"Christine someone's calling, and asking for you." She couldn't even go pee first thing in the morning without being bugged.
"Are you kidding me? It's six thirty in the morning! Can't- fine." She was too tired to yell. "Could you find out who it is?" That gave her time to like y'know... pee.
She heard mumbling before she was interrupted again. "It's Erik Dessin? Who's that?" She quickly washed her hands, and dried her hands off on her New England Patriots oversized jersey before leaving the bathroom. She took the phone from Raoul while heading to the family room, and she tried not to sound too winded from the hurrying.
"Hello? Hi sorry I couldn't pick the phone up. How can help you?" She punched herself when she sounded far too aggressive.
"Miss Daae, surely you haven't forgotten the name of your potential employer."
"Oh of course, sorry I haven't had my tea yet. It's rather early." She rubbed her face as she tried to ignore how beautiful his voice was.
"No apologies needed. So Miss Daae, are you interested in a second interview? A final hurdle so to speak. After that I will determine who I plan to hire. There was a larger turn out for the job than planned so this is new." If it meant hearing him say her name again she'd do five more final interviews.
"Of course I would love to have a second interview! When do you want me there?" She went to nibble on her nail, but stopped when she realized what she was doing.
"Would today at four work? I have several others and a meeting planned for today so that's the soonest, but I also am planning to do this for the rest of the week."
"I'm actually babysitting my fiancés nephew today, is tomorrow okay?"
He wasn't sure what he was thinking when he opened his big stupid mouth. "Bring him, that's fine. Tomorrow I'm not available until late. Like eight or nine and I'm not going to take you away from your fiancé."
"Oh- okay just don't hold him against me. He can be a handful."
"Wouldn't expect any less from kids. So I'll see you today at four, Miss Daae."
"Please call me Christine, unless that's how you address everyone then Miss Daae works..."
"Of course, Christine. I'll see you later today, have a good morning."
"You as well." She hung the phone up and shut her eyes. It was far too early for intimidating people who made her name sound pretty.
"Who was that?"
"Second interview." She held her phone up before setting it down on the wood countertop in the kitchen, then she started on her tea.
"Oh well congrats baby. Hopefully you get the job so the world can see your talent." Raoul pulled her away from her tea and she frowned, but it quickly turned into a smile when he took her lips with his, but she remembered she needed to brush her teeth so she lightly pushed against his chest to stop the kiss. "I've held your hair when you had a hang over, morning breath is nothing."
"Well it is to me, so the kissing shall resume once my tea is ingested and my breath smells like I licked a mints asshole."
"Well that wasn't an image I expected to have in my head this morning but y'know." He kissed her forehead since he hoped she'd allow that, and moved to the fridge to start on breakfast.
. x .
"Now listen Todd, this is very important and I need you to behave. If you do I'll introduce you to ice cream since your mom won't." Christine was using the mirror on the elevator wall to reapply her cherry red lipstick, and give everything else a quick once over.
"Ice cream?" Thankfully that got the kids attention because boy was Christine nervous. Just last week she had been just as nervous walking into the same exact office.
"Yea. You have to be quiet though, because this is for a job."
"You got a deal." The kid was six and he was talking like he was a mobster. Christine blamed the Godfather. His stupid mom wouldn't let him have frozen yogurt but let him watch rated R movies. That was something she'd never understand. The elevator rolled to a stop, then the doors creaked open. She guided Todd over to the large, intimidating wooden door by his head, and as she raised her fist to knock on the door that was like a wood version of her potential boss, the door opened. She quickly moved her and Todd out of the way, and watched her potential boss shake hands with an older woman with a brief case. She didn't get the job. The woman looked so much more experienced than her. Fuck.
"Thank you for your time Miss Jeck. I look forward to working with you in court." Court? She still had a chance! Yes!
"Likewise Mister Dessin. Give me a call if you have any questions." He nodded, and once the assumed lawyer walked away he sighed and unhooked his jacket. "Christine, c'mon in." She hurried Todd into his office and sat him down in the corner with his video game, she was old and didn't know what it was specifically.
"Remember. All the sugary dairy in the world if you keep the volume off and remain quiet. I'll even throw Skittles into the mix." The kid nodded and turned the volume off before turning the hand held on assuring her he was fully compliant. She turned and smiled at the black haired man. "Mister Dessin-"
"If I'm calling you Christine you're calling me Erik."
"Of course, Erik. I would like to thank you for this opportunity and your consideration before we proceed. I'm eternally thankful and I hope that I'm the one you end up picking. I believe I will be a valuable asset to your marketing team-"
"The kids never had Skittles?" The question caught Christine off guard, but he seemed more interested in Todd than her.
