Chapter 4: Punk Rocker

Oh I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker

With Flowers In My Hair,

In 77 and 69 Revolution Was In The Air,

I Was Born Too Late,

In A World That Doesn't Care,

Oh I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker

With Flowers In My Hair.

(Sandi Thom - Punk Rocker)

"Why didn't you say yes idiot?" Imogen stared at her friendly clueless, it wasn't a hard question, yet she herself didn't fully know how to answer it.

Looking at the milkshake in front of her, becoming fascinated with the red and white stripped straw she shrugged her shoulders. Thinking back to the week before when the charity ball had been hosted, when she had found herself enjoying Bruce Wayne's company, he had freaked her out quite a bit when mentioning the possibilities of a date, and it made her even more nervous to see that he wasn't in the least bit phased at her rejecting him, which made her slightly paranoid in thinking he would ask again.

"Well … because he's Bruce Wayne; one of the richest men in the world, and extremely generous with his money, while I'm Imogen Hartley; some nobody assistant who majored in Business and Accounting because I had no idea what to do with my life."

Her best friend stared at her sceptically, knowing full well that that was half the truth, in fact she knew it was straight out bull shit, Carla let out a scoff at her best friend, but faltered slightly as she saw Imogen wince like a child. Sighing, and running a hand through her red curls she took a sip of her own milkshake. They were sitting in an old fifty styled diner; one that had been open for god knows how many years. It had been Imogen who had introduced Carla to it in their college years at Gotham University, claiming that Imogen's father had taken her to this place every week as a child.

It was Imogen's 'most favourite place in the world' and Carla would often find her here, sitting alone when upset or in need of thinking, luckily for Imogen it was open until the very late hours of the night. It wasn't a relatively busy place, consisting of the odd customers here or there, and was designed the way a diner of its era would, with the black and white squared tiled floor, with a joke box and red leathered seats. Even the waitresses wore pink dress and skates for uniform, Carla would often look at the ensemble in disgust, and would speak on how they needed to stop with the whole 'trying to bring back the 'Grease' look in restaurants and get on with life, where as Imogen adored it, even owning her own pair of roller skates.

This very diner also happened to be the same place she worked during her years of college, which was perfect for her as it wasn't far, paid decently, and she sincerely enjoyed it.

Carla waited patiently for Imogen to being talking again, and shrugged off her brown leather jacket, knowing full well that they would be here for a while, so she decided to get comfortable in her seat. Imogen sighed, briefly looking up at Carla, before returning back to look at the straw in her cup that she had been circling with her fingers, she then sat up straight and tightened her pony tail, before running her fingers through her bangs.

They both leaned in slightly, resting their forearms on the table, "What's the point Carla? He'll lose his interest on the whole 'she's weird and random' thing, and I'll be on my own again."

Carla shook her head in annoyance at Imogen, it was the one thing that annoyed her about Imogen; she truly had no idea just how much joy she brought to people, well the people who loved her anyway, she just didn't give herself enough credit.

"Yes Carla, he'll find some woman who can actually look the part at all those silly formal parties, and can understand rich people's jokes, and who would be able to have a real intelligent conversation with him."

Carla rested both her hands on the table, and looked Imogen directly in the eye, before taking a deep breathe for what she was going to say, almost as if she were about to scold a child.

"I will only say this once Imogen; because I'm tired of doing so … You need to stop basing possible boyfriends on a previous relationship that happened in college bec-"

"Oh wait, wait this is the best part!" Imogen interrupted her to motion to the TV in the corner near the counter, which was playing Shark Tale, the usually played animations since children mostly occupied the diner.

"Sebastian; the whale washing dolphin!" Imogen sang along happily with a smile on her face, genuinely seeming distracted by what was being shown on the television like a child would.

"Stop doing that! You forget I know you better than anyone else, take something seriously for once Imogen, I want you to be happy!"

"Look! Look at Oscar's face!"

Imogen giggled as she watched the animation that was played, it was another of her favourites that she enjoyed watching, with a defeated look Carla craned her head slightly to watch with her, knowing full well the conversation would go no further. A comfortable silence settled between the two, as Carla stared boredly at the television screen, having no interest in the animation before her, while Imogen watched it with a sparkle in her eye, smiling to herself and completely engrossed in the film.

Another sunny day in Gotham and another lovely day at work. That was thought without any sarcasm in Imogen's head, and smiling to herself for no reason needed, she lightly skipped into the Wayne Enterprise building that early Wednesday morning. With Lucuis's cup of coffee in her hand, as per usual, she hummed softly to a song in her head, one that she remembered her mother once sang to her as a child.

She always though it was a beautiful song, and that her mother sang it beautifully herself, that was until she realized her mother hadn't actually made that song on her own, and had in fact took it from 'The Prince of Egypt', but she still enjoyed listening to it.

Her mind strayed from her original point then, going off to wonder what it was like to live in the that time of ancient Egypt, what their clothing and religion was like, she had always admired the grand buildings that the Egyptians had spent so long making. Imaging herself to look like those of Egyptian royalty, with heavy black eye liner and large golden jewellery, she was zoned out to the rest of the world, not noticing Stanley creeping up behind her to discuss the gossip that he had heard about from the Charity event.

"Boo." Imogen ever so slightly jumped, snapping out of her daydream to stare at Stanley beside her, a ghost of smile appeared on her face and she lightly smacked him on the arm.

"You shouldn't sneak up on people Stanley, you really scared me."

"Well if you weren't so caught up in Wonderland Alice, you would have heard me call your name."

She blushed slightly, knowing all too well how distracted she could get when daydreaming, but still refused to agree with Stanley, who was currently giving her a pointed look.

"Or maybe I was ignoring you for ditching me on Saturday!"

