TWO
The alarm of the clock brought me out of my sleepy haze. I woke up a little while ago due to excitement of starting my first day as an intern. I slipped on my reading glasses and looked at the time.
Eight am.
Internship started at exactly nine. I would have to get ready soon. My dearest friend, Emma Holtz, helped me shop for new attire. I slid the mirrored door open and rummaged through the hangers for an appropriate outfit. Seeing as today was the first day, I decided to dress up just a tiny bit.
I went for a conservative, black dress that was hanging at the very end. I slipped it on, its material hugging my body close. The curves of my breast were more profound due to the tight fitting. I bought the dress last summer in the sales Nordstrom usually has. It was only logical that I gained a few pounds and didn't fit perfectly into it.
I ate a quick breakfast of oatmeal and soon was on my way to the bus stop just a block away. I carried my heels in one hand as I ambled towards the approaching stop. I had on my flats for now. The sweltering heat of the sun was a surprise for this early. It wasn't always so sunny and warm in Washington. Especially in the mornings.
By the time I got off the bus, I already had my heels on. I only had a few minutes until I would be considered late. I tried fast walking to the company building in sight heaving a sigh. I pressed a hand to my forehead, stopping a trail of sweat from ruining my makeup. I kept my purse close to me, away from the dangers of theft. It was where I kept all of my-
My sandals!
I looked through my bag to see if I remembered to slip them on the bus as I changed footwear. I rummaged through it for a moment close to the road. I blew a stray hair in frustration. I must have forgotten it on the bus.
I could always buy some new ones. They were getting pretty old and ratty anyways. I covered my eyes from the sun to see where exactly the entrance to the building was. I spotted the British Airways sign on a new, modern building. That had to be it.
I started to walk faster, longing for the air conditioned air to blast me in the face. Although a something entirely different hit me instead. It was amazing how I could go from dry and the next second dripping wet.
"Hey!" I exclaimed shocked. Oh this couldn't be happening right now! It just couldn't!
I didn't have time to look around for the culprit and give him or her a piece of my mind or two. I only had minutes until the internship started, and I couldn't go in this state. I walked into the building keeping my head down low, not ready for the stares.
I was absolutely humiliated. I ran towards the nearest restrooms I found, and grabbed tons of paper towels. I started to pat down the wet splotches and wring them out. As soon as I dried them in the best of my ability, it was when I headed towards the elevators I spotted on the way in. I would just have to go like this and hope for the best.
I stood in the corner of the small space, getting out of everyone's way. Come on. Hurry up. I mumbled under my breath. I tapped my fingers on the wall, desperate for the doors to stay closed and arrive on the twelfth floor. Just when the doors was about to close, an arm shot through the remaining space, and it opened again.
I groaned. "Will you hurry up?" I snapped.
I didn't realize I said that out loud with so much ferocity, and blushed in embarrassment when a few heads turned my way. The new passenger, a male, turned to look at me. He still had his sunglasses on inside the building.
"I'm terribly sorry," his deep, husky voice filled my ears. British. Eh, what did you expect at an England company? "I'm running late. I couldn't wait for one of the other elevators."
"Sorry too," I mumbled and continued looking down at the floor. I took a glance at my wrist watch. I was already late.
Thankfully everyone went in and out smoothly and quite quickly. Soon the doors opened to the twelfth floor, and I bolted out of there. I rushed to a receptionist desk situated at every floor.
"Hi," I greeted the woman hastily. "I'm one of the new interns for the architectural department? I'm sort of running late."
She gave me a warm smile. "No worries. I believe they haven't started yet. The two other interns are still in the sitting room." She pointed to the right.
"Thank you," I said and continued walking fast.
I let out a sigh of relief, but when I found the sitting room empty I started to panic again.
"Bethany Bridges?"
I turned around to see a young assistant behind me. I nodded. "Do you know-"
"Follow me," she ordered with not one hint of smile. The receptionist was much friendlier.
The assistant led me to transparent glass door which opened up to a spacious meeting room area. A large oval-shaped table took up most of the space with luxury office chairs surrounding it. Some of them were already occupied by people that looked to be the same age around me or younger who were looking at me and the assistant.
"Miss Tracy?" She said. "Here's the last intern."
The middle aged woman nodded tersely. "Thank you, Louisa. You may go now." Louisa left me alone standing near the entryway. "Bethany Bridges?"
I nodded and walked a little bit more into the room. "I'm so sorry I was late. There was just an altercation along the way, but I'm always punctual."
