When I arrived home last night it was already 7:30 and since I don't have a car I have no choice but to walk back which took around 30 minutes. Millie and Archie were cuddled up on the couch under a blanket watching a movie. They must have heard me come in because they both turned around.
"Hey Soph," Archie said and continued to watch the tv. Millie however politely asked him to move his legs from on top of hers and walked over to me.
"We ordered take out tonight, there are leftovers in the fridge," Millie took a seat on the bar stool. I thanked her and laid the pizza box on the opposite side of the island.
I took a slice and listened to Millie talking about her day, "and then this guy asked me where the birthday cards were and I said that I would take him there, that was like the biggest mistake of my life because you know who..." she gestured to Archie over her shoulder, "...thought that he was trying to come onto me and tried to intervene." She burst out laughing and I did too. Archie, however, is giving us death glares from the couch but stays silent. He knows better than to try and defend himself, he never has been able to win against Millie.
"But the funniest thing was this guy just wanted to buy a birthday card for his boyfriend," this caused me to laugh even harder and almost choke on my food.
"No way!" I screamed and threw my head back laughing. Millie and I continued to talk for about an hour or so and I tell her about my new position and the college Dominic and I are going to tomorrow. Before it gets too late I decide I need to get everything ready so that I wouldn't have to rush in the morning.
"So what time do you have to be up?" Millie asked as she followed me into my room. I began looking through my closet for an outfit.
"I have to be at the office for 6 am so I need to be up at 5 to leave by half past," I tell her and remove a pencil skirt from the closet and hang it on the door.
"Gosh, that's ridiculously early. I can't believe it'll be your second day as an assistant journalist and they are already expecting so much from you."
"It's not like I'm going alone, Millie. Dominic will be there too."
"Tell me about this mysterious man," she teases.
I think for a moment. What is there to tell her about? He's just a colleague and now I'm his assistant and as she already said, tomorrow is only my second day which means that there's still so much to learn about him. I found myself smiling at that thought, it'll be good to make some friends here other than Millie and Archie.
"Handsome?" She whispered obviously not wanting Archie to hear, although he did as she shouted excuse me from the other room.
I nodded and shrugged. "He is attractive I can't deny that," I giggle but it quickly passes as I found myself comparing him to Noah. Noah's hair is brown, the sides are cut short and the top is relatively long but always styled to perfection whereas Dominic's hair is a dirty blonde and fairly long and styled backwards. "But something really strange happened today...this girl who works in the IT department warned me to be careful because he's a jerk."
"All of the hot ones are," Millie says.
"I'm not a jerk," Archie protests from the other room.
"Are you going to listen to our conversation all night?" Millie shouted back rolling her eyes dramatically. I know it doesn't actually bother her, she is far too in love to actually get annoyed over something so pointless, but still, she shut my bedroom door. She turned back to me, "Are you going to keep your distance?"
"Well I don't see how that's possible, we are supposed to be working closely together," she raises an eyebrow. "My bosses words not mine," I add.
The rest of the night continues the same, Millie asking me questions about my job and my new partner while I type up the notes Dominic asked me too. I answer all of her questions- she seems to have a lot but I don't think anything of it because I also take an interest in her work. Another hour or so later I decide to get some sleep (not that it will be easy) because I have to be up extremely early. The nerves start to kick in as I close my eyes. Tomorrow is my first day doing what I've always dreamt and I really don't want to mess it up.
•
I've been up for an hour now sitting in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal with only the outside street light outside lighting the room. It's 5 am and I have to leave in half an hour to get to the office by 6. I'm both nervous and excited about these interviews that we will have to conduct today, the fact that I'm not sure if I will have to interview anyone adds to my nerves.
When I reach the building I notice there are no lights on but I still enter using my phone's torch. Dominic and I didn't discuss the exact place we are going to meet but I guess he meant our office since he may have to pick some documents up.
Around 5 minutes after 6 a light flicks on outside the office and I hear someone walking down the corridor. My heart beats a little faster from nerves that I shouldn't be here at this hour. Luckily seconds later Dominic comes into view.
"Excellent you're here," he fails to greet me and walks straight over to his desk removing some documents.
"Good morning," I say and he looks up at me.
"Sorry Sophia, good morning. I'm a little stressed at this impromptu trip, my girlfriend isn't too happy that I'm going to be gone for a couple of days." He says. My eyes go wide with shock. Did he just say a couple of days?
