The Assistant(3)

“I’m going to be very quick with this because I have a meeting in 10 minutes,” he said, even before I closed the door. “You are to learn my daily schedule by heart. From the time I open my eyes in bed ‘till the time I shut them. You are to know what coffee I drink and have it at my desk by 8:55AM every day. I only like it made by a certain barista at a specific Starbucks 4 blocks from here. You are to know what size I am in everything – including underwear – and keep a spare item of clothing on you at all times in case something goes wrong. You only get a half hour lunch break but will get a full hour on Saturdays.” As he spoke he was shuffling though a stack of papers on his desk. When he finished, he handed them all to me.

“You are also responsible for any irrelevant paperwork that comes through to me. This,” he pointed at the paper on top of the pile, “Is my planner. You are responsible for organising it fortnightly and bringing it to my apartment every Sunday evening. You can email it to me as well but I prefer to have the original copy in case I decide to make any adjustments. Your working hours are 8:30AM until 6:00PM, but there will be a lot of evenings where you and I will stay back late in the office to manage larger projects. Mrs. Brown, the lady who escorted you here, will show you where your new desk is located. You answer your phone at all times and only refer the important ones back to me. Mrs. Brown will give you a list of who to let through. The line for my office is the number one on speed dial on your phone. Any questions?”

I stared at him blankly before I felt my eyelids blink. “Yes, how do I know what paperwork is irr-”

“Mrs. Brown will explain what is and what is not important for me to see or do, and that will become your responsibility. Now, if you’re not planning on wasting my time with any more of your imprudent questions, I’m going to leave now.”

I frowned and opened my mouth to defend myself but remembered he was my new boss so I just nodded and began to turn around to leave the office.

“Oh, and Ms. Johnson?” he called out, making me turn back. “I suggest you keep a spare pair of underwear in your drawer at all times as well. I’m pretty sure you’re going to be needing them.” He smirked before dismissing me once again, leaving me confused with his statement.

Why on Earth will I be needing a spare pair of underwear at work? I thought to myself as I walked over to the room I had seen Mrs. Brown enter previously. “Um, excuse me, Mrs. Brown…?” I knocked on the open door gently.

The woman looked up from the papers in front of her and pulled her glasses back up the bridge of her nose before smiling. “Ah yes, Emily dear. Call me Suzie. Mr. Kingston has briefed you on your job as his assistant, I take it? You’re looking rather confused. Take a seat, I’ll explain it to you in more detail then show you to your new office shortly. Aren’t you excited? This is an excellent job! And great pay, if I do say so myself!” She grinned brightly, and I felt my lips tug into a smile as well.


I mentally agreed with her. It was a great job, I just mentally prayed that I was going to be able to stay sane around the most attractive male in America (literally, he was voted the number one ‘hottie’ in Cosmopolitan).

***

“DID YOU GET THE JOB? IS HE REALLY AS HOT AS EVERYONE SAYS HE IS? DID HE MAKE YOUR HEART MELT WITH HIS CHARM? DID YOU HAVE SEX?”

My best friend’s overly excited voice screeched from my iPhone’s speaker.

My eyes widened at the last question and I felt my cheeks getting warmer. Even though she couldn’t see me, I knew Amy was trying to make me squirm. “You’re so blushing right now. I can feel it in my blood! You had sex, didn’t you?! Was he amazing? Ask him to do me!” I heard her sigh and I almost gagged into the speaker.

“Amy!”

“What?” she said innocently.

“We did not have sex. It was a formal meeting. He’s pretty rude. And throws a lot of… suggestive comments, but yes, I got the job!” I squealed, grinning at the blank television screen in my apartment.

More squealing erupted from the speaker of my iPhone and I felt my hand automatically move the phone away in order to keep my hearing intact. Once she was done, I placed the phone back on my ear. “Thank you.” I laughed as I heard her catch her breath.

“We have to celebrate tonight! I’ll call Molly and Claire! We’ll go down to-” Her voice got cut off by a soft beep and I frowned and looked at my phone. An unsaved number blinked in my face, signaling that there was someone on the other line. “Sorry Amy, there’s someone else on the line and I don’t have their number saved. We’ll definitely go out to celebrate! Text me the details, okay? Bye!” I quickly hung up and pressed the green button to answer the other call. “Hello?”

“Ms. Johnson, I need you to come in to the office immediately.” It was unmistakably Adrian Kingston’s deep, British voice. My eyes widened in shock. “There is some paperwork here that we need to sort through together and it needs to be sent in by tonight. I expect you’ll be here in less than half an hour?”

“Sir, I live a good 20 minutes away from the office. It’ll take me a little longer than half an hour to get there.” I stuttered nervously. A night call already? I still didn’t even know the location to my office properly!

“If you stopped complaining over the phone and got moving, it wouldn’t take long at all,” he snapped. “I’ll see you in half an hour.” The line went dead. I detached the phone from my ear and stared uncomprehendingly at the blank screen, before shaking out of my daze and rushing back to my bedroom to get dressed for work.