I am relieved when we finally reach the end of a seemingly-endless hallway. I observe Ethan as he runs his hands through his hair before swinging the large door in front of him open, revealing a large meeting room of some sort. My eyes run all around the room, taking in all of the business-people seated at one of the biggest tables I have ever seen and their sophisticated expressions. It's almost humorous to see how they all stand from their seats as Ethan enters the room.
"Welcome, Mr. Dolan!"
"How are you today, Mr. Dolan?"
"Looking great, sir!"
Everyone echoes different praises from around the room as they greet their boss. Ethan simply nods at them before taking a seat at the head of the long, wooden table. Like a domino effect, they all return to their seats one-by-one immediately after Ethan. It disgusts me to see the way everyone around here worships him...
"Thank you all for coming," Ethan begins, "before we get started, I would like to introduce you all to my new assistant. This is Elle Parker."
Before I can even blink, every single eye in the room is fixed on me. I stand awkwardly behind Ethan's chair, almost as if I am attempting to hide from everyone.
"Nice to meet you, Ms. Parker!"
"Pleasure to be working with you, Ms. Parker!"
"Welcome to Dolan Enterprise!"
The echoes return, this time in my direction. I force a smile and slightly wave at everyone, but I find myself still somewhat behind Ethan's chair. At the end of the table, I recognize Mrs. Samson. She glares at me with intimidating eyes, and doesn't smile at me like everyone else.
"You know what, Elle," Ethan quickly looks from left to right and pats the sides of his pants, "I forgot my phone on my desk in my office. Do you mind?"
I sigh.
"Sure." I say through gritted teeth.
He leans in close enough for only me to hear to say "thank you," and then leans away with a smirk. I am going to smack that damn smirk off of his face at some point.
I smile once more at everyone who is still glaring at me with hawk-eyes before prancing over to the door.
"Oh, Elle," Ethan says from behind me.
I turn around hesitantly.
"You're going to need these. It's the golden one." He tosses me a small bundle of different keys. Of course it would be the golden one.
I shoot him a certain look before exiting the conference room and stomping my way over to the elevator. I don't know why such a small command is making me this mad. If anyone else were to ask me to go grab their phone, I would happily do it with no problems.
But Ethan Dolan asked me, who just so happens to also be my boss, now.
I don't know if I can do this whole 'assistant' thing.
-
I trot over to the similar black door with "Mr. Dolan's office" plastered across it. I huff as I shove the golden key into the door and swing it open.
I enter the office and walk over to Ethan's desk that is unnecessarily fancy.
"I've been waiting for you,"
I look up from the floor to see a completely naked girl spinning around in Ethan's desk chair.
I look at her, she looks at me, I scream, she screams, then I scream again, then she screams again, then I cover my eyes, and then I hear her scrambling up from out of the chair and over to (hopefully) put on some clothes.
"Sorry! Shit... I'm-I'm sorry!" I stutter as I keep my hands over my eyes.
"No, I'm, um, I'm sorry..." the girl says.
"Who are you?" I ask.
"Who are you?" She retorts.
"Obviously not who you were expecting!" I yell.
Silence fills the air for a brief moment as I give her some time to get dressed.
"I'm, uh," I peak through my fingers to see that she now has some sort of cover up on and then lower my hands, "Ethan's new assistant. He sent me up here to get his phone. I'm Elle, Elle Parker." I frantically force the words out.
The girl, who is far more attractive than I could ever even imagine of being, swings her cover-up over her left shoulder.
"Oh. What happened to Isaac?" She asks.
"He's still Ethan's assistant, too. We both are."
"Well, I would say that this is embarrassing, but I've been caught doing much worse!" She laughs, her boobs looking as if they are trying to escape from her sad excuse of a cover-up. I don't laugh with her.
"I'm Georgia. Sorry you had to see that..." she says, her lip gloss shimmering as she speaks.
Me too, Georgia.
"Sorry I, uh, walked in." I say. "So are you Ethan's, like, girlfriend?"
She twirls a strand of her bright-blonde hair in-between two of her perfectly manicured fingers.
"He doesn't really like labels... but, we sure do have fun, if you know what I mean." She laughs again, almost as if she is trying to make friends with me or something. I don't laugh with her once again.
"Right. Well, I'm going to go take him his phone, and we can just... pretend this didn't happen?" I retrieve Ethan's phone from the desk that was occupied by a naked woman just a few minutes ago.
"Sure, sure! You go ahead."
I nod at her before rushing out of the office and slamming the door behind me. I take a moment to rest my back against the door, and try to figure out what the hell just happened.
I knew Ethan was a player, but seriously? A naked girl waiting for him in his office? I won't deal with this shit. I refuse.
