Behind Classroom Doors II

CLXXIV- One More Time

Monday, June 14th...

The inside of Brier's Co. is cold and noisy. There is a small sign hanging over an area of desks. It's the only guide I have so I walk up to the two women talking at their desks. "Excuse me." I interrupt them and offer up a smile. "What floor is Jack Briers and Shawn Morgan on?"

    The blonde one with a white blouse gives me a confused look. "Do you have an appointment?"

    I nod and take out my orientation email from Jack. "I'm supposed to start my internship today."

    "Good for you." She chuckles lightly as she takes the paper from me.

    The other woman eyes me up and down. Her thin lips part as she speaks, "Do I know you from somewhere?"

    This grabs the attention of the blonde. "Yeah. What's your name?"

    Hesitantly, I answer her question. "Livia Gardner."

    They both gasp in unison, my eyes flicker between the two. "Oh my God!" The blonde looks at me with wide eyes, "Your Ty's girlfriend right? We always go to his bar downtown."

    "Only almost every Friday night."​​ The other woman adds.

    I shake my head at them, "No. I'm not his girlfriend."

    "Hmm." The blonde hands me back my paper with a badge and points to the elevators on my right. "Mr. Brier's office is on the top floor. I'll call up so he will be expecting you."

    "Thanks." I half-heartedly reply as I follow her directions.

    The elevator ride is packed with other workers, it takes a while to get to the top floor because of the constant filtering of people on each floor. Eventually, the elevator doors open on the top floor and I step off. The middle of the floor is filled with large cubicles, while even larger offices surround the sides. Directly ahead is an office with Jack's name on a gold plate with his CEO title after it.

I take a deep breath and cross the floor until I'm face to face with his glass door. At this time, Jack looks up and sees me on the outside of his office. He waves me in, so I quickly make my way inside. "Livia, right on time." Jack stands with vigor and straightens out his expensive suit. "Follow me."

    Following him out to the office beside him, he opens the door similar to his own. I walk in first, Shawn immediately looks up at me. Our gaze is so intense that I barely hear what Jack is saying. Something about him wanting us to get a chance to talk in private before the morning meeting.

    "Five minutes." He finishes before walking out.

    Shawn breaks the tension. "Have a seat."

    I smile, this feels like the beginning. Like I'm in his classroom and we have no idea what's going to happen next. "The women downstairs think I'm still with Ty." I'm not sure why I began with that. Especially after we left things in Colorado.

His chin lifts up the slightest bit when he asks, "Are you."

"No." 

Shawn suddenly turns to the computer screen. His eyebrow raises slightly and he clears his throat. "You'll have three other co-coworkers that report directly to me. I will have a meeting every morning at nine-fifteen in the conference room. You get two fifteen minute breaks and an hour lunch at one-thirty." Shawn continues for another minute before pausing to ask, "Are you listening to me?" I nod but I barely am. All I can focus on are Shawn's lips moving as he talks to me. "Then what did I say?" His mouth curls up in a smirk. He's testing me, like he did in school when I was too focused on him to hear the lesson. It feels like we're back to that place, even if we can't be. This internship means a lot to me. I don't want us to get so caught up in each other that I end up wasting this opportunity. We can't go through this again. I repeat what he said back to him. Shawn sighs, "Livia." He could say my name billions of times and it would still have the same effect on me. I get chills, goosebumps over the way it comes off his tongue.