"No. His mother is uh... Yeah."
"She's crazy." Christine's head whipped around and she sent a glare to the young man, who remembered the deal and quickly silenced himself.
"That's a shame." She watched the man open a drawer up and pull a small fun size bag of Skittles out and toss them over at her nephew. "She won't believe you if you tell her a multi-millionaire gave you a fun size bag of Skittles." The smile on Todd's face outweighed Christine's wanting to be the cool aunt.
"Say thank you, Todd."
"Thank you, Mister!" He yanked the bag open and the kids pupils widened when he crunched down on the first Skittle of his short life.
"Thank you, Erik that was nice of you. For someone who wants a professional work environment you sure are unprofessional and personal."
"I'm the boss. Just because I make the rules doesn't mean I follow them." The smirk he created made her want to smack him, but she figured that would definitely ruin her chances for the job. "Oh by the way you have the job." He was hoping to nip his bad thoughts in the bud and up until he told her she had the job it was his plan, but once it was out there he was unable to take it back... Which was a problem because he really did have more final interviews to endure all to see her again.
"Wait what? I thought this was a final interview..." She scratched her head and he started to wonder what her hair felt like, but then he caught a glimpse of her engagement ring and he quickly scolded himself. She was happily in a relationship and he definitely wasn't even going to imagine pursuing the woman... No matter how much he wanted to.
"Yeah I changed my mind. I love your work and you're right... You're a valuable asset." Christine shifted uncomfortably in her seat, the way he said that made her feel it had more than one meaning.
"Right okay. I guess I should go. Thank you, Mister Dessin." Christine stood prompting Erik to stand as well. They shook hands and he handed her a packet of paper.
"Here's some things to know before working here including preferred dress code, your hours and all of that. I'll see you next week, Miss Daae." She scanned the first page before smiling and going over to Todd.
"C'mon kiddo time to experience life." He shut his game off and stood, and the two left the room but the uncomfortable feeling stuck.
"Do you know he likes you?"
"Well I got the job so yeah."
"No I mean like like."
"Like like?" Christine smiled at the kids naievity as she pressed the down button on the elevator. "He likes likes his wife and I like like your uncle. He doesn't like like me, kid."
"Oh he's married?" The elevator slid open and once they were inside alone they continued.
"Yes. For ten years I think he said."
"So he's not allowed to like like you. I guess I was wrong."
"Mhm." Her phone started buzzing and when it was Meg, her best friend, she answered the phone. "Hey lady what's up?"
"Oh nothing much. Wanna hang out? Deven is busy today so I'm bored."
"I'm babysitting till tonight, tomorrow I'm open though. I need to go shopping for my new job so you can help me."
"What about Raoul?"
"It's hard to shop when he sees right past the clothes. God bless the guy he's been so patient but I can tell as the wedding gets closer he's losing it. He mentions it more and more and is a lot touchier lately." The blonde gave Todd's headphones to him so he could play his game and not listen to her conversation. Once they were on and he was playing his game she returned to the call. "Like last week after an interview he was like let me help you forget it and he grabbed my butt. Last night he kept rubbing my butt as I tried falling asleep as if it were a pleasure zone."
"Yeah it makes sense. It's been what, four years since you two started dating? His balls have probably died by now." Christine laughed as the elevator opened on the ground floor, and she guided Todd out by the head once again.
"Probably. Okay I'm taking this kid to get ice cream. So I should let you go. Pick me up at noon tomorrow, ok?"
"Oookay will do. See you tomorrow, Chris."
"Si. Bye bye." With the phone hung up they started the walk to the nearest ice cream parlor.
. x .
That night after being scolded by Todd's mom for giving him sugar, after eating bad pork and mashed potatoes made lovingly (but terribly) by the fiancé, and after showering, she put her clothes out for the morning. It was just to fill paperwork out, but she wanted to seem eager.
While Raoul was hugging her from behind and sweeping kisses across the back of her neck, and ashamed of it, she was thinking of her new boss. He was wearing a mask, it was only normal right? She wanted to know why. After looking him up on Google some say it's because of a bad deformity, but some say it's to fuel his ego. Which was it? Thus that night the plan to try and smuggle it out of him was born. She didn't even care about seeing it what it was, she just wanted to find out why.
. x .
"Erik, can we talk?" The man, stunned to see his wife at work, looked up from his report that he was reading and all he could do was blink. "Is that a yes?"
He shook his head to shake the stun off and pointed at the seat across from him. "Of course sit down."
"So you remember the other night, when you asked about kids?"
