Mr.arrogant(2)

Her eyes darkened slightly as if she was looking back in time in her  mind, and she began to tell her friend about the day she lost her  parents.

"My mom and dad lived in a little house in upstate New York. They always  lived there; it was the house they moved into when they were married  and they never lived anywhere else. I think my mom wanted to move south,  like to a warmer state, but then I came along and they focused their  whole lives around me. When I was growing up, and even into adulthood,  it was always all about me. They never thought of themselves." Her  throat tightened and she had to pause to take a deep breath and steady  herself.

"I knew how much they loved me, and how supportive they were of me. None  of my friends' parents ever seemed to do as much as mine did, and I saw  it when I was really young. It became so important for me to do  everything I could to meet their expectations.

"I worked really hard at everything; getting good grades, making sure I  did everything I could in school, passing every test, taking extra  credit classes …  sports, clubs, student body …  I just kept wanting to  please them, wanting to show them how much I appreciated all that I knew  that they were sacrificing for me. So everything I could do, I did. I  did it, and I made sure I did it successfully. I almost never lost or  failed, and when I did, it was such a blow to me. But my mom and dad  would always tell me that it would be okay and that I had done my best  and it was enough. But it wasn't; at least to me." She reached over to  the small table beside the sofa and pulled a tissue out of the box.  Naomi wiped at her nose and eyes and smiled at Andrea.

"You're still just like that." Andrea said with a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah, I am." Naomi shrugged. "My mom worked in a music store and my dad  worked on cars, so we were a pretty average family in town; no frills  or extra money really, but they saved every penny they could so that  when I was ready to go to college, I could. I tried for scholarships and  I got some, but not enough to pay for everything. My parents gave me  everything they had, and they paid for it all. Every penny of it. They  believed in me like no one else ever did."

Andrea nodded at her and listened quietly.

"Then, in January of my last year of college, my mom and dad were  driving to see me, and they got caught in an ice storm. My dad was a  really good driver, but there was a big semi-truck that jack-knifed on  the highway and slammed right into them. They were both killed right  there on the spot." She covered her eyes with her hands and breathed in  slowly and deeply, just to steady herself and try to assuage the pain  and heartache.

"I had to take a little time off from school to handle everything. I  took care of their funerals, and got them both buried together in the  little town cemetery. Then I found out just how much they had really  done to help me.

"Their house had a mortgage on it so I could be in school. My parents  never told me that. They hadn't been able to save quite enough to send  me, so they took out a mortgage on the house to make it happen. I was  still in school with just four months until graduation. I had no money …   no way to pay for the outstanding debt on our home, so the bank took it.  I lost them and the house all at once. It was the single worst month of  my life."

She yanked another tissue out of the box and held it to her face as she breathed shallow breaths, trying to keep herself calm.

"I was able to take a few things out of our house, but most of it was  auctioned off to cover debt. The house sold, and I was alone at school  with nothing but my graduation ahead of me." She closed her eyes tight  for a moment and then looked off into the distance as she rubbed her  hand over Harold.         

     



 

"I graduated and there was no one there for me; no one to celebrate the  success I had worked so hard to achieve. After a lifetime of having them  both there with me for everything, I had reached the pinnacle of their  dreams and of mine, and they were gone. It was so hard. I decided that I  would continue to be successful, and that I would always make sure that  not everything that they gave up for me was going to be sacrificed in  vain. I've worked so hard and I always will, just so that wherever they  are, they know how much I loved them and appreciated them." She spoke  the last few words softly, as emotion gripped her body tightly.

Andrea watched her and asked, "Is that why you always have unbelievable  drive? You're so determined to make everything as much of a success as  you possibly can, and I have always admired that about you, but I didn't  know that this was why."

Naomi nodded. "That's why," she said quietly as she looked at her  friend. "That's why it means so much to me to get this job at Cross  Corp. I mean, the other job at the law firm would be great, but it's not  the best that I can do; I can do so much better, and I want to. I have  to, for me and for them. It's vital. This job would be another huge  accomplishment for me. It's what I went to school for. I really, really  want it so much. I can't not get it. I can't let my parents or myself  down like that."

Andrea pressed her lips together and sighed, her deep brown eyes steady  on her friend. "I know that. I understand so much more about you now.  I'm glad you told me what happened to them. Thank you for trusting me  with that." Then she leaned far forward. "Just go into the job interview  with that determination, and you'll get it. You'll do so well."

Naomi smiled and wiped one last tear from the corner of her eye. "I am going to do my best, that's for certain." She vowed.

"I know you will, sweet lady," Andrea told her with a loving voice. "I  am sure that they are proud of you and everything that you've done to  get as far as you have. You were lucky to have such caring parents."

Naomi nodded. "I was indeed." She raised her eyebrows and sighed deeply,  and then gave a more light-hearted smile to Andrea. "Anyway, so I'm  going to go do what I always do. I'll give my best and make sure that  the job at Cross is mine."

Andrea grinned. "You'll get it. I have so much faith in you!" She leaned  a bit further back in the chair and raised one eyebrow at Naomi. "Did  you ever hear from Michael again?"

Naomi pressed her lips together and rolled her eyes, sighing in  exasperation. "Not really. I mean, he runs super-hot and then he's  completely absent and I'm just supposed to sit here and wait for him to  decide he's interested in me? It's infuriating. I got so sick of waiting  to hear from him all the time that I just stopped being the one to  initiate contact and he just drifted off into nothing. I never heard  from him again." She shook her head, thinking of her last semi-romantic  fling.

"All that time I wasted waiting for him, thinking about him, caring  about him …  and he kept saying he cared, he kept saying that he wanted  me, he kept teasing me just a little bit more, just enough to keep me  coming after him, but then he never did anything. He must not have cared  enough. Jerk. I don't know what in the hell I was thinking, letting him  treat me like that." She reached over to the carafe and poured herself a  fresh cup of coffee.

Andrea shook her head and pushed her lips out in disgust. "He might be a  good-looking man, but he sure as hell doesn't have his life together  enough to be with you. Maybe he knows it and he's just hoping that he  can convince you to go after him anyway. It must be quite an ego boost  for a guy like that to have a woman as amazing as you are coming after  him."

Naomi lifted her brows slightly. "I never thought about it like that,  but I guess it makes sense. The good thing is that I'm not going after  him anymore. I went after him more than halfway and he wouldn't meet me  even less than halfway, so I walked away from it. I don't have time for  that kind of nonsense. I'm not a game player. Besides, all he said he  wanted me for was friends with benefits. I'm worth more than that."         

     



 

"A hell of a lot more than that." Andrea agreed with a dark look. "Well,  I'm glad that you walked away from it. You deserve a lot more, and  you'll get a lot more when the right guy figures out what an incredible  catch you are."

Naomi shrugged. "I'm doing alright on my own. I'm not too worried about  it. I mean, don't get me wrong, it would be nice to have a guy around  here and there. But I'm focused on my own future, on my career, and on  making sure that everything I do makes the days to come in my life good  days. So, if there's a guy around, then great, but if not, it's not  going to be the end of the world and it's not going to be anything I  worry about. I'd rather be happy than heartbroken."

Andrea laughed and nodded. "I know that's true! You have to be confident  in yourself, and you have to be happy." They both laughed.