She didn't seem to listen to me and looked me up and down. "What's happened to you?" She eyed the discolored part of my dress to it being wet.
"That's what I was trying-"
I was interrupted when the doors opened again, and that all-too familiar voice spoke up. "Tracy. I apologize for my late arrival." The man from the elevator walked past me and greeted the woman I was speaking to. "There was a slight problem this morning."
Tracy's eyes seemed to have warmed when she swivelled her head to the man. "Quite all right, Mr. Caleb." Then she looked at me. "Bethany go ahead and take a seat. This won't be happening again."
I lowered my head and nodded. "Of course."
I took the nearest empty seat I could find which was next to a kind-looking guy. All of the eight interns' eyes were on me as I sat down. I fixed my hair behind my ears and looked up only to be met by a pair of startling blue eyes at the front. His eyes gleamed with recognition as well as mine.
It was him.
Him.
The man from the restaurant. He and elevator guy were the same. An expensive suit covered his body, different from the casual attire he wore the other night. In a way it made him more mature and elegant. His eyes bore into mine as if he could see through me and underneath my clothes. His gaze made me feel conscious of my body.
I couldn't look away even if I wanted. I hadn't realized this yesterday night. I was looking at the most handsome man in the world. He had a defined jaw and lips that I could see myself wanting to kiss over and over and over again...
I had to snap out of it, quick. I'd never felt this way over a man I'd seen for the first time or for the second time. But it was that moment when I noticed his beauty of ruggedness. I already felt my cheeks warming and knew my cheeks would be splotched with red in to time.
This was ridiculous! How could I be besotted with him already?
"Since all of our interns and mentors are already here," Tracy's commanding voice broke the strong pull he had on me. I fixed my attention to Tracy who was in the middle of speaking. "We could go ahead and start introducing ourselves. I'll start first."
And we were back on the first day of school.
Tracy introduced herself as the director of the human resources branch of the company. She would be taking in the three interns who applied for that department. The next lady to stand was a much younger looking one who had bright red hair. It was only right that her name would be Scarlet Hannikins. She was also a director for the marketing branch.
Then the man I had a staring contest with turned out to be Caleb Wilkes.
"Unfortunately, Luis, the director of the remaining department, wasn't able to uphold this task of mentoring you interns, so my friend who is the owner of this company asked me to. I'm the head architect of the entire company." His voice oozed with confidence in a rich, velvety voice. The British accent that accompanied it only highlighted his voice. "I'll be looking forward to working with you architect interns." He winked at the end which wasn't good for my sanity.
Stop it. I scolded myself. I shouldn't be reacting like a lovesick teenager. I was an adult for goodness' sake.
It was now the rest of the interns' turns for introductions, and I kept mine short and brief only saying my name and a fact or two. The other two architectural interns was the guy sitting beside me whose name was Oliver, and another male named Jeff. It seemed like architecture attracted guys more.
After that round of introductions, we all separated into our divisions. Caleb, who insisted we call him so, led us to the architectural department which was different from the rest of the other floors. Instead of cubicles taking up space, tables and tables of models were displayed in the middle.
I found myself smiling. I'd always wanted to do this type of work. I always wanted to work at a company but not the desk and computer type of work. I wanted hands-on type of work. As we passed by people working at the few desks, they all greeted Caleb. The young ladies, especially, gave him extra attention. A flip of a hair here and there.
Caleb seemed to have been used to it. He kindly returned their greetings and continued leading us to a door until he stopped. I almost bumped into Jeff before I caught myself. I took a step to the side and looked up to hear what Caleb had to say.
I found his intense look to be intimidating and instead focused on a spot on the wall behind him. "This is my office. It's off limits to everyone unless I say so. You will be working on contacting clients and designs, and later in the internship, you will eventually go to field supervision and working on contracts."
"I'm sure you all have your architectural degree?"
I paled. Suddenly my hands were getting sweaty beside my body. I tried to inconspicuously dry them on the back of my dress. I may or may have not lied about having my degree in the application.
"Yes sir," Oliver and Jeff simultaneously answered.
Caleb nodded at them before looking at me.
I opened my mouth to speak. "Of course. I wouldn't be here if I didn't have one, right?" A smooth lie rolled off my lips. Ben had always complimented me on my artful skill of lying.
"Great," he smiled. "Then you all are qualified and can handle the work we'll be doing in the later stage."
I closed my eyes. I'll just have to deal with that problem when the time comes.
"I'll have my secretary show you the desks you'll be staying at."
