178 A Rose By Any Another Name

Elle slowly made her rounds across the room, going through the tedious and tiring process of chatting with the more important people in the room. The only person she was happy to talk to was Christopher.

Her eyes kept scanning the room for him but couldn't find him. Part of her wondered if he wasn't coming tonight until she finally spotted him walk in half an hour later.

"Excuse me," She said to the group from the production crew she was currently talking to, "Christopher came in, I should go greet him."

Christopher spotted Elle approach him from across the room, his own face returned the grin she was giving him.

"You're late." She scolded as they met.

"Fashionably late." He corrected, flashing her an innocent smile. "I had some work before this."

"Is that so? Good work today then."

"For you as well."

"I didn't have work today though." Elle said, confused.

Christopher chuckled lightly. "You said you also had a behind the scenes roll on this, right? Then this is your work. It's tiring isn't it, needing to talk to all these people. Needing to always wear a smile and be polite."

Elle sighed softly. "You're right about that. Networking is a different type of tiring then writing reports. I'd almost prefer a report to this."

"That's because you're an introvert." Christopher teased.

"Hey," Elle protested, smacking his arm playfully, "Is that how you should be treating the writer of this novel?"

"Writer?" Christopher froze. "You're the writer?"

"Ah," Elle realized that she hadn't told him yet. One hand reached up to fix her hair and she looked down bashfully.

To most other people in this room Elle was a stranger, only known as the writer of the novel. People from the film industry had no reason to recognize her as the marketing director of a large corporation. Elle found it a tiny bit embarrassing, to have someone who knew her so closely know she had written this cheesy novel. A novel that had at one point basically served as her diary.

"That's amazing!" Christopher exclaimed suddenly. "You wrote this? Something you wrote is being produced? You must be so proud!"

"You think so?" Elle asked, feeling herself get a bit excited. "It is a bit cool isn't it."

"It's amazing! When did you even find the time to write this while already working? You're amazing, suddenly I feel like I'm not working hard enough."

Elle laughed. "Well you managed to land this coveted role, as the lead in the first MK production. You should be very proud of yourself too."

"I'll do a good job to make sure your novel comes to life well." He promised.

"I'll look forward to it then."

Neither Chris nor Elle had noticed Amelia standing in a group of people nearby, watching with gritted teeth as they talked.

Amelia had once suspect that Elle and Christopher were in a relationship, thinking that Adam had still been free for the taking. As she watched them talk now she was reminded of it. Elle smacked his arm playfully and they laughed as they spoke.

'Anyone might guess they really were in a relationship. How disgusting, for her to be Adam's girlfriend but still talk to other men like that.' Amelia thought to herself. She considered going over to suggest Elle was overly close to Chris. She imagined the satisfaction of Elle turning red at the hint.

But Amelia knew how to play her cards better then that. She had had a really good conversation with Adam earlier that night. She needed a chance to return to that setting.

So instead of going to Elle, Amelia's eyes followed Adam, always positioning herself relatively close to him though she never went up to him directly. Dinner would be starting soon and a swarm of woman with the same idea as Amelia were all hovering close by.

MK hadn't assigned seats for tonights dinner. Their idea was to allow for everyone to get a chance to interact with anyone and not just the members of their own teams. Many girls were anxiously watching to see which seat Adam would take, and waiting to try to get a seat next to him.

Dinner would probably last close to two hours. It was a great chance for any woman with their sights set on Adams Hayes.

Elle was also nearby. She noticed how many women were lingering around Adam, their eyes flickering to watch him every so often, waiting for him to make his way to a table. Elle wanted to laugh at the silliness of it, wondering if Adam even noticed them all. She was also slightly jealous of them.

Elle refused to look as silly and desperate as them but the truth was that she was also vying for that seat. Having no assigned seats meant that she also had a chance to sit next to Adam and not with the script writers where she might normally be placed, but it also meant that she had to fight with the rest of the room for that seat.

