actually look at the guy she belittled whenever he was in his work place. But now that she was intoxicated, and had to try hard to focus, she finally noticed him. Believe it or not Annie found him rather handsome, and his eyes seemed to hold a softness and kindness she had never really known. He was genuine, unique in this fast pace world. He was giving a woman a ride who had done nothing but be cruel to him. Annie had gotten so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn't realized how long she had actually been starring at the man. "There filthy, disgusting, and the seats have god knows what on them." she said firmly, yet her eyes had never made a move to leave his. Annie finally decided to pull her eyes off him with a fake eye roll, before setting them on the sights outside her window. Annie leaned against the cold glass, loving the feeling again her flushed face. It was in that moment that Annie decided she wasn't feeling very well. "Ted open the window, serious open it." Annie practically yelled as she frantically tried to figure out how to open the damn thing. Annie held back the desire to vomit as she finally found the handle. She frantically began rolling it down the window before sticking her head out, and just letting it all go. Damn it had been a long time since she had been this drunk. Annie groaned when she finally got the last bit up and just leaned her head out the window. One she was avoiding looking at Ted out embarrassment, and two the cool night air felt amazing on her face. After a couple minutes, and making sure all the puke was off her face, she pulled her head back in, and leaned back against the seat. "Don't you dare tell anyone about this, ever. I mean it , I'll have your ass canned so fast.." she threatened, unable to keep her true bitchy nature at bay. She looked out the window, letting a sign fall from her perfect lips. She looked over at him once more. "Look I'm sorry, I'm not used to being vulnerable, and needing anyone. So I'm going to be a bit of a bitch about all this, but know its just me being defensive." she said with a small smile. Annie believed in open honest communication, she had to after all, her job demanded it. Her hazel eyes looked sad almost as they looked at him once more. She knew deep down that he didn't deserve her cruelty, but for some reason she couldn't keep from being mean. Now back to the question at hand, and sadly she really didn't have anywhere in particular to go. "Look, I understand if you don't want to help me any further than a ride. I have never given you a reason to like me, let alone inconvenience yourself for me. But truthfully, all my friends are co-workers, so I would rather not go to their house in this condition. Not to say that they haven't had their own wild nights, but I like to keep up a certain appearance, and if you could help with that I would be incredibly grateful." she said offering him a smile. "I mean I'm willingly to sleep on your damn floor if it saves me the embarrassment" she said with a laugh.

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