Conflicting Attractions // h.s

35\\Lunch Date and Surprise Visitors

Phoebe

DECEMBER

Louis had called me into work today since there was a little bit of a mix-up with some of our clients. I could see him from my office window, he was pacing around the room with his cell-phone to his ear. He looked quite stressed from where I was sitting and I felt kind of bad. I mean, sure he's the CEO of Tomlinson Industries but he still seems to have a hard time coping with being that powerful.

His assistant Sarah, however, seems to be in there with him too.

I was quickly typing on my computer some of the templates needed for his company's board meeting in the next few minutes. It consisted of the new spreadsheets we have to fill out, his new employee's, some of the statistics of recent investors plus some of the statistics of the markets surrounding the area of his company. Even though I've been working here for a short time, I still cannot believe I don't know what his company is actually about.

I had finished within a few minutes since I skipped lunch to finish what he wanted. The board meeting was at three pm and it was now one-thirty, so I was finished with great time to spare. While I waited for the printer to finish printing around twenty copies of each page to make into a booklet, my mind faded towards Harry.

Was he home safe? Was he okay? What was he going through? Is Ellie treating him right? Would they be together right now? Was he back in New York?

I blinked gently, hearing the finishing beep of the printer, grabbing its finished printing contents, the stapler in hand. I began stapling the pages in order to make into little handy booklets for his staff and attendees to look over before a knock echoed through my office. I walked over to the door and opened it, seeing my co-worker Alexis standing in my doorway. I walked back to where I was before as she stood in the doorway. "Well, hello there worker bee," she greeted as I flashed her a smile.

"Hey Lex," I replied while I was standing by the printer, still stapling some more pages. She had walked in, closed the door and made herself at home behind my desk, her feet on my desk while she had grabbed my bobblehead of myself. She was flicking it around with her finger while giggling. "Was there something you needed? I'm kind of in the middle of finishing my job."

"I'm on a break, sweets so I thought I would come and annoy you to come and have lunch with me."

She was tapping her feet on my desk impatiently waiting for me to answer. I knew I was almost done and I could do a lunch break since I've worked non-stop since this morning. "Oh, alright, we'll go. But let me give these to Mr. Tomlinson and then we'll go," I told her as she squealed but remained seated at my desk. I gave her the "ok-well-you're-just-going-to-stay-there-are-you" look while she giggled and nodded at the same time. "Okay, I'll be back."

I had my handful of stapled booklets in my arms when I walked out of my office, knocking on Louis' office door. I could hear him yelling into the phone but I couldn't hear Sarah's voice. Had she left without detection? I took a few deep breaths since I knew he would probably be riled up with whatever problem he had to solve. It took a few minutes for him to open the door and when he did, there was anger within his eyes, which made me a little uneasy. "Um, Mr. Tomlinson, these are the booklets for today's board meeting, there are twenty copies, should be enough for everyone. I'm going to have my lunch break now so, if there's anything else you need typed up and printed out, let me know."

He grabbed the booklets from my arm, walking over to his desk before he returned to his office door. I stood there, my heart in my ass, wondering what he was going to say. After his intense stare down, he let out a small smile. "Thank you, Ms. Evans, great work today. Have a lovely lunch date with Ms. Coleman."