the silver lining playbook// a. irwin

chapter eighteen

"Ms. Collins, it is so good to see you with us," Mr. Robald, the official supervisor of the board who had spoken to me before told the table, as if it was something to show off, "good thing that Ashton has finally seen what a bright mind you actually are."

Ashton chuckled from next to me, "Yes, but what exactly do you mean? I've always known she is an intellectual girl."

"Well, did you know that she received a score of 1580 on her SATs?" Mr. Robald spoke as-matter-of-factly. It was as if he was the only to know.

Ashton tensed up as the meeting began. But I had a feeling that it wasn't because he had to speak about a budget.

As some intern spoke about the corporate surroundings or whatever, Ashton whispered into my ear, moving forward for a second, "A 1580 would imply an almost perfect score in at least one subject."

"You're correct. I suppose I do good in math," I whispered back, making Ashton chuckle and sit back, listening to the rest of this girl's pointless presentation.

The rest of the presentations passed me by almost unannounced, but once Ashton was up, my eyes were on him.

"Very soon, we will be travelling to London to meet with an old friend of mine that wished to make a generous offer to buy the Baltimore Ravens."

"Have you already tallked numbers?" Mr. Robald said, brekaing the silence and interrupting Ashton in his presentation.

Ashton nodded, "Yes, I just want to make sure the offer is still on the table. Once I know that it is, I will get back to you with the official number."

"Who will be your team during this opperation?" Mr. Robald questioned, and Ashton's eyes met with mine for one brief second and then looked away.

"Miss Layla Collins, due to her nearly perfect mathematical SAT scores, her stellar performance in the last six months, and being one of the few people that knows the inside and outs of Microsoft Exel, I believe she is the one to both supervise and assist me on this trip." Ashton blurted out.

"Does the board agree with Mr. Irwin's decision?" the man secrtetary sitting next to Ashton spoke. Everyone but the intern agreed. All throughout this time, Ashton never lifted his gaze off of me.

"Well then," Mr. Robald said, a powerful smile on his face as he stood up, gathering his papers ans such, "Ms. Collins pass by my office with the agenda you will be following. Meeting adjourned."

I grinned as the room filled out. Once I saw Mr. Robald approaching me, I stood up. He smiled down at me with his green eyes and spoke, "I remember when you were just a young intern and how worried you were to begin working for Ashton. But look how far you got. You've done wonders to him- to this team. And I thank you."

"It is my job, Mr. Robald," I chuckled at his flattery.

"I know it is much more than that. See you later, miss."

As soon as the room cleared out, Ashton came back inside after shaking hands with everyone that had once been in a chair, and came towards me as I cleared the place of all the coffee cups and the papers people had left behind.

Ashton stayed quiet for a second, I began to wonder why, but soon after I realized a group of intern girls had been passing by with their LA accents and their beach blonde hair.

Once they were out of our sight, Ashton came behind me and embraced me, making me spin around as he held me close in his arms, "I'm so glad I got away with that."

"With taking me all the way to England to see the buyer?" I asked, teasing him.

He laughed, his chest vibrating under my hand, "Basically. We leave tomorrow morning."