Chapter Five

27…28…29…

I blinked furiously and slumped against the wall. Damn it, can’t this elevator go any faster?

The unlikely situation I was in made me smile. Third day on the job and I was late. For the second time. Technically, it wasn’t third day to be exact. More like third day working with Jake. It wasn’t really my fault. I woke up this morning thinking that it was Sunday and nobody had told me it wasn’t. Even though I lived by myself…but still, someone should have called.

The elevator suddenly stopped moving and I looked up quickly to see if I had reached the 35th floor. To my disappointment, I had not. Instead, a young guy—an intern, I suppose— stepped in, with his hands pressed against the door.

I looked at him curiously. “If you don’t move from the door, it won’t shut.”

“Yes, I know, but I’m waiting for my friend,” he laughed.

“Can’t you wait for the next elevator?” I asked.

“She won’t be long, I promise.” He looked at me reassuringly then turned his head back towards the office.

The second hand on my watch ticked quickly and I let out a frustrated sigh. I don’t have time for this. In fact, if time was like money, I would be in debt.

I took a step forward and with all my might, shoved the guy away from the door and pressed the close button.

“Sorry!” I giggled, unable to contain myself from laughing. I’m actually not sorry at all. It might seem cold hearted, but I was an intern once and nobody, not once ever waited on an elevator for me.

Luckily for me, the next few floors didn’t stop for anybody and to my relief, the bell finally dinged for the 35th floor and I ran towards my desk. When I reached it, I found Stacy and another girl who worked on this floor, Jenna Mason, leaning against the walls of my cubicle with worried looks on their faces.

“You’re late,” Stacy said matter-of-factly.

“I think I know that,” I said. I set the tray of coffee I was holding onto the table and ripped off my jacket and dumped it onto the floor beside me along with my bag.

“You’re very late,” Jenna added.

I sent her a dry look and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “You know, I’m not in kindergarten.

Bending over, I grabbed the clipboard from the tray under my desk and fetched the bag of cranberry muffins that was in my bag.

“Yeah well, you’ll wish you were soon enough,” Stacy muttered.

I stood back up and fumbled with all the stuff that I was holding with my left hand and the coffee I was holding in my right. “Why? What’s wrong?”

Jenna had a scared look on her face. “Mr. Marshall’s pissed.”

“Who’s Mr. Marshall?” I asked, confused. Did we get a new head-of-department or something?

“Mr. Marshall is our new boss, remember?” Stacy explained. I didn’t miss the glint of humour in her eyes.

“Oh right,” I said, ignoring Stacy. “What happened?”

Pulling me by the arm, Stacy led me to the meeting room. “I think it’s better if you deal with the problem yourself.”

With a gentle push, Stacy opened the door to a group of flustered looking models in the centre of the room. Behind her sat Tyler and Johnson, who looked like they were praying for their lives and pacing behind them was Jake, red faced, cold eyes, looking like he was going to kill or at least seriously injure somebody.

As soon as Tyler and Johnson saw me, they jumped up from their seats and began to gather their things.

“Hey look! Jessica’s here,” Tyler pointed out.

Johnson laughed nervously. “Guess you won’t be needing us anymore.”

Pushing fast each other, they stumbled towards the door.

“Sit. Down.” Jake’s voice echoed through the meeting room loud and clear. His sharp tone sent shivers through me and I didn’t know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. Everybody within hearing distance stiffened, and some people came rushing towards the entrance of the meeting room, trying to see what was going on.

Jake sighed and rubbed his temples. “Tyler, Johnson, sit back in your seats. Jessica, I hope you’re aware of the fact that you are untimely late. Stacy and Jenna, thank you for your…whatever you were doing and you guys may go now. Please shut the door behind you.”

I turned to look at Stacy and Jenna who had worried expressions on their face.

“Go, go,” I whispered and nudged them out the door, shutting it softly after them.

Once the door clicked shut, I spun back around to face Jake who had his back turned to the room. Tyler and Johnson were shifting nervously in their seats and the models were now standing at the far end of the room looking scared.

“I’m extremely disappointed,” Jake began. “All you had to do was to get 50 models so that we can pick 10 and then carry on with the last minute touches on the outfits.”

The room was silent for a second and then Jake turned around, glaring at Tyler and Johnson.

“Not only did you not do that,” he boomed, “but the only models that you found were unable to wear the clothes. We are one model short, and even if we crammed the other 9 that we chose, we would have a few extra outfits. The measurements of each outfit were in the file that was handed to you last month. What have you got to say for yourselves?”

Tyler opened his mouth to speak. “S-s-sorry, sir,” he choked out.

“Sorry is not going to get me a model!” Jake snapped.

His eyes shifted to me causing my stomach to churn uneasily. “What’re you still doing there? Grab a chair and sit down.”

I nodded vigorously and walked to the where Tyler was sitting. On my way there, the heel of my shoe wobbled and I fell sideways, landing on the bag on muffins. My clipboard slid to the other side of the room and the tray of coffee flipped over, spilling hot liquid all over my blouse and skirt.

