Hi. Again. New story and all that jazz. It's a complete departure from anything I've done before but I'm excited about it. I have an actual plot laid out in my head and a good feeling about this one.

I guess I should also say that I won't be re-visiting any of my previous stories/characters. Apologies to anyone who wanted to see a conclusion to any of them (and I know I left off one half-way and another didn't even get past the first chapter). I might utilise the plans I had for them in another way or perhaps not. Put it this way - happy endings all round for everyone involved.

The past year has been pretty damn shit for a whole load of reasons I won't bore you with, but writing was at the bottom of my list of priorities. And then this idea floated into my head a good six months ago or so. And then a few months ago, I started to write it. And then last weekend, I started to re-write what I had and today I finished off what you see below. It's AU. It's third-person. It's bloody scary to put it out here after such a long time of thinking too much about it and not writing enough of it.

But anyway. Enough. Please enjoy. Please review and tell me what you think. Thank you x

WARNINGS - Language


Prologue

She could feel eyes on her, baited breath whilst her own caught in her throat. A hush had started to descend across the restaurant, glasses lowered, silverware gently clinking into silence. She could feel her cheeks flushing, her heart beating hard and fast as she watched him reach into his jacket pocket. Her tongue felt thick and heavy as she watched him pluck open the box and offer up a diamond that made her eyes bulge.

He coughed and for a moment, she almost believed that he was nervous. Those surrounding them would most definitely believe it. She could already see the scene that would ultimately unfold in a few moments time: complete strangers lining up to congratulate them, completely oblivious to the fixed smile that would adorn her face, a complete contrast to the winning, cocky one that would grace his.

"Luisa Haynes," he started, reaching out to grasp her hand. "Will… Will you do me the honour of being my wife?"

From the next table, she heard a woman let out a soft coo.

She wanted to scream.


Two years earlier

Luisa's gaze slowly travelled around the large meeting room. To her right, the office day was already in full swing, her new co-workers already immersed in phone calls and emails. She'd over-heard snippets of conversation as she was led from the reception area to where she now sat – words and phrases had drifted over her that no doubt would start to make sense as the next few days and weeks unfolded. It had been an onslaught on her senses and yet despite the spike in her nerves, she also felt a stab of excitement.

She remembered that she'd felt that same excitement when she emerged from the subway station barely twenty minutes ago. Although she'd entered the building several times over the last few months, she still felt dizzy every time she looked up at its towering height. The novelty had yet to wear off and she wasn't sure it ever would, especially with the view currently to her left. The city rose before her, the endless myriad of avenues and streets only identifiable by the landmarks that she'd spent most her life only seeing from below or from afar. Now they were practically neighbours, all peering down on the ant-like cabs and people below.

A blast of noise from the office made Luisa's eyes jump from the view to the doorway.

"Take a seat," she heard the receptionist say, a well-manicured hand holding the door open. "The induction session will start shortly."

As the latest addition took a seat around the glass table in the centre of the room, Luisa took the opportunity to assess her fellow interns. There were five in total, all plucked from a larger pool of interview candidates and an even greater number of initial application forms. She knew how lucky she was to be here, even if it was despite all the odds. It had been made clear to her early on that she wasn't their typical candidate. She hadn't relied on a parent's own network of big business colleagues nor was she in possession of a family name or a membership to an exclusive club or society. No, she was just Luisa, from the suburbs, from a single-parent family, who got a scholarship at an Ivy League and went on to apply and be accepted onto one of the top internship programmes in the state all on the merit of her own hard-work. Luisa's back straightened in defiance as she looked around the room and wondered what connections and surnames surrounded her.

She'd already clocked the designer bag that belonged to the only other girl in the room and now as she took in the other three, she noticed the subtle pin on a tie denoting a prestigious fraternity along with the flash of a watch that just screamed one of a kind. But as her eyes flickered to the guy in the corner of the room, she felt her brow furrow slightly.

Whilst the others, Luisa included, sat straight, pen and paper neatly laid out before them and all waiting in anticipation for what was to come, the fifth member of the group could only be described as bored. He was slumped in his chair, notepad askew as he flipped his pen over and over in his hand. Whilst his clothing was as smart as the others, his posture had caused his jacket to crumple on one side and he kept tugging at his tie, loosening it slightly with every touch. As he scraped a hand over his head, Luisa noticed the small knot of hair at the nape of his neck.

