~Annabel's POV~
I slowed to a stop, and quickly pulled out my tube of mascara before the light had a chance to turn green. Pulling the visor down, I began to apply the mascara in a quick way, and attempted to avoid any mess around my eyes. The light turned green, and I took a break from the mascara for a little while, until reaching another red light.
I made it to the building alive, with only two or three swerves but nothing major. Maybe I shouldn't have morning sex with Harry on work days. Oh well.
I scurried into the building, fixing my blouse and skirt, ensuring that I looked presentable. The automatic doors allowed me to keep walking forward, and up to the front desk.
"Hi how can I-" She began, before peering over the lit up computer screen. Her name was Nikki, as I recall. "Oh. It's you again." She said in an annoyed tone. I looked around awkwardly. "What do you need?"
"I um.. I'm here to work."
"Yeah, just go to your office. Beatrice!" She hollered. "She'll help you."
"Okay, thanks." I said, not waiting for a response before hurrying away. I waited by the elevators before a blonde lady holding a clipboard came scurrying over to me. Her hair was done in a sophisticated updo, and she was dressed much like me; black pencil skirt, and white blouse with polka dots overtop.
"Hi! I'm Beatrice, but you can call me Bea. Or Beatrice, it doesn't matter." She smiled. Her voice was friendly, and high, and her lips were painted a bright red color, making her teeth appear extremely white.
"Hi Bea, I'm Annabel." I smile back.
"Annabel Shaw, yes I know. I'm your personal assistant, assigned to you by Mr. Summers himself. Anything you need, I get for you." She spoke, in a preppy voice, and the elevator doors opened. I'm actually in awe, as I did not expect to have a personal assistant. It isn't even necessary. We both step in, and I watch as Bea presses the button for the penthouse.
"Why are we going up there?" I ask.
"Your office is up there. You must be a good worker, Mr. Summers doesn't give just anyone a penthouse office." She chuckles, and I stay silent.
"Was I late for work today?" I ask nervously.
"Just a tad, but it's alright. Mr. Summers doesn't usually come until an hour later than he's supposed to, so everyone just tells him an hour earlier than the correct time, whenever there's a meeting, or anything like that." She kindly explains.
"Oh, that's a smart idea." I laugh.
"Yeah, we all learned from experience." She giggles along. It takes about 30 seconds to get to the top floor, considering it is a very tall building.
The view from my huge room, is absolutely breathtaking. It overlooks the whole city, and I could only imagine what it'd look like at night. The whole place was bright and modern, and I took in everything with my eyes, as I spun aruond.
"This is amazing!" I gushed, and Bea stood with a wide smile on her face.
"It's exciting, isn't it?" Bea laughed at my reaction.
"Yes! Thank you so much!"
"Don't thank me, thank Mr. Summers!" She laughed.
"I'll be sure to," I smiled, sitting in the comfortable black spin chair.
"Is there anything you want me to do for you right now?" She asks.
"I don't want to do that to you, I don't feel right making you do things for me!" I shake my head.
"No no, it's my job! Plus, I can already tell you're different than other employees I've assisted before. You're actually nice, so I'd love to do anything for you!"
"Oh my gosh, okay. Um, do you mind getting me a coffee from Starbucks?" I say, pulling out a twenty dollar bill.
"Sure thing, what do you usually drink?"
"What do you usually get?" I ask her.
"Um, I really like the caramel frappucinnos, those are really good." She laughs.
"Get me one of those, and treat yourself to one too."
"No, I really can't let you do that,"
"Trust me, I want to." I smile warmly, and she nods her head, a small flush rising in her cheeks, before she leaves me alone in the huge office. I take a minute of silence for myself, just looking at the beautiful place, before my cell phone begins to ring. I smile before I answer the phone.
"Hey, Harry." I speak, running a hand over the Macbook Pro that was sitting at my desk.
"Hey babe, how's work?"
"I arrived about half an hour ago, but so far it's good!"
