Thistle Heels || #FLA2018

Thistle Heels

It all happened so fast. One minute I was mad, walking in my thistle heels as fast as I could away from Jon and the next—well, the next I was in a dark elevator with a broken heel with Nick Lafante, the CEO of the company I worked for, holding me tight.

It was to keep me from falling on my fantastic behind, but still.

Nick Lafante. Where to begin with him? Well, he was the all mighty and powerful CEO of TagTech. That's right. To us mere mortals, Nick was the omnipotent founder, genius and CEO of one of the biggest tech companies in recent years.

And me? I was just in marketing. TagTech marketing. Did my wonderful position allow me the opportunity to see Nick on a daily basis? No. But did I sneak a peek at him from time to time? Also, no.

You see, Nick Lafante was for all intents and purposes invisible to us little people.

I was in marketing, yes. But after years of trying to get promoted to head of marketing (on account of being a marketing guru, indisputably intelligent and steadfastly driven), I was on the brink of a messy breakdown. I was being suffocated, which wasn't unheard of in a career ran by men for men, and anyone who dared be different was as close to a pariah as they came. So, that was me. I was the pariah. A marketing genius, sure, but still a pariah.

It looked a little like this: above me was Jon, head of marketing. Above him the head of PR, then above him the head of sales, then so and so and about twenty steps above that is Nick-freaking-Lafante.

So, you see, I was quite in shock when I found myself in a faulty elevator with faulty heels in the hands of a genius funder and CEO.

"You're Nick Lafante," I said, still in the hands of said founder and CEO.

"I am," he said and righted himself after I moved away. "Your heel is broken," he said.

"So it is," I said, glad the lights were barely running back on after the blackout on account of my embarrassing blush that would've given me away. The elevator still hadn't moved an inch, so that was that.

"I thought that only happened in the movies." He laughed.

"Getting stuck in an elevator with the CEO of the company I work for is also a thing of the movies." I laughed a little. What were the odds my heel would break just as the elevator stalled and Nick would be there to catch me and hold me? Not much, but it happened.

"Sounds like a Christmas movie," he said and I almost freaking gasped. I loved Christmas movies! "The Elevator Stopped Before Christmas," he said.

I laughed. "The Twelve Floors of Christmas."

He laughed and continued. "Broken Stilettos and Christmas Ornaments."

I laughed at the bad names we were coming up with. "The Broken Heel and the Grinch."

He laughed. "Wait. Who's the grinch in this scenario?"

"You, of course?"

"Not at all. I'm a super nice guy."

"Nice guys don't usually have to say they're nice." I pressed a button hoping the elevator would just magically start, but nothing.

"Excuse me, but I don't even think we've met before. How can you know anything about me?" The dim light in the elevator granted me a sneak peek at his face. He seemed genuinely hurt, but he was right. I didn't know anything about him.

"That's the whole point," I said. "I've worked here for five years and never have I met you, run into you before, or even really seen you around. You're like a myth. Like Big Foot or the Loch Ness Monster."