9:15am

I swerved out of the way just in time. I was running late, and the island of Manhattan was buzzing with the morning commuters. The cab driver shouted some profanity out the window as I wrapped my free hand around a street post to steady myself. No one questioned if I was all right, why would they anyway, this was New York for Christ sakes.

I headed up Seventh Avenue towards Times Square. My train from the island had just pulled in about ten minutes ago, after massive delays on the Long Island Railroad in Jamaica Queens.

In my right hand, I held coffee and a donut from Penn Station. My black prada messenger bag banged against the side of my leg as I picked up my pace and grew closer to the heart of New York City. The crowd grew from ridiculous to horrendous in a matter of seconds. The streets not only filled with commuters, but tourists stopping every few seconds to take photos.

I finally reached forty forth and Broadway, and past right underneath the MTV studios. I knew spring would be over soon because of the movie awards signs that hung in the windows of the MTV studios. My office was actually above the studio.

I work for a new entertainment magazine called, Lights on Broadway. In only a few days, we would be announcing it all to the world.

The head of the magazine Charles Hansen created the magazine in early 2010, and it finally was becoming a realization now as the summer of 2012 approached.
I joined the operation last February and was helping run the concert department. With a listing of concerts in the area, a press pass, photographers, and writers, we were able to capture moments from the fans eyes.

Our angle was for the fans, by the fans. We would hire college students to intern for us, and they would bring a crew with them and write a review from their prospective. The student always had a mentor with them guiding them through the process, and helping them improve their skills.
I raced through the doors up the steps towards the elevator. A bunch of employee’s from various MTV, and Nickelodeon shows waited patiently with me. The light on the panel lit up indicating the elevator was on its way. It only took a few seconds to make it down to us.

The door opened and I was forced into the elevator, and directly to the back. There were so many people in the elevator no one noticed me squished in the back, with hot coffee running down my chest.

I was a small girl, only around five foot. Although I wasn’t the skinniest girl on the block I could see how people could forget I existed. There had been many days where I had to show my badge followed by two forms of ID because they suspected me of being a fan here to stalk the rich and famous. However, that was far from the truth.

The door opened on my floor and I stepped out into the well-lit hallway. In front of me was a glass wall with a locked door. John the security guard waved me in as I heard the buzzer go off.

“Miss Gertrude, your top,” he reminded me.

I could feel the warm liquid in my hands again, and looked down at my white blouse, a gigantic coffee stain rested against my chest. I sighed; it was a case of the Monday’s was for sure.

John handed me a napkin from his desk, which was topped with papers and clipboards, his coffee, and muffin, along with several napkins scattered. He knew to be prepared when I was around.

“Get some tan this weekend John?” I questioned noticing his darkened skin.

“Yes Ma’am the Mrs. And I went to Jones Beach this weekend, I tanned, and the Mrs. Well she just looks like a giant lobster,” he laughed.

I found John to be very attractive for an older man. He had dark cropped hair, sweet green eyes, and a charm that had half the women on the floor after him. However, he was definitely was not my type. I laughed in response.

“Sounds like the perfect weekend, you can just tell summer is right around the corner,” I noted. He nodded.

“Definitely is. Now go take care of that stain.”

“Yes, thank you John. Have a good day.” I waved to him and headed for my office.

Yes, I had my very own office; it of course had an amazing view of the city too. Our office was a big square, on the outer edges was the main offices, and in the center was cubicle’s for interns and other staff members.
10:00am

I sat my messenger bag on the desk and noticed a few drops of coffee on that as well. I scrubbed it the best I could before wandering over to my closet where I kept an extra shirt or two. I had to always be prepared for things that would happen, like last week while it was raining a car drove through a puddle and splashed my clothes. I came to work drenched.

I quickly changed into the black blouse I had, and checked myself in the mirror. My boring straight brown hair hung just above my chest. My hazel eyes looked tired and frustrated. I took in a deep breath and tugged on my gray pencil skirt, and shut the door.

The second I sat down at my desk, there was a knock at my door.

“Come in,” I called.

I had said that John had been far from my type, which was true. My type was guys like him. The handsome thirty year old who was head of photography on my team. Mason Hansen, Charles Hansen’s son. Yeah, only in my wildest dreams would I be able to get my hands on him. Besides being head of photography his father also considered him the Vice President. He was also the guy who had interviewed and hired me.