"That's good, how is everything?"
"Great! Harry, my office is huge!" I gush. "The view is amazing! And did I tell you I have a personal assistant? I love everything!" I laugh over the phone, and I can hear him chuckling at my eager state.
"That's great babe. How's the boss?" He asks, and I can tell by his tone, that he's only asking to see if he's said anything to me.
"Haven't seen him yet." I answer simply, as my new laptop boots up.
"Oh. Well, what time do you have your lunch break?"
"I don't know, I haven't seen my boss yet." I say, getting annoyed for some reason. I hear a knock at the door, and I look up from the computer. "Harry I have to go, someone's at the door. I'll call you later." I end the call before he has the chance to respond, and stand from the chair, brushing the front of my skirt. I clear my throat. "Come in,"
"Hey, I got your drink." Bea comes in, seeming out of breath.
"Thanks so much, and you got one for yourself too?" I ask, hoping she did. She holds up another cup full of the same thing that I'm holding. I smile and nod. "Good."
"Now, you have a lot of work today. I'm assuming you already know what to do?"
"Not really," I shake my head. "It's confusing." I say when she pulls a confused look.
"Okay, well basically you're just going to read through stories, and edit them. The ones you're assigned to today, are ones that are already going to be published." She explained.
"That seems easy enough," I nod, content.
"Very. Well, I'll leave you to it. Press this button if you need me." Bea says, pointing to a silver button that was built into the desk.
"Thanks for all your help, Bea." I smile, and she leans in to hug me.
"Good luck, I know your first day is always harsh but you'll do great." She gives me a genuine smile, and makes her way to the door. "Oh and by the way, Mr. Summers wants to see you in 10 minutes, but he told me that 5 minutes ago." She laughs.
"Thanks, Bea." I chuckle back, and she disappears through the doorframe. Mr. Summers wants to see me? Is that normal for your first day of work? My mind is racing, as I take a seat at my desk, and slide my finger back and forth on the finger pad. The screen lights up, and I begin to set up my email, constantly checking the clock for until it turns 11:10. At 11:05, I sync my work email into my work computer, and instantly, 6 new emails appear. I respond to the majority of them, and check the time. 11:08. I take a long sip of the frappuccino Bea got me, and decided to leave then.
I made my way down the long hallway, and knocked on the familiar door that read Mr. Summers.
"Come in," I hear a low mutter, and I carefully push the door open. He's sitting at his desk, which is far on the other side of the large office, but stands when he sees me. "Ah, Miss Shaw."
"You were expecting me, Mr. Summers?" I speak.
"I was," He responds, sipping his coffee while he adjusts his tie. "I just wanted to know how things are going for you so far."
"It's going great, I just set up my laptop. Thank you, by the way, for the laptop and the amazing office."
"It's no problem. Anything you need, I'll provide for you. I'm assuming you enjoy the view?"
"Very much, sir. Thank you."
"I'm expecting good work from you, Annabel." He tells me, walking over to me.
"I'll make sure I do my best, sir." I assure him.
"Call me Jack." He says, adjusting the collar of my blouse. I shiver under the light brush of his fingers against my collarbone, but I'm standing as still as a statue.
"Isn't that a little inappropriate, considering you're my boss, sir?" I say, swallowing.
"I want you to call me Jack, Annabel. Don't be nervous around me." He tells me, and I nod silently.
"I know you have a lot of work to do, so you can go ahead and start. Lunch break starts at 12:30 PM everyday, and ends at 1:30. Anything else you need, you can just ask myself, or Bea.
"Thank you si- Jack." I stutter, before rushing out of his office. I let out a dragging breath before I begin walking back to my personal office.
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"But Dawson, it's honestly such bullshit. It's your life, isn't it?" I spoke, looking into his piercing blue eyes.
"Yes, but you don't understand, Kay." He sighs, adjusting his guitar on the lap. In the distance, I could hear the pigs that oinked outside.