-
When I finally make my way back to the conference room, I furiously knock on the door a couple times. Ethan luckily answers after a few seconds, and peeks his head through the cracked door.
"Took you long enough--"
"Can I talk to you for a minute, Ethan?"
He looks back into the conference room before sliding his head through the cracked door once again.
"Uh, I'm kinda busy here, Elle."
"It will only take a minute." I guess he realizes my seriousness by the way I falsely smile at him, because he steps through the door, closes it, and pulls me aside.
"Okay, what is it?"
"I went to go get your phone for you."
"Well, yeah, that's what I sent you to do--"
"But, when I got to your office, I wasn't alone." I tilt my head at him.
Confused, he does a certain hand gesture, urging me to continue.
I sigh.
"Ethan, if you're going to have naked sluts waiting for you in your damn office every time I go to get something for you, you must be dreaming if you think I'm going to be your assistant."
He widens his eyes, and for once, I think he is going to say something actually meaningful... I am quickly proven wrong as he leans against the wall, bending over from laughing so hard. He holds his stomach as he crouches over, unable to cease his uncontrollable laughter.
Unamused, I cross my arms over my chest and glare at him. He continues to cackle like a little schoolboy.
"You know, Ethan, it's not funny. And it's incredibly unprofessional. AND gross..."
"Who was it?" He asks in-between fits of laughter. "Did you get her name?"
"No no, wait. Let me guess... Reagan? Mallory? Please say it wasn't Annika--" He continues to laugh.
"Georgia." I spit.
His laughter only increases.
"Oh, Georgia... she is a feisty one."
Deciding that I've had enough, I shove his cell phone into his chest as he chuckles and walk away. I cannot believe him, and the way he chooses to present himself.
"Elle... wait. Come on, it's funny!" He follows behind me.
"No, it's not."
"Elle! Elle, come on." He grabs the back of my arm, turning me around to face him.
"No, Ethan. It's not funny. None of it is... you know, most girls think that you're just so dreamy, and so irresistible... when really, the way you treat women is degrading and cruel. You're a pathetic excuse for a man, and a pathetic excuse for a business-man, at that."
I tug my arm away from his grasp.
"I can't do this, I'm sorry. I'll just have to help Eryn find an internship somewhere else. You're not worth my time, or hers, for that matter."
I push past him and descend down the long hallway. My steps are loud as I rush to get anywhere that Ethan is not.
It feels like minutes have gone by when I hear him again.
"You're right." He says lowly.
I debate on whether or not to stop and hear him out, but I can't seem to stop my feet from moving just yet. I continue to walk away, just a bit slower.
"Elle, please stop. You're right, okay? You're right."
My mind is telling me to keep moving, but for some reason I find myself stopping to listen to him. I make a mental note to admonish myself later for this.
"I don't think anyone has ever stood up to me like that before, Elle."
I turn around to face him, a small distance down the hallway. He starts to walk towards me.
"I need someone like you around here to do that for me... I need you, Elle, okay? I knew what I was doing when I asked you to be my assistant."
I cross my arms over my chest once again as I continue to hear him out.
"Listen, I know it's no excuse, but ever since my Dad's passing... I don't know, I've kind of been... off. I don't know how to explain it. This won't happen again, okay? I swear."
The way he is looking at me breaks my heart in half for some reason. Ethan Dolan is supposed to be a badass, but right now, he looks like a lost puppy. His deep brown eyes stare directly into mine, and his lips almost seem to be pouting.
"Ethan, I'm serious. If I am going to work for you, I don't want anything like this happening again."
I'm proud of putting my foot down for the famous Ethan Dolan; something that I know not many other people in this town could do.
"It won't. I'm sorry, Elle."
He's right in front of me, now. Almost too close for my comfort...
I find myself pondering about how good he smells rather than focusing on our conversation.
"Okay."
He does that damn smirk that he always does. I take a deep breath, and notice him doing the same.
"You know how earlier today, you asked me if I thought you were a bad person?" I ask him.
He nods, and looks at me as if he is begging for me to keep talking to him.
"I think you have the potential to be a good one, but that's up to you."
He nods. Silence fills the air for a brief moment as we both make our way back to the conference room.
"I mean really, Ethan? Georgia was the biggest whore I think I have ever seen!" I punch at is chest.
He laughs, his smile widening with every chuckle. As much as I hate to admit it, he has a really great smile, and laugh. It's very inviting.
"Don't tell me you're jealous, Elle," he nudges me.
"You wish, Ethan!"
For the first time, I laugh along with Ethan Dolan, and the sound of our conjoined laughter is truly comforting.