Layla
I walked through Ashton’s office and nudged the door shut with my hip. Glancing around, I tried not to gasp at how nice his office looked. The walls were a dark blue with a black leather couch on one side. He had two huge windows that overlooked downtown New York. Everything about it screamed Ashton to me.
“Good morning,” I said, breaking the silence. His carpet muffled the clicks of my heels as I walked to his desk. Setting his cup down in front of him, I looked at the two nice chairs that sat in front of his desk. Not knowing it if was okay to sit, I slowly sat on the edge of one of them.
“Good morning,” he replied. He looked up and saw the cup I had sat down and a small smile graced his lips. “Coffee?”
“Uh, yes. I didn’t know what you liked so I just got just a regular coffee,” I answered, feeling my cheeks tinting with pink.
“Well thank you.” He took a sip of it. I mimicked him and sat there silently, waiting for him to tell me what I’ll be doing.
“Okay, since you are now my new assistant, I have a lot for you to do. Here.” He handed over what looked like a phone to me. I looked down at it and saw it was the new iPhone. I gingerly held it, not knowing what to do with such a nice phone. I mean I didn’t have a stupid phone, but mine was an old iPhone that I got years ago. “On there are all my appointments, clients’ numbers, and my entire schedule. I advise you don’t lose that like you did your real phone or we both will be in a lot of trouble.” I bowed my head in embarrassment, but still nodded.
“The job isn’t too hard, but it will take a little bit to get used to. I expect everything to be done on time. When I have meetings, I also expect you to be there to take notes then later you will review them with me. Some nights we still stay later than others.” The way Ashton was talking to me, I knew he was in business mode. “I want to let you know right now that I don’t tolerate laziness, ignorance, or incompetence. My employees know what they are doing and make sure it gets it done fast and right. Now.” He stood up and made his way around his big desk. He stood in front of me making me look up. “Layla, I do not mean to be rude to you, but this is my company and I will do anything for it to succeed; I need you to see that.”
I nodded at him, understanding. I knew this was his business. I shouldn’t expect any special treatment and I wouldn’t take any. I did not want to be known around the office as the girl who had probably slept with the boss and got the job that way.
“I definitely understand, Ash—I mean Mr. Miller, sir,” I said.
“Good. I have a meeting at eight, so meet me in conference room 201 and be early. I don’t want my assistant to show up late,” Ashton said. With that, he nodded at me and went back to his seat. Taking that as my cue to leave, I got up and left his office shutting the door behind me.
“Ms. Kingston, you can follow me to your new office,” Judy said, leading me just a few feet away. She came to a stop in front of a pretty big office with glass walls.
“This is yours.” I walked through the door and almost whistled. It looked amazing. I had never had an office before, and it looked like it was straight out of a magazine or TV show. A big mahogany desk sat straight ahead with an Apple computer. On one side of the office was a dark blue couch that looked really comfortable and a couple of chairs almost like Ashton’s.
“Wow, this is mine?” I asked, sliding my bag off my shoulder and setting it gently on the desk, my desk.
“Yes, it is. Now, what did Ashton tell you?” Judy asked beside me.
“This phone has all his appointments, meetings, and clients’ numbers in it. That how he doesn’t like laziness, ignorance, and incompetence. That’s about it,” I said, trying to remember if he said anything about what my job actually entails.
“That’s what I thought,” Judy said, shaking her head. “Okay, well, as his assistant, you will take care of all his meetings; meaning you will set them up, know who is coming and what they want, and make sure that Ashton knows exactly what they are about. You also will look over any files, paperwork, anything that Ashton already did or wants you to do. I am not going to lie to you; this job isn’t easy, even though Ashton said it is. There is a lot of work that needs to get done every day. But I have faith that you will be able to get it done.” She smiled.
