This is the potential break-up song
Please, just admit you're wrong
"Good morning, Janet!" I smile to my assistant as I make my way towards my office.
"Morning, Grayson! Happy Monday!" She smiles.
I'm so thankful I found an assistant like Janet.
I always felt weird about the idea of having an assistant. It just seemed like such an unnatural thing for me. But after my first week of being CEO, I caved and got myself an assistant.
And God bless Janet for really making my job less stressful.
Also, she has proven to be a great friend. So it's nice that she doesn't just feel like someone working for me. Her and I actually have casual conversations like friends would.
I soon pass Janet's desk and walk into my office. I set my bag and coffee cup on my desk before making my way around my desk to slump into my chair. I let out a deep breath and run my fingers through my hair as I turn to log onto my computer.
I hate Monday's.
"Grayson," I hear Janet say. I look up from my desk to see her walking into my office. "Eddie just called,"
"Oh shit." I curse to myself when I instantly remember that I had breakfast plans with Eddie this morning. I didn't even think about it. I got a call this morning about a meeting I have this afternoon, asking me to come in to review some last minuet things before it. "Is he upset?" I ask nervously.
Janet opens her mouth to answer, but is cut off by a familiar voice entering my office from behind her. "Yes, he is upset." Eddie retorts, crossing his arms in front of his chest and making his way to stand in front of my desk.
"I'm just gonna go," Janet trails off before practically tripping over her feet from how fast she tries to get out of my office. Thankfully she remembers to close the door behind her as she walks out. I don't need anyone here overhearing my boyfriend and I fighting.
Eddie and I have already been having troubles because he thinks I work too much.
We see that differently. He just doesn't understand the responsibilities that come with being the CEO of a company. But, also, I made it clear to him that I work a lot when we started seeing each other. It's not like any of this is a surprise for him.
"Eddie-" I start to try and fumble around an explanation for missing our date before he cuts me off.
"I think we need to take a break." He deadpans.
I shake my head and blink a few times, taken aback by his statement. "What?"
"A break." Eddie retorts simply.
I understand that he is upset that I forgot about our date. But I didn't expect him to be this upset. "This sounds a lot like you breaking up with me." I say softly, turning my head to avoid his gaze. I don't know why this hurts so much. We haven't been dating for too long. But rejection or breaking up with someone never tends to be the best feeling.
"No, this is a break. I think we need some time apart so you can think about your priorities. This isn't the first time you have chosen work over me. After you come back from your trip we can talk things through." He reasons with me.
Fuck. I forgot all about how we are supposed to be leaving for my sister's wedding on Thursday. "Fine," I huff. "I'm not going to force you to be with me."
"Thank you for understanding." He nods, seemingly surprised that I'm not losing my shit right now. "Aren't you going to storm out like they do in movies?" He adds after a few moments of uncomfortable silence.
"Well, this is real life, not a movie. Also, this is my office. Soooo," I hum. "You storm out if you want the dramatics."
"If I storm out right now it's because I want to. It isn't because you told me to." He retorts, pointing at me for emphasis.
He doesn't wait for my response this time. Eddie simply turns around dramatically and storms out of my office.
Once he is gone, I exhale loudly in frustration and sink into my office chair.
After a few moments, I see Janet warily pop her head into my office. "Gray?"
I send her a tight lipped smile and wave her over. Janet always seems to know how to cheer me up when I'm stressed out. I get stressed out too often for my own good. Maybe I should give her a raise. "How much did you hear?" I groan, looking into her sympathetic eyes.
"Not much. But the dramatic storm out was pretty telling."
"I was kind of disappointed, to be honest. He could have made it more dramatic for sure." I hum, thinking back to Eddie's sassy fast walk out of my office.
"I don't know. He didn't push papers off of my desk and opted for kicking my waste bin instead. So I would give some points for originality." Janet quips.
I shrug and nod in thought, "I guess that's a good point."
"But honestly," Janet turns the conversation back to the reason she came into my office. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Unless want to dress up like a boy for two weeks and pretend to be my boyfriend so my family doesn't think that I have ruined yet another relationship, then no, there isn't much you can do to help." I frown.
My family is great, for the most part. Every family has their faults. I think from an outsiders point of view, my family would seem very crazy. But I'm used to it by now, so it really doesn't phase me anymore.
Even though they're kind of crazy, and I feel like they would probably never judge me, I still feel the constant need to prove myself to them or to impress them. I just want to make them proud, I guess.
Also, I'm the younger sister. I feel like being the younger sibling always has this pressure to live up to the standards that the older sibling, or siblings, has set by their previous actions. And my older sister, Audrey, is literally getting married in three weeks. So that standard is pretty high right now.
My relationships in the past have never lasted long. In high school and university, I think I was too focused on my studies to even put energy into relationships of any kind. My only friends in university really were the roommates I had at the time. Then after I graduated and started my career, I guess I put all my time and energy into my work. And I think that the lack of attention I put into relationships is probably why they always fail in such a short amount of time.
Relationships are kind of like plants. You need to water plants regularly so that they grow and thrive. Well, much like why every plant I have ever dared to try and have dies so quickly, I forget to water my relationships.
Like Eddie. I guess I didn't give him enough attention because of how tunnel visioned I get with my work. But I also chalk that up to the feeling that I constantly need to prove myself to others.
"You know..." I hear Janet chime in a suspicious tone, snapping me out of my thoughts. "I can't pretend to be your boyfriend. But I do have a very good friend who might be able to."
"I don't know..." I trail off hesitantly. "It would probably be a little awkward to drag a stranger to stay with my family and I for two weeks." I reason.
