Warm

2

Laura opens both of the glass doors in a grand gesture.

"GUESS WHO'S GETTING MARRIED?!" She sticks out her hand to reveal a shiny rock wrapped around her finger. Everyone in the office runs to her and expresses their happiness to her. I sit in my chair waiting for her to come to my desk. After all, they are right next to each other.

"Congrats," I tell her as she takes a seat.

She looks so happy. Her skin is shining and her eyes are bright. Her steps have a bounce and she can't stop smiling. "Thanks." Laura goes on to tell me about her fiance, Edward. It hard to imagine the fierce and passionate Laura with a nerd named Edward. Apparently, Edward is the greatest man on Earth and he's super smart, actually so smart, these are her words, "that NASA asked him to come work for them." She giggles. "I can't believe I'm getting married to the love of my life." She suddenly turns to me. "You should try it. Actually, do you have a boyfriend?"

"No," I state. Her mouth drops.

"Have you ever dated someone?" I shake my head. "That's impossible. You're the whole package. It doesn't make sense."

"What?" I ask, confused. Why is she concerned about this? How did this become about me?

"Aurora, I don't think you know this but as your manager I have to tell you," she pauses dramatically. "You are absolutely gorgeous. And that intern you're competing with to get this spot definitely checks you out every morning."

"I got Keanu Ai to be a part of the company in case you had any concern for it."

Her hazel eyes open wide. "That's right. What happened?"

Finally, the conversation changed. "Well I actually met him before." I silently curse myself for giving her that information.

"You have?" She asks. I can already see the ideas popping in her head. "You know, he is your age. He's really hot huh? I mean, those green eyes are just wow. And that body-" she stops herself abruptly. "I'm going to be a married woman. What am I doing?"

The meeting to discuss our partnership with Keanu is today and there is no way I can mess this up. I double check to make sure I have everything.

"List of main points, check," I mumble to myself. "Data, check, powerpoint, check." Everything is in place. Working with Keanu is going to be the most important job I've done so far. I cannot and will not let this opportunity pass. Because a resume that mentions a collaboration with Keanu Ai is a resume that cannot be rejected.

I suck in a breath when I turn the door knob. Keanu and his staff sit on one side of the long table and our staff on the other. Everyone is dressed professionally but Keanu wears the suit better than everyone else in here. The large wall windows provide a sufficient amount of light to see everyone's face. Perfect. This will make it easier to read their expressions.

"Oh, great, Aurora you're here. Get me an iced Americano with two extra shots. Does anyone else want anything?" Griffith, the manager of the advertisement department, looks at the rest of the table for an answer.

"I'm doing the presentation," I say.

He chuckles. "Cute. Okay so Carlos asked for a straight black coffee with skim milk."

Is he joking? "Griffith, I'm doing the presentation."

He looks up from his phone. His face grim and stern. "I said you're not. He is." He points to his assistant. His assistant, who I have rarely seen in the company, stands before the podium sweating like he ran laps.

"You can't be serious," I respond bluntly. Heads turn to me. But Keanu's been watching this whole time.

"Aurora, sit down." Griffith's expression drops.