I was so happy, Callie my best friend, was finally back in town after two months in New York. She called me last night and we were meeting up tonight. I was looking forward to it. We have so much to catch up on. I barely heard from her because of work and the deadlines she had etc. Callie works for a fashion magazine and she gets to travel all around the work for photo shoots and Fashion shows. It seemed so extravagant and interesting compared to my mundane job. The only thing somewhat unusual y that occurred in the office was when Cyril’s ham sandwich mysteriously disappeared from the desk in his office. I believe that he just ate it. I know, I know that the arrival of Hamilton should have been number one on the interesting things to happen in the office but he has just been a jackass from day one. He doesn’t even register in my mind for the prestigious award. But anyway back to Callie, God I am so easily sidetracked. We have been best friends since college. We went to the same university and everything. I missed her much. She is like a sister to me.
I couldn’t wait for the weekend either even if I had to spend it in London with my parents. It was a chance to get away from Hamilton and his stifling personality. A whole two days without him. It is going to be the best weekend ever, well I hope so. It was surprisingly warmer outside today and I hoped that it would stay that way. Paris looked beautiful; it was lit up by the sun’s rays. Although I love winter gloomy days in Paris were just depressing.
I arrived in work on time and took my usual seat at my desk and relaxed. Today I was going to enjoy myself and not go near Hamilton even if I’m paid to. Well I am paid to; it was a figure of speech. Anyway I arranged the paperwork on my desk, turned on my computer and studied Hamilton’s schedule for the day. He didn’t have any meetings in the afternoon so I was hoping he would give me the rest of the day off. The chances of that happening were very slim.
There was a knock on the door and I stopped typing. Julie was standing in the doorway.
“Julie, when did you get back? Come in sit down” I said gesturing to the seats in front of my desk. I was surprised nobody told me that Julie was coming back. She didn’t even message me at all. She probably had enough of her toy boy Davide and decided to come back to her job. To tell the truth I have actually no idea what Julie actually does. I always wondered why she was hired in the first place.
“Hey” she replied with a sad smile on her face. “I only got back today and I decided to come into the office” I could tell that she was upset but I didn’t know why. “What’s wrong Julie you know you can tell me anything? I’m here for you” She tried to smile again but it was wobbly. She shook her head from side to side, and then a loud emotional sob betrayed her. Tears ran down her face and so too did her mascara. I walked around my desk and grabbed onto her, hugging her. “Don’t cry Julie it’s okay, shhh it’s fine” I tried to sooth her but the sobs just got louder and more frequent. I sat holding her for a couple of minutes. Once she started to calm down I let her go and made her some tea. She sipped on it quietly with salty tears lining her face. “Do....do you want to tell me what’s wrong” she looked up; tears were welling in her eyes again. “It’s okay Julie if you don’t want to talk about it, its fine” I said soothingly. She mumbled something, quickly looking down after saying it. “I’m sorry I didn’t hear you Julie”. “I said I’m pregnant” she whispered. I gasped; I didn’t know what to say.
“That’s why I never replied to any of your texts and calls” she sobbed. I leaned forward and put my head in my hands. “Who’s the father, is it Davide” I asked. “There is no Davide, I made him up. I knew ye wouldn’t question me if you thought I was going on holidays with a guy. I needed a break from everything, I went back home to my parents.” “Do they know about...?” I asked. “No I never told them. S...S...Sebastian is the father” she looked down in shame and the hysterical crying started again. I grabbed her in a bear hug. “Oh no” I whispered.
Sebastian was Julie’s only serious boyfriend. They broke up a month and a half ago and she has been having flings every week since. He was a nice guy but they had a really bad break up like I mean so bad that we aren’t allowed mention his name or she starts crying. I know she still loves him but the things he said to her crushed her heart. She thought she could cut all ties after but now with the baby I don’t think that that is going to happen.
