Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything Twilight
Sorry if the stuff is kinda wrong like the positions at a paper. I have no idea! Kinda made it up
Chapter 3: Meeting
Soundtrack : The Show by
Lenka
Hit Me Up by Gia Farrell (club scene)
My hands were sweating with nervousness as I waited for my elevator to reach my floor. Alice had harpooned me into a meeting with the big boss, I have no idea how but here I was as the lift eased its way up the 23 floors. Finally the elevator dinged and the doors opened to reveal a large, white reception area with not many people running around, much unlike the offices of my newspaper. The receptionist looked up as I stepped out the elevator with a wide, Colgate smile on her face.
"Hi!
How can I help you there?" she said in a cheery voice though
sounding rather genuine.
"I'm Isabella Swan. I have an
appointment with Mr Whitlock." I said warily. Without looking down
at any sheets or appointment books the receptionist's face lit up
with recognition.
"Oh yes of course. He's waiting for you. It'll be the last door on your left," she said eagerly, pointing me in the direction. I thanked her before following in that direction, getting more nervous with every step. However it did not bypass my attention that the office was rather quiet. The white lights that illuminated the place were actually coming from the sun, it's rays beaming into the office through the floor length windows situated all around the office. I finally reached the door of Mr Whitlock's office and held my hand up to knock. However, the door opened before me and a tall gentleman with honey blond hair. Under his designer suit, you could see the essence of a well toned body and it was hard to believe that a guy that barely looked high 20s could be the owner of a company, let alone a newspaper like the New York Journal.
"Ah,
you must be Isabella, right?" he said.
"Bella, please.
Pleasure to meet you Mr Whitlock," I said shaking his outstretched
hand.
He scoffed. "Oh, please. Call me Jasper. Mr Whitlock makes
me sound so old!" he joked, pointing me towards one of the chairs
set at his table. I took a seat then looked around the office.
Two of the walls were made of the full length windows, letting in the sunlight and exposing us to a glorious view of the city. The other wall was complete with a bookshelf reaching all sides, filled with books and the final wall was rather bare except for a few hung-up photographs. I scanned the faces looking for any sign of his family or at least a girlfriend and even scanned his ring finger as he walked to the other side of the desk. It was bare, but that could mean a lot of things.
"So
what can I do for you Bella? You're friend Alice didn't give much
away except it was a 'very urgent matter that must be dealt with
immediately'" he said, imitating Alice's fast, urgent voice
very well.
"Oh, I am sorry about that. She's a good friend, a
sister almost. And I guess she was just worried. I hope she did not
offend you."
"Oh no. There was none of that. She's a very
enthusiastic girl," he said, like it was his own personal joke. I
decided to bypass it, my curiosity always got in the way and I wasn't
going to let it ruin this meeting.
"You see, it's quite petty and I may be seeing things the wrong way. But the paper have been doing a few adjustments and there have been a few redundancies and promotions and what's not. Recently, a colleague of mine was promoted into junior features but I, and I'm very sorry to have to say this, have to question my boss' motives in doing so." Jasper raised his eyebrows in shocked surprise.
"Well,
our office has been aware that the two of them have been…involved
with each other for the past few months. No one spoke up about it
because it wasn't affecting the work but now, it has, so yeh."
Jasper sat there in silent thoughts and I immediately thought that
this was turning out very badly.
"Look I'm so sorry to have
wasted your time. It really was nothing. I can show myself out," I
said, getting up to leave.
"No, no, no. Please sit. This is a serious issue. Alice was right. I'm glad you came to talk to me. This issue was actually brought up to me already a few days ago but to hear you also mentioning it, I believe action must be taken soon. You see, Bella, this is not the first case of Tanya using her…well, services to get ahead in this business. I am to hear that she was first employed without much reference to her resume. I'll look into this and I promise that action will be taken very soon. Now, I thank you, Bella for, what was it? wasting my time today. It really was a pleasure. Please, send my regards to your friend, Alice."
As I left the office, I could hear him pick up the phone. Closing the door behind me, the last thing I heard was him saying, " Put the editor on the phone now. I need to speak to him." I left the office with a big smile on my face. Even bid a hearty goodbye to the receptionist as I stepped into the elevator. I smiled, suddenly really grateful to have great friends like Alice and Rose looking out for me.
A
few days later, Tanya's head popped above my computer. Her eyes
were red and puffy like she'd been crying for some time and her
usual bubbliness lost.
"Oh, Bella. The most terrible thing just
happened." she said, making her way so she now was kneeling next to
my chair.
"I just got fired! My things have to be out today! Mr
Whitlock
came to talk to me today and said that I didn't deserve to be here!
If he knew, if only he let me show him what I do around here!" and
she burst into sobs as I struggled to stifle my laughter. I knew it
was insensitive but I couldn't bypass the double meaning around the
last bit of her speech.
"It's
alright Tanya. I'm sure that this isn't the end of the world.
You'll find another job. Any paper would be happy to employ you,"
I tried comforting her.
"But it won't be the same," Tanya
sobbed. I really had no idea how to comfort her anymore so I gave her
a shoulder a squeeze. I could feel her calming down. She looked up at
me, tears filling her eyes.
"Thank you so much, Bella. I'm
really going to miss you." She gave me a big hug, then still
sniffling, left.
I was glad that Jasper had kept his word and rather surprised that he'd actually taken my concerns seriously. I wondered who else had filed a complaint before my boss' assistant appeared telling me to go to his office. I hurriedly saved my work and walked into his office.