“Now I know he has a meeting at eight, so here is a list of things you need to do before then and before lunch. You have to copy the files needed for the meeting so every person has a copy. Thankfully it isn’t a big meeting; it is just a company one with every supervisor from every floor discussing what has been going on and what needs improving. The copies are just of the numbers from the last six months and everything that has been going on in each department. Nothing too big. Thankfully, today there isn’t a lot to be done. Everything on the list isn’t too hard and should be able to get done in just a few hours.” I looked down at the list Judy had given me. My eyes almost bulged out of my head when I saw how many things were on there. A little? Yeah, right.
“If you need anything, I will be more than happy to help. I would start right with these right now. The copier is down the hall first door on the left.” She put her hand on a stack of papers. “You will need about twenty to twenty-five copies. Wouldn’t hurt to make extras.” I nodded, a little dazed. “You’ll be fine, honey,” she said, patting my shoulder and leaving the room.
Okay, I can do this. How hard can it be?
***
Two hours later, I took back what I thought earlier. I was walking as fast as I could in my almost five-inch heels, toward conference room 201. My arms were filled with about thirty copies for the meeting. It was fifteen minutes to eight and I was behind. I didn’t think it would take me so long to make copies. At first, I couldn’t find the copy room, then the printer was so confusing it took me a good ten minutes trying to figure it out, and finally I printed the copies; I then had to staple them and put them in their own binders. After doing that, I had to call all the supervisors of each department and make sure they remembered the meeting was at eight.
Now I was hurrying to make sure I had everything set up before they all started to trickle in. Plus, I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of Ashton. I made my way blindly to conference room 201, not knowing where it was. I was hoping I was heading the right way, and if not, I would be late. I could have asked Judy, but I didn’t want to bother her and I wanted to do this on my own. Thankfully, I saw the number 201 ahead of me. Letting out a breath of relief, I quickly hurried over to it and shouldered the door open. I was now very thankful that I had gotten coffee before I came here. I knew before the end of the day I would be exhausted.
Setting down folders on the empty table, I then put them on the empty chairs that sat all along the wall of the conference room. Carrying the extra copies, I set them in a seat that was off to the side where I thought Ashton would sit. I glanced around trying to see if I missed anything. Seeing a pitcher sitting in the middle of the table and glasses in front of the chairs, I realized I guess I better fill it up, even though I had no idea how to do so. But before I could make a move to grab it, the office doors opened and people started coming in. None of the supervisors paid me any attention, chatting away with one another and finding a chair to sit in. One girl passed by me and her shoulder hit mine, making me stumble in my heels. Luckily, I caught myself before I fell making an embarrassment of myself.
Since Ashton hadn’t come yet, I decided I should just go sit in my chair and wait for the meeting to start. Once I sat down, I held the pile of folders on my lap along with my new work phone, and a notebook and pen for notes. I didn’t exactly know what Ashton meant by notes, so I just thought if anyone said any ideas or spoke up, I’d write it down. In all honesty, I was worried about being here since I knew nothing about this company. All I knew was that very rich people invested in us, and that there were a lot of company buildings all over the US and Europe. Better research what the company is about later. I glanced at the clock straight ahead of me and saw it was past eight. Where’s Ashton? Just then, the door opened and in he walked.
The moment he stepped through the door, everyone quieted and turned to look at him, me included. I hadn’t noticed what he was wearing earlier, but now I did. His wide shoulders were fitted in a black suit jacket, and beneath that was a white button-up shirt with a deep maroon color tie. He had on black dress slacks and black dress shoes as well. His hair was brushed back, with a slight curl to it. A five o’clock shadow graced his well-defined cheekbones and jaw line. I tried not to gawk openly at him, but it was hard. I could see all the other women in the room staring at him as well.
His presence seemed to take up the entire room, making the room extra quiet. He walked confidently to the head of the table, which was right in front of me where I thought he would sit. Nodding at a few people, he walked toward me and sent me a simple nod. I tried not to feel slightly hurt that he didn’t smile at me and that he just nodded at me like everyone else. I knew he wouldn’t acknowledge me while at work, but I still felt somewhat hurt. With a jolt, I frowned at myself for feeling hurt. Why would I, when nothing was even happening between us? You’re hurt because you want something to happen between you. I wanted to deny that but I knew it was futile. I did want something to happen between us and I knew that was wrong because nothing ever could. I was now his assistant. I couldn’t be involved with my boss. While I was talking to myself in my head, Ashton had started the meeting already. Shaking my head, I forced myself to focus on what people were saying and not the handsome man in front of me.