“Good morning Gerri,” he smiled as he closed the door quietly behind him. Only few people called me by my nickname, him being one of them.

He was the type of guy where when he smiled it was like the whole world stopped for a minute to watch him. He had black hair that he spiked with gel, and soft chocolate brown eyes. He was a lot taller than me, around five was seven, and was muscular.
“Mason, everything all set for our meeting today with our crew?” I questioned him.

He made himself at home and sat across from me on the other side of my wooden desk. He placed his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair.

“Yes, they all RSVP’d yesterday afternoon. Marie is setting up the conference room with the photo’s and article ideas that Theresa e-mailed on the Screaming Monkey’s concert,” he replied.

“Excellent, I am running a little behind this morning,” I picked up my arm and twisted my wrist so that I could see my favorite pink wristwatch to check the time.

I paused for a moment, the time read nine o’clock. I tapped the glass to see if maybe there was a glitch. I sighed.

“Something wrong Gerri?” he questioned.

I was still tapping my watch. I looked up at him, and he was now sitting up in his seat. He looked from the watch to me and back again.

“I think my stupid watch is broken again. My only two designer products and today is the day they get ruined.” I sighed.

“The elevator incident?” he questioned knowingly.
I looked up in his direction again after giving up with the watch. I felt my brows rise, how did he know already.

“Word sure travels fast around here,” I sighed.
He gave me a reassuring smile.

“I can fix that you know,” he said pointing to the watch.

“This old thing,” I laughed.

“I don’t think it’s just an old thing, I happen to remember you telling me that it was a present from your mother just before she-,”

I stared at him, my eyes bugging out of my head.
“How do you remember-,” I started.

“I have one of those memories, but Really, I can fix it. Trust me.”

He held out his hand to reach for the watch. I gave him one last glance, and felt my face flush red. I began to unbuckle the watch slowly; I noticed my hands shaking just the slightest bit as I pulled it off. Our hands touched as I gave him the watch, causing my face to burn even hotter.

“Give me till the end of the day, I’ll have it fixed,” he curled his hand into a fist over the watch.

“Thank you,” I stammered out.

10:30AM

I kept rubbing my left hand over my right wrist looking for the watch. I had it on my wrist for the past seven years. I was nineteen when she passed away. It was during open-heart surgery, the doctors tried their hardest, but she just didn’t have the strength to pull through after the heart attack. Dad totally dropped off the face of the earth since then, so that is why I moved to Long Island, got a degree in journalism, and landed a job in New York City.

The door to the conference room had glass windows surrounding it so anyone could see inside. I walked past and noticed Mason and a few others talking and getting ready for the meeting.

“Hello Gertrude,” I turned to find Theresa our
college intern walking up behind me.

“Theresa, good morning, how was the concert last night?” I questioned.

“Thanks to you hiring me for this internship, it was amazing. I can’t thank you enough for making my dream come true. I got into the venue early, and got to watch them do sound check. Afterwards they all came out to meet me and I asked them a couple of questions regarding the show and the tour. Oh-my-god, Gertrude it was amazing,” she smiled.

I had hired Theresa for a college internship back in December. She was a bright young college student from Hofstra University on Long Island. She always dressed professionally, and acted it as well. She wore black rimmed rectangular glasses that made her look like one of those “sexy librarian” types. Most of all, she reminded me of myself when I was her age. She had a dream like me, to write and I wanted to give her the opportunity.

“I am thrilled that you had a good time. Hope you didn’t stay up too late writing that article.”

“Oh no, the words just kind of flowed out,” her smile flowed from ear to ear.

“That’s good to hear,” I said as I opened the door. I moved aside and let her happily walk in first.

“Ladies,” Mason stood as we entered.

I know I am not a teenager anymore, but every time he did that, I always got a knot in my stomach.

“Mason you will never guess what happened last night,” Theresa beamed as she ran up to him.
She spilled the contents out of her briefcase and put it all out on the table.


12:00pm

“Can I get one hot dog, lots of mustard, oh and a little ketchup too,” I told the guy at the hot dog stand.