I crossed out 'oinked' and wrote 'called' above the red marking. The majority of the stories that I've read were boring, and I had questions on why they were being published in the first place. I yawned, and was about to resume reading where I left off, until the phone in my office rang.
"Annabel Shaw," I answered, pulling a weird look at my own greeting.
"Annabel! There's someone coming up to your office soon, just wanted to let you know!" Bea spoke.
"Who-" I stared at the phone, realizing that Bea had just hung up on me. I picked up my red correcting pen, and began to edit. I was about 30 seconds in, before there was a knock at my door.
"Come in." I called out. The door knob turned, and a tall figure appeared at the door.
"Hey,"
"Harry!" I smiled widely, and made my way to where he was standing, and he met me halfway through the room, wrapping me in a long hug.
"What're you doing here?" I asked, as we separated from our hug. He holds up a large brown paper bag, and smiles, his dimples beginning to show.
"Lunch," He simply answers, and I look at the time. Sure enough, it's 12:40.
"How did you know when my lunch break was?" I ask, gently taking the paper bag out of his hand, and leading him to the glass tables and couches. Harry's currently intrigued in the interior design of the office.
"I just guessed," I shrugs, looking up at the ceiling. "This office is amazing, Annabel." Harry compliments.
"Isn't it?" I say, peering into the bag. I pull out two plastic bowls of Noodles and Company, a pasta restaurant that was quite popular here in New York.
"How did you even score this? You haven't even worked before." Harry asks, cocking his eyebrow.
"I don't know, Bea said Mr. Summers just gave it to me."
"Bea?"
"Sorry, she's my assistant."
"But you're not even at a high position yet and you have this amazing penthouse office and an assistant?" He said, sounding suspicious. "Isn't that a little... I don't know, strange?"
"Harry, don't say anything about my boss playing favorites. I don't know why he did it." I sigh, prying the caps off of the pasta lid.
"Annabel, I'm telling you," He says, grabbing a bowl of pasta and a fork. "There's something weird going on with this guy. High class business owners like this don't just assign an assistant and office like this to a person, with no proof of good work ethic. You barely had an interview, Annabel. This isn't normal." He says, his face serious. His eyebrows pointed downwards, in a maddened expression.
"Harry, he's just being kind. He expects good things from me, and I'm going to do what I'm supposed to do, and I'm going to do it right. You know that."
"But he doesn't. That's my point. I mean, I might know you're the hardest worker ever but how does he, if he hasn't seen a résumé, or know what kind of a worker you are."
"Just let it go, Harry. I thought you were here to visit and talk to me about your day, not lecture me on the kind things my boss has done." I sigh, standing to toss the finished pasta bowl into the garbage.
"I am! I came to see you, baby, but I'm just saying something's weird about this." He says, following me.
"But I don't want to hear it! Harry, I'm sorry that you have some weird logic on why I'm getting all this treatment, but it's not a big deal!" I say, my voice rising.
"Annabel, I was only telling you so you can keep an eye out-"
"Keep an eye out for what?!" I holler. "I don't want to hear you stating your opinion on whether or not I have the ability to work!" I say, tears welling up in my eyes.
"What? Annabel, I know you can work! I never said anything like that! You're a smart girl, and no doubt you'd get the job if your boss wasn't-"
"Wasn't what, Harry? Maybe he thought I would be useful to this company! Do I not look smart to you? Does it not look like I have ability to manage work like this?!" I yell.
"Annabel-"
"Harry I need you to leave." I say backing up from him.
"What? Annabel, I-"
"Harry my lunch break is over, and I need you to go." I say, moving away from him as he attempts to move forward.
"Annabel, you know I-"
"Don't... don't make me call security." I hesitate saying. He looks at me, wide-eyed and confused. "Please just... just get out." I say not able to look into his captivating eyes, for I know if I did, I would begin to cry.
"I... I love you Annabel." He says, his accent heavy.
"I know." I whisper, and he takes long, wide steps to the door, and exits before closing it behind him.
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