The Assistant(13)

“Of course not! Be my guest.” I grinned at her, before going into the kitchen and pouring her a glass of water and dropping a few ice cubes in. Then I followed Rita to my room, where she had already begun putting her products onto my vanity. I placed the water in front of her, before blindly grabbing a pair of underwear and going into the bathroom for my shower.

As soon as I returned to the room, Rita ushered me over to the chair in front of the vanity. “Okay, sit down, we need to get started right away,” she said, forcing me to sit by pressing my body down by my shoulders. I barely got to settle in or say a word before I felt a copious amounts of some sort of crème being lathered onto my slightly damp hair. The loud whoosh of the blow dryer muted any conversation that could have arisen.

Once she turned it off, she leaned over and grabbed a blue bottle before I felt more cool liquid being applied to my hair. “I’m going to try and finish by 7PM,” Rita said as she lowered the blue bottle and picked up a curling wand. “Is that enough for you to do your makeup and travel time to get back to the office?”

“Yes, thank you.” I smiled, growing fond of her. We chatted effortlessly about random things. How she met Adrian, her two children and husband at home, the first and only boyfriend I had during college, and funny things that have happened to us. The time had flown due to the easy conversation but Rita managed to keep her promise, finishing my hair just 3 minutes after 7PM.

“Okay, now you can look.” She laughed, handing me a mirror as she referred back to my whining stage of not being able to see my hair in the conversation.

I looked at the hair in the reflection and my eyes widened. “Wow, you really are the best,” I murmured, my hand unconsciously going to touch the style.

Rita slapped my hand away before snatching the mirror from me and spraying a curl once more with hairspray. “Don’t touch your hair unless it’s an accident, okay?! Now, I really have to rush off. Send me a picture of the final product! Actually, I’ll just get it off the internet.” She winked as she gathered her things and shoved them into her bag.

“Thank you so much, Rita. Honestly, my hair looks amazing because of you – and I’ll make sure to let everyone know that if they ask.” I winked too, laughing along with her.

“You’re going to look gorgeous, hairstyle or not. See you babe!” She pulled me in for a quick hug before exiting my apartment in a rush, and I closed the door behind her softly.

I walked back to my room and decided to work on my makeup first, in case anything went wrong and I would have to fix it. I applied liquid eyeliner, 3 different types of mascara that almost made my eyelashes touch my brow bone, eye shadow, bronzer and blush. Then, remembering Amy’s stern advice with a sigh, I rifled through my bag and found the tube of bright red lipstick and applied it onto my lips, instantly making their plump form stand out from the usual light shades. By the time I was done with my makeup, it was 7:20PM, and I rushed to get my dress from the closet on the other side of the room.

I slipped it on hurriedly, then my high heels. After that I grabbed my bag and shoved in the tube of red lipstick, my phone, house keys, a band aid and antiseptic wipes, along with Adrian’s favourite pen and the list of names given to me earlier that day. Finally I was rushing out the door. I was going to be late.

I arrived at Kingston Corp at exactly 7:43PM and stepped out of the elevator, frantic. I hadn’t even seen my final reflection yet, due to the rush of getting here. I immediately headed for Adrian’s office and opened the door.

“It’s 7:45, we have to go,” I announced, as my eyes landed on his back in the corner of the room near a water filter that I hadn’t noticed before.

He turned around as he took another sip of water and spit the mouthful all over the floor as soon as his eyes landed on me. “What are you wearing?” He choked, putting the cup down with more force than needed, his eyes never leaving my body.

My eyes widened in shock. Wasn’t it good enough for the dinner? Was it too plain? Too short? “I- I- I’m so sorry!” I blurted. “My friend picked it out. It’s too tight, isn’t it? I- I’m so sorry. I can just wear the spare clothes that I’ve left here. They’re black and white. And I can rub off the lipstick and I’ll-”


“Shut up, will you?” he demanded, walking over to where I nervously stood. My mouth abruptly sealed itself, too nervous to argue about his rude language. “Why don’t you wear stuff like this to work every day?” he murmured, the green in his eyes dominating the honey brown as he snaked an arm around my waist and took in the dress on my body again.

“W- We really should get going…” I trailed off, suddenly self-conscious under his intense gaze. A blush made its way to my cheeks as he leaned in closer so that I could feel his solid torso through his suit. I mentally cursed. I shouldn’t be paying attention to those things. He was my boss, and a womanizer.

I was about to put my hand on his chest to push him away but he sighed and pulled away himself.

“Let’s go,” he muttered, avoiding my gaze. “Adrianna will meet us there.”

We stayed silent as we made our way to the black limousine waiting in front of the office.

I stopped short and gasped, “Shoot. I forgot my coat.” In my worry, I was barely conscious of just how close Adrian was standing next to me.

“Are you cold?” he asked has he opened the door of the car.