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Chole Byrne pulled her baseball cap low over her forehead, shading her eyes from view. She kept her head down as she hurried through the busy streets, praying that no one would notice her.
Not that anybody seemed to notice anyone here. She had been in Orlando, Florida for nearly twenty menutes now and already she had noted that everyone was too caught up in his or her own business to care what anyone else was doing.
Tourists shoed their children along as they hurried off to some scheduled activity. The locals fought their way through the never-ending throng of tourists, grumbling about the sighseer's manners.
Suddely, Chole was bumped from behind, sending her sprawling across the ground. The contents of her purse scattered across the floor.
"I'm sorry," a male voice said.
"That's okay." Chole looked up to see a man wearing a bucket hat. A few dread locks stuck out crazily from the sides, giving him a comical look. "It could happen to anyone."
"No, it happens to me all the time," the man told her with a crooked smile. "I'm such a klutz!"
Chloe found herself grinning back. It was impossible not to. He bent, scooping up a pile of her belongings. "Here," he said.
"Thanks, " Chloe replied.
"I'm Chris Kirkpatrick," he announced.
"I'm Chole." She stuck out her hand to shake.
"Nice to meet you Chloe," Chris said.
"You too. Thank you for helping me pick up my stuff." Chloe slung her purse over her shoulder, preparing to make a quick get away. "I'm really sorry, but I'm in a terrible rush."
She tensed involuntarily when a police officer strolled casually by.
"Yeah, it was great bumping into you!" Chris joked. "Bye."
"Bye."
Chloe turned, almost running in the opposite direction, not looking back at Chris. Little did she know she would be seeing him again, very soon.
Chris studied srudied Chloe as she furried away from him. She ws pretty with hair the color of a sunset. It floated around her shoulders in soft, undulating waves. Her complexion ws rich like peaches and cream, her lips the shade of fresh strawberries. She had dimiuntive features that were perfectly proportioned to her face.
There was something about her. Her twinkling eyes and shy smile were things he would not seen forget.
"She's very pretty, Chris," a familiar voice pulled him from his thoughts.
"Huh?" Chris blinked. His friend Justin stood beside him. He hadn't even heard him walk up. "What girl?"
"The gorgeous girl with flaming hair, blue eyes and a killer bod," Justin said, gazing after Chloe as she disappeared into the crowd.
"She's got green eyes," Chris answered automatically.
"Oh really?" Justin smirked.
Chris could feel his cheeks grow warm. He turned away from Justin's teasing blue eyes.
"Hey, Chris," Justin called. "I think she really liked you."
"Why do you say that?" Chris asked, suddenly interested.
"She really fell for you!"
Chloe fidgeted as she sat in the crowded waiting room. This was it. The job that was perfect for her situation.
She would be traveling with a music group to take care of their wardrobe, making sure ther stage clothing had no rips or stains.
A long sigh escaped her lips as her eyes roved the room. The other ladies didn't seem the least bit nervous. They were calmly flipping though magazines, or ging though their own folders.
Chloe looked down at her own folder that was lying in her lap. The information in it was mostly fake, the collage diploma, the references, even her ID cards. She knew they wouln't hire a runaway seventeen-year-old. She would end up where she had begun, a captive in her father's house.
Her mind drifted back to the years she had spent in hell. Her father had been well over forty when he married the twenty-year-old beauty, Grace Dorret, who was Chloe's mother. He had told her that he didn't want children, and she had agreed, saying the she wasn't the nurturing type. Two year later Chloe was brought into the world. When her father found out that along with the fact that he was a father, he had a daughter and not a son, Chole had been ingnored. She could remember rerouting her way through the house so as to avoid her father at all costs. As a child she was basically happy. She played outside on the extensive grounds that surrounded the mansion where she had lived her whole life, another plan to elude her stern father. As a teenager she was brought to parties to be shown off. The only time her father was civil to her was during these huge galas where he played the doting father.
Everything went on in this relatively peaceful fashion until two years ago when Chloe had come home from a party ten minutes past her curfew. She snuck into the house after saying a goodnight to her escort. She had thought it wouldn't matter, no one would know. Unfortunately, her father had waited up.
It had been the first of many beatings. Chloe could still feel the sting of the thick leather belt on her legs and back. It had only gotten worse from there.
"Chloe Dorret?" A voice interrupted her thought.
The sound of her mother's maiden name linked withe hers gave her strength.
You're all you've got now, kid, she told herself as she followed the short, balding man into the office.
"When is she going to be here?" J.C. Chasez demanded impatiently.
"Relax, J.C.," Chris advised, not looking up from the magazine article that he was reading.
"She's five minutes late!" J.C. exclamed.
As if on cue their was a hasty knock at the door. J.C. stomped over to the door, yanking it open aggressively.
"Hello," a soft voice said quickly. "I'm Chloe Dorret. I'm very sorry I'm so late. I couldn't get a cab."
Chris' ears perked up. He know that vioce. It was strangely famillar. Straning to see over J.C.'s shoulder, he knocked his chair over, tumbling to the floor with it. The crash caused J.C. to turn suddenly, revealing the woman he had met at the airport.
Chis scrambled to his feet, blushing profusely.
"What happened?" J.C. asked.
"I-I uh, fell," Chris stammered.
J.C. rolled his eyes, turning back to Chloe who was attempting to hold back her laughter.
"This is-" Chloe cut him off.
"Chris Kirkpatrick, we've met," she informed him.
"Oh." J.C. shot Chris a look , which he ignored.
"Hey, Chloe," he greeted sheepishly.
"You sure weren't joking about being a klutz," Chloe teased with a grin.
Chris beamed back, he found it impossible not to. He watched as J.C. whisked her away to meet the others. As he followed a sudden thought made him hesitate for a moment. Justin was going to have a field day with this.
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