I thought things couldn’t get any worse until she said “I don’t know how I’m going to support this child. Sebastian has a new girlfriend and the Boss fired me today. I wasn’t going to tell you that I was pregnant at all but I just had to tell someone”. I gasped. That asshole how dare he fire Julie she missed three days for Christ’s sake it’s not the end of the world. I pulled away from Julie and stood up. “Talia where are you going” she asked. I looked down at her. Julia had big bags under her eyes from lack of sleep. She was pale white and was slumped over in her seat. She was so frail if another bit of bad news hit her she would break. “I’m going to talk to Hamilton” I said with reassurance in my voice and walked from the room and straight into Hamilton’s. She tried to stop me but I ignored her.
He stood looking out onto Paris’s skyline. All 6ft 4inches of pure muscle stood before me. His suit this time was a deep blue and was most definitely handmade. I didn’t want to admire him but his body was amazing. I could really see what Elise was saying about his ass. I shook my head, I was here for Julie.
“Mr. Hamilton, I feel that a case of unfair dismissal has occurred here today” I accused while crossing my arms and cocking my left hip. “If you are referring to Ms. Julie then that is not the case, she felt the need to take three days off for personal endeavours without warning me. This is not acceptable. If she has a problem she can take it up with a union and not my P.A” he said with no emotion in his voice. “No I will not leave until this is resolved. She told Vivier about her holidays how was she supposed to know that you would take over” “She should have kept her phone on an-” “She didn’t have her phone on for personal reasons” I interrupted. “This is not your place to be commenting on my decision making. That is not what you are paid for. If Julie has personal problems she should have informed me earlier. I do not have time for this petty argument” He waved me out of his office. I stood my ground, how dare he! “She could not divulge this secret, it is too personal” I insisted. “Well I don’t care, now leave”.
I couldn’t take this anymore “She is pregnant with a man’s child and will have so way of supporting this child when it arrives” I finally whispered out. If he had any shred of humanity in that dark soul of his he would keep her on as an employee. Hamilton froze I could see a change come about his face and an emotion swirled about in his eyes. But it vanished in a flash and his familiar steely expression was present on his face once again. “Send her in” I smiled and sighed in relief. He did have some sort of conscience.
I turned to leave “Oh and Talia” I looked at him waiting for him to continue. “Those clothes are not flattering on you. I want you properly dressed from now on. That includes clothes that fit your body shape and 4 inch stiletto heels. This request is to be implemented by Monday. Spread the word” I looked down at what I was wearing. A white blouse with pin striped slacks and some flat shoes. I didn’t think this outfit was bad. I thought I looked good. I just nodded and decided not to argue. I wanted Julie to get her job back. I headed back to my office and told her Hamilton wanted to see her. She grinned and hugged me. “I love you” she whispered as she left the room.
It was finally time to meet Callie for drinks. I grabbed my purse and checked myself out in the mirror before I left. My red dress hugged my curves perfectly and I had curled my brown hair. It flowed down my back in smooth waves. The dress was tight, with a lace cut out from the top of my back down to above my ass. It was beautiful but personally I thought it made my butt look absolutely massive. I sighed with discontent. It would have to do. I locked up my apartment. The cat was still there staring at me I quickly shuffled past. I couldn’t run in my heels they were too high.
I arrived at the bar five minutes late. Callie would kill me she is always on time. I scanned the vast crowd and saw her standing on the opposite side of the bar. Callie was a petite blonde girl. Her hair was short but it suited her perfectly. She had high cheekbones and a thin body that was to die for. I shuffled past the people and the dancers. One guy tried to get me to dance with him but I refused. He was persistent so I hit him on the hand that was groping my ass with my bag. He quickly pulled his hand away. After multiple “Excuse me pleases” I finally made it to Callie. She had her back to me so I placed my hands on her eyes “Guess who?” I asked. She giggled and pulled away from my hands and wrapped her arms around me in a hug. I hugged her back and we shuffled from side to side squealing in delight. After we finally let each other go she pulled me to a booth and we sat down.
“Callie it’s so good to finally see you, I missed you so much” I said grinning from ear to ear. “I know, what has it been, two months?” she asked a hint of sadness in her voice. “It’s so good to have you back; I have so much to tell you. But first how was New York”. “Omg it was amazing. I went to New York fashion week and I also got to go to fashion shoots done by Vogue, ugh it was just amazing words can’t even describe it” she gushed out all at once. Callie proceeded to tell me a story about how one of the models was strutting her stuff on the catwalk thinking that she was the shit. She then slipped and fell face first and her skirt went flying up and she was wearing granny underwear underneath. While she was telling the story a glint of light caught my eye. She moved her hands around describing how the model fell. I focused on her left hand. I quickly sent my hand flying and snatched her wrist. I stared at her wedding finger in shock for a good few seconds. On her wedding finger was a massive rock. It was an engagement ring.