"Yes." He stared at the woman and noticed her nervousness.
"I thought that maybe... They weren't such a bad idea after all? Only one or two of course, but I'm open to the idea." And that was it. The end of the road, the moment he realized having kids with her would only pin him down and make her stuck with him forever... Plus the fact she figured out what office he worked in. That was another reason! He avoided her like the plague and a husband shouldn't feel that way about his wife.
"I think I want to wait. Work is busy, I'm just taking on new employees who will need training and stocks are down. I'd much prefer to wait this out."
"Oh no the children will have to wear a ten dollar onesie instead of a gold studded one. Whatever will we do?" He knew she was trying to make a joke, but it really wasn't funny.
"You didn't even want kids whenever we talked about it, what changed your mind?" He was suspicious, he had a way to get out of the half would be hers thing. He would give her enough to live comfortably, but half? No no no. Too many people depended on him and he wasn't going to throw away back up checks on the woman he knew the minute he mentioned a divorce would demand his soul, head, all of his money and probably his dick just to make her laugh.
"Ever since that night I've been seeing more and more kids? I don't know why but they stood out and I don't know I guess you were right about the maturity thing I just needed to reevaluate my thoughts. Kids are a big deal, and you know me when I have to change my mind on something it takes forever." Upfront would be his best course of action, he knew that, but what would she say?
"Tell me something, if you don't mind divulging me."
"Of course." Erik stood and started roaming around the room all while staring at her.
"Is this change in heart due to maybe someone breaking something off with you?" He dragged his finger across a table and noticed the bit of dust.
"Erik are you suggesting me of cheating?!" He flinched, and when he looked up he stopped his tormenting when the woman plaguing his thoughts was standing in the doorway, looking rather stunned... and she wore her hair down. This Christine was to be the death of him.
"Oh do keep your voice down you did after all bug me at my place of employment. Please excuse Miss Daae and I, I have to begin her training."
She stood as she fumed over the question her husband dared to ask while eyeing the blonde. "And you accuse me of cheating." She moved over to him and stuck her finger in his face. "This is not over."
"Move your finger away from my face before I break it. You know that is my biggest pet peeve. Now go she's new to marketing and I want to get her to work you insufferable woman. Go see a movie or go to the spa or whatever will get you out of my office." Erik truly didn't mean to say that in front of Christine but all of his newly discovered depth of his hate for his wife got loose and it was just slipping out. His wife attempted to kill him with her glare, but when he was unphased she pushed past Christine, who at that point realized she should've left. "I'm sorry you had to see that, please come in and let me know who told you I wasn't busy."
"Oh god I am so sorry please don't fire anyone! I just-" as amused as he was by her protectiveness he realized his eyes began to wonder down. He was curious what the dresses look like! No harm done, right? "Please don't fire anyone it was just on the packet you said for training come to your office and don't worry about whether you're busy or not. It was all me but even then please don't fire yourself... Or me." As the sentence left Christine's mouth she tried pulling it back in, but it was out there for him to hear and laugh at. She was such an idiot! "Can I be blatantly honest on several subjects before we start this training? Just so we don't end up wasting our time."
"No one is getting fired, and of course."
"Okay first this training in your office sounds like a bad five dollar budget porn plot." That got him to laugh which was a good thing to her, and God did his laugh sound beautiful. "And second I don't think I like your wife. She didn't even say excuse me when she walked through me."
"Yeah I'm learning I don't like her much myself, but that's a long story. Don't worry about the five dollar budget porn thing, I just feel that if I want something right I'll do it myself. Since I can't do every job in this company, the closest I get to that is training practically all my employees."
"I wasn't worried I just thought it was kind of funny... So why did she stop by? You said no phone calls for us, is everything okay? Are you okay? Do you need to talk? I'm always a good ear if you decide you do, and I also enjoy tea. So I can sit and drink tea for hours despite my body's plea for me to stop."
"That's quite impressive. She just wanted to talk about something and needless to say it didn't end well." She was offering to talk over coffee? Who in their right mind would pass that offer up? "I may take you up on your offer though. I haven't had a good cup of tea in a few months so maybe I'll rectify that."
"Oh well I'm very sorry, and just let me know so I can call my fiancée and leave him a voicemail because he's too busy working to notice me." She giggled to get rid of the hint of pain. She didn't mind that he worked a lot, and when he wasn't working he was nearly over attentive, but that was one of the reasons she was looking forward to getting a job. She wouldn't have to cook for one anymore on the nights he would stay there overnight.
"Well if he were wise he wouldn't do that."
