Play It By Ear

A Not-So-Plot-Starting Prologue

This entire story is unedited. 

                                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Standing in the middle of a marble floored, reception area on the third from the top floor of an office building being ignored by a grumpy secretary who looked fifty years past retirement was not how I wanted to spend the first day of my last spring break of high school. It didn’t really matter though. I was here to get job experience, maybe even pick up some pointers from people who could help me decide what I wanted to do with my life. I tugged nervously at the bottom of my chiffon blouse and cleared my throat again. The lady’s head snapped up and she glared at me through her heavily framed glasses.

            “What?” Her voice was deep and gravelly and just about bursting at the seams with annoyance.

            “My name is Georgiana Alfred. I’m here for Mr. Casimir Leighton?”

            “Another? I do not have time for your frivolous time wasting. I am sure there is a reason he is not calling you back, do not bother him at work. You may leave.” With a decisive click, the lady went back to typing painfully slow on her keyboard.

            “Excuse me but…I’m not here to be frivolous. Look, I just got-“

            “I do not care for what you have. I do not care if you are impregnated with his child. Stop bothering him at work and find other means of contacting him. You girls always come in here with your indecent clothing and expect me to bend at your beck and call!” If looks could kill, I surely would have been dead the moment she started on her spiel, but they didn’t so Ms. Grumpy Puss was going to have to deal with me.

Processing her words though, I looked down at my flared black dress pants and loose fitted, pale pink blouse. I looked indecent? Holding back a scoff, I opened my mouth to clarify to her that I was not…a lover of Mr. Leighton’s like she thought I was but rather his temporary assistant until his real one came back from an extended hospital stay involving some sort of angry ex-girlfriend, a large chair, a window, and a twenty foot drop. Somehow, I felt pretty secured that I would have this job for a while if I didn’t screw it up.

The lady, who was the communal secretary to all of the people who worked on the floor, continued to glare at me, her slit eyes almost hidden under folds of wrinkled skin. I had a feeling that her glare would continue until I either attempted to rebut her or left. Since I needed this job and had already told my mother that she could assure her boss that his son would have me as a capable temp for as long as he needed, I went with rebut.

“Please, Ms.-” my eyes darted around her desk, scanning for her name, “Wilburstein. I’m Georgiana Alfred, Mr. Leighton’s temporary secretary until James is out of the hospital.” She gave me an incredulous look and I quickly fumbled through my purse and then wallet to pull out my driver’s license. Hastily, I slid it across the wide desk to her. “See?”

Her stenciled on eyebrow raised and her frown deepened. “Your lies are much better than the last girl’s Miss. Alfred, however Mr. Leighton has not informed me of any incoming temps today and I know he would if he had one. I apologize for whatever he has done to you but-”

“He hasn’t done anything! I’ve never even met this man before! Please believe me!”

“Ma’am,” she said with her face deadpan and her voice barren of all emotion. “I doubt he is worth the trouble you seem to be going through for him. He will have another woman on his arm within the next twenty seconds anyway. You seem like a semi-intelligent girl. Find someone nice to settle down with.”

Internally, I cocked an eyebrow at her. In all of the three minutes I had been in her presence, she had warned me off like I was a scorned lover and it seemed like it was second nature to her. What kind of guy was this Mr. Leighton? I remembered my mother telling me some about him a few weeks ago when she pitched the job to me.

He was young, to what extent she hadn’t specified, and he was smart. Like über smart. Like graduate from an Ivy League college five years early smart. Like get a job as a junior VP in a major company right out of college smart.  And now according to the lady in front of me, he was a player.  How wondrous. I was probably going to have to deal with some rich, pompous, narcissistic prick who would make me run and fetch his coffee for him every ten minutes.

            “’Semi-intelligent’?” I finally questioned after a moment, deciding it was the safest thing to question as my mind still fathomed the idea of working with the man I had pictured in my mind.

“Well, you are still here, are you not?”

“Because I’m here for a job!”

“Sorry, no notification, no clearance to go past this desk.”

I glared at her and she returned it with just as much conviction. I was going to stand there and wait until Mr. Leighton left his office if that was what it took for her to realize I wasn’t another one of his …. Playbunnies, but a girl who was here for her job. The moments trickled by until I realized her hand was going to the phone on the corner of her desk.

“You’re going to call him?” I asked hopefully. She left out a grunt that had a hint of a chuckle in it. Even from our short time together, I could tell that was her version of being brought to tears from laughter. Yep, this summer was going to rock.

“No. Security. I have work to do and I feel as though you will not leave unless by force. Settle down so I may-”

“Now, Ms. Wilburstein, just what do you think you’re doing?” The speaker’s voice was deep and smooth, kind of like rich, warm hot chocolate in the middle of a blizzard. I could feel his presence behind me. Please, I found myself thinking to myself, please let him be a hot nineteen year old delivery boy. I felt a hand on my shoulder and without being able to help myself jumped a good couple of inches off the ground.

“She claims she is here to be your temporary assistant while James is in the hospital, but seeing as you have not left any notification of her arrival for me, I have not let her pass.”

“Well, aren’t you darling? Like a momma dragon guarding her young!” Ms. Wilburstein glared slightly at him, although I noticed it really was more of a maternal ‘you’re kidding me’ glare than the cold one she had just been giving me.

Curious to see the face that matched the voice of who I assumed would be my boss for the next couple of months, I turned. And then I felt my heart stop beating.