Her heels clicked on the white tiled floor and echoed through the empty corridor. She turned right and entered the second office on her left. Shutting the silver door behind her, she made her way to her stainless steel desk and with a sigh sat down on her office chair. For only a mere few seconds she rested her head in her hands and closed her eyes before someone knocked urgently on the door. She called for that someone to come in. It was her assistant, Lucy. The young blonde walked up to her and placed a few documents on her desk as well as a black coffee from Starbucks. Without another word, Lucy left her in complete silence.
She looked up and grabbed her steaming cup of goodness and took a big gulp of coffee. She could not live without a cup of coffee in the mornings. She set her cup back down and started her computer. She got the usual E-Mails like jokes from other staff members and how to lose weight in ten days. As if she had to lose weight. Her mother always said that she looked like a reed on the banks of the delta. Pfff. She picked up the documents that Lucy had brought and one of them caught her eye.
It was an invite to a charity event at a place somewhere in Malibu. The event was to raise money for schools and education in underdeveloped countries in Africa and South-East Asia. The company for which she worked was probably making a donation to the fund and needed some people to represent them at the event. As Features Editor of Wired Magazine she was expected to attend. As if on time, her phone gave out a shrill ring.
"Good morning, Anna Troy speaking." She said automatically.
"Could you please meet me in my office in 15" Replied the all too familiar voice of her boss, Jeff Welland. He was the Editor-in-Chief and has been for nearly 6 years. He hated that a woman was almost stealing his job but he would never leave the company willingly. One would have to pry his office keys from his cold, dead hands but she wasn't aiming for his job and he seemed to think that she is si he treats her like a pawn in his grand scheme.
She gulped down the rest of her coffee d threw the plastic cup in the bin under her desk and straightened out her black pencil skirt as she got up. She was nervous about seeing Jeff. He was kind of intimidating sitting in his big office behind a huge desk in his larger than life leather chair. She walked down the corridor, smiling at passing colleagues until she reached the end where she came face to face with his office door. Taking a deep breath, she knocked three times. She heard him say 'come in' and she slowly turned the doorknob and stepped inside. As she entered, he motioned for her to take a seat in front of his desk.
"So Ms Troy, I wanted to speak to you about this weekend's fundraiser you shall be going to in my stead." He said. She was surprised that he would let her go instead of him. His cousin was getting married this weekend and he was a sudden replacement for the best man who had a heart attack. She would be driven to the event by the company car and be picked up again and she would try and get a quote from the legendary host himself if possible.
"Use your charm, your body language, to fish something out would ya? The Vice President of his company was unable to say a word and what I've heard is that the host is quite the ladies' man. Work your magic, Anna." He said. She was dismissed and quite frankly shocked at how he told her to obtain the information. She didn't even know who the host was. She didn't look at the invite that carefully. Before she returned to her office, she poured her a glass of water to sort of cool her temper. Lucy interrupted her silence when she informed her that a Christine Everhart from Vanity Fair was on hold.
-8-
"Yes, I'll have that sorted by the end of the day. Yes, goodbye." She said, ending the call. She
Called for Lucy and told her to get her some more coffee while sorting out an advertising mess up.
"What did that lady from Vanity Fair want?" asked Lucy cautiously.
"They wanted to know when we are doing the technology spread on Stark Industries. They didn't want it to clash with their spread on Tony Stark." She informed her.
"Well then it's good you're going to meet Tony Stark at that fundraiser of his." She replied.
"I didn't know that he was the host. Shit!"
"Is that a bad thing?"
"No its nothing, just something Jeff said." She said. She wanted to get off the topic. Lucy left her to contemplate this situation she was in. She had to talk to one of the biggest womanizers in history and use loads of body language. Now that's going to be fun.
The day went by with no further bumps or hiccups and she sighed in relieve as it was time to go home. She picked up the envelope with the invite and stuffed it into her handbag and left without saying goodbye to anyone. She got into her Mini Cooper and turned up the music on her way to her apartment. She had a one bedroom apartment with not much of a view but it was home. She unlocked her door and entered her quite bland living room. It consisted of a small kitchen in the corner with a small seating area with a white couch and a TV. She had small paintings of something abstract on her walls to decorate it somehow and a red blanket was draped on her couch.
She dropped her black handbag on the floor, stress forgotten, and collapsed onto the couch which seemed to welcome her. She kicked of her high heels and unbuttoned the first two buttons of her white shirt and closed her eyes for two minutes.
