The Worst Ever

Gray

Mark drives us to work. It is a silent drive, the tension is thick, though lacking any heat I previously felt from him. I thought I did the right thing last night by kissing him, but yet a part of me was correct about him not returning his feelings for me. Still, the way he kissed me said something different. I will leave it as it is. I don’t want to make Mark any more upset than he already is.

He pulls up into the driveway that goes towards the parking lot. But I don’t think it is a good idea to be seen in the same car together. “Isn’t anyone going to notice that we are driving together?” I ask nervously.

“Screw what people think,” he says, his jaw clenching, he doesn’t look my way and he stops closer to the main doors of the building so that I can get out and he can park the car.

“The non-fraternization policy, people will think the worst.” I start to panic. He finally looks at me as if he is annoyed.

“It’s too late for that now,” he says.

“Why?” I ask confused, hoping that he has changed his mind about us.

“People saw us yesterday at the club. I put you over my shoulder and carried you out. Sam was there too, and I took your car,” he shrugs. “Who knows what he told anyone else? You put us in that situation, acting like a child. So, if you ever want to be treated as an adult, I suggest you think before you act. Last night, you didn’t think of the consequences. So if you don’t mind, we are already late,” he says. I didn’t know what to say to that. So I take my bag and I get out of the car.

I just take my time to walk into the glass doors of the building, my heart is heavy, and it feels crushed. But what was I expecting? He was right, I put us in this situation, and I put myself in this mess in the first place. I walk to the elevator and push the button, patiently waiting. A part of me hopes that Mark will catch up to me.

The elevator doors open, and I step inside. As the doors close, Mark appears, holding them open while he steps inside. He doesn’t make eye contact with me, he stands in front of me, his back facing me. He puts in a keycard, and the elevator ascends to the floor where we work. I look at him, just thinking about last night, he was in my bed too, holding me. I shake the thoughts away.

“I’m sorry for last night,” I say softly. All I get is silence. That breaks my heart more, this is all on me. The elevator doors open, and we step out into the reception area. Mark is walking as if on a mission.

“Good morning, Jackie,” he greets her as he walks past her desk.

“Good morning, Mr.Stern and Gray-Lynn.” She smiles politely at me.

“Morning.” I return the smile. I hasten my steps as Mark walks down the hallway. A man is standing outside of Mark’s office, an older man, maybe in his forties.

“Matteo, thank you,” he says as I walk past. Matteo hands Mark a laptop bag.

“You are wearing the same clothes as yesterday, Sir. Is the girl good?” I hear him ask.

“She is good.”, Mark says, but his tone is tightly clipped. I take a seat at my desk and power up my computer. I look into Mark’s office and watch him walk over to his desk with his laptop bag. I guess that was in his car last night. I rearranged the paperwork on my desk. “Gray! The office now!” Mark calls out harshly to me from outside his door, making me jump. I take a deep breath and get up from my seat.

I walk into his office, and he scatters documents that will need to be put into booklets. “What can I help with?” I ask hesitantly.

“These documents are put into booklets. We have thirty minutes,” he says. As he rushes through his things.

“Thirty minutes?” I gasp as I hurry to put the documents together. “This wouldn’t be a rush if we didn’t stay at my house late this morning,” I say to myself.

“You were the one who caused this,” he scoffs, and just then, I realize that I had said that out loud.

“I get it. No need to carry on about it.” I say, scanning over the documents.

“I can’t believe I hired you as an assistant,” he says coldly. I brush that aside. “You know what? I can carry on with this, I need coffee,” he says.

“Are you sure?” I turn around to face him. “You got like ten thousand things to do before the meeting,” I say.

“Of course, I’m damn sure! How long have I been doing this?” he raises his voice, which makes me pause everything that I’m doing. “If this is a problem for you, then you are free to work with the rest of the interns,” he says. His eyes are dark with anger. I swallow.

“I will get your coffee,” I say, barely a whisper, and I walk quietly out of his office.

Sam had perfect timing and met me at my desk while I was grabbing my purse. “Hey, how are you feeling?” he asks me with a concerned smile.

“I’m okay, but the boss is in a bad mood, so I need to get him coffee,” I say as I walk.

“A bad mood because of last night? He is still wearing last night’s suit,” he says as he walks beside me. I look into Mark’s office as we walk past. Mark is glaring daggers at me. I look away. Instead, we hasten our steps.

“Yes, that’s why.”

“I wonder what he did after that.” Sam continues with the topic.

“I don’t know, he just dropped me off at home. a friend who lives in my neighborhood who he stayed with,” I lied, “So I owed him a drive back to work.” I say.

“That explains the time you two arrived at work.”

“Yes, my hangover, but I don’t have time for that either. He is pissed off and time is against us.” I say.

“Sucks to work that closely with him,” he smirks.

“I guess it does.” I shrug.

“Well, I know that he is hurting you with the way that he is treating you, but don’t let it get to you,” he says.

“I will keep that in mind,” I say.

After getting coffee, we hurried back. I step into his office. Mark has gathered booklets that were made while I was out. “Had fun while you were out?” he asks with sarcasm. I roll my eyes.

He doesn’t see me standing beside him with his coffee, holding it out to him. As he turns towards me, his booklets make contact with the coffee cup, and it slips out of my hand and onto the booklets, soaking them. “Oh my gosh!” I gasp as I quickly take the cup, and Mark throws the booklets onto the ground. “Fuck!” he growls as he walks out of the office, “Jackie!” He walks back inside. I stand glued to the spot, not knowing what to do. This day just keeps getting better.

“What can I help with?” Jackie asks as he hurries into his office. Mark runs a hand through his hair.

“I need you to make more copies of the rest of those documents for the booklets, as soon as possible. I have the worst assistant,” he scoffs, shaking his head as if I’m not there. I bite my tongue, and I blink back my tears. I throw the empty cup in the trash can and walk out of the office.

I sit at my desk and I decide that I will do some web designing instead. I don’t even go for lunch, Mark’s meeting has been going on for a long time. I was staying strong.

Next thing, my car keys are put on my desk, and I look up to see Mark still looking at his stone-cold self. “I’m sorry,” I say.

“Stop apologizing. It’s because of you that we lost a fucking good deal,” he says through gritted teeth. I look down at my design. I want to cry, but I keep it back a little while longer. I guess I am a shitty assistant. “You can go home,” he says as he walks away to his office.

I pack up and power off my computer, then I walk as fast as I can out of the building. When I get to my car, I don’t start the engine, instead, I sit and cry.