Chapter 7
"Interns!"
A familiar screeching reverberated off the glass windows and through my ears. I flinched, peering up to find Terry at the front of the floor, wearing a flamboyantly bright mint colored suit with patent white shoes. Today, he had chosen a pair of oval framed glasses, which completed his sophisticated presence.
"Please meet me in the conference room in five minutes!"
I sighed. Aren't there supposed be e-mails sent instead of Terry yelling at the top of his lungs whenever we're summoned? After a few weeks of being here, there should have been some way of integrating that part of communication between supervisors and interns. However, when no one else, not even Sarah, managed to blink at Terry's interruptive holler, I knew that this was the normal way he would announce he'd need us.
"Do you know what Terry's calling us about?" I asked Sarah before walking over to the conference room.
"Probably something about the EPAA Gala. He's in the beginning stages of prepping for it," She informed me. "Cute outfit!"
I smiled while glancing down at the hour and a half of work I had put in this morning, patting down the wrinkled from the front of my rose colored pleated skirt. I had worn a cream colored top to tuck into the skirt and paired the ensemble with some brown leather sandals. Since the first day, I had taken Sarah's advice and chosen to dress up a bit more chic to work. With her compliment, I knew I was making progress. "Thanks! I'm taking style tips from you."
"That's exciting!" She said flipped her blonde curls over her shoulder. "We should go on a shopping trip together one day."
"That would be awesome," I gushed.
"I'm the queen of shopping. If it weren't for this job, I'd probably do it for a living," We both laughed at this. "Also, I wanted to congratulate you on your piece. I'm very proud of you and the finished product."
I could have collapsed right there. "Wow, you don't know how much that means to me!"
She simply shrugged. "All the other department managers were raving about you. I'm happy to say that they're officially jealous. I'm not surprised - my interns are always the best."
I could sense a hint of competitiveness hidden in Sarah's ocean blue eyes. "Well, we have a great mentor to guide us."
"You're the sweetest," She said lightly. "Anyway, when you get back, we'll discuss you're next article. You'll want to brainstorming some ideas as soon as possible because it's quite the challenge."
I nodded. "Alright."
When I left her and arrived at the conference room, everyone else was already seated. I waved at Terry who patted my back on my way in and I greeted Kevin, Tony, and Bessa. I was about to say something to Chelsea when she very plainly smirked at me and averted her eyes the other way. Bessa shook her head at me, her eyes silently shouting at me not to say anything sassy, so I bit my lip and grabbed a seat next to Kevin.
He suited up in a crisp navy blue dress shirt tucked into some form fitting khaki's. He looked damn good. I appreciate men who knew how to dress well, especially now that I was starting to pay attention to how I styled outfits.
"Don't worry, she wasn't so pleasant greeting any of us either," Kevin cocked his head in Chelsea's direction.
I shrugged. "She's not worthy of my hello's anyway."
Kevin and I shared a silent laugh.
Then Terry began. "I brought you all in today because even though the EPAA Gala is months away, we should have been planning it months ago. Due to the fact that our new management only recently took over, I'm a bit behind schedule and I need some extra help."
For the next thirty minutes, Terry talked animatedly about the lengthy steps in preparation for the EPAA Gala. His arms flailed when he spoke about the performances, his lips quivered when he described the delectable entrees, and his eyes gleamed at the vision of the shiny awards. It was a show just watching him describe the night in detail. He had a wild imagination and I got goose bumps just thinking about how I'd actually be a part of the action.
"Though there isn't a set theme, this year we want everything to shine. Glitter, sparkle, sequins. Think Hollywood glamour," Terry's eyes flashed and his long fingers waved in the air as if there was a cloud of glitter raining above him. "It's going to be fabulous."
"Gosh, it sounds amazing" Bessa said with love struck eyes.
"It will be honey," Terry snapped his fingers at her. "I'll be meeting with the interns from each magazine under Chester Publications and assigning them tasks to do for the Gala. You all are in charge of the guest list and venue - this includes invitations, decorations, and seating arrangements. Also, we need the itinerary planned as well. The interns at Baked will be in charge of catering and dining and the ones from Mayhem will be putting together the musical and oral performances."