"Take
a seat, Bella," he said as I entered. I took a seat, rather wary of
what was to come.
"Look, Bella. I've realised you've worked
so hard over the past few months. And I'm really proud of what
you're doing. You really make this paper what it is. And so, I want
to promote you. Congratulations! You're in junior features!" he
looked at me excitedly but I just didn't feel it.
I know, I've been wanting this forever and all but it just didn't feel right. It took a complaint to our 'big boss', Jasper to do this because if he hadn't interfered, Tanya would still be in junior features and me still in commitments. It just wasn't right and suddenly it clicked to me. I didn't have to nor want to put up with this anymore. Yeh, my boss was good to me but that's it good. There was a lot better out there; I could see from Alice and Rose and even Ange and Jess. Even Eric, who yes, may sound like a mad man on the warpath, was extremely good to his staff and they all loved him. It was time to stand up for what I needed.
"I'm sorry, but I just can't take it. I have to thank you for the opportunity, in fact all the opportunities you've given me at this paper. But it just ain't for me. I think I'll find that I can provide others and others can provide me with much better prospects elsewhere. Thank you very much and yes, I quit." and I left that office completely happy with myself and what I'd done. I looked back once to see my boss sitting there completely dumb-founded. I passed Tanya's cubicle on the way to mine and leaned over.
"Can
I take this box, I need something for all my stuff?" I asked,
practically beaming, the roles reversed for once. Also dumb-founded,
Tanya gave me the box and as I was walking away she asked," You got
fired too?" I laughed and turned around to face her."
"No,
Tanya. I quit!" And I went all the way to my cubicle to pack up all
my things, much to the crazed amazement of my colleagues who were
deeply stunned at my actions. Stepping into the elevator, I found I
was completely stunned as well. This was unlike anything I'd ever
done that I actually laughed out loud completely unaware of all the
other people in the elevator.
Suddenly
I heard a voice whisper in my ear.
"Someone's happy, I see?"
and there, standing behind me was Jasper.
"Ha. Well thanks to
you! Thank you so much for everything!" His bemused expression was
priceless.
"Well I see it made you really happy. But what's
with the box?" he motioned towards my stuff.
"Oh, I quit my
job." Each time I said, it got even more thrilling. Finally I
headed out of the elevator, and caught a cab right back home, a
massive smile on my face and free of a weight I had unknowingly been
carrying on my shoulders the whole time I had worked at the Journal.
"Cheers!" we said as well all raised our glasses and took a sip. On this happy and rather memorable day, I decided to call for a little celebration with my friends. I looked around at all my friends, Rose and Alice beaming at my happiness, Jess and Mike, hardly able to keep their hands to themselves, completely in love and Ben and Angela, not fans of PDA, mildly holding hands on the couch. I could hardly contain my excitement and needed to move.
I
jumped up off the couch.
"I've got the next round!" I said
enthusiastically.
"But Bella, we haven't even finished this
one!" Alice said, laughing at my bubbly and very new enthusiasm. I
was only ever like this when I was severely drunk and she, and all my
friends found it so amusing that I was acting like this. I heard one
of them saying before that I should've quitted more regularly if
this was how I was going to be.
"But Alice, I have and I need
another drink. Besides I need to keep moving. There's just
adrenaline running all through my body." and I left to the glorious
sound of my friends' laughter. I moved through the dancing bodies
towards the bar and waited till a bartender came. I looked out
towards the dance floor, bobbing my head to the bass of the music.
"I'd
like to see you dancing out there," I heard a voice behind me. I
turned around and of course, though to my somewhat relief, was
Edward.
"Oh no, me and dancing plus heels! Now that is
definitely a bad combination." I joked.
His green eyes lit up.
"Yes, I do remember the incident the last time," he laughed.
Instead of going completely embarrassed as I usually did I felt my
cheeks only redden a little as I poked my tongue out at him. This
seemed to make him laugh all the more.
"What
can I get you?"
"A Quickie please." He burst out laughing
and I stared at him in oblivion.
"What? What's so funny?
Wha…Oh…OH! Ohmigosh! I'm so sorry!" as the double meaning of
my drink order finally struck me!
"I totally didn't mean
that!"
I said, trying to cover myself as Edward doubled over with laughter.
Tears were streaming down his cheeks. He finally composed himself but
still let out the odd giggle.
"OK, one quick fuck coming up!"
I turned away, trying to hide my embarrassment. I had no idea what I
was doing. I'd never really talked like this, EVER! I was either
still giddy from my day at work or I really was losing myself in
those eyes. Either way, this was bad. What happened to good, old
composed Bella? Who was I becoming? And in front of this gorgeous
guy? What would he think? I turned around again just as he laid the
cocktail in front of me.
"There you go. One…cocktail for you Miss Bella. And here," he said slipping a piece of paper into my hand. I looked up, right into his eyes. "For when you're in the mood for a very different type of…drink. Call me, Bella. Please." and he let go of my hand and turned to the next customer. My heart was practically pounding out of my chest. My hand stung where he had touched me and there was a little slip of paper, sure enough with a number elegantly written on it signed Edward. This day was definitely the best there ever could be. I think I could've died of happiness at that point. It was impossible for things to ever get better!
So little note. A quick fuck is a cocktail…if you didn't get that. So yeh, I guess this story is going to be M…or something like that.
