mary jane | stuart twombly ✓

chapter 15

"Mr. Chetty?", Mary Jane called, knocking on the door.

"Come in."

Mary Jane walked in and gingerly took a seat. "Mr. Chetty, I need to... I need to resign from the internship program", she said quietly.

Chetty looked up from his computer, stopping his typing. "And why is that?", the man asked in curiosity.

"I broke one of the rules", she whispered.

Chetty leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms. "And which rule would that be?"

"I fell in love with one of my fellow interns", Mary Jane admitted, swallowing thickly. "You were very clear that dating between interns is very frowned upon. And it may never happen, because I haven't told him how I feel, but... but, if leaving the program is what I have to do to ever have a chance at being with him then that's what I'm going to do", she said quietly, swallowing thickly.

Chetty leaned back, taking this all in. On the one hand, the rules were clear, but, on the other, he knew that Mary Jane was quite the intelligent young woman. Young people very rarely followed the rules.He also knew that, no matter what the rules said, one could not control their own heart. It did what it wanted, your wishes be damned. "That won't be necessary, Ms. Hiegler", he finally said, making Mary Jane look quickly up at him.

"What? But you said—"

"I know what I said. But I also know that you are very intelligent. And you are also very young. I can't expect you to follow that rule at your age. If I still took it seriously, Nick and Dana, one of my most trusted workers here, would both have been gone by now", he explained. "You gave me something to think about when you answered me that first day." Which she had. It was beginning to seem like such a silly rule to him now. Besides, how could he get mad about something that meant so much to her that she was willing to give up everything?

Mary Jane tilted her head. Now that she thought about it, Nick and that Dana woman had been sneaking off together quite often these days. It made sense now. "So... you're saying..."

"Your secret is safe with me", Chetty nodded. "As long as you keep working your hardest and not letting it distract you, I will continue to turn a blind eye to most things. But, if I see it causing trouble, we will have to have a discussion about it."

Mary Jane smiled faintly. "Thank you, sir."

He didn't say anything, simply waving her away. "Good luck", he called as the girl left his office, a new bounce in her step.

~G O O G L E~

The interns apparently had a while off before their next challenge, so Mary Jane had been taking the time to hang out with Stuart and getting to know him.

At the moment, Stuart was complaining about being forced to watch Twilight. Mary Jane was sat next to him, quoting Edward word for word.

"Oh my God, this is so cheesy, why do you like this so much?"

"Sshh!", Mary Jane said quickly, putting a finger to her lips and looking at the boy with narrowed eyes. Stuart rolled his eyes.

"He's not even that good looking."

Mary Jane turned to him, like she was offended. "It's not about his looks! It's about how much he loves her. How he speaks to her. How he cares for her. How he looks at her", she listed off, sighing wistfully. "It's about how he does anything for her and how he protects her, even when it's a tiny little thing. How he wasted no time in introducing her to his parents. And, I mean, the gifts aren't that bad either."

"So girl's really do notice all of that stuff? It's important to you?", Stuart asked, furrowing his brows. Of course it was important, but he hasn't realized how much girls payed attention to how boys looked at them.

"I'm a hopeless romantic", she shrugged. Stuart made mental note of that — you know, in case he needed the information for later.

They spent the rest of the night talking and laughing, even getting into a miniature battle where they pelted each other with left over popcorn that neither of them was going to eat.

February 25, 2019
I know that one was
waaaay too short, I
just couldn't think of
a good way to end things. 😪