I jotted down these notes onto a notepad and noticed that Kevin was looking over my shoulder, pretending to copy down my notes. I softly shoved him, flashing him a playful smile, and he winked at me.
"Haley and Kevin-"
The both of our heads quickly shot up and my heart stopped beating for a second when I saw Terry's piercing eyes.
"-since you two seem to like fooling around, maybe you'd like to be in charge of the hardest part of the entire gala."
"The guest list?"
"Invitations?"
We both guessed.
Terry simply gave us a sinister grin. "Decorations."
I gulped in fear. Decorations couldn't be that hard, right? I mean what are a couple bags of confetti, sparkly balloons, and some glittery tassels?
"That's like the easiest part," Tony whined. "All they have to do is pop into Party City and they're good to go."
The way Terry's chuckle resonated in the air scared me. "You amateurs. Do you know how big the Wyman Building is? We spend $150,000 on decorations alone for last years EPAA Gala. You've got to cover the walls, figure out proper lighting, enrich the hallways, bathrooms, doorways, and not to mention, the centerpieces. And that's just the beginning."
Kevin and I exchanged terrified looks, his eyes filled with a mixture of anxiety and nervousness. I slid my clammy hands against the side of my skirt to dampen the perspiration, but it was no use. Kevin stole my pen and started writing furiously on his notepad, knowing that we had a lot of work cut out for us.
"You two up for this?" Terry asked.
Chelsea snickered, throwing me a satisfied grin. I wanted nothing more than to rip her to shreds, but I didn't have a choice. I stared at Terry with what I hoped was a determined face and said, "We've got it covered."
Kevin cleared his throat and whispered to me. "I hope so."
"Great," Terry said. "Bessa and Tony you can work on the guest list and seating arrangements, and Chelsea, you're in charge of invitations."
Bessa and Tony exchanged high fives.
"What?" Chelsea shrieked, "That's it? Just invitations? Why does everyone else get a bigger task than I do?"
"Invitations are highly important my dear," Terry pushed his glasses up. "It's our guests' first impressions of how the EPAA Gala is going to be. We've had people in the past turn down the EPAA Gala because of the invitation alone. If they're not impressed within the first twenty seconds, it goes straight to the trash. It's harsh, but it's the truth. We are all about publication after all."
"Oh," Chelsea sank back into her chair. "Well, then I guess I do have the most important job, huh?"
Terry sighed while Tony rolled his eyes and Bessa tilted her head back. We all knew that this only meant that Chelsea would have one other thing to brag about until the EPAA Gala was over.
It was going to be a long three months.
_______________________
"Boo."
"AAAHHH!"
I shrieked as a creepily deep voice whispered in my ear. As a result, I jumped, causing all papers that were laid on my desk to fly in the air and my chair to scoot back and hit the glass wall behind me, hard.
"Ow," I rubbed the back of my throbbing head.
"Holy shit," The culprit muttered. My heart was pumping wildly. I turned to where the voice was coming from and I saw Kevin bending down, trying to pick up as many of the papers he could. Even from this angle, I could see his face turning purple from holding in a suppressed laughter.
"Kevin!" I slapped his back equally as hard as mine hit the wall. This sent him over the edge and my face grew hot as he laughed. I huffed, letting him pick up all the papers as his punishment for scaring me while I was focused on doing intensive research for my article in next month's issue. For September, Sarah suggested that I do an article on the birthstone of Sapphire as a challenge. I knew nothing about Sapphire or how I would relate an effective article on it but since I only had two weeks to figure something out, I knew I had to get down to business.
Kevin was not helping.
"I'm sorry!" He hiccuped while clutching his sides. "You had this look on your face like you were about to kill someone. Since you didn't hear me coming up, I had too."
I frowned. "I was doing research for my article."
Kevin grinned. "Seriously, I'm sorry. Here - I hope that's everything."
He handed me a pile of mismatched documents that I had printed out for my research. I took this time to notice the veins that were sticking out from his forearm. I hadn't noticed how muscular his arms were built. "You going to take them, or what?"
"Oh, sorry," I mumbled, taking the pages out of his hands. "Great, now I'm going to have to put these back in order again."
"What order?"
"First by category, then publishing date, then alphabetical by author," I professed.
His eyes widened. "Wow, uh, that's pretty specific."
