Felt like being nice so I updated twice
Still working on my other stories btw ✌🏽
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Josie finishes up emailing the companies main distributor as her door opens. She looks up to see Cleo walking in.
"I brought lunch." She says walking in with a white bag and a drink carrier.
Josie presses send before she turns to her friend. "You are the best I am starving."
Cleo sets the drink carrier down and Josie grabs one of the cups already knowing it's lemonade.
Cleo hands Josie her vegetarian crunch wrap which Josie accepts gratefully before she pulls out her fajita pasta bowl.
Josie takes a bite out of the wrap and signs happily. "Thank you so much." She mumbles.
Cleo chuckles. "It is not lady like to talk with your mouth full." She says pulling out a fork to enjoy her food.
Josie shrugs before taking a another sip of her drink.
"So how did the interviews go?" Cleo asks before taking a bite of her own food.
"It started off as a complete waste of time. Finch may have had some qualifications but she barely understood any of the questions I asked her about the position. It also seemed like she was more focused on me than the interview." Josie says rolling her eyes.
"Wow how did she make it this far?"
"I have no idea I don't think I looked over her application thoroughly." Josie remembers she was exhausted when she looked over all of the applicants but she didn't think she was that tired.
"See that is what happens when you stay up until four in the morning trying to get some work done." Cleo replies.
"I can sleep when I'm dead."
"Without me, I am pretty sure you would have worked yourself to death." Cleo sighs.
"I appreciate you everyday you know that."
"Mhmm. So you clearly did not hire the finch woman, what happened with the Phoenix? Rafael's friend?"
Josie sighs and rubs her temple to soothe her incoming headache from the mention of the boy, he was worse than she was.
"He wasn't fit for the job either. I asked him what he could do for the company and he said he's not sure he just needs a job. I told him he was a complete waste of space, then he started crying because he said he needs this job, and then I told him he needs to go find someone else to bitch and moan to because this job isn't for him." She says shrugging.
Cleo raises her eyebrows in surprise. "Wasn't that a bit, i do not know how else to say it but, evil?"
"I don't think so." Josie says before taking another bite of her food.
'He didn't really want to work, it seemed like he was just looking for a handout.'
"We will see how Rafael will react to it once he hears about this."
Josie scoffs,"I told him I will interview him, not give him the job just because he's my boyfriend's best friend."
"I understand that but will Rafael understand that?"
"He doesn't have to. I do the hiring and firing." 'I am so not looking forward to arguing with him about it later.'
"Okay what about that Hope Mikaelson woman?"
"What about her?"
"How did the interview with her go?"
Josie takes a small sip of her drink before setting it down. "Good I guess." She says taking another bite out of her food after.
Cleo raises a brow in suspicion at that. "Just good? That's it?"
"Yep, she answered all of my questions, she has the qualifications, and she may actually want to work, so I gave her the job."
Cleo narrows her eyes,"Okay what's wrong with her? You haven't had a good interview in years."
"Besides her probably being a jokester, I don't think there's anything wrong."
"That's a compliment in your words but your not telling me something."
Josie sighs,"She's attractive okay." She hates how Cleo knows her so well.
'Those fucking blue eyes, they were gorgeous.'
Cleo's mouth drops open in surprise. "Oh my god! Wait you didn't hire her just because she's attractive right?"
Josie shakes her head,"of course not. I would never do something like that."
"Good. I'm just glad you actually find somebody else attractive besides raf."
Cleo says putting a lid on her food.
"Yes well that might be the only problem. A lot of people don't catch my eye so when she did I think I was staring a little too long." Josie face palms herself remembering her lingering looks.
Cleo chuckles quietly. "It's not funny," Josie groans,"It'll be alright though because I'm taken and she is just here to work and that's it."
"It seems like you want her to work on something else." Cleo replies snickering.
Josie rolls her eyes,"It looks like it's time for me to get back to work. Oh and she will be here around the time you get here tomorrow so you can show her to her office. I didn't get the chance to." She says changing the subject, turning to look at her computer.