"A couple of days?"
"Yes we're travelling to New York, the flight there and back will take up most of our time if we tried to do this in one day. You did pack an overnight bag right?" He questions and I feel a little stupid. Did he mention this before and I just zoned out or did he leave out these details accidentally?
"No... I-I didn't realise..." I stuttered.
"That's okay, we will be staying at my sister's house anyway. I'm sure she has something you can wear to bed," He says with a small smirk. I can't tell whether he is being genuine or not.
"Thank you but we can stop off at my apartment on the way to the airport and I can grab a couple of things," I tell him but he immediately shakes his head.
"We don't have enough time, we'll miss the flight."
"Oh...are you sure she won't mind?" I ask him. What other choice do I really have? If I make a bad impression on my second day I could lose my job, Dominic could tell Mr Quinn I'm not up to the task.
"She won't even be there so we will have the place all to ourselves," He smirks yet again and I just nod.
"I'm just going to pop to the restroom before we head out, I'll meet you downstairs," I smile and excuse myself from the office. True to my word go to the restroom. Staring at myself in the mirror I realise how different I am beginning to look. I am dressed in a smart jacket, blouse and pencil skirt which gives off a professional vibe, my reading glasses sit atop my head keeping my hair out of my face.
"Oh, you conveniently forgot to mention we would be staying over night?" I say to myself referring to Dominic, how could he forget such an important detail? Im starting to feel quite uncomfortable about all of this.
Remembering Willow's words from yesterday I decided to check the time. I had only been in here for a minute so he shouldn't be expecting me back too quickly, after all, most women take a lot longer to finish their business in the restroom than men.
I made my way out of the restroom located on the same floor as our office and took the elevator down to the third floor. The IT department was dark just as it was yesterday, the only difference being that Willow's office light was not on. She must not be in yet. The hope that her office door was not locked was the only thing I had giving me comfort about this situation. The small device I had refused yesterday now doesn't seem like such a bad idea and I just hope that it is still where I left it.
I twisted the doorknob and it opened. The light switch was not too hard to find and once I switched it on I looked in the direction of where I had left the USB last night. To my surprise, the device was still there and I breathed a sigh of relief. Laying underneath the small device was a folded letter with my name on it. What the heck?
Unfolding the piece of paper I saw a phone number and the words
I knew you would come back for it. Be careful, call me if you need anything.
Willow.
Having this strange woman looking out for me gave me comfort. The fact that we know nothing about each other doesn't seem to bother me in the slightest, after all, she isn't the one who forgot to tell me that we would be flying to New York and staying the night there. In fact, she has warned me of something strange happening within the company and even though there's no proof or reason to raise concern yet, I have learnt you shouldn't ignore the signs and Dominic is definitely giving quite a few.
I slipped the device and the note into my pocket, turned off the light and shut the door before meeting Dominic downstairs. By the time I reached the lobby, Dominic was already pacing back and forth like a madman.
"There you are, I thought you might have had second thoughts," he says as if I was gone for a whole hour when in reality I was only gone for 5 minutes.
"Sorry I couldn't find the restroom. You would think that after 2 months I would have learnt my way around," I lie which he luckily believes and nods.
"Let's get going."
Our drive to the airport is pleasant. Dominic is driving his Range Rover and I am sat in the passenger's seat. Once we are parked up we walk inside but rather than going through all normal procedures Dominic leads me to a quieter section of the airport reserved for private aircrafts.
"We are going on a private plane?" I ask absolutely bewildered. Is he that rich?
"The company has a couple, Mr Quinn insisted we take it. After all the plane will be picking up some potential investors from New York on our way back so it's not a big loss for him," Dominic assured me as we walk to the plane. "Have you been on one before?"
"No but it's always been a dream," I lie for the second time today. Of course, I had been on a private plane before. It was Noah's when we went to Hawaii but I can't tell him that, it's not something he needs to know or anyone. I was in the newspaper once, a picture of Noah and I at the charity gala for children with cancer when I was just his roommate but apart from that our relationship was always quiet. If word got out that I dated (if you can even call it that) one of the richest men in the state I would definitely be the talk of the town and I am just here to work.
We take our seats. Dominic is seated to my right. He leans in so that his lips are inches from my ear, immediately my breath catches in my throat. I can feel his hand on my thigh, he squeezes it and whispers, "you'll love it."