“Ah, fuc – dge,” I cursed, dodging the swear word just in time. A few months ago, I swore loudly after dropping a heavy box of paper on my toe and my old boss, Jamie, made me work over time for a week with no pay.

Tyler and Johnson rushed to my side.

“Hey, you okay?” Johnson asked, picking up the now empty cups off me.

Tyler swiped some coffee off my bare legs, his fingers lingering a bit. “Did you burn yourself?”

I sat myself up and slapped his hand off. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Swatting them away with my hands, I carefully got up and looked at my clothes. Johnson stuck out a wad of tissues at me and I grabbed it and began dabbing the coffee off my skirt. Totally unaware of my surroundings, I hitched the hem of my skirt up a few inches and wiped the tissue up and down my leg, soaking up any left over coffee. When I stood back up, I found Tyler and Johnson staring at my legs like they were a turkey feast on Christmas.

I waved my hands in front of their faces. “Hey. Eyes to yourself.”

They quickly snapped out of it and looked up at the ceiling.

“Perverts,” I muttered under my breath.

I quickly shimmied my skirt back down to the desirable length then turned to look at Jake. He was watching me and looked like he was deep in thought.

I cocked my head to the side and furrowed my eyebrows. “What?”

Taking a few steps forward, Jake rubbed his cheeks with his hands. “Nothing.”

“Um…okay,” I said awkwardly.

After a few seconds, his eyes snapped up to my face. “Turn around.”

“What? Why?” I asked.

“Just turn around,” he repeated.

I twisted my head backwards and tried to look at my backside. “Wait, is there coffee on my butt or something cause I’m not feeling anything and if –”

Jake looked at me like I was crazy. “What? No! Just turn around.”

Doing as he said, I spun around, waddling from leg to leg like a penguin. When I faced Jake again, I waved my hands in the air. “Tada?”

“Huh,” Jake said blankly. He waved Tyler and Johnson over and nodded towards me. “What do you think?”

“Well I’ve been telling you since day one that Jessica’s a catch. But as for the measurements…” Tyler said.

Johnson interrupted. “I think she’s about right. She looks the same size as Michaela over there and Michaela fit into mostly all the clothes.”

My gaze shifted from Tyler to Jake to Johnson. What on earth were they talking about?

All three of them looked at me and crossed their arms across their chests.

“So what do you think we should do?” Jake asked finally.

“Get her to try on the clothes,” Tyler suggested.

Johnson nodded. “Get her to try on the clothes.”

Making eye contact with me, Jake smirked. “Get her to try on the clothes,” he repeated slowly with finality in his voice.

Embarrassed, I stood in front of the full length mirror and turned from side to side. The dress I was wearing barely reached mid-thigh and I couldn’t pull it down since it strapless. The top of the dress hung dangerously over my chest and I took a deep breath, trying to fill in the empty space.

“This is ridiculous,” I groaned.

“Jessica?” Jake called from behind the curtain. “You ready?”

“No!” I snapped furiously and stomped loudly on the ground.

“Come out already,” Tyler laughed.

“Blah blah meh meh, come out already,” I mimicked in a bad interpretation of his voice.

More laughs followed after that.

It turned out that Jake, Tyler and Johnson had come up with a “brilliant” plan which consisted of my being the model that they needed so badly. I myself find it absolutely dim-witted but they threatened to haul me to the dressing room with my hands tied to my feet if I didn’t co-operate. This obviously shows how childish they are but I had no choice. Of course I made a fuss all the way from the meeting room to here, cursing them in everyway possible, but all they did was snicker behind me back. Stupid boys.

I sighed and tugged at my hair. “Okay. I’m coming.”

Tyler and Johnson burst out into laughter. I could just imagine them falling to the floor with tears in their eyes.

“Stop being so immature,” I said sternly and grabbed the doorknob.

The door opened with a slight creak and I stepped out, edging closer towards the chairs where Jake, Tyler and Johnson were sitting.

“Well…” I trailed.

All three of them had their eyes glue to me. Jake straightened up from his lazy lean against the back of the chair and his mouth hung open.

Johnson let out a long whistle and Tyler whispered, “Damn.”

My cheeks heated up from all the attention and I looked at Jake expectantly.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“I – ahem,” he started but stopped himself to cough a few times. “Wow,” he muttered under his breath thinking that I couldn’t hear him, but I did.

“It’s rude to stare,” I said simply, leaning on my left leg and putting my hands on my hips.

That seemed to get a response of Jake because he shook his head immediately and he turned to Tyler and Johnson. They gave him approving nods and he looked back at me. The daze and amazement were gone from his features and replaced by a smile. If it had been any kind of smile, I would have felt a bit relieved, but it wasn’t any kind of smile. It was the kind of smile someone gets when they know something you don’t or they’re about to win something. It was the kind of smile that sent anticipation crawling under my skin and made butterflies erupt in my stomach.

“Well boys,” he grinned, eyeing me up and down. “I think we found our last model.”

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