The Billionaire's Assistant

Chapter 5

In an old fashioned looking gray suit and skirt set that Andy and Kat had almost scalded themselves attempting to iron, Kat stood outside the Tillibenton headquarters, gazing upwards at the endlessly rising tower of steel and glass. The headquarters were about a fifteen minute walk from the den but she'd left with far too much time to spare, her nerves propelling her there more quickly than she'd thought.

She checked the aging smartphone, giving it an extra few seconds as it blinked reluctantly to life. 8:27. Her interview wasn't until 9:00, and while early may be responsible, this nearly seemed like overkill. She shifted nervously in her thin flats, worrying at the hem of her skirt. Andy had insisted she cosplay the average, energy consuming American, and had pulled out the big guns, lipstick, and a curling iron. "They're frivolities," Andy had told her when she first joined the group, "Frivolities that only hurt the planet," but right now they were Kat's secret weapon and she wielded them nervously, clearly unpracticed.

She continued to stand in front of the building, looking up, reminding herself why she'd embark on something like this in the first place. Why she even believed that change was possible, why she'd transformed from a skeptic who was solely interested in taking what nature offered without giving anything back. She imagined Emma's face from just that morning, her hands tightly gripping Kat's shoulders.

"You got this," she'd said earnestly, gazing into Kat's eyes with an expression Kat knew to be trust. "You can do it. You're going to."

Conner and Brent had nodded, uncharacteristically serious. Kat was quiet, shy at all the attention, yet her breath hitched in her throat when Jack took a step closer to her, the magnitude of his eye contact too much for Kat to weather.

"You're really smart Kat," he'd said simply. It wasn't an encouragement exactly, was little more than a vaguely relevant complement, but Kat's heart had leapt. "Thank you," she'd muttered while looking down, suddenly prepared to make her exit as it meant fresh, cooling air away from Jack. He'd nodded and Emma had squealed once more, throwing her arms around Kat one last time before she left.

A fifteen minute walk made ten by her long legs and nerves, and here she was. She realized with a start that she'd been staring at the building for far too long, and after looking about sheepishly to ensure no one was watching her she pushed the revolving door, the central entrance between a huge wall of glass doors, two on each side and 15 feet high with oversized, gold gilded wooden handles. Even the building's facade was intricate and ornate, clearly worth exorbitant amounts but somehow avoiding a foray into the gaudy, the sleek steel and metal that comprised much of the building adding a structured, modern effect. The inside of the lobby matched the exterior, and industrial, cubist furniture populated the enormous gray and white room. Accents of silver flashed everywhere from the reflective stainless steel side tables that accompanied each hard edged, deep set gray loveseat, oriented in small circles about the room and along the wall. An unbranded coffee shop adorned the far left wall and a small line idled in front, a single barista pinging between taking orders and making whipped cream topped drinks. Structured silver chandeliers hung from the tall ceilings that looked much more like modern art than light fixtures, and Kat did her best not to marvel. Directly in front of her was an impossibly long desk with a row of women sitting behind it, each typing on their respective computers and paying no mind to the lost looking women who's just entered the room. Outside of the line for coffee and the women quickly clacking on their desktops, the enormous space was entirely empty, and Kat couldn't help to think that they could stand to turn off a few lights.

She approached the counter of polished women nervously, noting how they wore jewelry, had crisply painted nails, and wore suits in white and tan, none of them sporting the muted gray of Kat's thrifted one.