Chapter 9
Chapter
Nine
TIA
I head into work on Wednesday morning wondering what task I will be given today. Maybe it will be cleaning the toilets or emptying the trash bins. If Luke thinks pulling stunts like that will scare me away, he really doesn’t know a thing about me. I am not scared of hard work or getting my hands dirty. Of course, I would love to do something related to what I’m actually qualified to do, but I don’t think the jobs I’m being given are beneath me and I will just get on and do them. When it comes down to it, I want a reference and it’s not going to say on there what specific tasks I was doing, so it doesn’t matter to me what I do really. If Luke thinks the best use of my time is doing menial work, then that’s his bad call not mine, especially as he is the one paying me.
I’ve barely gotten my coat off when Mel is behind me telling me that Luke wants to see me in his office. I thank her and head to the office. I’m a little bit nervous, but it’s not because I’m afraid of Luke or what he might be about to say, it’s because I know I am about to confronted with his handsome face and his lush body and I’m worried I will say or do something to give away that I fancy the ass off him. It doesn’t matter than I’m not going to act on it, just having Luke know I have this crush on him would still be as embarrassing as hell and definitely something I can do without.
I go the Luke’s office and go in when he shouts for me to enter. I sit down in the chair opposite his when he gestures towards it. I was right. He is looking as good as ever and I have to force myself to focus on his words rather than on the way his lips draw my attention when they move to talk, or how I think they would feel on my body, sucking my nipple, moving lower, working my clit and drinking from my pussy.
“Louisa? Are you ok? You’re looking a bit flushed,” Luke says and of course that does nothing to rectify the situation, and I feel myself flushing even darker.
“Yes, I’m fine,” I manage to say. “I’m just a bit hot, that’s all.”
I fan my face with my hand to demonstrate, you know, in case he doesn’t know what being a bit hot means. Luke jumps up and goes and opens a window. A light breeze blows in.
“Is that better?” he asks.
I nod. It’s a really nice breeze actually and although I’m not really hot enough to be flushed, I was on the hot side, and I appreciate the fresh air blowing in.
“How do you feel like your first two days have gone?” Luke asks me, sitting back down.
“Ok,” I say. “I feel like I’m settling in, and everyone is really nice and welcoming. It would be nice to get the chance to do something IT related though.”
I hadn’t planned to say that last part, but I’m glad that I did. I don’t think it was rude or anything like that and even if it doesn’t happen, at least Luke knows I’m keen to get my teeth into something useful.
“You know what makes a good employee?” Luke says. I figure it’s a rhetorical question and so I don’t even try to answer. It seems I made the right assumption when Luke goes on. “Doing whatever task is given to them that benefits the company in some way. And you know what makes a good intern? Doing whatever task is given to them that benefits the company in some way without moaning about doing it.”
“I was hardly moaning. I was just answering your question. I have done everything you’ve asked of me without moaning so much as once,” I fire back, slightly annoyed now.
“That’s true I suppose,” Luke relents. “And I think maybe you’ll find this next task to be unrelated to IT and therefore not suited to you, but I am going to have you do it anyway.”
“I figured,” I say and is that the hint of a smile I actually see on Luke’s face. No, it can’t be. It must be wind.
“Rachel, my receptionist is on leave until Monday. You will be filling in for her. You’ll be answering and directing calls – any that ask for me personally, find out who it is. If it seems important, forward it to Mel. If not, just tell them I’m unavailable. In between calls, you will be filing and doing whatever Mel asks you to do. Basically, the tasks she doesn’t want to do. Do you think you can manage that?” Luke says.
“As hard as it sounds, I’m sure I can soldier through,” I say sarcastically.
If Luke notices my sarcasm, he doesn’t let on.
“Glad to hear it,” Luke says. “Did Mel explain to you about your timesheet?”
I nod, surprised by the sudden jump in subjects.
“What did she say?” Luke asks.
“To record my start and finish times every day and email my time sheet to payroll on Friday,” I say.
“That’s standard procedure, but I would like you to send your time sheet to me to approve and I will forward it on for you,” Luke says.
“Do you think I’m going to try and claim extra hours?” I ask, shocked that he would think such a thing.
“Not at all,” Luke says. “I don’t think that for a second.”
He doesn’t explain any further and I feel like if I press him for a reason, he’s just going to shut me down, so I don’t say anything else. Even if he does think I would try to claim extra hours, he will soon see that he is wrong. I have nothing to hide, and I would never try to rob from a company who took a chance on me, even if they do think I’m someone else.
I decide then that Luke probably doesn’t think I would falsify my time sheet. After all, he thinks I’m the daughter of one of the major shareholders. Aside from that making me pretty rich in my own right if it were really the case, it would also mean that stealing time from the company would be like stealing from my own father, something he can’t possibly think I would do.
I stand up abruptly.
“Well, I’d best get to work,” I say.
“Who said we were done here?” Luke asks.
I really thought we were, but the truth is, no one said it. I think for a moment and decide to beat Luke at his own game.
“Perhaps if you have anything further to say to me, you could come to my office, because I would hate to waste so much as a minute of company time,” I say sweetly but Luke knows as well as I do that I am being massively sarcastic, and this time, he doesn’t let it go.
“Sit down this instant,” Luke shouts.
I do as he says, swallowing hard. I’ve gone too far, and I don’t really blame him for being angry with me.
“What on earth has gotten into you Louisa?” Luke demands when I’ve sat back down in front of him once more. “Your attitude today is terrible.”
I try to think of something believable, and in the end, I settle for a crumb of truth.
“I thought I would be who you think I am,” I say.
“Huh?” Luke says. “What does that even mean?”
