"What the hell?" Brian asks as we walk into the building. Monday was and still is the most anticipated day.

"Yeah, I know. I'm kind of scared." I admit.

"First rule to surviving in prison: don't admit that you're scared." Brian tells me with a laugh.

"You're not helping." I groan.

"Oh come on, it really won't be that bad. Hey, maybe Grayson will be really cool with you." He tries to point out.

"Or he's a complete monster and I quit sooner rather than later." I counter.

"You will be fine." He assures me. "Plus, this might just be the perfect time to ask him about joining my time." He reminds me.

"Yeah, I'm sure that would go over well. Considering the fact that Justin automatically assumed you only talked to me because we were hooking up."

"Okay, well Justin is a literal dumbass. Don't even worry about it. Half of the people here already know that I'm happily taken." He says.

"I hope you're right. I just don't understand why everything has to be so complicated. I wish I could just go completely unnoticed here." I tell him as we approach the coffee bar.

"Oh come on, it's not all that bad. Think of it this way, at least the head of the company believes that you stand out. Hell, Grayson hasn't had an intern since...Well, I don't think he ever has. So, that's saying something." He says before giving the cashier our order.

"I hope you're right. Seriously. Because I would hate to be the most hated person in this office and also have absolutely nothing to show." I say.

As the man gives us our coffee, Brian hands me an extra cup.

"For Grayson. Maybe this will be a good start to your first day. And like I said, just relax. Grayson is incredibly smart and has a lot to share with you, I'm sure. Just ask him questions and I'm sure he'll be more than happy to teach you what you want to know." He tells me. "Now, head on upstairs. You're going to be late." He tells me, ushering me off.

"Thank you. Seriously, you're the best." I say behind my shoulder as I walk towards the elevator quickly.

Thankfully, there's no one else in the elevator when I get inside. The ride upstairs is some of the only peace and quiet I get every day, so I'm thankful for these last few moments.

The elevator doors open revealing Grayson's floor. Which is technically my floor, now. It's so quiet compared to the rest of the building. There are a few rooms up here, but most of them are empty. I'm assuming that Grayson is the only one who stays on this floor, but I wouldn't be surprised if Shane stayed up here too.

I approach Grayson's office and knock on the door gently. I hear a faint voice on the other end followed by shuffling.

Grayson opens the door and looks down at me. He steps to the side and gestures for me to come inside.

"Good morning, sir." I say with a bright smile. Am I looking too eager?

"Good morning, Natalia." He says with a brief nod of his head.

"I brought you some coffee." I say, holding the cup out towards him. He looks at it warily before taking it from my hand and setting it down on his desk.

"Thank you." He tells me with a tight smile. "I don't drink coffee." He informs me.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know." I say quickly. "I can go and get you another drink, if you'd like?" I offer.

"No need for that." He tells me, taking a seat at his desk. "There's a first for everything, right?" He asks before taking a sip out of the cup. His nose wrinkles up as he swallows the bitter coffee.

"You don't have to drink it." I offer gently with a shrug. He nods and sets the back down onto his desk.

"Thank you." He says anyways. So much for that great first impression. "So, I spent some time this weekend getting your office ready." He tells me.

"My office?" I ask.

"Yes. You get your own space as an intern." He tells me.

"I do?" I ask.

"Yes." He says, standing up and leading us into the hallway. We walk down a few feet and enter a room right next to his office. When he opens the door, I feel my eyes grow wider. This office is bigger than the small desk I had while on Team 3. Hell, I'm pretty sure this room is bigger than the office that even Justin had.

"Mr. Parker, you really didn't have to do this." I say. "This is way too much for me."

"Please, call me Grayson." He reminds me once more. "I hate being called Mr. Parker." He informs me.

"Oh, I'm sorry." I say quickly, turning to look at him. "Grayson. This is really way too much for me." I tell him again.

"This is the smallest room on the floor." He tells me with a shrug.

"Okay well...thank you." I say with a small smile.

"It's no problem. Now, let's go back to my office and discuss a few things. Then, I'll leave you to get settled and to begin working on whatever you need." He says, leaving the room and walking back to his office. I take a second to look around my new space before exiting.

As we enter his office, he gestures for me to take a seat in front of his desk.

"So, I would like to talk about the incident that happened the other day." He says, looking down at his hands.

"Okay." I mumble nervously.

"Can you tell me how long this has been going on?" He asks me, glancing up at me momentarily.

"How long what has been going on?" I ask.