Aside from the incident in the elevator this morning, I also forgot to put money in my wallet the night before. Luckily, I had a few singles floating around my office, it was just enough to get one hot dog and a soda.

“Thanks, keep the change,” I said grabbing the hot dog from the guy.

I started walking back towards the building. Walking and eating have never been one of my things. Bring on stain number two. I was about to cross the street when some teenagers ran by and smacked into me. Of course, not only did the hot dog land directly on my chest again, but the open bottle of soda I was holding did as well.

“I think you could use one of these,” a hand reached from behind me holding a napkin.

12:20pm

“Thank you for bringing me here, I swear I will pay you back tomorrow.”

I sat facing Mason Hansen in the Hard Rock Café in Times Square. They kept the lighting very dull, and in this lighting, the stain was barely visible, or so I hoped.

“Really it’s no problem,” he laughed.

“Mason, first my watch now lunch, I think I owe you for today,” I responded, not taking no for an answer.

“Fine,” he laughed. “It’s really not that big of a deal though,” he added.

“So how’s your lunch, better than that hot dog I suppose?” he asked.

I looked up after swallowing my favorite rosemary chicken meal.

“You could say that. So what did you think about Theresa’s presentation today, she’s such a wonderful addition to the team,” I was trying to change the subject. I hated the subject of me, and my feelings.

“I think she has potential,” he agreed.

“I was thinking after she graduates to take her on full time with us. She would be an amazing mentor for others,” I said.

“Are we really going to talk about work?” he questioned.

I felt my face get red again.

“Was there something else we should talk about?” I asked him.

“There are plenty of things, like maybe how was your weekend?” he asked.

“My weekend, well it was kind of like how my Monday has been going,” I laughed nervously.

“That bad huh?” he asked.

“Well Friday night I had to take my cat Rambo to the vets, he ate something and couldn’t… never mind we are eating. So he ended up puk-once again I apologize, maybe we should talk about your weekend,” I was still laughing nervously.

“It’s okay it really doesn’t bother me,” he said digging into his dish.

“Let’s just say I was up all night cleaning it. Saturday-actually my weekend was quite boring,” I finished. He laughed.

“If you think mine was any better, I was on the couch all weekend taking care of my sister’s sick kid. She had asked me to baby sit while she and her husband went on a weekend getaway. I love my niece, but after the amount of boogers I have touched this weekend I think it’s safe to say your story isn’t that bad either,” he laughed.

“Well, then I don’t feel as bad.” I could not help but smile.

We talked like that for an additional forty-five minutes. In the end it ended up that, we had lost track of time to the point where we didn’t realize we were almost an hour late for work.

“Check please,” he called the women with the black hair by the bar. She nodded acknowledging us, but not coming back for another ten minutes.

“Peppermint?” he questioned pulling out a tin from his suite jacket pocket. I reached over to get one.
“Sure,” I smiled.

He placed the mint inside of my hand and I could have sworn I felt him hesitating to pull away.

1:45pm

“Thank you for lunch,” I said as we approached my office.

Suddenly, I began to feel like we had been on a date and that he was dropping me off at my front door.

“Really, it was no problem. If you don’t ever give me the money I promise I won’t be mad,” he said touching my arm lightly.

2:30pm
A small knock distracted me from going through some work.

“Come in,” I called.

“You wanted to see me?” Theresa stuck her head in the door.

“Yes, please come in and have a seat,” I told her.
She looked nervous, but I could tell she was trying to hide it. I was looking at her article, it had just been sent back to me from the revisions department with very few mistakes.

“I just received your revisions, and I am happy to say they didn’t change much, just a word or two, and some small grammar mistakes, probably due to you being tired. I found your article to be just perfect for our first issue, and Mr. Hansen thought so as well.”

Her smile brightened and all of the nerves simply just washed away.

“Do you really mean it Gertrude, you don’t know how good that makes me feel,” she said grabbing onto the sides of the chair with excitement.

“There is something else I would like to speak with you about. I talked to Mason and his father about twenty minutes ago. I know you have another year before graduation, but we want you to come work for us part-time as soon as your internship finishes for the school year. Once you graduate if you are still a hard worker we want to take you for a full time position,” I couldn’t help but smile.

I had the girl in tears, her eyes watered so quickly I barely had time to grab her a tissue.

