" Tell me you don't love me, and I won't ever show you my face. Push me away so hard that I'd stumble to even look at you. " He leaned closer to my face. " Push me before I kiss you, before I cherish every inch of you. " His palm traced my waist.
I...
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VESTA'S POV
I smoothed my skirt and took a deep breath as I stepped into the sleek office lobby. My pencil heels clicked on the polished tile floors as I made my way to the front desk. This was it - my first day at my shiny new job.
"Hi there, I'm Vesta Laurent. I'm starting today." My voice came out more squeaky than confident.
The stylish blonde receptionist gave me a warm smile. "Of course, welcome. Let me grab someone to show you around."
While she made a call, I did another once-over in the glass reflection, making sure my curls were tamed and my makeup looked fresh. First impressions were everything. I hadn't felt this brand new since my very first day of kindergarten.
Soon a friendly-looking woman in a bright turquoise blazer appeared. "You must be our new Finance coordinator. I'm Chloe, one of the senior project managers." She stuck out her hand to shake mine enthusiastically. "Let me be the first to officially welcome you aboard. "
Chloe led me through the maze of cubicles and glass-walled offices, explaining the different teams and pointing out key people as we passed. My head spun around trying to drink it all in.
Finally she showed me my own sparkling clean desk setup, already outfitted with a computer and supplies. "Here's your home base. Get settled in, then I'll introduce you around the finance pod."
As she stepped away, a smiling young guy in a sporty polo stopped by. "New girl, huh? Don't look so nervous, we're all really chill around here." He stuck out a hand. "Vernon ,nice to meet you. "
I instantly felt more at ease as we chatted for a few minutes about where we were both from and how we landed at the company.
Soon Chloe was back with a bubbly, maroon-haired girly girl in tow. "Vesta, meet Zoe, one of our finance's lil-stars. Zoe, be a pal and show Vesta the ropes, 'kay?"
With a dimpled grin, Zoe launched into her enthusiastic greetings. "Hi, hi, hi, I'm so excited to have you on the team. We're gonna have so much fun working together."
As she looped her arm through mine, rambling about all the cool campaigns and activities, I felt that jittery first day anxiety melting away. Between Vernon's laidback vibe and Zoe's boundless bubbliness, I had a feeling I'd found my people.
This whole new big girl job thing would be a blast after all.
Zoe was practically bouncing in her spinning chair as we gossiped away at our desks after hours. I just nodded and listened, trying to keep up with her rapid-fire chatter.
"Ooh, did you see Tim's new haircut? The accounting guy? Super cute right?" She twirled a bright red tendril around her finger. "I heard from Brittany that he just went through, like, a total breakup though. Apparently his girlfriend was cheating or something crazy."