"How long has Justin been treating you this way." He states.

"He hasn't ever treated me poorly, Sir. I didn't even know that he felt that way. I was just going to my desk that morning to pick up a few things for the weekend. I just walked up and heard them talking and...well, you know the rest." I mumble.

"Has he ever made comments like that before?" He asks.

"No, never." I say quickly, "No one has." I rephrase.

"It's disheartening to hear things being said like that to other people in this company. Especially for a Team Leader to be saying that about his Intern." He says, picking at the skin around his fingernails. "Has Justin ever made you feel excluded from work?" He asks.

"Can I be honest?" I ask softly.

"Please."

"Everyone here has made me feel excluded from work." I admit. "I think it's just because I'm a girl and everyone else here are..."

"Men?" He asks.

"Pretty much."

He sighs and nods his head, grasping onto everything I have said so far.

"Grayson?" I ask gently.

"Hmm?" He asks, looking down at his phone before typing quickly.

"Is Justin in trouble?" I ask.

Grayson looks up at me with a look of confusion.

"I'm going to fire him." He says simply.

"Wait, what?" I exclaim, shaking my head in disbelief.

"I'm going to fire him." He repeats in the same voice as before.

"No, I heard you. I just mean, why? It's not that big of a deal." I tell him.

"A Team Leader was gossiping with another Leader about their Intern. Not only that, but they're making accusations involving other people in this company. I'm going to fire him." He explains.

"But...this is his job. This is what feeds his family and keeps a roof over their heads." I say.

"He should have thought about that before making those accusations. He-"

"Please, don't." I say quickly, cutting his words off.

"Don't?" He asks, confused by my outburst.

"Yes. Don't." I repeat.

"He is excluding you from work activities. He is talking about you to other members on the team. I don't want anyone else to feel the way that you do here." He says gently.

"I don't care? I'm a tough girl, Grayson. I can take care of myself." I say.

"I understand that, but that doesn't make it fair." He says.

"Okay, and life isn't always fair. Listen, I know that ultimately I don't have a say in any of this...but please don't. I don't want Justin to lose his job just because of some stuff that he said in pure anger and jealousy. He just didn't want to lose to a girl in this app design. That doesn't mean that he should be fired because of stuff he said without thinking about. Please, Grayson. Don't fire him. Please." I say, nearly begging.

If Justin gets fired, then everything that everyone is saying about me will only get ten times worse. Not only will people dislike me, but they'll also think that I'm the biggest snitch in the office.

"Okay." He says, nodding his head. "I won't fire him."

I let out a visible sigh of relief, "Thank you."

"But, if this happens any more, then they will have to be held accountable." He says.

"Yeah, totally. I'm sure they won't do anything like that ever again." I say.

Grayson nods and stands up from his chair quickly. He begins to guide us back into the hall and stops right outside of my office.

"Well, I will leave you to get settled in. Just let me know if you need anything." He says.

"Uhm, I don't really have anything to get settled yet so..." I mumble, not knowing that I was supposed to bring things for my office. Hell, I didn't know that I was going to get an office. I was going to be happy to even get a desk in the corner of the room.

"Oh, right. Well, you can begin working on whatever you have to do." He says quickly.

"Uhm, Justin usually just gave me a list of things to do every day." I say.

"Well....you can begin working on your app. I'm sure there is still a lot of improvement to be done there." He says. "Not that I think that you haven't been working on your app or that it needs improvement. I just thought that-" He says, correcting his original statement.

"No, no. There is still a lot that needs to be done. Thank you." I say reply, wanting to take the pressure off of him.

"Okay. Yeah. Good." He says, nodding his head.

"Well...I'll just go ahead and begin work on that. Do you need anything before I go? I ask.

He stares at me for a moment before shaking his head no and then walking back into his office.

"Alright then." I mumble as I close my door behind him. I look around my empty space and smile to myself. This place is fucking huge. This is so much better and so much nicer than my small desk outside of Justin's office. This is...official. I now have one of the biggest office's in this company. Given, Grayson's office is the size of my entire apartment...but who cares.

As I walk to my desk, I see a small silver name plate sitting in the middle.

Natalia Zamora

I have an entire name plate sitting on my desk. A fucking name plate.

Any fear I had earlier has completely dissolved at this point. I think this move is going to be the best thing to have happened to me.

"Thank you, Grayson." I mumble out as I take a seat in the large leather chair and look out of the window, revealing all of downtown LA below.