by Helen Cooper
“Omg Sarah. Are you sure?” Jane’s voice got louder and louder with excitement.
“Of course. Do it. Leave now.” I started jumping up and down in the street, not caring who was walking by and thinking I was a mental case. “Our tide is changing, Jane.”
“Okay. I’m going to go and quit now.” Jane sounded excited. “I’ll see you at home later, yeah?”
“Yup. And then we can go out for drinks to celebrate.” I looked quickly at my watch. “But I have to go now too. My lunch break is almost over. I’ll see you tonight.” I hung up and raced down the stairs so that I wouldn’t miss my train. I was lucky, it pulled up just as I got to the platform. I grinned to myself, my luck had finally changed and I was ready to take on the world.
The train was pretty empty in my carriage so I was able to sit down and check my makeup. I stared in my compact mirror and reapplied some lipstick and mascara. My big blue eyes stared back at me, shining with delight and happiness. I didn’t have to reapply any blush because the cold was making my cheeks red enough. I smiled wildly to check my teeth for food and sat back with pleasure. Jane and I had moved to New York four and a half years ago from Florida to go to college. We had been best friends since high school and had been ecstatic when we had both gotten into college in the big city. She had gone to Columbia and I had gone to NYU. We had shared a studio apartment in Brooklyn since our junior year. Unfortunately, we both hadn’t studied something that had great job prospects and we were broker now than when we had arrived. I had always dreamed of being a big Hollywood actress (don’t ask why I live in New York) and all Jane had ever wanted to do was to teach 6th grade history. We had graduated jobless but we didn’t want to move back to Florida, so Jane had gotten a job in a cellphone store and I had looked for receptionist positions. We had just received an eviction notice about two weeks ago as well. If we didn’t come up with the last two months’ rent within thirty days we were going to be kicked out. Alvin, the landlord had offered us another deal but neither one of us was willing to have sex with him to stay in that dump.
I got off the train with new verve in my step. I walked back to the Zoom building with pride and a little twinge of worry. I mean, I’m not stupid. I was sure that I would be in a lot of trouble if they found out I was Sarah Smith, NYU drama graduate and new receptionist as opposed to Sarah Smith, Harvard MBA and new executive. But I figured if someone realized the mistake and approached me with the truth, I would just pretend to be confused. I had already practiced the lines I was going to say if that happened. “Lordy, Lordy, I don’t know what is going on here. I surely thought that God had blessed me on this good day and seen fit to find it in your hearts to give me the job I deserve and can do, even if my qualifications would lead you to believe otherwise.” I was hoping that whoever I spoke to wouldn’t recognize that I was putting on a Southern accent and send me to a mental institute; though that would be preferable to going to jail.
“Hi Maggie.” I beamed at the receptionist, who looked at me coldly. “I’m just going up to my office, you know the big one on the 30th floor.” I almost skipped to the elevator and giggled as I pressed the button. I couldn’t quite believe my luck. Lewis Walker hadn’t even given me any real work—he’d just handed me some files and told me to familiarize myself with Zoom Corporation.
“Hold the doors.” A deep voice boomed from outside the elevator and I quickly pushed some buttons. I watched as the doors closed and realized that I had pressed the close door button instead of open. Oops, I thought to myself. I didn’t think it was a super huge deal because the doors opened again before the elevator left but the man who walked into the elevator didn’t look too happy. “Didn’t I tell you to keep the doors open?” he snarled at me.
I frowned at him. “Sorry, I pressed the wrong button by mistake.” I attempted a smile at him but he continued snarling at me. “I mean it’s not like it’s a huge deal. You’re in here now, aren’t you?”
“What floor are you going to?” He ignored my comment and pressed the button for the 40th floor.
“Oh, I’m going to the 30th floor.” I smiled at him once again, hoping he would get over his bad mood.
“The 30th?” He raised an eyebrow at me.
“Yes.” I stopped smiling. He was annoying me.
“Are you visiting someone?” he questioned.
I thought about ignoring him but decided not to, just in case I had to work with him. “No.”
“So you are going to the executive’s floor because?”
“It’s noneya,” I said smarmily to him.
“Excuse me?” He frowned at looked at me like I was crazy.
