I never planned on becoming Damon Salvatore's personal assistant. It's not like I woke up one morning thinking Hey, I know what sounds like fun, I want to follow that multi-billionaire who's in the tabloids every other week around for the next five years. But that's exactly what I ended up doing, I just sorta fell into it.
We met in the most ridiculous meet cute way, and if it had been a scene in a major motion picture I probably would of ended up with the husband and the white picket fence at the end of the movie, instead I ended up with the best and worst job of my entire career history. I became a PA to feasibly the most gifted CEO of my generation. Well, the job title says PA, in reality I was a laundry list of things for him; secretary, cook, first aid, counselor, mind reader, mother, sister, confidante but never ever ever something remotely romantic. Until one day everything changed.
And it all started with a glass of red wine.
"Seriously?" I mutter, as yet again another yellow cab whips past me splashing my ankles with stagnant rain water in the process. I'm a fresh out of college transplant from Virginia and I still haven't mastered the whole hailing a cab thing the native New Yorkers have down to a tee.
I've been at my new job for exactly two weeks, my first real job thats not slinging pizza slices, and I'm already late to the mandatory soiree they're holding tonight. The head of the company is coming down to say hello to all us little people and I guess we're all expected to be there to line up and kiss his hand or something.
After I spit out every curse word under the sun, one of the cab drivers finally takes pity on the girl who looks like a drowned rat and stops for me. After I get in I watch as the neon lights flash by, blurring into one long snake of illumination, and yet again I'm struck with how much bigger than me this all is. I'm nothing but a speck in New York, and I'm already pretty convinced I'm going to be eaten alive out here.
When we pull up to the Salvatore Corp. building with it's grandiose Art Deco facade I quickly pay the fare, never quite knowing how much to tip and step out onto the sidewalk. The lobby is deserted and I stand there for a moment dripping puddles onto the immaculate jade marbled flooring, still too new to find my bearings instantly. I locate the coat check and wring out my hair as much as possible, feeling like a human sponge, before I progress to the second floor.
The scalloped light sconces have been dimmed causing the room to be bathed in a soft golden glow, transforming the area completely from what I was used to during the day. Instead of harried work colleagues running around, waiters had taken their places smoothly slipping to and from the small groups of people that had formed, holding their serving trays aloft. The front wall is all glass from celling to floor, showcasing the twinkling New York skyline, the Empire State Building providing the main focal point in the vista. I'm transfixed for a moment by the sharp pinpoints of lights contrasted against the black of the night before shaking my head and swiping a glass of wine from a passing tray, holding onto the stem tightly as a means to ground myself.
My first order of business is to find Caroline in the melee. Caroline Forbes was my first and so far only friend in this city, she started work here the same day I did and after finding out we were both from similar small town backgrounds we have been joined at the hip. We're like the blind leading the blind though, one day we tried to find our way to the Statue of Liberty and ended up getting lost on the subway system for over five hours.
On the surface she's a typical effervescent blonde, who comes across as a little ditzy and maybe even slightly shallow. Take the time to dig under the miles of blonde curls and pink lipgloss however and you come to realize she's got a razor sharp mind and is sweet and loyal as the day is long. And she will definitely be my anchor to get through tonight.
