Purpose in the Waiting

The door to the office slammed shut, Heather Ravers disappearing from sight, leaving Ashley Woodsen with no other choice but to wait for her best friend to return. A loud thump drew her attention, Ashley looking over to see her older sister, eyes squeezed shut, her arm stretched out, leaning on the table with her fist. She held it there for a minute, before slumping back into her chair with a frustrated breath and swivelling around to look at Ashley. The little sister, little in both age and size, with shorter blonde hair, but sharing her sister’s dazzling blue eyes, stood awkwardly on the other side of the desk.

“That was rude,” Hannah remarked, her eyebrow twitching. “I do have a job to do here.”

“I know, sorry, Hans, but this is important,” Ashley replied, leaning against the wall. “Besides, it’s Heather. You know Robert isn’t going to get that mad about her intruding.”

“I don’t know. He was already in a bad mood this morning, AND I was late,” Hannah said, glancing between Ashley and the computer screen. Ashley was standing behind the monitor, so she was couldn’t see what was on the screen, though it likely just work related. “And he specifically told me not to let Heather in today.”

“He said that?” Ashley bit her bottom lip. She’d never known Robert not to have time for his daughter so that in of itself was suspicious behaviour. But also, his reaction, that he was in a bad mood, might suggest that his plan wasn’t going as expected…perhaps because a certain police officer was arrested… “Do you know why he was upset?”

Hannah sighed again, the corners of her mouth curling down into a frown. “That’s company business, Ash. Besides, I don’t know all the details anyway.”

“Is it to do with the project that he was buying up all the land around Silver Lake for?” Ashley pressed her sister eagerly, feeling that Hannah might be able to confirm her theory as much as Robert. “Is it because Carlos Rivera was arrested?”

Hannah looked up from the computer screen, staring grimly at her sister. After a minute, her eyes never leaving Ashley’s face, she spoke, slowly and cautious, “How do you know about the Silver Lake project?”

“We figured it out while we were looking for a suspect that might have framed Lisa to get to Carlos, Ashley revealed quickly, already knowing what she knew and wanting to get to what Hannah knew. “The land acquisitions in the paper showed that Robert had bought up a lot of land around Silver Lakes, but the land where Carlos Rivera’s cabin sat was suspiciously absent.”

“Why are you even looking for a suspect?” Hannah demanded, sliding back in her chair. “Lisa probably just stole the ****. She was going to steal your boyfriend. Can we really say that she had the strongest morals?”

“I cheated on my boyfriend too and stole another man away from his girlfriend. Does that make me a **** fiend? I don’t believe for a second that Lisa actually stole those ****,” Ashley insisted, her own anger growing. “Now are you going to tell me what’s going on here or what?”

“Tsk, fine. You’re right that it was because Carlos was arrested,” Hannah clicked her tongue and looked back at the computer screen, avoiding Ashley’s gaze. “Apparently Robert had some new plan to get Carlos to sign on with the project but now that Carlos has been arrested, he can’t move ahead at all.”

“Hm, so it sounds like Carlos getting arrested wasn’t part of the plan,” Ashley surmised, looking down at the floor as she pondered the implications. That didn’t write Robert off as being the man behind the curtain, but it did mean that he’d made an error in judgement. And when people make mistakes, they get sloppy trying to fix them…so maybe now was the perfect time to catch Robert red-handed.

“Of course, it wasn’t part of the plan. The guy is just an idiot,” Hannah retorted as she immersed herself in her work. “If he’d done nothing, or focused on just fighting the charge legally, everything would have been okay. Lisa might even have gotten off light.”

Ashley hummed, drawing Hannah’s attention. “Heather said pretty much the same thing this morning. But I still think that Robert is the likeliest suspect. It’s just good karma that the plan blew up in his face, but-”

“Wait, you think Robert planned the **** on Lisa as well?” Hannah looked up completely from the screen again, an incredulous expression on her face. “Chloe said the same thing this morning too. What is it with you guys and thinking Robert is the bad guy?”

“It fits a little too neatly that Robert was having issues with Carlos right around the time that…” Ashley paused, turning slowly to look at Hannah, her eyes narrowing as she glared accusingly at her older sister. “You…you told Chloe?”

“Well, I had too. She didn’t know about Carlos Rivera being arrested, and then I had to explain why that was important,” Hannah explained sheepishly.

“You told your new squeeze, but you weren’t even going to tell your own sister?” Ashley mockingly turned up her nose. “I’m offended.”

“Chloe is not my new squeeze, Ash. We had one date and she stayed over. We’re taking it slow and just having some fun, which is exactly what I recommended for you,” Hannah’s brilliant blue eyes flashed as her mouth opened into a toothy grin. “Soooo, have you been taking my advice?”

“I…I’ve had some fun.” Ashley swallowed hard as she thought of masturbating with Gavin just last night. She shook her head and **** herself instead to think of Zack eating her out on the kitchen counter. “Zack and I have been doing better.”

“Since he’s not so distracted by the Latina chick, I bet,” Hannah noted, though her grin widened further, beginning the mimic the Cheshire Cat. “But I know that look. It’s the same look you had when I had to tease you into telling me about your first time with Brandon. What are you trying to hide this time?”