I didn't realize a young woman appeared at his side with really high eyebrows. It was the first thing I noticed. He disappeared into the privacy of his office, and we were left with High Brows. She led us to three desks not too far away. It wasn't an official office space like everyone else's but we had our own individual space.
"He said his first task is for you three to work on a design of an airplane," High Brows informed us with a careless roll of eyes, "until this day is over. He wants to see them first thing tomorrow morning."
Then she left us with only that piece of information. This should be a piece of cake. In my two years of classes, designing came to me naturally. Sure I only practiced with buildings and houses, but it shouldn't be any different for air crafts. I would learn. No biggie.
--
Two frustrating hours later, I finished a draft. It was much harder than I thought it would be. I was never great at curves, only straight lines. So this internship would be a challenge, but I would do anything to get the job in the end. High Brows told us a few minutes ago that it was time for our lunch break. It seemed like it was everyone's lunch breaks on the floor when it emptied out. Only a few people stayed behind like me.
I stood up, grabbing my purse where I kept the lunch I packed. I was always that student in school who packed her lunch every single day. It seemed like things hadn't changed.
I saw the elevator doors opened, and I ran to catch it before it closed. I didn't have to worry though, because the person inside pressed a button for it to open.
"Thank you," I said not really seeing who was in it. I stepped off to the side and pressed the button for the ground floor.
I leaned against the wall only to bounce back from the sudden coolness when it seared my skin. I was already cold enough in the building, thank you very much. I even had goosebumps running up and down my arm. I tilted my head to look at my reflection in the mirrored ceiling above. I fixed a stray hair back behind my ear.
"You're just off to lunch right now? I did tell Clarisse to let you guys go minutes ago."
My eyes flicked to the one other person with me. Caleb. I straightened my posture and nodded. "Yes, thank you. It was my decision to stay behind."
I could feel his eyes burning through the side of my head as I focused on the doors hoping for them to open, so other people would come in. It wasn't safe for me to be alone with this man. God only knew what I'd do if I didn't get a hold of my hormones. If he kept staring me like that, I would just have to rip off his clothes and-
"Your dress seems to have dried by now."
"It's still a bit damp, but..." My head swivelled to meet his.
He had his arms crossed over his chest and was leaning back against the wall. He disposed of his suit jacket and was now only wearing the white buttoned down shirt underneath. The cuffs were rolled just below his elbows revealing very muscled forearms. He had an eyebrow raised at my unfinished statement.
"How did you know about that?" I asked warily.
He shrugged and pursed his lips. "It was very careless driving of me. I'm not used to driving on the right side of the road."
"That was you?" I asked forgetting he was my boss and all my earlier anger from this morning that I stored away came rushing back. "You were the one who splashed me?" I accused.
He held up his hands. "Very much so." He nodded certainly as if he didn't see the fault in this. If I weren't mad at him right now, I would have noticed the flex of his muscles. Maybe I did either way.
"You didn't even bother to apologize!" I exclaimed.
"You seem very upset." He noted.
My eyes bulged. "Of course I'm upset! You made me late for the internship. You embarrassed me in front the other interns and directors to which you haven't apologized for."
"What's there to apologize?" He asked innocently. "It was after all an honest mistake."
This man has got to be kidding me. "In America, we apologize for things that we did wrong. I don't know how they did it in your country, but here we apologize." I narrowed my eyes at him.
The corners of his lips curled before resuming a serious expression. Was he toying with me? "I believe you're also at fault in this situation."
"Oh and how?" I flashed him a sarcastic smile.
"You were standing too close to the road. You should have seen the puddle."
His words fumed me. I actually got the nerve to stomp my foot. "You were suppose to still apologize! You've ruined a dress and made me late. I've never been so humiliated in life before. A simple apology would be nice."
I didn't say anymore after that. If he was going to apologize, he should do it on his own free will. I didn't have to force him too. He should do it, because he was a good person.
There was only few more floors until we reached the bottom. Through my peripheral vision, I saw his movement towards me. The scent of fresh limes and cypress wafted through my nose. I inhaled trying to be discreet. The smell was divine. He wasn't those typical businessmen that used expensive colognes.
"I'm sorry you were close to the road, and my car splashed you." I heard Caleb say close behind me. His breath warmed over the bare skin of my shoulders and collarbones. He was close, I could feel it. I wanted him closer. I could just imagine the feel of his delectable lips against my skin. Tingles shot through at just the thought of it.
The doors finally opened, and I stood up straight. "Close enough," was all I said before walking out of the elevator.
--A/N
So sorry for the late upload. School started this past week for me and high school is such a pain as always. I will try my best to start uploading once a week again!