His own gaze flickered from the view of the city and for a split second their eyes met. Luisa felt her cheeks flush as she looked away and out of the corner of her eye she saw him smirk. But she soon forgot about it as the door swung open again and a tall, rather foreboding woman entered the room and introduced herself as Carolyn, Deputy Human Resources Manager.

The induction lasted an hour during which each intern was assigned to a department. Luisa carefully noted down her own department, Public Relations, along with her direct report. Slightly distracted she only half-registered the way Carolyn paused for a second before reading out the final name.

"Seth?"

Luisa's eyes flickered to the far corner and watched as Seth half-raised his head in acknowledgement as he twirled his pen casually between his fingers.

"Legal."

Another half-nod.

As Luisa turned her attention back to the front of the room, she noticed that the others in the room were watching Seth with curiosity. One of them, earlier identified as Peter glanced across at the other girl, Jessica and raised an eyebrow. Jessica responded with a brief shrug of the shoulders and Luisa couldn't help but look back at Seth to note his own reaction. But as she half-expected, his gaze was still stoically on the notepaper.


The first week passed in a blur, despite how mundane her daily tasks seemed to be. Luisa's expectations of being an intern weren't exactly high, but they certainly hit an all time low within the first hour. She found herself stuck on the end of a bank of desks and essentially assigned as a PA to one of the executives. She spent her days answering emails that seemed to just automatically forward to her and fielding telephone calls first on her boss' behalf and then for every single executive in the department.

Her predicament was made even worse when she bumped into Jessica in the elevator on the third morning. She felt her cheeks ache as she nodded and smiled as Jessica gleefully informed her that she'd made a substantial acquisition in her first two days – a record first apparently. As they parted ways at the subway station, Jessica invited her along to drinks on Friday.

"Just a few, y'know, to celebrate."

Luisa had agreed, crossing her fingers in her coat pocket. The last place she wanted to be was with the rest of the intern group, listening to them brag about their first-week achievements. All she wanted to do when Friday rolled around was head home, order takeout and crash face first into her bed and not surface for a good twelve hours.

She figured that Friday would be the same as any other day of the week and given that she hadn't been able to escape the office until well after seven or even eight o'clock, she doubted anyone would miss her at drinks. As it turned out, the department started to emptier a lot earlier than usual and for the first time, Luisa found herself clearing her inbox just after six. Glancing around the office, she groaned inwardly as she saw Jessica darting around the desks towards her.

"Luisa! C'mon!"

She didn't even get the chance to refuse as Jessica grabbed her coat and bag for her and turned towards the elevator, leaving Luisa no choice but to chase after her.

"Jessica, I've got a train–"

"It's just the one," Jessica grinned with a roll of her eyes. "Work hard, play harder right?"

"Right. Just the one," Luisa echoed. "So, who else is going to be there?"

Jessica shrugged. "Just us interns. Peter. Brad. Seth."

Luisa raised an eyebrow at the last name. She hadn't seen Seth since Monday and had presumed that his attitude had failed to get him past day one. Jessica, who had seemed to show great interest in him during induction hadn't mentioned him until now. She felt embarrassed for being so presumptuous, especially considering that she had fought the odds to be here and overcome other people's presumptions about her.

As they rode the elevator down, Luisa watched as Jessica touched up her hair and makeup. She knew that she had a tube of lipstick somewhere at the bottom of her bag, but upon seeing the branded gold tube that Jessica was using, she felt ashamed to pull out her own drugstore version. She wondered if she could escape to the bathroom before they left the building.

"Here." Jessica was nudging her, holding out a hand. Luisa looked down and saw the shiny tube, the logo gleaming up at her.

"I'm okay, thanks."

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Take it. Use it. Keep it." Reaching out she grabbed Luisa's hand and pressed the lipstick into it.

"Thanks..." Luisa murmured. She hesitated for a second and then pulled the tube apart. She stared at the colour for a second and then glanced up at Jessica who gave her an encouraging nod. Unsure of this sudden new found friendship that involved gifting expensive lipsticks, Luisa leant towards the mirrored wall of the elevator and slowly applied the bright red to her lips.

The elevator door pinged softly and Luisa just had enough time to run her hands through her hair before she felt herself being pulled along by Jessica. As they headed down the street, she saw the sign for the bar that she'd heard her boss mention earlier and a fresh wave of dread washed over her. She was about to protest but Jessica continued to walk straight past. Luisa was surprised – she'd Googled the bar and it seemed the type of place that Jessica would be right at home in. She scolded herself – once again she'd judged a book by its cover and been completely wrong.