"Oh, but he's not a stranger." She waves off like I should have known that already. "He works here. He's the best and super sweet. I'm sure he would be more than willing to help you out." Janet smiles widely.
"He works here?" I question.
"Yeah. His name is Harry. The super geeky brit who works with all the engineers." Janet answers matter-of-factly.
I furrow my brows as I try to think through all of the people I have hired in the engineering department. "Oh!" I exclaim as realization hits me. "I think I know who you're talking about! He's actually running my meeting that I have before lunch."
"No way! I had no idea at all." She quips in a higher pitched voice and with raised brows. "That's perfect. You can check him out during the meeting, see if you're getting any vibes, you know. And then when you're like 'damn Janet is right', you can thank me later."
"You're too much." I laugh as she gets up out of her chair that she was sitting in across from me and starts walking out of my office.
"He sits with my boyfriend and I at lunch, by the way!" She sings out before exiting my office completely.
I shake off her insane suggestion of asking a stranger to come to my family trip with me and go back to work.
The hours leading up to my big meeting of the day fly by.
I spend my time working on tying up the loose ends of a few other projects that have landed on my desk, waiting to be finalized. I also reply to my many emails and attend a few short smaller meetings in the mean time.
When it rolls around time for the meeting that Janet's friend, Harry, will be leading, I make it there just in time.
I sit there and listen intently while Harry shows us all about the new microprocessor chip he has been working on.
I haven't given him much attention before. A lot of my employees tend to blend together since my company has grown so much recently, and I've hired a lot of new people as a result of that. But I am giving him my full undivided attention right now.
The longer I listen to him talk and present all of his hard work to everyone in the conference room, I can't help but be very impressed. Every little detail in his work is meticulous and flawlessly executed. You can clearly see the passion he has put into this project.
But after a while I feel his voice start to drown out and find myself focusing on him as a person. I feel like a mini Janet dressed up like an angel suddenly appears on my shoulder while I do so.
I have set a business casual dress code for my company. I don't want people to feel uncomfortable while they work. So pretty much all the men stick to khakis, loafers, and a long sleeve button up dress shirt with the occasional tie when needed. But the tie Harry seems to have chosen today peeks my curiosity. It's a forest green color with a metallic gold detailing around the perimeter of the tie. It pairs nicely with the light green shirt he is wearing and really brings out his...wait he has green eyes.
Fuck me.
"I bet he would look really good in a suit at the wedding." Imaginary mini angel Janet says from her spot on my shoulder.
As if on cue, an imaginary mini me dressed in red appears on my other should. "But she doesn't know him. It would be weird." Mini me starts to argue with mini Janet.
"Details, details, details." Mini Janet waves off. "He's cute and she's single!"
"She's not single. Her and Eddie are on a break." Mini me retorts.
"No, Ross and Rachel are on a break." Mini Janet quips matter-of-factly.
Mini me furrows her brows and quirks her lips to the side in thought for a moment. "That is true. They are always on a break." Mini me hums. "Hey! Don't distract me!"
"Just let me set up my two friends in peace!" Mini Janet retorts. And with her words, they both disappear in a poof and my focus is snapped back to the meeting I am sitting in.
I blink a few times as I come back to reality. When I do so, I quickly notice that I am staring at Harry like an idiot. I come to that conclusion the moment I take in the nervous and freaked out expression on his face.
I mentally slap myself in the face a few times for probably freaking Harry the fuck out by my staring.
A few moments later, I notice him pick up the pace in which he is talking and wrap up the meeting. The moment it's done I quickly excuse myself and head to my office. "Great. Stare at him like an idiot, Gray. Number one boss award goes to you." I curse to myself while I walk.
I soon make my way to sit in my desk chair and grab the lunch I packed myself this morning out of one of my desk drawers.
As I start to eat, my mind starts to wander a bit.
Harry does have physical similarities to Eddie. My family doesn't know exactly what Eddie looks like, since I have never had time to really take pictures of him and I together or post anything of us on social media. They just know the general description of him. So Harry could be a good stand-in to trick them into thinking I didn't fuck up my relationship with Eddie already.
I then start to think about how mini angel Janet mentioned that Harry would look good in a suit.
I'm not blind. Harry is attractive. So I'm sure he would look fantastic in a suit.
You know what, I may as well have a normal conversation with the man to see what he is like before I entertain these thoughts any further.
With my revelation, I get up from my desk and make my way down to the area where a lot of my employees eat lunch, remembering how Janet said Harry eats with her and her boyfriend.
Once I enter the large area filled with tables and kiosks for people to buy food, I scan my eyes around in search of Janet. The moment I see her, I start walking in her direction. I see her notice me out of her peripheral, soon turning to look at me with a big smile on her face before turning back to say something to Harry and her boyfriend.
I ignore the curious side of my brain that is wanting to know what she said and continue to make my way towards them. "Janet," I smile once I reach the table.
"Hey, Grayson." Janet smiles back at me. "You want to sit with us?"
"I can't, I have to get back up to my office. I just wanted to stop by to talk to Harry, actually." I say, now turning my attention to Harry.
He looks completely freaked out. Fuck, I knew I was staring for too long during the meeting.
Get it together, Gray. Too late to overthink and back out of this now.
"Harry, can you meet me in my office after lunch?" I ask after I mentally slap myself upside the head for probably freaking out one of my employees.
"Okes," Harry replies, causing my brows to furrow while I try to figure out what that word means.
He seems to read my mind, though, and soon corrects himself. "I mean, Okay. Yes, I can meet you in your office after lunch."
"Great!" I smile in response. "See you soon!" I add before turning to walk away and head back up to my office.
Once I return, I make my way to sit at my desk once again to finish my lunch while I wait for Harry.
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A/N:
Grayson during the meeting