If she was talking to Adam when dinner began it would be natural for her to sit next to him, but since she wasn't there was no way for her to naturally go sit next to him without appearing as silly as everyone else. At one point Elle had hoped to be talking to Adam, but she was currently in a conversation with the director who was talking about the project. It would be incredibly rude of her to leave the conversation now. It was unfortunate but it was part of their work.

'Let these girls fight for that seat.' Elle thought to herself smugly. 'They may get to sit with him for an hour or two, but I'll get him to myself all night long.'

One of the servers announced that dinner would begin soon. Adam had been talking to the production manager and Elle noticed as they began to make their way to a nearby table. The manager naturally sat to one side of Adam.

Many girls took notice, attempting to naturally make their way to the seat on his other side. But Adam didn't sit down. He put one hand on the back of his chair, and put another hand on the back of the chair beside his.

"Elle," Adam called out in a steady voice. "Won't you come sit next to me?"

Elle froze in shock. For a moment she wondered if she had heard correctly. Adam looked at her expectantly. A mischievous spark that only she knew how to recognize glimmered deep in his eyes.

"Sure, Mr. Hayes." Elle replied after regaining her composure.

She took a few steps towards the table. The director followed behind her to also take a seat with them. Adam held the chair out for Elle like a true gentlemen. Elle smiled up at him as he helped her into it, hoping he could see exactly how happy she was.

Dinner began and a boring conversation overtook the table. Elle was only half paying attention when she felt one of Adam's hands sneak over to take a hold of hers under the table where no one would notice. Elle looked at Adam with widened eyes but he was faced forward, his face impassive, and looking just as focused on the conversation as he had been a minute ago.

Elle looked forward hoping she didn't look as flustered as she felt. She attempted to look like she was still paying attention to the conversation though she knew she couldn't be as successful as Adam.

"You're wearing that colour again." Adam murmured in a low voice for only her to hear.

It was that same pale and dusty blue she had worn at MK's launch, and one she had worn a few times since. It was a colour Adam was beginning to associate with her.

"It's my battle outfit. It's a colour that I feel courageous in." Elle said confidently, replying in an equally low voice. "Have I worn it too often?"

"No." Adam replied with certainty. "I think that colour was made just to be worn by you."

Elle looked down at their joined hands which were laying lightly in her lap and hoped no one else at the table noticed the pleased expression on her face.

The rest of dinner went by with nothing to note. Adam held Elle's hand until their food arrived. It would be too awkward and suspicious for them to both try to eat a meal with only one hand.

When the night was finally over Adam and Elle both went their separate ways. They had each come in their own cars and left the same way too, though they both ended up at the same destination. Adam's home. Their joint home, though Elle still hadn't finished moving out of her old place.

Elle had arrived first. Adam came in to find her sitting at the vanity in the bedroom. She had already changed out of her dress and into a satin robe. The pins were out of her hair so that it flowed down and framed her face in long, loose curls and her face was fresh from having just washed her makeup off.

"You're back." Elle said with a smile, rushing across the room to jump into his arms. "It's been such a long three days without you."

"Mhmm." Adam hummed, holding her tightly in his arms. "I have something for you."

"Oh?" Elle asked curiously. "What is it?"

He reached into the bag he was holding and presented her with a single, perfectly bloomed, red rose. "Happy Valentines Day."

Elle stood motionless for a moment, looking at the rose with confusion in her eyes before letting out a light laugh. She then smiled brightly and happily took the rose, bringing it up to her face to smell its sweet scent.

"Valentines Day was yesterday you know." She murmured happily.

"It was in our time zone but if we go by Alaska's time zone I made it with three hours to spare."

"Hmm." Elle hummed while twirling the rose between her fingers. "You do know that their time is only 20 hours behind, not a fully 24. They're already at February 15th."

Adam winced. "Really? Well there must be some country in the world where it's still February 14th. Let's go by their time for today."

Elle wrapped both arms around Adam and buried her head into his chest. "I missed you." She said softly, breathing in his familiar scent.

His arms came around her instantly. "I missed you too. Clear your schedule, I'll make up for the past three days with the next three."

Adam bent down and picked up a laughing Elle, carrying her to the bed to begin making up for his absence.