"I really don't mind, he is just doing his job and I can't fault him for that. He's working on a possible homicide right now so obviously he's taking his time and doing his best." Uncomfortable talking about the man who removed any possibility of him asking her out to dinner, he decided to change the subject.
"Quite noble of him. So onto the training, today we'll just be going over the software, how the phones work and simple things the get you started, I have a simple task for you to help you get comfortable and then half an hour before the day is over I'll take you to your office and show you around. Sound like a plan?"
"Of course."
"Good." When he pulled a small chair from under his desk out she moved over and sat down on it so she could view his monitor. "Now let's get started." He took his jacket off in attempt to get comfortable before sitting down next to her. Her perfume hit his nose and he wanted to do nothing more than to smell it up even closer... Today was going to be a very long day.
. x .
"And that completes the tour. I hope you find it suitable. I do try to keep the place clean and functioning."
"It's beautiful, it really is. So... About that tea? I know you need to talk so I feel like it's my responsibility to force you to talk to me!"
"Why, I suppose you're right, and if you're going to quit now would be the best time... We have a British woman working here whose tea always smells amazing, does that work for you? I'm not all that comfortable... in public."
"No of course that's fine. However if she wonders where her tea went I'm blaming you."
"I have every intention of giving her money to buy more." Pleased with the young woman's acceptance he had her return to his office in case anyone came back into the building, and he worked on the tea. Christine took the opportunity to call and let Raoul know she'd be home late, and she couldn't help but feel scandalous. It was just tea, but it was with her boss after hours in his office talking about his unhappy marriage. It was probably because she was wearing a thong. She always felt like some alluring woman up to no good in a thong, but she didn't want panty lines on her first day. Maybe in three years, but first day? Nope. So as she sat there obsessing over her underwear and pantie lines, Erik finished the tea and made his way to his office. "Okay here we go." She pushed her pantie thoughts out of her mind as he came in with a tray.
"So what do you need to talk about?" She started making her tea up and he suddenly was more interested in how she took her tea. Enough sugar to kill a person and cream. Odd.
"Hmm I don't know. What dirt do you want on your boss?"
"I am doing this because I care too much for my own good. What's bothering you?" She sipped at her tea once pleased with the color, and smiled when as Erik said, tasted devine.
"I guess I'll just be blunt to start, I can't stand my wife the more time I spend with her. Things I was okay with when we got married I'm not okay with anymore. When I interviewed you first, you mentioned children which are a dead dream for me with her. She doesn't want them and ten years ago when I was first starting this business I was fine with that. Now I just hate that. She parties constantly and today she came in and said she was wrong and wants kids, and now the idea of having kids with her brings dread. I don't want to be stuck with her."
"Then you should divorce her. Sometimes the feeling goes away and that could be the case here. You should want children with the person you're with if you want kids. It should be exciting not dreadful. Don't ruin your chance of finding that person because you're married."
"Yeah I know, but if I divorce her she gets half, and for what? Fucking going to Hawaii? No I have money put aside so this company can function for a year with absolutely no profit coming in, I can't get rid of that. I'm not going to risk this company for the chance of me finding someone else who is willing to tolerate me."
"Well let me know if I'm being nosey, but do you love her?" He laughed which was not the reaction she was expecting.
"Y'know the more I think about our relationship the more I realize that I think I loved the attention she gave me more than her person. You have understand that before I was all of this," he motioned around the room. "No one cared about me unless it was it laugh at me..." He realized he was getting advice from a twenty six year old love struck, cutting the chat short. "I should get going. If she's home she'll wonder where I am and lord knows I'll be up till four am apologizing for accusing her of cheating on me." He started to stand up, but stopped when she began to protest.
"What- I'm sorry, Erik please don't leave. This tea is really good, I don't want to go home and I enjoy helping people with their problems."
"Why don't you want to go home?"
"Because my fiancé hasn't text me back meaning he's working and I don't like being home alone. That was something I was hoping to achieve with working here. I could drown myself in work until he got home." She sipped at her tea to soothe the lump in her throat as tears pricked at the corners over her eyes. "But it's not your job to babysit me, I'm sorry I don't know why I asked you to stay. Your wife is more important whether or not you plan on divorcing her." Christine set her mug down before standing, and she picked her purse up. "Goodnight, Erik. Thank you for the tea and letting me give you my two cents. I hope you take it because you deserve it... Do you want me to close up shop for tonight?"
"No don't worry about it. I'm going to finish a couple things before I face the storm." She nodded as he looked at a piece of paper on his desk. "Thank you for the attempt to help me. You gave me some things to think about." That made her smile, and with knowing she may of helped, she left his office and headed towards the elevator so she could go home.