The Intern: Tyler, The Creator

15. Cuban Cigars

Next Week

It was Sunday night.

Apart from being an uneventful week, Tyler was rarely in the office this week. He was out doing promotional work for a bunch of companies as well as spending time with my dad about his case.

I was overthinking tomorrow, the fact that Maribel wouldn't be here this week to guide me through whatever Tyler needed.
I pushed it to the back of my mind.

Brent was over watching a movie.

I looked at the time, 8:05 pm.

"Fuck, my dad's probably on his way." I replied, looking up at him.

We were laying on the bed, my head on his arm.

"Movie's not even over yet," he chuckled.

"Your fault for coming over late."

"I told you I was at the—,"

"Studio." I rolled my eyes. "You said that."

He removed his arm from under me.

"I'm really trying, Nia."

"I didn't say anything. I'm just...thinking."

He sighed, getting up and grabbing his shoes.

I pulled him over, kissing his lips before he pulled away.

"I don't want you to feel like I'm stopping you from your dreams. That's not what I'm doing. I just wish we had more time together. I don't even see you during the week–,"

He kissed me again.

"I promise you it'll all make sense. I'm so fucking close," he smiled.

I knew his career was on the line. It was now or never.

...

Monday

The next morning I grabbed my stuff frantically, realizing I had woken up late.

I drove the car fast; rushing through yellow stop lights before they could turn red.

"Hey, is Tyler here yet?" I rushed into the office, greeting Emily.

"Not yet. You have about...five minutes." She raised a brow amused.

I got into my desk, quickly pulling up the emails Maribel had forwarded me. I checked his voicemails to see if there was anything important to let him know as soon as he walked in.

I jotted everything down on a sticky note.

Tyler walked in.

He walked over with a coffee in his hands.

I gulped before continuing.

"Um, Rogers said to cancel that 9:30 today and move it to..." I looked at the messy handwriting on the stick note. Fuck, I couldn't even read my own writing. "2:30?"

"Is that supposed to be a question?"

"No. I mean, I'll double check. Um, also Rachel wants to confirm meeting at 11:15 today on the phone."

"For?"

"What?" I asked.

"Rachel from where?"

"Oh! Rachel from the insurance company."

He nodded. "Confirming."

I wrote it down. Didn't have time to look up the email.

He probably noticed I looked rushed.

"Get your thoughts together and come talk to me in 10." He replied.

I nodded, watching him leave into his office.

Emily looked over at me from across the office.

"First day," she mouthed, jokingly.

...

It was lunch time, and thankfully Tyler wasn't in the office much this morning. He had out meetings.

He did tell me to get him a cuban cigar from the liquor store, something Maribel had told me about.

I had the cash in my bag as I walked in.

"Hi. Can I get..." I turned to see if there was anyone around me.

"A cuban cigar?" I half-whispered.

The man behind the counter chuckled.

"For Tyler right?"

"Mhmm."

"You must be new. I haven't seen you around," He reached under the cash register.

"I'm his assistant for the week. I'm taking over for Maribel."

"Oh..." he put the cigar into rolled up newspaper, putting it into an empty paper bag.
"See he's lucky. He gets all these beautiful women to get him cigars all day." He let out deep belly laugh.

"That's my job," I fake smiled.

He handed me the cigar as I interchanged the cash.

Once back at the office, T was already there. I could tell by the coat on the clothes hanger outside his office.

I knocked on the door lightly before coming in.

He was on the phone.

I mouthed a sorry before leaving the paper bag on his desk. He kind of acknowledged me for a bit.

...

Thursday

I got the hang of it.

By Wednesday, I was a pro. I had everything jotted down by the time Tyler came into the office. I was quick, memorizing his little physical nuances he did, so before he could even speak; I knew what he was going to ask.

I probably had my OCD to thank for that, since I examined every possible aspect of whatever it was that had all my attention: which was Tyler.

When he walked over while touching his lips pensively, I knew he was going to ask about cancelling a meeting. And when he walked over with his hands in his pockets, he was going to ask if I had any questions about the work he assigned, just to kill time.

I could tell he was impressed by the smirk he gave whenever I told him I was done with something before he could even check up on me.

I still felt tense around him; but maybe that was just because he was my boss. That was a normal, universal feeling, right?