#Chapter 7: Stay or Not

“Don’t get me wrong, I immediately said no,” Amy quickly claimed after seeing my stunned face. “The police won’t spill your private information.” “Sure,” I replied with a smile. “I guess…I just didn’t expect him…” "Don't you two have work to do?" Jessica entered the room, another binder in hand. "I don't think she needs anymore praise, Amy. She's already paid just to have a nice lunch and hang out in the copy room." "I'd love to do more," I said. "Please, let me take some responsibilities off your hands." "You wouldn't have the first idea of what to do." "You're right. It's my first day. I'm willing to learn. And just so you understand, I didn't ask for this job. I only wanted to keep my old position." "Please. We all know what position that was." I felt my anger flare. "I have no idea what you're implying, but it sounds ugly." Jessica learned forward and pointed at me. "Sleeping with your boss is a bad idea in general, but keep it at home for crying out loud." "What?" "That is totally out of line," Amy said even louder than my outraged objection. "I don't know where you get your information," I said. "But I've never been involved with anyone I work with. Especially not a horrible man who smells like disgusting licorice and cheats on his wife." "I meant your current boss, dummy." I was momentarily struck dumb at the thought that anyone thought Charles would be with me. Jessica folded her arms. "Just what I thought." "No! I just can't believe you'd think a person like him would go for someone like me." I shook my head. "You must not know your boss very well." "Then what's with all the special treatment? I've never seen him behave this way ever. And I've been with him for years." "I spent the lunch hour giving him information about the company. I've worked here a long time, remember? It was a work meeting over lunch. That's all." Jessica looked doubtful, but just then we heard Charles' door open and heard him call. "Can I get someone to make this power point while I talk through the ideas?" We all moved but Jessica put out a firm hand. "I'll go." She handed me her binder. "You forgot this." I sat at my desk, trying not to be upset. I knew that was what she wanted, to get under my skin. The problem was that there was truth in what she'd said. It was odd that I was being given special treatment. It didn't look good from the outside, and unless I started being seen doing some serious work my reputation would take a hit that would follow me anywhere I applied in the city. I could tell Amy was feeling sorry for me. I felt her glances and once she even offered to get me a coffee. I was grateful for the kindness and for the way she obviously thought Jessica had crossed a line when she accused me of sleeping with my boss. After about an hour, Jessica came back out and the three of us worked in silence. Or at least, Amy and Jessica worked. I tried to look busy on the last binder. "What do you think about giving Elena the Southside Solutions brief to organize?" Amy asked in the strained silence. "There's a lot of stuff there that needs looking through." Jessica didn't look up from her screen. "It's your party." Amy pulled a thick file out from a drawer and came to my desk. She explained it was a vender who we were considering working with, and someone needed to organize the research into easily digested bits for Charles to glace over for comparison. "Thank you," I said, relief obvious in my voice. I picked up the folder and began to look through the information. Finally, something I can sink my teeth into, I thought. *** A few hours later I sat back and looked at the brief I had put together with confidence. Sorting through information, making sense of it, it was something I did when I was working on journalism projects. It felt good to use my skills and not feel like a waste of space. I typed up a quick guide with page numbers for easy access before giving it one last proofread. It was interesting to see what kind of work the company did and what they were offering. I was curious what the competition was. Amy saw me finish and got up from where she was sitting in the conference room with Jessica, papers spread over half the table. She picked up the folder and smiled the moment she opened to the first page. "Wow, this looks fabulous. Very easy to follow." She thumbed through and her smile got bigger. She snapped it shut and nodded. "This is great. It's going to make finding things so much easier, the way you categorized and referenced the information." Jessica walked by, going to dig something out of her desk. "Check this out," Amy said, handing her my work. Jessica thumbed through it, frowning. "We pay entry level wages for this kind of work," she said, handing it back to Amy. "It's nothing special." Amy rolled her eyes as Jessica strode away. "Ignore her. It's not entry level work, no matter what she says. Consider yourself in charge of briefs for now on." "Thank you." She smiled and winked at me. Charles came out of the office, taking a deep breath. He stretched up to the ceiling, wafting vetiver through the room. I looked down at my desk, hoping he didn't catch me looking at his moving torso under the crisply ironed shirt. I hated to admit it, but his presence and scent wiped away all the uncertainty and negative feelings Jessica had just thrown my way. "Ready to hash out those numbers, Amy?" "Ready." I hesitated. It was after six, but evidently they were still working. "I can help, if you have something for me to do? I can even go get you take out if you need it." Amy glanced at Charles who shook his head. "It's totally fine to leave when we're done, Elena. We don't want to burn you out in the first week." "Okay," I said, feeling bad. I didn't like how useless I felt, and I had already gotten off on the wrong foot with one of my colleagues. I needed to change something, fast, but I wasn't sure how. Charles wasn't helping anything. Despite the two days I'd spent in the penthouse being tortured, the lunches and the glimpses of him had a way of making it worth it. I inhaled his vetiver fragrance again and cast a look after him. To my surprise he was looking back. I felt my breath catch. "You can always come in early tomorrow, if you feel guilty leaving me with these two taskmasters," he said, smiling a casual, joking smile. Jessica glared at me from behind the glass windows of the conference room. I shifted my eyes back to his blue ones and smiled back. "Should I grab coffee from Milan Brother's on the way in?" "That's the best idea I've heard all day." He winked at me, and went toward the conference room. I smiled as I packed my bag, but sighed when l left the penthouse. Deep down, I wondered if accepting this job is the right thing to do. However, seeing Charles' smile used to be enough to lift my mood everyday, and I couldn’t help but want to enjoy it as I was there.