The Story of: Blythe Morgan Stewart

Chapter 1

It was my third day in Manhattan, and my first day on my new job at UpMedia. I got up an hour and a half early, took a shower, ate breakfast, and brushed my teeth. I was feeling rather productive this morning. I even read the newspaper while I ate, and I've never read the newspaper. Of course, I didn't take into account how traffic would be at eight o'clock in the morning.

"Get out of the way, asshole!" my cab driver shouted out the window before swerving the car into the other lane. I was holding on for dear life, I've never been so frightened. Fifteen minutes late, I ran into the lobby and asked the receptionist where I was supposed to go.

"Fifth floor," she said with a bored tone, "Elevator's out of order." I let out an exasperated sigh and ran to the stairwell. Just my luck. 

Finally at the fifth floor, after deciding I really needed to work out more, I burst through the door, and everyone turned to look at me. I gave them an awkward half smile and walked up to someone who seemed less intimidating.

"Um, do you know where I can find Don Jorgenson?" I asked them. He turned to me and gave me a small smile.

"Down that hall, there's a door on your left. It'll say his name on it," he explained. "And don't worry, I was late on my first day, too." I gave him an awkward chuckle before making my way to Don's office. As I was about to knock on the door, it swung open, and I let out a small squeak as it had startled me.

"Ah, you must be Blaire!" he exclaimed with a wide smile.

"Um, Blythe, sir," I mumbled, but he cut me off.

"If you'll just follow me, I'll introduce you to Garrett. He's the one you will be shadowing." He started walking back down the hall, and I had to speed walk in order to keep up with him .

"Garrett!" he called out, and almost immediately, a tall, skinny man appeared from behind a cubicle. His brown hair was tasseled to make the "I just got out of bed" look, he had a pair of black, square framed glass sitting on top of his head, and his piercing green eyes stared into mine. This was the same guy I had talked to when I first walked in.

"This is Blaire, she will be shadowing you for a few weeks. Show her what kind of articles we write, what software we use and how to use it, give her a tour of the office, and don't forget to show her where to get the good coffee." He turned to me and winked, then held out a few magazines. "You can look through these as well, just for some references." I took the magazines from his hand and realized they were the older ones from the last few months. He gave Garrett a quick pat on the back before meeting up with a few other men who seemed to be higher ups as well.

"Alright, Blaire, I guess we'll start with the tour," Garrett said, stepping past me.

"Actually, it's Blythe," I corrected from behind him. I heard him chuckle as he led me into the break room.

"Don tends to do that," he started, "I was Gary for like a week." I let out a quiet chuckle as he grabbed a couple of styrofoam cups out of a cupboard. "So, obviously this is the breakroom. This is not where you get the good coffee, though. That coffee machine is so old, it makes your coffee taste like pennies." He started leading me back out of the breakroom. He pointed down the hall and mentioned the bathrooms, before taking me back down the stairs.

"I can't keep going up and down these stairs," I huffed as we reached the second floor. He chuckled with a small shake of his head.

"The elevators get fixed tomorrow, I think." He held the door open to floor two, gesturing for me to go in. "Floor two got a remodeled breakroom about a year ago. They have the better coffee machine, so everyone steals from them."