As I watched him leave for lunch, I had the feeling that he was staring at me again. Greg’s eyes had found me in the accountant room and I couldn’t help but stop and stare back. He had a way about him. It was impossible to look away, and only when a tall, younger man spoke to him did our eye contact break. It was hard not to look at him, and it was hard not to feel a little shiver run through me when I did.
He was gone, though, and I was able to think again. It wasn’t for long, because the day had been a whirlwind and lunch was more of the same. I didn’t get to go out by myself. I ended up having to go out with the rest of the interns so that more information could be downloaded into us.
By the time we got back to the office, I was feeling overwhelmed and I didn’t have much gusto for the rest of the day. It was just too much information to take in. It was nothing like class. Everything was moving faster, and I was finding it hard to keep up. It was almost impossible.
Three o’clock rolled around and there was another meeting to go to. It was the third one in the last six hours and I was about over them all. I was slouching in my chair when the upper management started to come in. I was not as impressed as I probably would have been a day ago. Maybe this wasn’t for me.
All of that changed when I saw Greg strolling in with that easy smile on his face that I remembered from our first meeting. Our eyes met like they had before lunch, and there was nothing that I wanted to do more than be as close as we were during the interview. I wanted it to just be us, but I was quickly disillusioned of that. The rest of the room came into focus, and I just looked down at the packets of papers that I had received throughout the day.
It took a couple of minutes for everyone to stop talking and find a place to sit. I was already seated, which gave me the chance to see him interacting with everyone. All of the people in the room wanted some attention from Greg. It was more than just his position; he was obviously popular personally. I tried to keep my mind on topic instead of looking at the easy grin and broad shoulders. I focused on the sheet that we had been given before we got there. This meeting had not been named with a title, but it didn’t seem to need one. Greg was there to talk, and when he did, I could see why everyone liked him. He was inspirational, and all of the second guessing I’d been doing before fell away. I knew that it was going to be okay.
His speech was rather short and it was obvious that he hadn’t written anything down. He just winged it, and I know that I wasn’t the only one who felt a little uplifted. After the drudgery of the day, it was what all of the interns needed. I had thought there would be a lot of requests for coffee, but it was nothing like that. We were going to learn their business and all of their accounting practices long before we would ever do anything of value. Even though all of us had been to school, it was like we were getting a crash course just in case we had forgotten.
The caseload had made me wonder if I’d made the right choice leaving a steady income tending bar, but now I was feeling a little better and the mood in the room was back to relaxing. Greg had said what he’d come there to say and it looked like that was it. I was looking down at the packets of papers when he came towards me, and I only looked up when I saw his legs in front of me. He was standing right in front of me, and it was clear that he was not going to move until I talked to him.
“How did you like your first day?”
“It’s a lot.”
He chuckled a little, a deep sound that made me smile. “It will get easier. The first few days are always the worst. I took the same course when I started it up. I remember there was a lot to remember.”
I just shook my head and waited for him to go talk to someone else. I couldn’t take his scrutiny, even though I wanted to be around him. When he had all of his attention on me, it was just too much. As he sat down beside me, I groaned inwardly and prayed I wouldn’t say something stupid and ruin it.
“If you ever need any help, Desiree, just let me know and I will make sure that you have everything that you need.”
His words sounded innocent and sincere, but oh, his eyes said something else altogether. His emerald depths told me that there was a service available if I wanted it. I had to break the contact to breathe and thank him for the offer. I wasn’t ready for what he had in mind. That much I knew.
“Would you like to sit in on an actual meeting today?”
I was feeling a lot of things, but when he threw that life preserver out, there was nothing I could do but grab it. If it meant me not having to sit through another moment of orientation, I was all for it.
“I would like that very much.” I grimaced when I heard the sound and tone of my voice. Why did I sound so demure all of a sudden?
Smiling, Greg put his hand out like I needed help up. The room was still full and I didn’t want to take it, but several people had already seen us and I had to. It was only a quick touch of the hand, but I was already feeling the shiver run through me.
***
I was on cloud nine until the next day. I felt special that I had been chosen to go to the meeting. I knew it was because the boss had the hots for me, but I was okay with that as long as it got me out of having to do more orientation. The next day I realized my error. Nobody else seemed too happy that I had gotten the golden ticket, and I caught several looks that were not very pleasant.
By noon I was sure that misery was going to overshadow the rest of the internship. I had broken a rule on the first day and it was a doozy. Greg was happy and liked to show it, but his attention came with consequences that I was just then starting to grasp.
I went to lunch a little down and sought out my roommate. She always had a spin to put on everything, and I really needed one of them then. I needed a pick-me-up, and I knew that Fran was where to get it. She was always there to pick me up when my pessimism got the best of me. I didn’t want to admit that we had flirted a bit, but there was no one else that I could tell.
She took it like I thought she would, with a little shock and a lot of advice.
“You just have to keep a little more distance from Greg.”
That was not what I wanted to hear. I was hoping for advice to bring brownies and hope that everyone forgot. I didn’t want to keep my distance from the boss, especially when I was trying to make sure that I stood out to get the job.
“I have to work with him if that’s what the internship calls for. I’m still trying to get a job out of this in the end, you know, one that’s going to pay some rent.”
“I don’t like the sound of it, Desiree. You need to be careful of guys like Greg Jefferson. They aren’t even on our level.”
That stuck out with me the most, and when I left, I felt a little better. I was acting like he was a guy that I could have and date. It had nothing to with reality; the reality was that he was so out of my league there was no sense in even thinking about it.