Danger in the Streets

Wait...What?

"Wait...Wait, what?" I splutter.

Ms. Bridges narrowed her eyes at me, as if to say, Do you really want me to repeat myself? No? Good. Because I won't.

"That's a great head start to my career," I say after collecting myself. "But...What about Ass-Aaron? Er, Mr. Sterling?"

My face burns as I dig my fingernails into my palms. Nice move. You get a promotion on your first day, and you call your boss's second-in-command an ass. To your boss's face. Shit.

Ms. Bridges arches a perfectly plucked and waxed eyebrow. "Aaron...You don't have to worry about him."

I try to believe her. Who knows, maybe I'll somehow never see him again around here. Like, every time he comes around the corner or enters the room where I am, a magical force makes him turn around and go back.

Yeah, right. Who am I kidding?

I nod. After a moment of awkward silence, she flutters her hand towards the door. "Are you going to just sit there, gawking at me? Get up, get me a cup of black coffee, and get the hell out of my office."

Wow.

*  *  *

"So, what did Small But Mighty say?" Mica asks, not looking up from the paper he was filing into a manila folder. He sips a mug of tea-Mint, by the smell of it. Who drinks tea in America anyways? I like coffee, and I like it strong. Tea is far too weak for Vanessa Madera.

"Oh, just that I'm going to be her new assistant," I say casually, flouncing down into my seat. I know, I know. I can't help bragging. It's in my nature.

"What?!" Mica spits out his coffee all over the file and his dress clothes. "Hot, hot, hot! Rats, I just finished organizing this for Ms. Studebaker's sun room and pool room. Anyway, what?!" He opens a drawer filled with paper towel rolls, and a couple picture frames faced down in the back. Mica pulls out a wad of paper towels and wipes up the mess. I guess spills happen a lot with him.

I beam. "I dunno. She liked me. She promoted me." I throw my hands up in the air. "This is the opportunity of a lifetime! Do you have any idea how amazing it is to work alongside Anna Bridges, legendary interior design QUEEN, who built this company out of nothing?"

"Um, yeah, I work here too, you know."

"But this is DIFFERENT!" I squealed, much to the alarm of the skinny man at the faxing machine a few feet away from us.

"Er, Vanessa, not to rain on your parade or anything, but I don't think being Ms. Bridges' assistant is all sunshine and rainbows. Like, not even baskets of puppies," Mica frowns. "And bundles of bunnies, with a strings quartet playing in the background. And a huge pot of gold added to your bank account."

I ignore him. "Whatever. You have no idea."

Mica shrugs. After a moment of me typing an email and Mica attempting to recover any pieces of paper that were spared from the unexpected herbal tea bath, he spoke again.

"Not to change the subject or anything, but there's a party that some of us are going to at nine tonight. There's a club a couple blocks away. Do you wanna go with me? We can meet up at the front."

"Absolutely!" I reply distractedly. I'm frantically texting Dariya the news.

me: first day and boss promoted me as assistant! :O ohmigod it must be the sexy couch potato gods smiling upon me as one of their own lol

dariya da queen: omg congrats babe!!! coffee ice cream and game of thrones tonite? xo

me: yaas gurl u got it

"So...Do you want to give me your number so I can text you the address?" Mica says, bringing me back to reality.

"Yeah, sure. It's 605-475-696."

"Cool."

"Yeah."

"Okay."

Today is amazing. NOTHING can get Vanessa Madera down today.