Cleo chuckles again standing up,"It's alright if you don't want to admit it. You can look you just can't touch. I'll take care of her tomorrow, if you need me I'll be in my office." She says leaving the brunette alone.
Josie leans back into her seat in thought. 'Hopefully she is as good as she seems because I need the help around here.'
—————————
"Alright so tell me what happened." Mg says before scooping himself some more of the chocolate chunk ice cream.
"Well when I first got there, the front desk lady looked like she wanted to jump into my pants." Hope replies before they take a seat at a open table.
"Don't tell me you slept with her." He says sighing.
Hope scoffs in offense. "No I did not sleep with her. She was basically throwing it at me but I don't want it. I didn't want to destroy my chances of getting the job." She says using her spoon to scoop some ice cream into her mouth.
"Hmmm you were thinking about sleeping with her though weren't you?" He asks.
Hope sighs,"alright yeah I was, she was kind of cute." She shrugs.
He chuckles. "I knew it."
"Anyways after that I met some guy named Jed he's pretty cool, he took me to my interview and when I got there some guy ran out of Miss Saltzman's office crying like someone died." She laughs.
"Whattt? Is she like that?" Mg asks.
"Yep I guess she's kind of a hard ass kind of boss from what Jed had told me." Hope replies.
"Was she like that to you?" He asks curiously.
"Yeah kind of. She was pretty straight with the questions and cold but I think I can deal with it. She's not bad."
"Oh? She's not bad? Are you talking about looks or personality?" He says narrowing his eyes in her direction.
"Both. She is a very beautiful woman, I would actually say she's sexy. Her attitude can do with a little changing though." She says with a smirk.
Mg rolls his eyes,"Hope don't sleep with your boss."
Hope chuckles,"I'm not, besides she's with someone but hey get this," She leans into him as if she's getting ready to tell him a secret. "She was totally checking me out during the interview." She whispers before pulling away.
"So you've peaked her interest?"
Hope shrugs again,"Something like that but you know I don't intervene with people who aren't single. She's in a relationship and I'm going to respect that, even though I'm pretty confident I can fix that attitude of hers since her boyfriend isn't doing it." She says eating more of her ice cream.
'It'll take me about five minutes to straighten that out. Wait what am I talking about, I gotta remember she's taken.'
"Yeah yeah whatever just don't ruin the job when you were just hired." He replies finishing his ice cream.
"Are you my dad now?" She asks playfully.
"No but you know how your father would feel about how your treating the ladies." He says giving her a pointed look.
She drops her spoon and sighs heavily. "My dad knows I treat the ladies with respect," She stands up to throw away the rest of her ice cream."but if they want to get their back blown out, I do that too." She shrugs.
Mg groans, he's glad he's finished his ice cream because he would have lost his appetite."Too much of a good thing is a bad thing Hope." He stands throwing his trash away as well.
She dusts off her suit. "I know I know that's why I'm going to sleep alone tonight. I gotta get up early for work anyway." Being on time seems to be most important at that place at least that's all she's been hearing.
"Do you want me to take you to work tomorrow? Or just show up at your apartment when you get home?"
"No, I think I'll drive myself to work tomorrow because I don't know how long I'll be staying. She already told me to prepare to stay longer than most employees and I don't want to keep you waiting." They start walking out of the ice cream shop. "Maybe you can have lunch with me though, I'll text you to see how that goes."
Mg nods,"Sounds good if not, I'm going to hang with my girl." He says smiling.
"pftt what girl? You haven't told me about her." Hope replies.
Mg hops in the driver seat and turns on the car. "We're taking things slow that's why. If it helps you already know her and she knows you, we all went to college together."
Hope sighs,"That could be anybody."
He chuckles,"you will find out soon enough."
After a quick drive back to Hope's apartment, Mg leaves, and tells her he will see her later.
Hope walks up to her door unlocking it before she opens it and starts taking off her boots. She takes a quick shower before she starts going through the folder of her assignments.
