I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket just as I was walking out of Harold's from my shift. I picked it up, with 'Unknown Number' flashing across my phone.
"Hello" I answered.
"Hi Summer, it's Paul here. I've decided to offer you the internship at the paper. I'll need you to hang around with me for most of the night, I'm supposed to be in charge of the night shift. If you could come down as soon as you can that'd be great. I think you should call your Nan too" Paul said.
"Thanks so much Paul, I'll be there in 10 minutes. Do you want a coffee or anything from Harolds?" I asked. I stopped outside Charlies waiting for Paul's answer.
"Actually.. A coffee would be nice, latte please" Paul replied. I quickly started walking back towards Harolds to get Paul's order.
"Alright, I'll come as soon as I can" I said.
"Thank you, Summer" Paul replied, a smile spread across my face.
"No problems" I said cheerfully as I hung up the phone, still grinning to myself. I pushed my way through the door and walked up to the counter where Nan was holding a pen and paper.
"You're back again love" Nan said.
"Yeah, I got the internship at the paper from Paul. I'm starting tonight, now I need a latte to go please" I replied.
"Oh congratulations Summer!" Nan beamed, she threw her arms around me.
"Thanks Nan, but I really need this latte quickly, it's my first task for Paul" I said, pulling out of her embrace.
"Right, well are you sure working for Paul Robinson is a good idea?" Nan asked as she stood behind the coffee machine.
"Nan stop fussing, it's just an internship that will help me in the future" I replied.
"Paul Robinson doesn't want something for nothing in return love, just remember that" Nan sighed.
"I know Nan, I'm already nervous as it is. I don't need more things in my mind" I snapped. Nan passed the take away coffee cup and I searched around for change in my handbag.
"Sorry love, now text me later on so I know what time you'll be back" Nan said as I gave her the money.
"I'm not sure if I'll be back, I might just crash at Andrew's place if it's really late so I don't wake you or Charlie up" I replied.
"Alright, but make sure you and Andrew don't do anything too bad tonight" Nan said.
"We won't, we're just friends Nan" I replied, I walked out of Harold's and quickly headed to the Erinsborough News office. I walked along the pathway which was a shortcut through the Lassiter's complex when I arrived at the office. I opened the door, the first thing I noticed was how busy the place was, there were people pushing their way around everywhere. I spotted Paul in his office so I carefully weaved my way through the crowd getting the occasional confused look as to why I was in their office all of a sudden.
"Good girl Summer, now we have a fair bit of time to spare because no one has submitted their work yet, so if you could close the door, lock it too, then we can get to work sooner" Paul said, I did as I was told and locked the door then I sat down in the chair opposite to Paul.
"Here's your latte" I said, passing the latte over the desk to Paul, his hand touched mine, causing shivers to go up my arm.
"You're keen to make a good first impression aren't you" Paul asked.
"Yeah, I'm really serious about getting places in the journalism industry. I guess I need to start off at a relatively small scaled company at first" I replied.
"You've got my confidence Summer, I'm sure you'll make it big someday soon. I know a good talent when I see one, and I definitely see talent in you" Paul said, I smiled at him, it was a big thing getting such a big compliment from Paul Robinson.
"Thank you, I just don't want to screw it up, that's all" I replied.
"It's okay Summer, I'll keep you under my wing for as long as it takes for you to be ready to move on. But before you start with me you really need to know how much of a hard business journalism is to crack into. You'll have to spend lots of long hours here, sometimes you mightn't even make it home for a night. So are you fully committed?" Paul asked, he held his hand out ready for me to shake.
"Of course I am" I replied as I shook his hand, sending another jolt of electricity up my arm.
"Well I've got my first submission, would you like to edit it for me? Now, remember to put what you've changed in red so I can see what you've done" Paul said, he stood up from his chair and indicated me to sit down on it. I scanned through the work, firstly editing punctuation, then spelling then the grammar used, just the way I always did it.
"You're better than I thought, Summer" Paul said, he put his hand over mine on the computer mouse and guided the mouse around the work, then he leant over me and changed one or two errors I didn't pick up, then he saved the file and sent it back to the original sender.
"We will have a bit more spare time now, most of the articles have been submitted and almost all of the team will be starting to leave. I believe there are two more articles left then it will just be you and me. I've got some food in the fridge we can heat up, do you like lasagne from Charlie's?" Paul asked, I licked my lips and nodded eagerly, my stomach rumbling at the thought of food. Paul walked around the desk to the door and peered through the curtains at the emptying office.
"I can go and heat up the oven now if you'd like, would you like anything to drink? I've got some champagne somewhere, just for celebration purposes" Paul said, sneakily winking at me.
"I guess champagne will have to do then, I'm starving so yes please" I replied, Paul nodded and walked out to his private kitchen. He came back with a bottle of champagne and two glasses, he pulled a chair up next to me and sat down, then poured us each a full glass of champagne.
"Cheers" Paul said, he lifted up his glass, then I did too and we clinked our glasses together.
"Cheers" I agreed, grinning from ear to ear. I slowly sipped on my champagne and watched the computer screen as an email popped up.
"You've got another story submitted to you" I said, Paul sighed and then stood up and guided my hand over the mouse again.
"You can edit it, I'll just watch over you" Paul replied. I quickly edited the work then let Paul pick up my mistakes. I saved the document then sent it back, then I spun around in the chair so I was facing Paul. He stood up again and checked out the window.
"They're all gone now. We're on night duty, so if big news gets out we need to jump right on it. Bit I'll get a phone call when that happens" Paul said.
"Well that's good, at least we can rest for a little while" I replied, getting more comfortable in the chair.
"You can go on the internet if you'd like to" Paul offered, I smiled then minimised the pages Paul had open and opened up my own new internet page. Paul stood up and walked behind me, all of a sudden he was kissing my neck. I pulled away and stared at him waiting for an explanation.
"What was that for?" I asked.
"You don't really think that we are going to last the whole night duty just staring into space do you? I'm always so lonely on these night duties, I haven't had any fun since Rebecca left me" Paul replied, he twirled the chair around and lifted me into his arms then he carried me out to the small room with a bed in the corner, then he locked the door behind us.
"But you're Andrew's Dad" I stammered, he started unbuttoning my blouse then he pushed me down on the bed.
"Summer, you really want me to help you? Then keep quiet about us and go along with it" Paul replied, he grinned at me then pulled my hands up and forced me to take off his clothes. Paul slowly unhooked my bra then pushed his lips against mine. Then he started taking off my pants, leaving both of us sitting on the bed naked.
"If you give me what I want, I will get you where you want to be Summer" Paul said, his hands slowly rubbed over my body.
"I'm only doing this because I really do trust that you'll help me out in the future" I replied, Paul pulled me around and slid himself inside me. He started kissing me again then he pushed me up against the wall forcing himself further inside me. I cringed and thought about Andrew, the only guy who I could trust with anything. He wasn't even my boyfriend, we were just best friends, but if he wanted to take that further then I would be glad to do so. Paul's phone rang and I sighed in relief as he pulled out and answered the phone. I tried to put my clothes on as quickly as I could.
"Alright then, I will write it up as soon as possible so it's ready for tomorrow's paper. Bye" Paul said, he paced the room then walked out, leaving me alone in my own little hell hole. I pulled out my phone and texted Andrew. 'I'll speak to you tomorrow night, yeah? It's kinda important. Xox' I hit send and felt a strange feeling flow through my stomach. I had just slept with my best friend's Dad.