“Well let’s just say someone might have let it slip about my father telling you I am lazy and spoiled and to be harder on me. It makes no difference how well I perform on any task you give me you’re never going to trust me with anything useful,” I say.
“Ah. You heard about that,” Luke says, and he has the decency to look a bit embarrassed. “Full disclosure. You’re right about what your dad said to me. Truthfully though I’m not finding anything to back up what he said. Prove yourself to me over these next few days and I will do the same to you. I will treat you like any other staff member, and we will see where we go from here once Rachel is back.”
“Deal,” I say. I grin at him. “I might even still make you a coffee when I have one.”
“Oh yes, that will never stop being a thing,” Luke says, returning my grin, and for the first time, I get a flash of what I think might be the real Luke instead of the one Louisa’s father asked him to be. “That’s all for now. If you need any help with the telephone system or anything, Mel is just across from you, and she will help you.”
“I think I’ll be ok, but thank you,” I say and this time when I get up, Luke doesn’t yell for me to sit back down.
I go back to my office and see that my desk phone has been pushed over so that another phone can take its place. This one is more of a switch board, but although it looks kind of intimidating, I’m sure I’ll be fine on it. On one of my jobs, I operated a switch board much more complicated than this one. That’s how I was able to confidently tell Luke I thought I would be ok.
As I sit waiting for my first call, email, or piece of filing to come in, I start thinking about how much better I felt when I told Luke I knew why he was treating me poorly and how nice it was just to have that secret out in the open and have him lose the attitude he’s so far had towards me. It makes me want to tell him the full truth, but I am far from ready for that. I really think he will flip his lid if he finds out Louisa and I tricked him like that and I can almost guarantee I will be fired. It will be bye bye reference and possibly bye bye bestie when Louisa finds out I blabbed.
I’m just going to leave well enough alone there. I know that means I can never date Luke because the whole relationship would be based on a lie, but if I told him the truth, I could still never date him because he would hate me. At least this way I get to see him and be around him. The most annoying thing is, despite how gorgeous he is and how he looks like he could have any woman he wants, I get the impression he likes me too. Even though he’s been a bit of a dick to me, I have caught him watching me when he didn’t know I was looking and there’s just something in his body language that tells me he fancies me as much as I fancy him. But none of that matters though. I need to stop thinking about Luke and start thinking about my job.
As though on cue, the telephone rings and I pick it up.
“Thank you for calling Sold. How can I help you?” I say.
The caller has a question about one of Sold’s policies and rather than bothering Mel with it, I look up the information and answer the caller’s question. I’m quite proud of myself when I end the call. For the next half an hour, the telephone rings constantly and I find my in tray filling up too. Even though all this still isn’t what I really want to be doing, I am enjoying being kept busy and I think I’m coping quite well with everything over all. Of the seven calls I have taken so far, I had to transfer one to Mel because they wanted to speak to Luke about a supply issue which seemed important, I have told two callers Luke isn’t available and left it at that, and the others, I have helped myself. Another call comes in now and I clear my throat and answer it.
“Thank you for calling Sold. How can I help you?” I say.
“Put me through to Luke Jackson please,” the caller says.
“May I ask what it is regarding?” I ask.
“Board business. Now hurry up. The rates for calling from Europe are damned expensive you know,” he says.
I cringe when I realize my caller is Enrique. Thank goodness he didn’t seem to recognize my voice any more than I recognized his. The joys of a bad line.
“Right away sir,” I say, and I put Enrique on hold while I dial through to Luke’s office. He answers and I tell him I have Enrique on the line for him and put him through.
I haven’t even replaced the receiver when Mel is standing in the doorway of my office.
“What the hell Louisa?” she demands. “You never put calls through to Luke without going through me.”
“It … It was my father. He was moaning about the cost of the call, and I didn’t want him to take it out on you if I transferred him to you instead of Luke,” I stutter.
“Ok,” Mel says, calmer now. “That’s ok. Luke will always take a board member’s call if he’s available. It didn’t even occur to me that it might be Enrique. Considering he’s your dad, you didn’t exactly speak warmly to him.”
“I used the same professional tone I would with any board member. At work, that’s all he is. It would be unprofessional to treat him like my dad while I’m at work,” I say.
Mel considers this for a moment and makes a “mm” sound that could mean anything.
“Well, keep up the good work,” she says, which is very different from the lecture this encounter started off with me getting.
I smile and nod that I will and then I take the top sheet from my in tray and read through it to work out where I should file it. The current year’s files are in the photocopying room and I’m confident I can do some filing in between calls and that if I leave the door to the photocopying room open while I’m in there filing, I will hear the phone ringing and it’s only a few doors down so I can easily come back.
I decide where the paper belongs, and I stand up and edge around my desk. A shadow falls over me as I get ready to leave the office. I glance up and Luke is in my doorway.
“Is everything ok?” I ask.
Am I going to be in trouble for putting that call through, despite what Mel said?
“Yes,” Luke says. “Your father wants to talk to you. He’s still on the line.”
Fuck. What do I do now? If I take this call, the ruse is up. I think on my feet.
“Tell him I’ll call him on my break please,” I say.
Luke opens his mouth, no doubt to argue with me, and I push past him and run to the ladies’ room. The one place he can’t follow me. I know he’s going to be angry, but it’s better than the alternative.
I pull my cell phone out of my jacket pocket as I sit on the closed lid of a toilet, and quickly text Louisa telling her she needs to call her dad and why. She texts back saying she will do it in ten minutes. That’s the main problem dodged. Now I just have to face Luke and try to come up with something convincing to explain my rudeness. At least this time he’s going to be pissed off with something I actually did, not some imagined crime Louisa’s dad reported. I’m not sure if that’s better or worse.