The meeting went by in a blur with my taking notes on practically everything. Before I knew it, Ashton stood up and said goodbye to everyone. Glancing at the clock, I saw it was about 9:45, the meeting having been an hour and forty-five minutes. I dropped my pen and shook out my hand as I looked at what I had written down. I had filled up about three pages of notes and my handwriting was sloppy almost unreadable by the last page. As everyone started filing out, I stood up, one arm carrying the extra folders and the other smoothing down my skirt. A few people lingered in the room talking to one another, but I saw Ashton was leaving so I quickly followed him wanting to ask him something.
With his long strides, I didn’t catch up with him until he reached his office.
“Mr. Miller?” I asked, trying to not sound out of breath as I came to a stop in front of him. Man, I need to work out more often.
“Yes?” He turned and looked down at me. Even in my heels I only reached his chest, maybe shoulders.
“Um, I was wondering what you wanted me to do with these extra folders, and about the notes I took at the meeting.”
“Keep one so you can file it with the others, but the rest you can throw away. Later, we can discuss the notes. What do I have going on before lunch?” he asked in a rush. His voice was so hard and business-like that I wanted to almost slap him and get him to stop talking to me like that, but I knew I couldn’t.
“You have nothing until noon where you have to go and meet a Mr.—” I scrambled to think of his last name. “Terry! At some restaurant called Cucina Italian,” I said. Ashton just nodded at me and opened his office door, then shutting it behind him. I stood there, shocked. Okay. I recalled what he said about filing the meeting’s data work.
“Judy?” I called her name as I walked over to her desk.
“Yes, Ms. Kingston?” She looked up from her computer.
“Oh, just call me Layla. I don’t like being called Ms. Kingston.” I didn’t like being called that because it reminded me of my mother and I didn’t want to go down that road.
“Okay, Layla.”
“Mr. Miller said I need to file one of these folders. What does he mean by that?” I asked.
“You have a filing cabinet in your office and that’s where all files for meetings and conferences go. Ashton likes to keep those data pages and meeting stuff close by in case something happens. The other girls before you didn’t do a good job at filing and I’ve tried reorganizing it, but I haven’t had time, so it is probably a mess,” Judy said, sending me an apologetic smile. I just nodded back and headed to my office to drop off these extra folders.
Great, just great. I tried remembering if I had seen a staff lounging area where I could maybe recycle these. I think I saw one down the hall on the way to the conference room. After a few missed turns, I found it. To my surprise, it was actually pretty nice for a staff room. A fridge was on one side, with a sink right by it. A few coffee tables and chairs were scattered around and a pretty comfy-looking couch sat against a wall. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two bins that were labeled garbage and recycling. My heels clicked on the tile floor as I walked to the recycle bin and threw in the nine or so extra folders. There goes all my hard work, I thought almost bitterly.
“Hello?” a pretty deep, accented voice said from behind me. I turned and saw an attractive guy leaning against the door frame to the room. He had kind of short dirty blonde hair, with a few days’-old scruff along his face. From here, I couldn’t see what color his eyes were but I knew they would be pretty. His jaw line was so defined I bet it could cut cheese or glass. He had on a white button-up dress shirt with a thin blue tie. His sleeves were rolled up halfway, showing his forearms. And he had on a pair of black slacks as well. So, all in all, he looked hot.
“H-Hi,” I stuttered out. Damn it, Layla, talk normal!
“Are you new? I don’t think I have seen you around before?” the guy said, walking away from the wall toward me. He had an Australian accent that could make any girl fall for him.
“No, I am new. I just started today,” I said, liking his accent. “I am Layla, Layla Kingston.”
“Nice to meet you. I am Liam, Liam Bennett.” He stuck his hand out for me to shake once he came to a stop in front of me. I looked up at him, another very tall guy. He had a pair of really blue eyes.
