katie:
I sighed as I leaned against the marble pillar. Looking out at the large crowd over expensively dressed employees, I mentally made a list of 20 other places I would rather be than here. I saw a few men in suits pointedly stare at me as I downed my glass of champagne, and I rolled my eyes at them.
I want to leave.
Somebody cleared their throat next to me, and I inwardly groaned as I turned to face a young man. How far would I have to leave the crowd of people before they all took the hint to leave me alone?
"Before you start: Yes, I do work for Z&H. No, I don't want to dance. Yes, I am sure. Thank you and have a good night." I said, trying to avoid the onslaught of questions I was prepared to be asked. I turned around, about to get another drink. My boss, Mr. Zeus, told me that as an employee of 5 years, I had to come to our gala. And I had to stay for at least 2 hours.
"Well I was going to ask where the bathroom was, but the rest was pretty accurate." The man said
Well that was a response I wasn't expecting.
I turned to look over at him. He was younger than most of the other employees, probably around my age. He had curly brown hair, and blue eyes that surprised me with their brightness. He was tall, and the black suit he was wearing fit his lean frame loosely.
"Down that hallway, third door on the left. There's a sign." I replied, walking away towards the closest waiter. The woman smiled at me before handing me my third glass of champagne.
"Do you get asked the same questions every time?" The man said. Oh great, he was still here.
"Yes, originality isn't their strong suit apparently." I stated.
He laughed lightly before sticking his hand out for me to shake.
"I'm Travis."
"Katie." I said, shaking his hand.
"This your first gala?" Travis asked. The way he said gala was mocking, like he thought the whole thing was slightly dumb. I liked him already.
"Yeah, I've been working for Z&H for 5 years though. I wouldn't have come to this one but Mr. Zeus ordered me to. How about you?" I replied as we walked back to the corner of the room.
"I'm a new employee for Neptune Insurance. This is my first one. Probably my last one too."
I nodded as I recognized the company. Neptune Insurance was one of Z&H's rivals, even though it was run by Zeus' brother.
"Well, you are still here so I am going to assume you don't know about the rivalry between both of our companies." I stated, glancing at him.
His eyebrows raised as a smirk came onto his face. "I may have heard about it, but it didn't seem so important that I wouldn't be allowed to talk to you for it."
My lips twitched as I suppressed a smile. "Apparently their rivalry started when Zeus ran away from home and then came back to take over their fathers company."
"Percy definitely didn't tell me that." Travis stated.
I smiled. "It's a secret. I only know that because I'm Zeus' assistant."
"You won't get in trouble for telling that secret, will you?" He asked in a playful tone.
I shrugged at him and grinned. "You better not tell anyone, I might be fired for this."
"Your secret is safe with me." Travis replied, miming zipping his lips shut.
I laughed, leaning back against the same pillar as before. I looked out at the crowd, watching the hundreds of people from different businesses socializing. I noticed my sister Miranda dancing with the guy she had been seeing for the last few weeks, Sherman. My friend Annabeth was talking to a raven haired man, and looked like she was enjoying herself. She had been forced to go this year too.
"Do you want to get out of here?" Travis asked, interrupting my thoughts.
I looked over at him, my eyebrows furrowed. "What?"
"Well, neither of us want to be here and I could really go for some pizza right now. Want to ditch and get some food with me?" He said again, his bright blue eyes watching me.
I pointedly looked down at the long, dark green, silk dress I was wearing. "You want to go to go to a pizza place now?" I wasn't dressed for a sporadic outing in the city. My gold heels made my feet ache with every step, plus it was raining outside and I only had a light sweater.
The logical part of me said no. I had known this man for 10 minutes, and I technically had to stay for another 20 minutes before being allowed to leave. I also had very high heels on, that were already hurting my feet so walking around the city in them would not help the pain. There also probably weren't many pizza places open at 10:30 at night.
The illogical part of me said yes. I found myself wanting to go with Travis, despite only knowing him for a short time. He didn't seem crazy or untrustworthy, or a creep like the other guys who had approached me tonight. Besides, my friends could always track my phone and find me. And I was really craving pizza right now.
The illogical side won and I found myself saying yes to Travis.
"Sure. Let's go." I said.
Travis smiled at me. Yeah, getting in trouble with Zeus was definitely worth it.
ok, i kinda like this one. i don't want to make a part 2 for it, so i will leave it up to your imagination on what happens.