Of course Imogen could never be angry over something as little as that, she was simply teasing Stanley. Since befriending him she had always taken him as her plus one to the Wayne Events that she was often invited too, he would run around enjoying himself until she would be dismissed from Mr. Fox, and together they would enjoy the rest of their night, and would finish with getting some take out and a movie. However on the day of the Charity event, Stanley had called to cancel on her, explaining that he had forgotten he scheduled a date with one of the male nurses from the Dent Memorial Hospital.

Not one to complain Imogen went on to say that it was completely fine, but that he had to make it up to her on an evening in the next weekend, which Stanley was more than happy to oblige to. He looked down at her through his glasses, smiling slightly and spoke to her slowly to emphasize his point.

"Are you really going to try and pretend to be upset about that?"

Imogen giggled, shaking her head bashfully, and looped arms with Stanley to continue their walk, sometimes when Stanley felt energetic he would take the stairs with her, other times he would tell her to dream on and part ways with her to head to the lift. Today it seemed he felt energized enough to join her with the stairs, pushing the door open and holding it as Imogen walked in, he began to quiz her on what he wanted to know since Saturday night.

"A little birdie told me you spent the entire afternoon with the handsome beauty Bruce Wayne."

Imogen shrugged indifferently, not at all fazed by the insinuation in Stanley's tone, straightening out her pleated black skirt as she climbed the steps she smiled at him.

"He took me around the maze in his garden, I felt like Alice In Wonderland."

She clapped her hands excitedly, completely unaware of the fact that Stanley's eye roll, he swung an arm around her shoulder to pull her closer towards him.

"That was code for tell me all the juicy gossip, not the irrelevant things that happened."

She shrugged, looking at him innocently like a child, feeling as if there was nothing important to tell, "other than that he just told me I should join him for dinner, and I said I was busy."

Stanley stopped in his tracks then, and his mouth dropped dramatically, eyes bulging out of his sockets and pulled Imogen to a halt, staring into her clueless blue orbs. She didn't think it was an important fact, she assumed every woman in Gotham could say the exact same line that she delivered, minus the rejection of the offer; she doubted many women did that.

"Busy? Busy? Honestly, I just wonder what on earth goes on in your head Imogen! Bruce Wayne! And you say no."

A hand ran down his face, and he let out a groan towards Imogen, attempting not to laugh at her confused yet slightly ashamed face, her cheeks reddening. It wasn't as if she didn't find Bruce Wayne attractive, she just didn't know him, or he with her, and if she even did consider it she wasn't too keen on looking like another notch on his bed post all over the Gotham Times.

"I don't know him Stan! And can you honestly see me dating someone whose gallivanting around Gotham's clubs in front of photographers?"

Stanley's eyebrow rose, giving her pointed looks as the continued their walk up the stairs, "Weren't you the one to say that he didn't actually seem like what you saw in the papers?"

"Yeah but I don't want to date a guy who is two different people, especially with one of his personalities being that outrageous."

Stanley chose to change the subject, giving up on getting the actual reasons out of her, he understood that when it came to getting close to people that it was near impossible, let alone a potential love interest, she was friendly beyond belief, but when it came to actually trusting someone it was like trying to hug a brick wall. In the three years he had spent being friends with Imogen, it took half of that time to actually make a break through with her trusting him, and if Bruce Wayne was intending to try and do the same thing, well then he had a very long time to try.

"Boo."

Imogen let out a little yelp, gasping softly in her desk seat to curiously look at who decided to startle her later in the day. Bruce leant over her shoulder, giving her charmingly wonderful smile, yet all it seemed to do was make Imogen feel uncomfortable.

"That's the second time someone done that to me today." Imogen's cheeks turned slightly pink, returning Bruce's smile with her own friendly one.

"Busy day?" She shrugged, leaning back in her seat to face Bruce as he sat on her desk in front of her, her fingers combing through her hair slightly, draping out over one shoulder and curling the ends around her fingers like a child.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, although it should be getting a little more busy after Baldy signs that deal the company?"

A moment of silence passed between the two, and then a wide grin spread across Bruce's face seeming to hold back laughter, "… Baldy?"

Imogen nodded, using her hands to motion above her head as she spoke, "Yeah, you know owns that big company in Metropolis, shaved head and kind of creep? Baldy!"

"You mean Lex Luthur?"

"You say potato I say tomato!"

They both broke out into a chorus of laughter, Bruce's deep and loud, while Imogen's was soft and considered to be cute by Bruce as he watched her, and when she caught him staring he held no shame in continuing, only making Imogen feel awkward and avert her gaze. She cleared her throat, plastering on a bright smile once more before looking back to him.

"So, going anywhere particular for lunch?"

Imogen shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, "Wherever the wind takes me."

He nodded amusedly at her answer, wondering why it was so easy for her to be care free, not worrying over what people called life, and in that sense he could admit to being envious, since she seemed to never suffer at all in her years of living, how she could have it easy compared to many unfortunate others.

"Would that wind happen to push you in my direction?"

An embarrassed laugh escaped Imogen's mouth, her blue eyes looking frantically to her desk while maintaining her friendly smile, grabbing a few folders off of her desk to wave it in front of Bruce.

"Maybe another time, unfortunately the wind has brought some work that I have to do over lunch."

"Okay, I can take a hint."

Imogen nodded, giving him an apologetic smile before standing, placing her handbag on one shoulder while balancing her selected folders on another, biding Bruce a good bye she speed walked her way to the stairwell, her pencil skirt making in difficult for her to even speed walk. Holding her breath out of nervousness she kept herself from looking back to Bruce, who kept himself silent through her messy exit, smiling to himself at her behaviour while he watched her leave.

Long over due, sorry! But yes erm it's sort of a filler chapter, so hopefully the next one is better! Anyway enjoy! :D