Ashley closed her eyes and exhaled irritably. “If you must know, Gavin snuck into my room last night and we started having sex. We didn’t finish but we jacked off in the living room together afterwards. I’m not terribly bothered by the act itself, just…every time I feel I’m making some progress with Zack, something happens to make it seem like more of an impossibility.”

“Gavin? Huh, kinda seemed to me that he and Chloe had something going on,” Hannah confessed, looking back to the screen.

“Hm, I think they fooled around a bit, but actually Gavin was with Vicky until…well, he and Chloe fucked, but they had been trying to work things out too,” Ashley replied, glad that Hannah was no longer grinning at her like a manic. “But that little sex game of yours was the nail in the coffin, I think.”

“Oops,” Hannah giggled. “I was just trying to get you to let loose, I don’t think I can be held liable for any collateral damage. Besides, I think you all need to lighten up a bit. Anyone would think you’re out there looking for husbands rather than enjoying your last week of Spring Break.”

Before Ashley could counter a loud shout from the office made both Woodsen sister’s look to door. It passed quickly, though in the silence after, both girls could hear heavy breathing and cursing and other subtler grunts and groans, and, in particular, Robert Ravers sounded especially peeved. Ashley listened to the animated sounds coming from the other room for a minute longer before turning back to her sister, having forgotten exactly what they were talking about.

Instead she said, “It sounds like Mr. Ravers is really upset with Heather.”

Hannah arched her eyebrows at her younger sister, and smirked gently as she replied, “Oh, yeah, he’s really giving it to her.”

“You don’t think I should go in and help, do you?” Ashley inquired, glancing between her sister and the door. “I’d hate to think Robert was being too hard on Heather.”

“No,” Hannah said, shaking her head, bemused. “This sounds like a family thing. Best not to get involved.”

“Hm, if you think so...actually, there was something else I wanted to ask you about,” Ashley said as she thought about it. “How well do you know Shawn Lewis?”

“Shawn? He was in my class at school but beyond that…not well, I guess,” Hannah tilted her head and tapped her finger against her chin. “He was really more Peter’s acquaintance than mine and I’m not even sure Peter liked him enough to call him a friend. But I think Peter was the only guy other than his brother who hung out with him, so he tended to tag along, uninvited, any time we were doing anything social.”

“So, he wasn’t well liked? I see. And what about the rumours?” Ashley continued, eager for any morsel of information that could help her see a reason for Victoria’s new behaviour following her encounter with the elder Lewis sibling. “How true are they?”

“You mean that he was a misogynistic pig? Oh very, but it was all rather petty. As in, he always insisted on going through doors before us girls. Or, if Taylor or I made a suggestion, he’d completely ignore it, but if Peter said the exact same thing, he’d be all over it. And Kendra just sided with him on everything,” Hannah said, saying it as she remembered. “Sometimes he’d try to engage us in arguments, but we usually ignored him.”

“And Kendra? She and Shawn dated, or still date?” Ashley asked, raising her eyebrows.

“I dunno if they still date, but they technically broke up during our final year. She still hung around him though, and he used to brag to Peter that he was still fucking her. All the benefits without any of the commitment he’d say. Strange thing was that Kendra was quite willing. She used to be quite outgoing and bright but after Shawn she became withdrawn and devoted to him.” Hannah related, frowning as she looked up at her kid sister. “Why on earth are you so interested in Shawn and Kendra?”

“Victoria went on a date with Dustin yesterday, only Shawn and Kendra kidnapped Kurt at the time, because they thought he was Gavin and they were trying to keep her boyfriend away during the date. They went back to their apartment, but Shawn showed up. According to Victoria that’s as far as it went, and Shawn claimed the whole thing was Dustin’s idea,” Ashley animatedly explained. “Thing is, ever since, Victoria has been acting a lot flirtier and she shacked up with Kurt. You know Vicky. That’s really unlike her.”

“Honestly, it sounds like the girl is just living a little. Maybe she just got tired of putting all her eggs in one basket, only for the basket to break,” Hannah quipped with a chuckle. “Instead of trying to figure out why, maybe you should try doing it yourself.”

Another loud yell distracted Ashley from disagreeing. This time it sounded like it came from Heather and it sounded decidedly happier than the previous shout, though Ashley still couldn’t make out exactly what was being said due to the heavy wooden door separating the office from the reception/waiting area. However, she could only imagine from the joy in Heather’s voice that something must have went well. Possibly the only thing that could make her that overjoyed would be her father’s innocence.

It was several minutes later before Heather finally emerged. She stepped out of the office with a pleased smile on her lips, her cheeks red, hair slightly messier than when she’d went in and her blouse half-untucked at one side. The dark-haired cheer captain shot Hannah a triumphant glare as she sashayed down the hallway past Ashley. Hannah retaliated with her own, unamused stare.

“Wait,” Ashley called after her, straightening up. “What’d he say?”

“I’ll tell you on the way,” Heather insisted, already nearing the elevator.

“Fine, but wait up,” Ashley pleaded, turning then to her older sister. “See you later, Hans.”

“Bye, Ash,” Hannah said with a smile, her baby sister already dashing down the corridor to join Heather.