"Gross! No way! Please don't make me do it."
"You know we're thin on the ground for staff, Millie. Main crew's covering the crisis, I need you. Look, I tell you what, do this for me & your next assignment is yours to choose."
Millie sighed. "Hmph. Okay."
"It's one afternoon, two hours & you're out of there," her editor said. "I'll talk to you about the exact directions later."
"Great," Millie said dejectedly, walking back to her desk. She had just been handed an assignment for a recent story revolving around some pervert on social media gaining a lot of attention - & controversy - for his womanising. Her editor wanted him portrayed in an unflattering light to capitalise on the current trend of female empowerment running hot in the media. Millie was vaguely aware of talk of this guy, she couldn't recall his name off-hand, but she knew he was a creep. Hopefully he could trip himself up & it would be short work.
Millicent was almost a year into her career in journalism, & she was still finding her feet with interviews. Still only 21, she had been told she was not hard enough on her subjects - she was mild-mannered by nature - but at least this would be an opportunity to work on that. She spent the next two nights practising how the interview would go with her boyfriend, Michael. Then Friday came, & the job was at hand.
She found herself knocking on the door of an apartment building in an upscale seaside neighbourhood. Her subject answered the door. "You must be Millicent. Come on in." Millie had done her research & knew what Mark looked like, but he was big in person. He was tall, maybe 6'4", & muscular but in a lean sort of way. His distinctly deep voice & confident gait intimidated her a little, as did his age (his social media accounts didn't mention his age, but she guessed about 30), but she pushed the doubts out of her head.
"Take a seat," Mark gestured at a sofa in the living room. Millie was just gathering her questions in order within her head when they were interrupted by a woman who walked into the room.
"This is V, my room-mate. You on your way out, V?"
"Hi," she smiled at Millie, who waved back silently. "I'm Veronica. Don't mind me, I'm just leaving. She paused to regard Millie a moment. "That's beautiful hair," Veronica said, walking up & stroking Millie's blonde cascade. Although uncomfortable with the stranger's intrusion in her comfort zone, she didn't resist. "Um, thanks," she said, a little shyly. "Nice eyes." Veronica had lovely light blue eyes, despite her darkish features. Millie figured she was maybe a couple of years older than she was, but definitely younger than Mark. Veronica turned her gaze to her room-mate. "I need the place tomorrow, remember? I've got plans with Rachel & Luke. You'll be out, right?"
"All night," Mark replied. "I'm at Jennifer's." With that, Veronica excused herself, & Millie & Mark settled down to their interview.
"Hey, I'm just gonna grab something to drink. You want anything? Coffee?"