“It’s none of your business.” I looked at him coldly and watched as he burst out laughing. I studied him as he laughed. He was actually quite a handsome man, especially when he laughed. He had perfect white teeth. I always look at the teeth first, I know it’s an odd thing to do but they are what attracts me first. He was tall, a lot taller than I was and I’m 5’8. I figured he was at least 6’2 or so. And he looked like he was quite fit, though I couldn’t be 100% sure, as he was wearing a dark grey suit. His hair was dark brown with sprinkles of grey. I couldn’t tell his age, his face looked like he was in his 30’s but the grey in his hair made me think 40’s. Not that it mattered to me. He was too old for me whatever his age was. At twenty-two years old, there was no way I was going to date an old man.
“What’s your name?” His voice interrupted my reverie.
“Why?” I looked at him suspiciously; worried he was going to report me to HR. That would be the worst thing that could happen. What if they looked up my file and realized the mistake they had made. Then I’d be making $25,000 a year as opposed to $150,000.
“Isn’t it polite to ask someone’s name these days?” He raised an eyebrow at me.
“Not a stranger’s,” I retorted, my blue eyes flashing at him.
He laughed a deep hearty chuckle. “I suppose you’re new here, huh?”
“Maybe.” I was determined to give him as little information as possible.
“So tell me.” He walked closer to me. “What do you think of Zoom so far?”
“Oh I love it,” I gushed before biting my lip. “I mean, it seems cool.”
“Have you met the CEO yet? I heard he can be an ass,” he whispered to me.
“Oh, you don’t work here?” I looked at him in relief. “Mr. Green is a great employer. One of the best I’ve ever had. It’s almost like he is my good friend, as opposed to my boss.”
“Oh really?” The man raised his eyebrows at me. “I’m impressed.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way but I would watch how you talk to people next time. I wouldn’t want to have to tell Mr. Green anything.” I looked at him smugly, the lies flying out of my mouth easily.
“Oh yeah?” He smiled at me. “I’ll be sure to watch my mouth next time. I don’t want Mr. Green on my ass now, do I?”
“No, you don’t. He can be really hardcore when it comes to me.” I smiled at him widely. “I’m one of his favorite employees.”
“Oh?” He paused. “So I guess you call him by his first name then, huh?”
“Of course.” I nodded.
“What is it again?”
Shit, I had no idea what his first name was. “Ben.” I smiled.
“Ben?” He cleared his throat. “Huh. I could have sworn his name was Harry or something.”
Shit! “Well, it is Harry but his, uh, middle name is Ben and he lets his closest friends call him that.” I thanked my lucky stars when the elevator finally stopped on the 30th floor. “Well, here’s my stop. Nice meeting you.” I hurried out of the elevator and didn’t look back to see why he was laughing. I was annoyed at myself for the farce I had played on the man. Hopefully, he was only here for something quick and didn’t do a lot of business with Zoom or I could find myself in a complicated situation.
“There you are, Sarah.” Lewis came into my office just as I sat down. He watched me as I applied some lip-gloss and s
miled. I could see him staring at my lips and so I made sure to lick them a few times. I knew that turned men on and I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have him crushing on me. Not that I would want to date him. He was cute enough, he looked like a beach blonde surfer but there was something about him that was just too boyish. I preferred my men to be manly. Like the man in the elevator, I allowed myself to think about him for a second—he was hot. I could still feel a flush on my body from being in his presence. It was a pity that he seemed like an asshole and that he was too old for me. He was someone I could have gone for in other circumstances.
“Hey, how can I help you, Lewis?” I beamed at him wondering if he was going to ask me on a date.
“So, I have some files that I’d like you to compare for me.” Oh no, I groaned inside. “I just got word that Mr. Green is going to be back earlier than we thought and he’s going to want the information analyzed and in a report on his desk as soon as he’s back.”
“Oh ok.” I bit my lip. “Do we know when that’s going to be?” Please let it be in a week or two minimum I prayed, so that I would have enough time to figure out what I was doing.
“No, I’m not sure.” Lewis sighed. “Harry’s plans change all the time. It could be in a few days, it could be in a few weeks; I’d rather we got it out of the way now, so we don’t have to worry about it.”
“Sure, sure.” I smiled assuredly at him. “I’ll take care of it ASAP.”
“Great.” He turned around and then stopped at the door. “And if you could create some spreadsheets with some macros that would be perfect.”
“Uh sure.” Macros? What was that? I thought to myself. “I’ll get to that on my Mac.”
“Ok.” He laughed. “So glad to have you aboard, Sarah. We’ll have to go out for drinks one night and exchange Harvard stories.”
“That sounds good.” I beamed at him, while panicking inside. As he walked out of the door, I quickly went to Google.com and searched, “Everything you need to know about Harvard University.”
YOU CAN GET THE BOOK HERE.
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