I simply shrugged. "It's pretty normal for me."
He looked over my desk. I had added a white cup that held my black pens, another with various colored high lighters, and the last cup holding scissors and glue. There were two trays, one with regular blank white printer paper and the other with college ruled binder paper. Next, there were three notepads - one pad of sticky notes, one 'to do' pad, and one message pad for phone calls. Then there sat my laptop and phone and now a pile of messy papers. I smiled, proud at my neat and tidied desk.
"Are you always that...organized?" He asked slowly.
"Always," I re-iterated. "Do you think it's weird?"
Kevin shook his head. "Not at all. I'm just wondering if you'd be willing to organize my desk while you're at it."
I smirked. "You really think I'm going to do you a favor after scaring me like that?"
"I knew that was going to come bite me in the ass," He snapped his fingers. "What's your article on?"
I sighed. "Sapphire. It's the September birthstone and I'm somehow supposed to do an article about it. I have no idea how to make sapphire interesting. It's just a gem for Christ's sake."
"Hmmm," He mumbled. He grabbed a few pages back and flipped through them. "Well, blue is a calming color. I know that having blue walls in my room helps me relax a bit more. Especially when I play some acoustic music in the background."
"That sounds amazing right now," I said rubbing my temples. "I could go for some relaxation. This article is killing me."
"Don't work yourself too hard. We have to get started on decorations for the gala soon."
"Ugh," I grumbled. "Don't remind me."
It had only been three weeks since I started this internship and already I've had more to work on than a whole semester's worth of college. Although I do, I know I shouldn't complain. This is what I signed up for and I'm glad that I'm finally experiencing what it feels like to work in the real world.
Kevin leaned forward. "Listen, you'll have to help me with all this decoration stuff. I'm a guy - it's not really our thing."
I laughed. "Sorry to break it to you, but I have no idea what I'm doing either. Do I seem like the type of person that knows anything about decorating an entire building?"
"Well, you are a girl..." He trailed off.
"And?"
He paused. "Yeah, you're right. That doesn't mean anything."
"Trust me, it means nothing in our situation."
Kevin stuffed a hand into the inner pocket of his blazer. "Huh. On a completely separate subject, I got something for you."
I sat up straighter, anxious as to what he was talking about. It wasn't everyday that I received gifts from a very handsome friend. "What is it? You didn't have to get me anything."
He smiled and pulled out a small red and cream colored book from his back pocket. "Tada."
I grabbed it and ran my fingers across the front. "The five people you meet in heaven?"
"Yup," He said. "Maybe during one of your nights in you can actually curl up to a good book."
"Why this book?" I pondered for a while. It was a very sweet gesture, but with no reason behind it.
"Give it a minute," He lingered around my desk. "It'll come to you."
I stayed quiet for a few seconds, retracing my steps unable to locate the specific memory that ties back to this book. I let the pages glide across my thumb as I flicked through it. Then it clicked. "Oh wait, is this the book Bessa referred to when you guys were making fun of me for being a loser?"
Kevin laughed and stuffed his hands in his trouser pockets, his eyes gleaming at me. "We were not making fun of you, but yes. That one quote."
I smiled, genuinely, my heart pounding fiercely. I couldn't help but feel warm inside. What a thoughtful and unexpected notion. I held the book close to my heart. "Thanks Kevin. This means a lot."
He stared at me quizzically. "It's just a book."
"Of course," I continued to smile. "I can't wait to read it."
"What are you doing Friday night?"
I hesitated. "Are you suggesting that I spend my Friday night cozying up with this book?"
He laughed. "I'm suggesting that you shouldn't. We all decided to go to the club for a night out before we die from preparations for the gala. Sort of like a pre-celebration before things get crazy."
"That sounds like fun!" I said genuinely. "Why don't you all come to my apartment before? Then we can all go together."
"Sounds great," He agreed.
"Wait, will Chelsea be coming along?"
"What do you think?" Kevin winked at me before departing and my chest tingled. I watched the back of his frame - broad shoulders, lean legs, and the way he strode was in a very casual and sensual way.
And then Nate came into view, slapping Kevin's shoulder as the two passed each other. At the sight of Nate, the smile on my face dropped along with my stomach. We hadn't spoken at all since the night at the park and with good reason. My breathing increased as he approached me and when he finally stopped at my desk, I froze.