Her eyebrows come together when she sees Josie highlighted that she wants coffee twice a day. "She's a coffee feen okay." She says to herself.
She has to keep track of her calendar, her meetings with artists, agents, etc. she's required to attend meetings with Josie if she wants her to, even if they have to travel for one.
The folder came with all of the events the brunette has coming up and her personal phone number which she will be needing.
Hope adds every event to her own calendar, and after she has everything situated, she makes sure she chooses her work clothes before she gets ready for bed. She gets comfortable under her blankets to get some sleep to prepare for the busy day ahead of her.
(In another part of town)
"You made him cry!?" Raf asks in confusion.
Josie sighs in annoyance.'Wow five steps inside the apartment and he's already trying to argue.'
"Raf if you want to argue it can wait until tomorrow." She replies walking towards their bedroom. When she gets there she sits on her bed to take off her flats.
Raf walks inside shortly."I don't want to argue just tell me why you had to be so cruel? He's my best friend Jo."
Josie groans running a hand though her hair. "I wasn't cruel I was honest, it's not my fault your friend didn't have proper skills for the job. He didn't have the basic requirements for it and let's not forget I was doing you a favor." She replies looking at him blankly.
He scoffs, "Okay I can understand that but you didn't have to call him a waste of space or a bitch."
"He shouldn't be acting like one." Josie says walking over to their bathroom and turning on the shower.
"Jo he's like a brother to me you couldn't just act like a decent person and show some compassion, actually that's not possible right? Because if it was, you would show some to me."
Josie turns around and walks straight up to him. "Is this really about Landon or something else?" She says looking into his eyes knowing the answer to her own question.
He bites his lip and looks away from her. "Look I just promised him that I could get him a job and since my girlfriend owns a company I thought she could help me with that."
"Raf if you wanted to get him a job why can't he work at the gym with you?" She asks.
"He doesn't have the physique for that job, not even for a trainer." He grabs her hands and intertwines them with his. "Come on babe there's gotta be something he can do there."
Josie sighs deeply, she doesn't want to give handouts, that's never been her thing but she canceled their date so she knows she has to make it up to him somehow.
"Alright I can see if our graphic designers can use some extra hands." She ends up saying.
He smiles before he kisses her lips. "Thank you." He says gratefully, he picks her up happily and lays her on the bed, kissing her again a bit more intensely and she reciprocates, he pulls away to take off his shirt before going back to what they were doing.
When it starts getting pretty heated, he starts unbuttoning her pants and she opens her eyes and gently pushes his shoulders.
He pulls away in confusion, she sits up, not feeling really feeling in the mood right now. "I have to take a shower." She says.
He sighs moving off of her. "Right."
'Not again.'
"Raf please don't start." She groans standing up. She is already argued out today, she doesn't want to argue about something else.
He finds his shirt and slides it on."I won't, I always get the same response anyway. I'm going to the gym." He says walking out of the room closing the door behind him.
"Great." She mutters to herself before walking into the bathroom. She strips quickly and stands under the warm water, letting it wash away her stress from the day.
'It's something else everyday. If it's nothing new then it's old stuff, gosh can he give it a break, this is the last thing I need with all of these publishing deadlines coming up. It's a good thing I got a new assistant.'
After a much needed shower she changes into her white pajamas, dries her hair putting it into a pony tail, she sets her alarm and checks her phone for important updates. Once she sees a text from an unknown number, she clicks on it to see who it is.
Unknown: I found your number in the folder, I just wanted to know what kind of coffee you like so I know which one to get. This is Hope by the way.
'Already getting to work, that's a good sign.'
A vanilla sweet cream cold brew, two pumps of vanilla syrup, two shots of espresso, and a splash of sweet cream. it doesn't matter where you get it from.
She sets a contact name for Hope before putting her phone down. She closes her eyes wanting it to be tomorrow already so she can be busy and forget about her relationship issues again.