"They chose this place," Jessica told her as they took a left down an inconspicuous side street. "It's really not my thing. But they promised to buy the first round so what can you do?"

Luisa smirked to herself – so maybe her initial assumptions of Jessica weren't as far off the mark after all. Halfway down the street was a small luminous sign above a door way and she followed Jessica down the stairs. What started off as soft murmurings grew in volume as they reached the bottom of the stairs. The small bar was heaving but Jessica seemed to have the innate ability to cut seamlessly through the throng with Luisa duly following. As they reached the other side of the bar, Luisa saw Peter and Brad in a corner booth.

"Seth's at the bar," Brad told them as they took a seat. "And yes," he said to Jessica as she opened her mouth, "I told him your order."

"Good."

"Didn't know what you wanted though," Brad's gaze turned on Luisa. "Seth said he'd take his best guess."

Luisa gave him a small smile in return before glancing towards the bar. Next to her, Jessica had already started to talk shop, loudly announcing yet another acquisition that she'd been pivotal in. Peter and Brad had both been assigned to the commercial arm of the company and were quick to tell Jessica of their own successes of the day. Luisa could only pray that their one-upmanship would continue long enough to forget her presence.

Still staring towards the bar, she felt her eyes grow heavy, her vision softening as she let the sounds of the chat and general bar noise drift over her. There was a soft cough and she blinked, almost disorientated.

Seth stared down at her, the smirk that she'd seen on Monday once again playing on his lips. In one hand he held a glass of white wine whilst the other held four bottles of beers nestled precariously between his fingers.

"Finally!" Jessica called out, reaching over Luisa to take the wine.

"I took a guess," Seth said as he lowered one of the beers in front of Luisa.

"Thanks," she reached forward and clutched the beer, surprised at how hot her hands suddenly felt against the ice cold glass.

"You're welcome." His eyes remained on her as he took a seat opposite.

Luisa squirmed in her seat, her own gaze lowering to the table. She pulled the beer towards her and raised it to her lips. As she took a swig, she heard Peter pipe up.

"So Seth, how's it going down in Legal?"

Luisa rolled her eyes, waiting for Seth to launch into his own first-week accomplishments.

"It's everything Law School told me it would be... Dull, uninspiring and a waste of time."

Silence filled the booth and Luisa watched in fascination as Jessica, Peter and Brad stared at Seth. She chanced a look at his face and saw a more genuine smile starting to form. He caught her eye and winked and Luisa felt an overwhelming urge to laugh. Although the noise that escaped her was more of a snort.

Seth chuckled, leaning back as he took a swig of his drink. "At least someone appreciates my honesty." He glanced around the table. "Oh c'mon, like any of you actually made a sale or had any more to do with an acquisition than filing paperwork and arranging the call for your managers."

Luisa felt her mouth moving before she could stop it. "I mean if that's how this works, then today I put together the press release for a new client and then arranged the launch party for a new product."

Seth let out a bark of laughter. "Good one." He glanced over at the other three. "I mean, feel free to keep the pretence up if it makes you feel better..."

Luisa could sense that Jessica was shooting daggers in their directions, but the thought of Jessica, who had just made a point of handing her a designer lipstick just because she could, spending her the last five days in the exact same lowly position as her was just too good.

She raised her beer, staring across the table at her newfound ally in this world. "To the dull and uninspiring."

Seth grinned as he leant across to tap his bottle against hers. "To a complete fucking waste of time."


Two years later

She felt numb as he pushed the ring onto her finger. A smattering of applause broke out around them as he rose to his feet, pulling her up with him. She knew her part already, the blushing bride to be, showing the ring off to anyone who asked before beaming up at her betrothed. She felt his beard brush against her forehead, the scent of his cologne thick and close as he held her firmly to him.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the maître d' gently manoeuvring his way through the tables towards them.

"Mr Rollins. Miss Haynes, let me be the first to offer my sincere congratulations," he gushed. "We are truly honoured that you chose his wonderful setting for the occasion."

"Well thank you for providing the perfect setting," Seth replied. "I couldn't think of a better way to ask the love of my life the ultimate question."

Luisa felt a tap on her arm and she turned to see a middle-aged woman beaming up at her. "What a lucky girl you are," the woman told her with a kind, yet oblivious smile. "I can tell you love each other very much."

"Yes," Luisa heard herself say. "We do."

Once upon a time, she thought, that statement was true.