Evangeline [ONHOLD]

two

"I can't believe we're here. Claire we're actually inside of Evangeline's!" Dwight says excitedly and he makes a face when the girl begins to stifle her laughter. "That sounded wrong but you know what I mean."

"Dwight you have to calm down and stop moving around! Some of her workers are sending us some pretty nasty glares." Claire whispers as she looks down and attempts to avoid the looks of daggers thrown their way. It was their first day, she didn't want to be called out for being unprofessional that would be beyond embarrassing.

Claire looks around to see security surveying the function hall, women dressed stylishly in black dresses with In-Ear receivers inspecting everyone's badge and making sure there weren't any intruders. It intimidated her more than anything and she was actually pretty scared of meeting Evangeline herself. She's only ever seen the woman in pictures and she realizes she doesn't even know what she sounds like. Is her voice high pitched? Is it raspy? Then she wonders why the hell it matters what she sounds like, it doesn't matter anyway she was going to be working for her that was it.

There were murmurs and squeals of excitement coming from the 99 interns in the room minus Claire who looked around questioningly and leaned into Dwight. "What's going on?"

"Well, rumor has it Evangeline wants to speak to us one on one later on. She'd like to meet us herself, Claire it's like a whole meet and greet - but so much better."

"Keyword rumor, Dwight."

"Claire you know, I don't appreciate you being such a Debby Downer, I don't need this type of negative energy around me right now," he jokes and pushes her playfully with his shoulder.

"Okay groupie," she teases him.

"Good evening to every one of you, it's nice to see so many fresh faces around the room. But before we go on with the night, let's all give ourselves a round of applause. Congratulations for landing such an incredible opportunity to work for none other than Evangeline Skye."

A round of applause and a few whistles roared across the room and Claire couldn't help but feel a sense of pride within her, yes she had little to no knowledge about the industry but there must've been something about her that whoever hired her found worthy enough right? Still she didn't know what. Her application certainly wasn't as charming as the other applicants, the organizations she joined had more to do with Biology than the arts. In high school she opted to stay away from anything that had to do with painting and drawing which is why Mr. Wither only gave her a C for Arts class in ninth grade. Conversely, she excelled in science and math which is how she was able to graduate at the top of her class.

Claire realized how unfair the educational system was. How was it that everyone was expected to be good at science and math but any other subject she could put not even one-fourth of the effort she exerted in the former and still pass with flying colors? She did not understand. She knew people who had an eye and gift for arts and the aesthetics but were not as skilled in science as they were in the former - their grades had suffered more than hers. She couldn't do anything about it, but she hopes somehow she does well in her internship, that way she could prove to herself maybe she deserved to graduate at the top of her class and feel a little less guilty.

She remembered her application. They had to submit a document, or anything they were good at. Video editing, layout design, graphic design, anything of the sorts really. Like her ex-boyfriend she had submitted an essay, she did make an effort in writing it but honestly she didn't expect it would be worthy of a Pulitzer Prize in the eyes of whoever hired her in the first place. She'd written about beauty in vulnerability.

The night went on and soon Dwight and everyone else had stopped uttering Evangeline Skye's name like a ritual chant. The interns moved around the room drowning their half-filled expensive champagne glass and acquainting themselves with the one another, even with the adults - in the latter's case it wasn't acquainting, it was more of a kissing the asses of those in higher positions. Claire on the other hand stayed in the back and enjoyed the served finger foods all to herself. She was not going to lie, they were pretty tasty. There were a couple of Australian foods she's haven't heard about until now, but she was sure they were racing their way for the number one spot on her favorite food list.

"No enjoying the party, Miss?" Claire turned to see a much older man, maybe in his mid-thirties grab one of the cupcakes, like the ones she was in the process of swallowing.

Claire shook her head and then realized maybe he'd understand that as yes I'm not enjoying the party. She made incoherent sounds and shook her head before she was able to fully swallow the food down. "I mean yes, I am enjoying the party."

"I'm Marcus, Marcus Kane. Very pleased to make your acquaintance..." He trails off and looks right at her, and she realizes he was waiting to get her name.

"Claire, Claire Bryson, Sir."

"Marcus is fine, Claire. Let's avoid formalities, I hate that."

She chuckled awkwardly and nodded her head, she didn't know what to talk about. She didn't know who he was, does he work here? What does he do? She needed Dwight, maybe he'd know who he is. She averts his gaze, even when she could feel his eyes burning her skin.

Marcus laughs deeply and she turns to study him, he was fairly good looking - fresh cut, neatly trimmed beard, he cleaned up nice too.

"I'm a photographer for the Evangeline magazine, been here for about a year." He announced, as if guessing the queries in her head and the brunette was kind of grateful for that information. Now that she had background on what he does she'd know where to steer the conversation just until he goes away.

"Oh that's cool, and how's your experience been like?"

"My experience?" He chuckled and casually grabs two glasses of margarita from one of the servers. "Well, it's been good. Better than good actually. So tell me are you interested in going for the modeling jobs or are you more of a desk girl?"

"Uhm, desk girl more probably?" She chuckles awkwardly.

"Really?" He shrugs and shakes his head, he doesn't bother to conceal the look of disappointment on his face.

"What, why?" She scrunches her eyebrows in little understanding.

"Well, you have the face and the body. You could pass for a model if you're asking me," He takes a step forward and Claire involuntarily takes a step back. He smiles and hands her one of the glasses. "So I'm not understanding why you'd rather a boring desk job, but that's your choice. Cheers?"

"For one Marcus, I don't allow anyone under the age of nineteen to model for my magazine. You see, I'm not interested in exploitation and predatory eyes of anyone for that matter. I feel it is not safe for very young women to be bossed around posses and pressured when they don't feel comfortable." The glass is pulled out from Marcus' hand and transferred to one of an elegant bombshell. Claire thinks she might just pass out the moment the woman's steely gaze locks with hers. "Cheers?"

"E-Evangeline! I didn't get to see you tonight," Markus stutters and nervously takes a step back, he had not been expecting their boss to overhear their conversation. "And my apologies I didn't know, she certainly looked older."

"Well, it never hurts to ask," Evangeline's face is blank, almost expressionless and even then Claire could see why people fawn over this woman. She has such an attractive and naturally sculpted face - for lack of a better word, she is beautiful. She was soft spoken, her voice quite gentle and calm it nearly put Claire to sleep, but there was something about her, Claire couldn't pin point what it was, maybe it was her poise and the way she carried herself that screamed Evangeline Skye was a powerful, strong, thick-skinned, and resilient woman and not to be messed with. Her twinkling eyes were light blue and full of mirth, so light they could be mistaken for gray if you didn't look close enough. She looked and sounded like she were harmless, but her eyes had a strong intense authority to it, Claire could not seem to look away. Evangeline had smiled towards the brunette who stayed quiet the entire exchange, but Claire knew she wasn't very happy. "You may go now."

Claire didn't know how but her legs moved and allowed her to get away from them, at the very last second she looked back and caught Evangeline's icy blue eyes staring right back at her. She shuddered and realized she could feel her heart pounding against her rib cage, like it was about to escape any moment.

Claire was pretty sure the woman's eyes would haunt her in her dreams tonight.