Lucia was one giant walking contradiction, or maybe she just suffered from multiple personalities.  She personally was disorganized, chaotic, chronically late and just generally a hot mess.  Professionally she was organized, punctual and literal, if she said something you could take it to be the gospel truth.  She headed out the door and nodded politely as he moved so she could lock the door.  "Thank you."  She said in response to his compliment. "Precision can come in handy from time to time." 

She followed him downstairs and raised an eyebrow as she slid in the back seat.  She wasn't a backseat with a driver kind of girl, but she kept her mouth shut.  She buckled her seat belt and grinned as the SUV started.  He had good, eclectic, but good taste in music, that was always important.  There was nothing worse than getting stuck in a car with crappy music.  She unzipped her small cosmetic bag, which also easily doubled as a cute clutch purse and removed a hair brush.  She ran the brush through her curly hair.  It was soon obvious why it frizzed so bad, she yanked that brush through her hair.  As soon as the brush moved freely, she began pulling it back.  Instead of anything elaborate she settled on what she often called a 'faux braid' she took took her hair and pulled it back into a tight pony tail, but then added a hair tie every inch.  It was a very simple style and didn't take long at all.  


He remembered coffee.  That made Serge her new hero.  She did not function well without coffee.  "Large black coffee with three ice cubes Please."  She always added a few ice cubes to get coffee to a drinkable temperature faster. She was a woman who lived her life as though she was constantly on fast forward.  She snuck a glance at her watch as she slid the brush back into her bag and began pinning her hair tightly to make sure every strand stayed in place.  Travel time, and a two hour meeting included, she would get home at approximately 3:15.  That would give her enough time to scribble down a few more paper ideas, change and get to work.  She might be a few minutes late, which she hated, but sometimes things were unavoidable.  

She reached forward and accepted her cup of coffee from him.  "Thank you."  There was something about him that made her want to tweak his tail so to speak.  He was just too buttoned up and formal.  "I tried starting my day without coffee once.  My court date is pending."  She joked, keeping her face neutral.  Comedy is all about timing and delivery.  She wasn't half bad at it, but she doubted he would agree.  

"In all seriousness, thank you.  I am running on..." She glanced down at her watch again "Not enough sleep.  I worked a double shift last night, but the girl before me didn't take care of everything she needed to, so I didn't make it home until after sun up."  She sipped the coffee gratefully.  "I also appreciate you picking up while I was dressing.  It was completely unnecessary, but very much appreciated.  I just seem to be running behind these days."  

She settled back in her seat and flipped open the leather folder in her lap flipping to her calendar to mark down todays events.  She glanced up from her note taking, and it clicked in her brain that this SUV was a manual transmission.  That reminded her, she really should learn to drive a stick.  If she ever ended up employed in her field when she graduated, she could end up on a rapid response team, and manual transmissions were common in other countries.  

There were so many things she wanted to ask, but Serge was very, very good at giving off a 'Don't ask me, I just work here.' vibe.  In her mind it was likely that he was told to fetch, so he did.  And now she found herself sitting in the back seat of a luxury SUV heading towards a meeting with what was likely the next President of the United States.  She still had no idea why she was being brought to this meeting, but she supposed she would soon find out.  If luck was with her, this would have something to do with one of the paid positions she applied for, and not an unpaid internship.  She needed the experience, so paid or not, she would take it.  Somehow, some way she would manage to find more hours in the day. After all isn't this what she wanted, to work in inhospitable locations, under conditions that most sane people avoided at all costs?  Surely she could handle a six month internship in which she forced her schedule to fit a 36 hour day.  The US navy did it, so could she.