The Pursuit

Three

I quickly brushed away a few tears that fell and cleared my head. I shouldn't be thinking of him now. I didn't need to cry on a perfectly good day. I kept my mind busy by thinking of the draft I had in my folder. I smiled to myself, being very proud of it. I hoped Caleb saw the work I put into it. The light erase marks were proof enough.

Today was definitely a whole new day. I stepped foot inside the building with ten minutes to spare. 

"Hi."

I looked at my fellow intern, Oliver, as I was just about to sit behind my bare desk. I kindly smiled at him. "Good morning." My bag made a thud sound as I dropped it onto the floor beside me. I took out my folder with the design and smoothed it out.

"Did you finish your design?" Oliver asked.  

I nodded. "Just this morning actually. You?"

"Yep." He leaned back as far as his chair would let him and clasped his hands behind his head. Well this guy was getting comfortable. "I never formally introduced myself to you, by the way." He held out a hand, and a charming grin was on his face. "Oliver Hansworth. Your competition."

I laughed slightly. "Bethany Bridges, but you can call me Ann."

"Jeff seems like a really hard-ass guy."

I pursed my lips. "That's not a nice thing to say. We barely said one word to him."

"And he probably won't let us..." He whispered softly and prudently nodded his head behind me.

I took a peek over my shoulder, and there was the one other intern, Jeff Dapple in a crisp black suit. Huh, it seemed like he took the saying dress to impress more importantly than me. Compared to Oliver who was only wearing slacks and a nice shirt, Jeff looked like he belonged here.

"Good morning," I greeted with a cheery smile just to be nice.

I was waiting for him to reply back with something but instead barely looked at me and gave me a nod. I slowly turned back around to find Oliver trying to hide his laughter.

"Told you," he whispered in between laughs. 

Despite his cold brush off, I managed a smile myself. I was getting ready to whip out a granola bar when Caleb's assistant, Clarisse, walked up. 

"Caleb's ready to see the designs. Any one of you can go up first."

I was about to volunteer before Jeff stood up and said, "I'll go." 

I gingerly sat back down in my seat again. I waited with Oliver who was telling me a story until Jeff came back with a satisfied look on his face. It was the closest to a smile I'd ever seen from him. 

"You want to go?" I asked Oliver.

He shook his head. "Nah. You go."

I shot him a grateful smile and made my way to the door that Jeff left from. 

"You can go right on in," Clarisse told me from her desk just outside the office door.

"Thanks," I said and swung the door open. 

The first thing I noticed about his office was the wide, immense space of it. I let myself take a gander at the very modernized setting. There was a sitting area off to the left with black leather couches and a small drinks bar just to the side of it. As you walk in, the huge mahogany desk would be the first notable thing in the entire space. I'd never been in an office this grand before. 

"Come in, Ms. Bethany."

Caleb's husky voice put a stop to my inspection of his office. I looked forward and met his sparkling azure eyes. It was always the first thing I noticed about him. They stood out against the dark mop hair  of his. My downcast eyes to the floor and took the remaining steps to his desk.