“You too. Do you work on this floor?” I asked once I was done staring at his pretty face.
“Yeah, I do. I do statistical analysis and data reconfiguration,” Liam said. I stared at him blankly having no idea what that meant. “I find and make the company’s statistical numbers. I basically find what we are spending and make sure we don’t go over, and that everything works smoothly with our numbers and money.”
“Oh…cool,” I said, nodding even though I was still confused by what he did.
“What do you do?” he asked.
“I am Mr. Miller’s new assistant.” After the words left my lips, I saw Liam look at me in surprise. “What?”
“Nothing, I just never would have guessed you as Mr. Miller’s assistant.” He shrugged at me.
“Why not?” Did I not look smart enough, or was my outfit not right? I wondered.
“You just look smarter than the others. I would have figured you to be in a more…sophisticated position instead.” I felt a blush coming on but I forced it down.
“Well, thank you. I don’t mind being his assistant though. I’m just happy for the job,” I said, smiling at him.
He opened his mouth but a ringing interrupted him. He shot me a small smile.
“Sorry, I better go. It was nice meeting you. Hopefully, I’ll see you around.” He sent me a smirk and left. All I could do was chuckle and head back to my office.
I shut the door behind me and headed to my desk. I plopped down in my chair and let out a sigh. It was only ten and I was ready to go home. My feet hurt, I was starting to get a headache, and I was hungry. I softly pushed my chair back and forth with my heel as I finally looked around my office. I saw in the corner the filing cabinet Judy was talking about. Groaning softly, I saw pieces of paper sticking out and the door opened slightly. I was not looking forward to having to refile all that was in there. Deciding that I had time to do that later, I turned to my computer and started playing around on it seeing if there was stuff I needed on there. At least I had a Mac laptop at home or I wouldn’t know how this one worked.
After about thirty minutes of playing around on it, I knew I had to start on the filing. It would probably take me a couple of days to go through it and put it in order. With a quick glance out through my windows, I slipped off my shoes and padded to the file cabinet in my bare feet. I instantly felt one of my problems go away as the pain in my feet slowly went away. With a quiet groan, I pulled open the cabinet and went to work.
***
Two and a half hours later, I threw down whatever was in my hand and rubbed my head. I had only made a small dent in the documents. My office floor was littered with papers and I had no idea what most of the stuff was of even about. My headache was even worse and my stomach growled loudly. Grabbing my phone, I saw it about 12:30. Do I get a lunch? Knowing it couldn’t hurt, I slipped back on my shoes, fixed my skirt, grabbed my bag, and headed to go ask Judy. I could really use something to eat and drink.
“Hi Judy,” I said once I got to her desk.
“Hello. I didn’t know you were still here. I thought you left with Ashton.” I stared at her wide-eyed as I remembered Ashton had a lunch meeting at noon and I forgot to remind him. Shit!
“Oh, um, yeah I decided to stay back and finish what I was doing anyways,” I said quickly, lying. “I was just wondering if I get a lunch break. I am starving.”
“Yes, you do. Most leave around noon or so and get back at one. Go and get something to eat. Ashton probably won’t be back until 1:30 anyways.”
“Thanks,” I said, smiling at her. Giving her a small wave, I walked toward the elevator and clicked the button. The doors opened a second later and I got in and headed for the ground floor. A loud “hold the door” was yelled at me, so I quickly put my hand on the closing elevator doors. A second later, Liam came to a stop in front of me.
“Layla!” he said, smiling at me and coming to stand next to me. I could smell his cologne, and I tried to conceal myself from sniffing the air every few seconds. He smells really good, though not as good as Ashton, I thought.
“Hi Liam,” I said back.
“Are you heading to go eat?” I nodded, looking into his blue eyes. “Mind if I join you? I know a great place to eat,” he said.
I thought about it for a minute as we slowly descended to the lobby. I didn’t know a good place to eat. Plus, I didn’t like eating alone somewhere I’d never been.
“Sure,” I said with a smile as I accepted. What could it hurt?