Louise has been trying to talk to me all day, making up excuses to come into my office and going for coffee at the same times I did. I've been trying to avoid her as best as I could, busying myself with work and just outright telling her to leave but I can't possibly avoid her forever, and Joane is already growing suspicious.
"Can we talk now?" she says, the very moment I open my door to leave for lunch. Of course, she'd take this opportunity, how naive of me.
She's leaned on the frame of the door, completely blocking my only exit, arms crossed at her chest but she doesn't seem angry or sad.
"Stop following me everywhere, it's creepy. And we have nothing to talk about."
"I think we do though."
There are still some people around the office, I'd rather not have this conversation in the hallway where people— mainly Joane, can hear us. But I'm not having lunch with her either.
"Just come in," I sigh, stepping aside so she could step inside my office, closing the door the moment she does. "Louise, I'm not interested—"
"I think you are, actually."
"That's very presumptuous of you."
"You're denying the very obvious."
"What is it that is obvious, exactly?" I cross my arms to keep them from strangling her.
"That I make you feel things you probably wish you didn't feel."
"Good call, I feel anger and I shouldn't be wishing to punch my intern," I say sarcastically but she seems unfazed.
"That's kinky."
"You are..." I breathe in trying to contain the anger and the incredible pull I'm feeling to throw her out of the nearest window. "Despicable."
She smirks and I swear the pull to throw her down the 10th floor duplicated. "And you are pretty hot, Ms. Agassi."
And now it has tripled.
"You're fired," I say through gritted teeth but it only seemed to amuse her more.
"Can you actually do that?" she asks unfazed.
I'm taken aback by her confidence but I don't let her see it. "And why wouldn't I exactly? I don't care who put you here, at the end of the day, I'm the one in charge of you."
She simply smiles. So one of my suspicions might be true, she must be a relative of a superior official. She leaves after not getting a reaction out of me, like I give a damn.
"Who is Louise Bouvet?" I ask, stopping in front of Joane's desk.
"Jeez, I thought you came here to ask me for lunch," she jokes.
"I'm being serious."
"She's our new intern, the one you've been lusting over—"
"Joane."
"What do you want me to tell you exactly?"
"Who is she related to? How did she get here?" I say gesturing with my hands.
"You don't know?"
"I don't know what?" I groan, getting more and more frustrated by the second.
"First of all, there's this thing called the Internet. Why are you asking me?"
"You're my secretary, Joane. This is something you should have told me, it's your job for G-d's sake."
"Well, I thought it was obvious she's Mr. Arquette's granddaughter. I mean, they both have french last names and everything, trés chic, don't you think?" she starts rambing.
"I knew she was related to someone— wait, Mr. Arquette, the boss?"
"Uhm, do we have any other Arquette? I mean, it's quite a strange name."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I thought you knew?" she arches a brow, insinuating it was obvious.
"How could I have known?"
"You're the boss, didn't they tell you?"
"They didn't tell me anything, they just left me her unimpressive resume at my desk," I groan, slouching my shoulders in defeat. "You're the biggest gossiper of this company, and you didn't say anything. I'm blaming this on you, you're my secretary."
"Now, don't put the blame on me, you told me yourself you didn't want to hear gossip, and I did warn you that it was best to not get involved with her," she says, throwing her arms in the air. "But why this all of a sudden?"
I sigh, walking closer to her so no one could overhear our conversation. "That dumbass kissed me," I whisper harshly. "And it wasn't even a good kiss."
"What? When?"
"Yesterday," I groan, already regretting the decision of telling her.
"How did that happen?" she squints her eyes at me.
"I went out with her."
"You went out with her," she repeats sarcastically. "After I told you not to get involved with her."
"Ok fine, it was partly my fault."
"Partly? Esther, you've spent years rejecting people and now you're acting as if you've never seen a cute girl in your life," she points a finger at me.
"No, no, I did nothing. I was just standing there minding my own business."
"Did you kiss her back?"
"No." Liar.
Minor details, she doesn't need to know.
"So let me guess, you tried to fire her and that's why you're here."
"Yes."
"Can you actually do that?"
"I don't know and I don't care, I'm still the one in charge of this department," I say, giving her my back, walking back to my office but stopping midway. "Call her to my office."
"We're in the middle of our lunch break."
"Then when she returns."
"You're not going to eat?" Joane asks, but it's too late, the door closes behind me before she could even finish the word eat.
I'm too stressed to be hungry.
I spend a good half an hour just passing around my office until I finally hear a knock on my door. "Come in," I say simply, finally allowing myself to rest back on my table.
"Ms. Agassi, you wanted to see me?" She asks, seeming less cocky now. "Didn't think you would ever want to."
"Oh I don't," I answer, crossing my arms. "So you're Mr. Arquette's granddaughter, and because of that you think you can do whatever you want and act however you want."
"Not really no, I'd act the same if I wasn't his granddaughter."
"Except that anywhere else you'd be fired for your inappropriate behavior, and here you think you can't be."
"Do you really want to fire me?" she asks, tilting her head in an attempt to use her charm to get a hold of the situation. "Or did you just say it to scare me into submission?"
"I don't care who you are Louise, I'm your boss and you'll show me respect, do you understand?" I say through gritted teeth, I'm not falling for these little games again.
"You didn't answer my question," she steps closer.
"Neither did you," I chuckle humorlessly.
"I want to say sorry for earlier, I acted like a brat."
"You always act like a brat."
"Let me make it up to you then."
"You'll make it up to me by not crossing the boundaries I've established since day one," I say but she still takes a step closer to me.
"I didn't force you to do anything, fine I was a bit annoying but you could have said no and avoided me like you did today," she stops just a few inches from me. "And what if I kiss you right now?"
"Don't you dare," I say through gritted teeth but she seems unfazed.
"Will you stop me?"
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