“You never told me” I gasped in shock squeezing her hand tighter. She slowly slipped her fingers out of my death grip. “I wanted it to be a surprise. I didn’t want to tell you over the phone. I was going to straight away when I saw you but I got so caught up in describing New York that I forgot. I’m sorry” she explained. “Omg Callie I’m not mad at all. I’m so happy for you” I screamed and leaned over the table and pulled her into a bone crushing hug. “Thanks so much Talia, it means a lot to me. I want you to be my maid of honour” she asked wishfully. “Of course, I could never say no to my best friend. Who is the lucky guy” I asked. The mystery was driving me insane.
“Well remember Pierre, my co-worker. The photographer for our fashion shoots” I nodded. “Well he came with us to New York and one thing led to another and a couple of dates later here we are now” she sighed. “It was just meant to be”. “Wait a second was this Pierre not the man whom you were complaining about for weeks on end because he wouldn’t take pictures of what you wanted him to. The man that you wished would be fired” I asked with amusement present in my voice. “I know, but I’m not sure what happened, one moment we hated each other the next we were having the time of our lives. I really do love him Talia. I really do” A dopey look came over her face. I was happy for her but shocked at the same time this was not the Callie I once knew, who thought weddings were stupid and that love wasn’t real. Don’t get me wrong I really was happy for her but it was so strange how a massive change could come about after only two months. It was scary.
“So what has been going on in your life” She asked snapping out of her thoughts. I proceeded to tell her about Hamilton and how he was being a complete and utter jackass to me. Halfway through the conversation I noticed that she was smirking, like she knew something I didn’t know. “What are you smirking about” I questioned. “Ha-ha you know what” she laughed. “I genuinely have no idea what you are going on about” She raised her eyebrow “There is a fine line between love and hate” she quoted. Huh what is she going on about, I was confused. “You like Hamilton, don’t deny it just admit it Talia” she ordered. I recoiled in shock and my mouth fell open. “Like and Hamilton should not go in the same sentence together. I do not like him and I never will” I defended myself from her silly accusations. “I recognise that look Talia, it was the very same one I had before this happened” she said waving her engagement ring in my face. “Ha-ha fat chance of that ever happening” I grinned at Callie’s stupidity. “You will be eating your words when he proposes to you” said Ms. Know-it-all. “Look Callie it’s not going to happen so will you please just drop it” I begged. I really didn’t want to hear about Hamilton and his supposed feelings for me this was a Hamilton free zone. “Fine, I’ll let it slide just this once” she says and sighs.
We spent the rest of the night chatting with each other and occasionally some men would come over and talk to us but with one flash of Callie’s engagement ring they were gone. One very persistent guy left me his number. I had no intention of calling him. Callie pulled back her sleeve to check her watch. She gasped “Omg is that the time already, I have to leave I’m so sorry Talia. Pierre is waiting”. “Its fine don’t worry about it” I said sliding out of the booth. “Are you not going to take that guys number” she asked reaching for it. I stopped her “No its fine, I couldn’t stand him. He was very effeminate. He kept worrying about his hair and I swear he had filled his eyebrows and had some lip-gloss on” I laughed. “Oh so are you looking for a more rugged look. Maybe a certain half Scottish half Italian boss?” she questioned. “Ha-ha you are just too funny Callie” I said sarcastically. “Now drop it.” The smile fell from my face, we left the bar and parted ways, promising to meet each other again soon, for lunch.
A.N. Well this is chapter four I hope you enjoyed it. Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes it’s pretty late right now while I’m writing this and I’m pretty tired hahaha. Well anyway hope you liked it. I appreciate any feedback I get so please vote and comment etc. There is a link to the trailer I made for this story in the multimedia section of this page.
Anyway please vote and comment. Thank you!