"Are you busy?"
Three words he spoke and my muscles immediately tensed.
"Well, I'm doing research for my article," I mumbled. His emotionless expression didn't change and he just nodded.
"Take a break, you're coming with me," He said, slowly closing the lid of my laptop.
I squinted my eyes at him. "Where are we going?"
He just gave me the same blank stare. "You'll see."
I crossed my arms. "No. You either tell me where we're going or I'm not following you anywhere."
Finally, his face showed a sign of defeat and he sighed. "Okay, that's fair. I need some help at a photo shoot for next month's issue. I don't know many people that well in the office, and I need someone else's opinion, other than the photographer of course. He thinks he knows everything."
"Why couldn't you just ask Sarah? Or one of the other managers? Or Lory, since she's the one in charge of the shoot?" I offered him. I knew this was either a trap or he really needed help. I chose to ignore the latter considering that with every word he said, he began to lean further and further into me.
"Because obviously, Lory thinks it's great. The concept was her idea, after all. But I need the opinion of someone who will tell me the truth. Someone I trust," His voice decreased in volume at the end of his sentence.
"You trust me?" I practically whispered after having the wind knocked out of me. "You barely know me."
Nate rolled his glorious eyes. "I know enough. I've seen enough. I've touched enough. I-"
"Alright!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands in his face. "I'll go, if it'll make you shut up."
He threw me a bright smile, making me regret this impulsive decision completely. "I knew you'd cave."
"Just never speak of seeing or touching me ever again," I pointed an accusing finger at him, gritting my teeth.
"Yes ma'am," He saluted me. I wanted to slap the grin off his face yet kiss it at the same time.
I carefully arranged my papers back in order and stuffed my things into my bag. "Does Sarah know we're leaving?"
"She's your manager, not mine," He said, leaving me to deal with it.
"Jerk," I muttered under my breath as he headed for the elevators.
"Sarah, Nate needs me to go to the photo shoot with him. Some issue we need to take care of."
"What?" She had a confused expression. "Isn't Lory in charge of the photo shoot? Why isn't he asking her intern, Chelsea?"
If Sarah knew Chelsea, she probably wouldn't have asked. For the time being, I didn't even have an answer to her question. So, I shrugged, which sent her flying past me and towards Nate's direction. He had only gotten halfway down the floor before Sarah caught up to him.
I rushed over. I had to see this.
"Excuse me, Nate," She said and stepped in front of him. He almost bumped into her, but he took a step back.
"How can I help you, Sarah?"
"You can't just take my intern whenever you want," She said sternly. "I need her help and she needs to work on her articles too."
Nate cleared his throat, a habit I noticed he did when needing to stall. "Uh, well she was the only intern free for me to take. Everyone else is away doing something."
"Still, I'd appreciate it if you'd ask me before whisking her away," She didn't budge and crossed her arms. "Didn't they teach you anything about manners at Cornell?"
I wasn't surprised at how kick ass Sarah was being. I was, however, surprised that Nate came from an Ivy. Nate bowed. "I apologize, Sarah. I should have asked you and I will next time. But I really am desperate for some help. I'm sure you could find it in that golden heart of yours that you could spare Haley some time?"
My jaw dropped as I watched Sarah's expression soften. She suddenly looked guilty for scolding Nate. "I'm sorry if I snapped. I'm just stressed out with a lot of work."
Nate offered a hand on her shoulder and his thumb rubbed her skin delicately. "It's alright."
"You can take her for an hour, but no longer than that," She gave him a smile. I rolled my eyes - Nate's charm even worked on Sarah. I couldn't believe that I had been stupid to fall for it, seeing the way Sarah was completely under his spell. And what was with all the touching?
"Thanks, I really appreciate it," Nate squeezed the shoulder he had his hand on. "Haley?"
I rushed over to where they stood. "I'll see you later, Sarah."
She blinked, coming out of her Nate-daze, and simply nodded at me before walked back to her desk.
I smirked at Nate. "You're good."
"Impressed?"
"Hardly," I lied.
He chuckled lightly. "Let's go on a field trip Miss Monroe."