Time

Chapter 1

Hello! So, a little backstory on this story and on me. I'm an 18-year-old high school senior, currently living in Pennsylvania. I started this story probably about a year ago. My English teacher gave my class an assignment to write a short story, and that was what I did. I got the idea of the story from a music video, actually ("Savin' Me by Nickelback, I'll put the link to it up for you). So, before I handed in the short story, I had some of my friends read it (shout out to LC & LZ, if you're reading this), and they told me that the story was really good and that I should add on to it and make it a real story. So, that's what I did!

Here is the first chapter of my story, Time. I hope you enjoy it!

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The busy streets of New York City were packed with busy people doing their business. With it being mid-December, what else could you expect? Families wandered the crowded streets of the city, searching for anything tourist-y. The Statue of Liberty (wrong island), the Empire State Building (who could miss that?), and Time Square (good luck with that).

I walked into the building with my arms full of important documents for my boss, shuffling through the many people in the lobby to get to the elevator.

"Morning, Elijah," I hear as I step into the elevator.

"Morning Holly," I say to the girl in the middle of the elevator, wearing a festive red Christmas sweater with a jolly-looking Santa Claus on it. "Ready for Christmas, huh?"

"So ready," she replies, giggling. I had always noticed that Holly had some kind of infatuation with me, but I had never felt the same way towards her. I mean, she's pretty: short pixie-cut blonde hair, deep brown eyes, and such a beautiful smile. But, she has always felt more of a friend/sister-like person to me, ever since we met at orientation in college, so I've known her for quite a while. And how could you date a girl who you feel like is a sister to you?

Holly and I both get off on the 8th floor of the building together, but go opposite directions. She says goodbye as she walks off, and I nod to her. I walk to my boss, Helen's, office, see through the clear glass walls that she is there and I knock on the glass door. She motions me to come in, and nods to me as if to say hello, while on the phone. I sit the documents on her desk and walk out of her office.

I sit down at my assistant's desk outside of Helen's office staring at the screensaver on my computer of colorful bubbles bouncing around off of the sides of the screen. The phone rings and I answer it the same way I have been for 3 months now: "Hello, Helen Williams' office, Elijah speaking, how may I help you?" This time it was a photographer who was doing a shoot for a new article that Helen has written.

I work as an assistant to a very popular magazine editor, Helen Williams, and on the side I write stories of my own. I have always dreamed of being a writer, but being just a writer is sometimes not the most solid career. So, I went to school for journalism, in hopes of becoming the new Helen Williams (only in male form, obviously). Then, I got the opportunity to work as Helen's assistant, and how could I turn that down? So, here I am, answering phones, picking up coffee and lunch, basically being Helen Williams' bitch. But, hey, it could be a lot worse.

The photographer asks to speak to Helen, so I put him on hold and tell her there is a call waiting for her. After speaking to the photographer for a few minutes, Helen calls me into her office and tells me to go get her the photos that had been shot for an article being published in the magazine a few blocks away.

So I follow my orders, walk out of the building again onto the busy New York streets and walk four blocks to the photographers office. Many blurs of faces wander by, all looking like they're in a hurry. Then there are the tourists that you can absolutely tell are lost, looking around perplexed. Usually, I would help out those kind of people, only because I was them only a few years ago. But, as I was in a slight hurry, I couldn't help them out.

I walk into the photographer's office, ask for the photos and walk back to the office. But, since I'm out, I decide to stop at Starbucks to get a coffee.

As I open the door and walk into the Starbucks, I instantly collide with someone, causing an array of flying papers, photos, plus a spilled frappuccino.

"Oh, my God I am SO sorry!" I exclaim to the girl, and kneel down to help her pick up the papers she dropped along with the photos I dropped.

"Oh, no it's not your fault. I really should have been looking where I was going," she says quietly, but sincerely, meeting my eyes. She has beautifully captivating green eyes, perfectly in tune with her delicate reddish-brown hair swept up in a ponytail. As she finishes picking up her papers, she gracefully brushes a piece of hair not long enough to make it to the ponytail behind her ear, and she stands up.

I stand up only a few seconds later after gathering all of the photos (thankfully none of them were affected by the spilled drink), and say "Here let me order you another drink to make up for the one I made you lose here," and motion to where the remnants of drink remains.

"Oh, no you don't have to do that! Plus, I have to get to work soon so..."

"No, please, it's not a big deal, it's my pleasure," I insist, then I motion to the workers behind the counter for a way to clean up the frappuccino.

I hadn't noticed before, mainly because I was focused on the drink on the floor and making sure that the photos were untouched, that the girl was wearing nurses hospital scrubs (I've seen enough episodes of Grey's Anatomy to know what they looked like) in a bright-but-subtle mint green color that complimented her hair perfectly.

"So are you a nurse," I ask her, motioning to her clothes.

"Yes, I work at Mt. Sinai Hospital as an Intensive Care Unit nurse. It's a hell of a job, you wouldn't believe what I've seen in there," she replies, shaking her head, and almost shivering at her experiences.

"I'm sure it's crazy in there."

"What do you do...um-" she stops realizing that she doesn't know my name, and I realize that I don't know hers either.

"Elijah," I say.

"Elijah. I'm Natalie, by the way. So what do you do, Elijah?" She questions.

"I'm an assistant to an editor for a magazine, Helen Williams," I say as I notice that we are the next people up at the register.

"No way, I know Helen Williams! I read her magazine all the time! That's so cool, is it so glamorous working for her?!" She says giddily.

"Oh it's something, that's for sure," I say and look at the man behind the counter as we make our way to the counter.

"What can I get for you," the man asks.

"I'll just have a grande coffee, and she will have..." I say and look at Natalie.

"I'll have a grande java chip frappuccino, please."

The man grabs the correct size cups and writes the orders on them with a sharpie. I pay him and Natalie and I continue to talk about our jobs. She tells me that one time she saw a man who got hit by a car and woke up a week later not knowing anything about his past life! I tell her just how glamorous it is running errands for THE Helen Williams, which she finds fairly amusing. A minute or two after ordering our drinks, another man calls for us to pick them up. We both put what we want into the drinks, get straws, and walk outside.

"It was very nice meeting you, Natalie," I say to her on the corner of the busy New York street. "Do you think we can get together sometime for dinner or drinks?"

"That sounds fantastic, Elijah," she answers, smiling. I give her my business card, as we were both in more of a hurry now, and we both walk off in different directions.

Walking back down the street and into the building, I just kept thinking of her stunning smile. What a coincidence that I just randomly chose to get a quick coffee, and end up meeting such a beautiful girl.

I sit at my desk for the rest of the day, doing my work, hoping that she would call soon enough.