“You don’t know what this means to me,” she cried.

“I think I do. I was in your chair once, and when Mason hired me I felt like there was nothing I couldn’t accomplish,” I told her.

“Gertrude I will not let you, Mason, or Mr. Hansen down I promise,” she stood up.

I stood up as she held her hand out to shake mine.

“Thank you; oh thank you so very much. I have to go call my mom,” she shouted running off.

As she left she almost smacked Mason with the door.
“Thank you Mason,” she yelled back at him.

He looked at me, pointed at her, and laughed.
“You made her day,” he said.

I smiled and sat down.

“Actually we made her day,” I corrected him.

“It was all your idea Gerri,” he said.

“So what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?” I questioned.

“Well first,” he said shutting the door.
“I wanted to see how Theresa took the news,” he pointed to the door, as he got closer to the seat she had been sitting in a minute earlier.

“I already can tell that,” he laughed.

He didn’t sit in the chair, but stood in front of the desk. He reached his hand in his pocket and pulled out my watch. I could hear it ticking in his hand.

“You fixed it?” I questioned. My eyes were not going to cooperate; I could feel the tears well up, just as Theresa’s had. He handed me a tissue with his other hand.

“I am sorry, I look like a blubbering idiot,” I cried letting them fall.

He laughed.

“No Gertrude not you most certainly don’t,” he grabbed my right wrist and carefully pulled it towards him. I was still blotting my eyes with the tissue in my left hand.

As gentle as he could be he carefully wrapped the watch around my wrist and snapped it into place. My heart raced, he did not let go of my hand. He walked around the desk, still holding on and stood only inches from me. I had to look up because he was so much taller.

I had the strange urge to hug him to thank him for fixing the watch.

“Would it be okay if I give you a hug to thank you, or would that be crossing the line?” I asked. He shook his head.

“A hug would be just fine,” he let go of my wrist and pulled me into him.

My ear rested against his chest, I could hear his heart skipping beats and racing. His warm arms gave me comfort. It was strange how it happened, almost like slow motion.

I tilted my head up to look at the scruff that he had on his chin, which I only noticed because of how close I was. He looked down at the same time; my pulse was racing even faster now. His brown eyes kept my hold and I felt my stomach knot again.
He leaned down slowly our faces only inches apart. I could feel his breath lingering on my lips. When they finally pressed down against my own, I thought my own heart had stopped.

It didn’t take long before our tongues had met each other head on. He pulled me as close as he could; it almost felt as if he was taking all of me in. I could smell the peppermint from his jacket and breathed it in.

One of his hands reached my hair and brushed through it passionately. I felt embarrassed as I somehow let out a small moan, but it didn’t seem to phase him.
He leaned me back so I was sitting on my desk. The kiss lasted for what seemed like forever. I had never been kissed like this before. His hand rested on my upper thigh. He pulled away and stared deeply into my eyes. He was breathing heavily and so was I.

“I have wanted to do that for so long now,” he huffed.

I was shocked, hearing that he had wanted me as much as I had wanted him.

“I have too,” I admitted.

“But can we even do this?” I asked him.

“What about our jobs, your father? What will he think?” I asked.

“He has no say in who I date,” he said reaching back down to kiss my lips. I closed my eyes and inhaled his scent again. This time he pulled away too quickly.

“What about working together, if this doesn’t work out that could be-,” his lips resting against mine cut me off.

“Why do we have to worry about the future? Why not take it one step at a time, starting with a second date,” he smiled.

“So today counted as a first date?” I questioned. I hadn’t noticed until now but each one of my hands rested on his hips.

“Unless, you think we should have a re-do?” he questioned.

“Well technically I didn’t know it was a date,” I said.

“Okay then, tomorrow night after work. I’ll make reservations?” he questioned.

“That sounds perfect,” I replied.

“Great, now where were we?” he questioned with a smirk.

“I think you were just about to ravish me on this desk,” I looked up at him with an innocent look.
“I think I was,” he laughed.

He leaned me back and started to kiss me again. The thrill of the kiss left me almost breathless. I wasn’t sure if it was the whole idea that it was happening at work, or if he was just good at sweeping me off my feet. Either way, I found it crazy how one hug, could go so far.

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 29.07.2011

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