The Gap Year

Part 1

Present day.

Elevators have always made me anxious. Being in a confined space with people whom are in a hurry, under stress and, therefore, anxious as well only adds to my own nerves for being late.

As I step out of the elevator at my designated floor, I am greeted with the floor's main secretary, Regina's, distressed gaze.

"You're late" she tells me in her oh-so-lovely bitter morning mood.

"Goooood morning Ms. Ackerman" I say, making sure to emphasize the first word to further annoy her.

"Beckett has a client in the conference room" she tells me over her shoulder as I pass her by.

"Shit", I mutter and try to walk as quick as one can with these ridiculously high heels. My silent prayers that I don't get fired end up blocking the rest of what Regina is telling me.

I get to my desk, which is surprisingly messy for it's ridiculous small amount of space. Being situated in front of James Beckett's- one of the head managers, and my boss - office is a big disadvantage when you want to sneak in or out during work time, and I only hope that my tardiness wasn't noted.

Just as I finish settling myself, my phone rings, the hideous sound it emits helping to wake me up.

"Mr. Beckett's office, how may I- Oh Mr. Beckett, good morning" I cringe as I hear his dreadful voice on the other end. "Yes, you have a meeting at 9 a.m."

I check the clock on my computer, only realizing how late I actually am when I see the digits mark 9:20 a.m. My hand colides against my face, realizing how obvious I was of the fact that I just arrived.

"Of course I noticed you weren't here yet." I say while stretching my neck to verify that he, in fact, was not behind his desk.

"Actually, I was just about to call you and-Stuck in traffic, right. Don't worry I'll go into the conference room and take your client some pastries and coffee. I'll see you in a few, sir" I hang up and roll my eyes at him.

The only thing cheering me up is the fact that I won't be seeing my awful boss' face for a bit longer.

I make my way to the refreshments and grab the orange juice filled pitcher with my right hand, the coffee pot with my left one and balance some cookies on a plate placed on that same arm. I would totally rock being a waitress. I'm just saying, if rude pants Beckett doesn't treat me better, he's gonna lose a hell of a great assistant.

The walk towards the conference room seems longer than usual. As I try balancing everything, I momentarily believe I could even be hired at a circus. But then again, there's the face paint and ridiculous attire that stops me from making any further plans on pursuing that career.

Finally spotting the conference rooms, I head towards the frosted glass door. I see blurred figures moving around on the inside but not a single person outside to help me open the door. As I have my neck craned to the left, looking for someone out on the hallway to give me a hand, I don't see the figure approaching my direction from the inside until it's too late and they've opened the door and my blouse and shoes are all covered in orange juice.

The chatter from inside gets quiet and as I look up, I see two attractive heads concentrated on the mess that I now am. But it gets even worse as I realize that they're not just two attractive guys.. oh no, one of them just HAD to be the latest, most talked about singer and currently this company's most important client.

"Harry, you idiot! See what you've done to the poor girl!" I hear someone shout. Looking up, I realize it's Liam Payne who just told his stunned (and quite stunning) friend off.

The so called Harry snaps his head to look at him and then turns to look down at the mess he caused, slowly looking at me with wide eyes.

"I'm so, so, so sorry! I didn't mean to do that." he repeats various times but I try to laugh it off.

"It's ok, don't worry about it" I smile at him.

But it's not. I'm cold and I'm tired and now, I'm sticky. Trying to ignore my morning grumpiness, I shake my head and try to reassure him that it's no problem and start walking towards the large table as both pairs of eyes follow my moves.

"Here, let me help you with that" Liam jumps up from his previously spinning chair and gets the plate of cookies from my arm.

I'm surprised I actually maintained a proper balance of them through the startling occurence.

"Mr. Beckett is on his way. I brought you some coffee and cookies and if you need anything else I'm right down the hall to the right." I say as professionally as I can with a now orange colored see through blouse. I purse my lips and nod their way, stepping past a still very concerned looking Harry and out of the conference room, making a run to my desk.

I dial Regina's desk phone and hope that she's not too busy to help a poor girl out. As peculiar as it sounds, she usually has an extra blouse at work, 'just in case' and I'm hoping she decided to bring one in today.

"BCL Management, how can I help you?" she answers and I see her doodle around on her agenda.

"Regina I need your help" I whisper in panic, "Please tell me you've got an extra blouse". As soon as the words leave my mouth, her head dramatically turns and her eyes search for my desk. She quicky finds me and laughs when she sees that I'm ducking between my desk and the small shelve placed on it.

"What happened?" She asks and raises an eyebrow. I see her start looking through her drawers and I cross my fingers that I'm in luck.

"Long story short a dumb jerk bumped into me and.. sorta.. made me spill the orange juice..and now I'm soaked. And fucking freezing." I inform in distress.

Her laughter is all I hear and my annoyance grows by the second.

"Well, do you have one?" I ask.

"Hold on.. let me just.. aha!" She says, holding the piece of clothe up in victory.

"Great. Meet me in the bathroom, yeah?" I say before hanging up.

Grabbing a folder to cover myself, I remove my heels and make a run for the toilets where I see Regina leaning against a wall with a blue blouse perched on her index finger.