Lucky Coincidence // Stuart Twombly

III

"Thanks again for watching her, Lara," Jace's voice sounded through the car's speaker system.

"It's not a problem, Jace. I love watching Maddy, you know that," Lara answered her brother. She heard him chuckle softly. "What?" 

"Maddy told me a funny story in the car ride back home," He started. "About her having a nightmare last night and that she went to your room to find Stuart sitting on top of you, she asked me what you were doing." He could barely contain the laughs from escaping his throat. 

Lara let out a sigh and dropped her forehead on her steer as she waited for a traffic light to turn green. "God, I hoped she wouldn't say anything. I'm so sorry." 

"Nah, you're fine. I told her you were playing hide and seek and Stuart had found you," Jace said, earning a chuckle from his sister. 

"Well, I gotta go. Long day of work ahead of me. Bye, Jace." She moved her finger to the button on her steering wheel to hang up the call. 

"Have a good day, Lara. I'll talk to you later," Jace replied and Lara pressed the button. In the meantime, she had arrived at the Google Headquarters and she parked her car in the garage, making sure to lock it. 

She entered the building and went straight to the cafeteria. Oscar, the barista, was already waiting for her. "Goodmorning, Oscar," She greeted him kindly. 

"Goodmorning, Lara. The usual?" He asked her with a smile. 

"Yes, also..." She took out her phone and quickly found Sebastian Watts' email from this morning. "Could you have a banana ginger smoothie and a sandwich with salmon and lettuce ready by 12.30? I'll come to pick it up," She asked the boy. 

"Yes, of course. No problem at all." He handed her her coffee and bagel. 

"Thank you, Oscar, you're a hero," She smiled and turned away from him, on her way to her workspace, but Oscar stopped her. 

"Oh, Lara, I meant to ask you something." Lara turned back with a soft smile. "I ehm... I don't want to pressure you into anything but I have my best friend's wedding tomorrow and I would really love it if you could come with me as my date," He nervously asked her and Lara felt her heart sink. 

"Oh, Oscar, I would love to..." His eyes lit up, but the shine quickly faltered when she continued, "But I have a boyfriend at home who wouldn't be too happy if I were to go out with you." 

"Oh..." He muttered. "Yeah, I completely understand." He forced a smile for her. 

"I'm really sorry, Oscar, you seem like a great guy." She offered him a tiny smile. 

"No, don't worry about it, it was stupid of me to assume that someone like you doesn't have a boyfriend," He chuckled humorlessly. "I hope he treats you right." 

"Yeah, he does." A blush crept on her face at the thought of Stuart. "I gotta go, Oscar. I'll see you at 12.30?" 

"Of course," He smiled and this time, it was genuine. 

Lara checked her watch and gasped as she saw she was five minutes late. She rushed up the stairs, almost bumping into Dana Simms on her way. 

"I'm so sorry," She quickly said. 

"Lara, hi. Late?" Dana asked her. 

"You have no idea," Lara sighed before she dashed to Sebastian Watts' office. 

She knocked on the door before opening. "I'm so sorry, Mister Watts, I got held up at the cafeteria and before I knew it, I was late," She ranted. 

"Was it Oscar?" Sebastian asked. 

"Yes, how did you know?" She asked him, wrapping her fingers around her coffee cup. 

"He talks about you all the time when I get coffee there in the morning," He chuckled.

"He does?" Lara breathed. 

Sebastian nodded. "Yep, he appears to like you a lot." A small smile lingered on his lips. 

"Oh, just great. I had to turn him down not even ten minutes ago." She lowered her head and sighed. 

Sebastian frowned. "Because of Stuart?" Lara nodded softly. 

"I can't go out with someone else when I have the best person in the world waiting for me at home." She shrugged slightly. 

"Well, change of subject, I need to talk to you about something." Sebastian straightened his back. "Please, have a seat." He motioned at the chair in front of his desk. 

Lara looked at her boss in question as she slowly lowered herself into the chair. 

"You've been an amazing assistant to me and I couldn't wish for a better one, but I also know how much you want to grow in your career. That's why I've talked to a few people around here and we have decided to make you the head of this summer's internships along with Roger Chetty. If you do this well, we can promote you to Associate Account Strategist." 

Lara was left speechless for a few seconds, her mouth opening and closing every other second. "I- I don't know what to say..." She breathed softly. From the moment she had started working at Google, she had always wanted to be a part of the Strategist Team.

Even in High School, she had been interested in this. She loved coming up with different strategies for problems that she faced, but she would never think that she'd ever be selected to work as a Strategist herself, let alone for a company as gigantic as Google.

"Say you'll take it, I know how much you want it. You deserve it more than anyone, Lara," Sebastian smiled kindly. "Just think about it, I'd like to have your answer by the end of the week." Lara quickly nodded her head and rose to her feet. 

"Thank you so much, I appreciate it a lot that you are giving me this opportunity." She offered him a quick smile before she fled the room. She plopped down in her desk chair and put her head in her hands, breathing heavily. 

Getting promoted had been a dream of hers for months, if not years. She loved being Sebastian's assistant but he was right, she wanted to grow in this place. 

Sebastian's words sunk in and a soft gasp left her lips. If she was going to accept his offer, she was going to be the head of internships this summer. She was going to Spain this summer with Stuart. She wouldn't be able to go if she accepted this. But she also wasn't going to be promoted if she didn't take it. Stuart had been saving for this vacation the entire year and he would hate her if she bailed now. 

"Shit..." She muttered under her breath.