Two Seconds

One & Two

"Coffee? Tea?" the receptionist asked me.

"Do you have water?" I asked, sticking strictly to my diet.

"Sure," she replied, wandering off.

"Hi Jessica," a middle-aged man said, coming up to me after pushing through the office doors.

"Hi how are you?" I asked, shaking his hand politely.

"Great," he replied, "My name is Dirk by the way, I'll be your contact for all of your Sport Relief relations."

"Oh excellent," I smiled.

"How is training going for this summer?"

"As good as it can I guess," I replied, "Haven't raced in a few months so its hard to tell until I can get myself on the start line."

"Any racing plans soon?"

"Yeah got a couple invitationals lined up over the next few months before Olympic Qualifiers late this spring," I replied, "Get to go to Japan for the first time at the end of next month!"

"That sounds great!" Dirk replied as the receptionist passed me a bottle of water. I opened it and took a quick sip as Dirk continued on, "We can go sit in the conference room if you'd prefer, the JLS boys are running late but they should be here soon."

"They're coming?" I asked. Honestly I had no idea who all was going to be involved with Sport Relief, I'd only heard what Joe had told me about it, which wasn't much.

"Yeah, it's going to be you and JLS taking on the brunt of the promotion, and then we've lined up a few actors to do some work here and there. It's just you guys today though."

"Wow," I replied, actually surprised. I had assumed that they'd asked a whole ton of people to do the promo work and that I'd just be in the back corner or something. I had no idea that I was going to be so involved, right at the forefront.

"We thought it would be perfect to bring Britain's number one Olympic athletics hopeful on to promote the Mile this year!" he grinned. I could feel my cheeks flush red as he called me 'Britain's number one Olympic athletics hopeful.' In my mind I was just another runner with big dreams, nothing more.

"Dirk the boys are here," the receptionist said after a moment of awkward silence. Slowly the door opened wider and four boys in low trousers came laughing into the conference room with someone I expected was their manager.

"Hello again boys," Dirk said, getting up to shake their hands. I sat back and waited for introductions to come, not wanting to interrupt Dirk's greeting. "And boys, this is Jessica Rego," he said finally, "She'll be joining you for the promo."

"Hi," I said shyly.

"Hey Jessica," the chorused, throwing their names out to me as I shook their hands. I got a few compliments about my racing, and I tried to return them about their music. I didn't know much, just what was on the radio.

As we settled around the table to begin discussing the plan of attack for the Sports Relief campaign, I studied each of the boys in turn. Three of them were enraptured in the conversation, asking questions, and generally paying attention. The fourth, the smallest of the group, appeared to be completely distracted, staring at me.

I gave him a look as he continued with his gaze, receiving a wink in return. Shocked by his arrogance I raised an annoyed eyebrow at him before returning my attention to the meeting.

I couldn't remember which one he was, but if he thought he could use his silly boy band charm on me, he had another thing coming for him.