and we chased

Chapter 5

ARIA

I'm playing with my fingers, looking at the spaceship around me as I'm waiting for Lewis to show up. Okay, truth to be told, I am early. The moment he said he hates it when people are late, I panicked and made an effort to arrive fifteen minutes earlier.

Since today is my first day of work, I did everything to ensure it's going to go alright. I am wearing my lucky necklaces. I had a talk with Ollie. I am in my favorite color, since the sweater I am now wearing is pink, so is the hair clip keeping the waves together. I matched the sweater with a pair of jeans and some sneakers, both white. Coffee in my hand, vanilla latte obviously, I am ready. So ready.

Now I am just waiting for my boss to arrive.

Lewis enters exactly as the digits on my smartwatch turn 8:00. Someone is over-punctually.

"You're here", he says as he notices me. He seems more annoyed than surprised. Not letting that get to me, I stand up and walk over to him. I take the second cup of coffee from the cup holder and hand it to him.

"I am", I reply. "And I brought coffee."

Lewis raises an eyebrow confused, yet he takes a sip.

"I didn't know what you liked so I just got a latte", I add, hoping it's okay for him. I obviously didn't get him a vanilla one. I am still pissed off at him from yesterday and vanilla lattes are only for the best.

"Next time, you could get a dark one with oat milk", he says.

I look at him in shock. However, I wait until we're in the elevator and the doors close to comment. "A thank you would have been nice."

The doors fly open as we arrive at the top floor. There is only a lobby there, leading to a closed room. The walls are foggy and partly made of concrete, not allowing someone to see what's inside the room. It might as well be a torture place.

Lewis walks straight to the unknown room.

As he's close to the door, he takes a personal ID card and unlocks it, opening the door and entering the UFO.

"Welcome to my office", he tells me as I also walk inside. If the place looked creepy from outside, it is the best room ever on the inside. A huge desk with a computer and some stationary articles, all carefully placed on the table. Some bookshelves with books. A coffee machine. A huge table for conferences or discussions. Some chairs.

But the best thing: a view over New York.

Whereas the wall separating the office from the lobby doesn't allow anyone to look through, the rest of the walls are glass. And since the place is on the last floor, the view is spectacular.

"Your room is over there", Lewis adds, leading me to a through-a-glass-wall separated room. The room is still part of his office, the wall being the only border between us. He can see everything I do, I can see everything he does.

"I was told my room is next to yours", I let out.

He looks at me confused. "It is."

"It is part of your room", I don't back down. "You can basically see everything."

"Do you have anything to hide, Miss Grant?", he asks me.

Deep breaths, Aria.

"Nothing to hide. Only a wish for privacy."

"You are my assistant. It is important that I can walk over to you at all times, in case I need something."

I nod, still not getting it, but wanting to drop the subject.

Lewis walks over with me to my room and leads me inside. The place is okay, I guess. It's small, definitely smaller than his. It has a desk that's empty, only a computer on it, so is the one bookshelf. It also, thank the universe, have a coffee machine. I have a feeling she'll become my best friend. Two walls are painted white, the one behind the desk and the one in front of it. The other two walls are glass. One offering a view at Lewis 'office. The other one showing the city.

Maybe I'll actually love this place.

"I'll ask Tina to take care of your ID card today, so that you can open the door. You can also make a list of the stationary you'll need to work, and I'll have someone get them for you until tomorrow. Everything like pens, pencils and notebooks are included. You already have a computer, as you see. I've already taken care of providing you with an email address. You got a work address, that you can use to write the official emails. In the desk drawer you'll also find your work phone. All incoming calls go through you first. If it's important, you can direct them to the phone in my office. If not, you can either take care of it or direct them to someone else."

He takes a break, crossing the arms at his chest. He should stop doing that. It looks too hot for someone as annoying as him. "I already emailed you the tasks for today. You can start working on that. Today you end work at seven, but you get an one hour break for lunch. You can either spend it in the canteen here or go somewhere else. I don't really care."

Oh, great.

"Do you have any questions?", he asks me.

Not really. Or maybe... "Do you mind if I decorate this place a bit?"

Lewis looks at me as if I need to be sent to a mental health facility. "Define decorate."

"Make something look better by filling it with cute stuff."

"How old are you?", he asks me in a damn serious tone.

"Twenty-three", I answer, innocent smile on.

"Then no", he reply, his voice sounding like it's the end of the talk.

He walks over to his office, without giving me the chance to add something else.

"Asshole", I hiss, mostly to myself.

"We have very thin walls here, Miss Grant", I can hear him reply.

My cheeks turn pink from embarrassment. Giving up, I walk over to my chair and open my new computer. At the first look, I notice it's one of those which have a monitor, a separate keyboard, and a huge black box for the server. I am used with laptops. Preferably with iPads though. This might take me a while to get used to.

"Open", I tell it, pressing on the enter key. The computer makes no sign of life. Attempt number 2. "Please open", I say, pressing on the key again. No sign. "Please", I beg it, now stress-pressing on the key.

"Are you alright over there?", Lewis'voice tones.

Damn it.

"All splendid", I lie, making my voice sound very innocent. It's then my gaze wonders to the big black box, which has a little "on"-button on it.

"Bingo", I whisper, pressing it. The screen starts lighting up and I lean back relaxed, taking a sip from my latte. One small step for humanity, one huge step for Aria Grant.

I sneak a glance at Lewis to notice if he's looking or not. He's not. Which means he hasn't seen my little computer mishap. I open the mail app, notice my new email ends with @apollo.com and start going through my mailbox. A welcome email stating the terms and conditions of my account. One email from Ms. White, welcoming me in the APOLLO team and telling me I should start calling her Tina, one email from this guy called Ben who apparently is the tech guy here and told me some infos about my new email. And one email from Lewis.

Sorry, "Mr. Cunnan".

Miss Grant,

today I would like you to do the following things.

1. send an email to our partners at Desmond Group asking them for a meeting regarding the new tires.

2. make phone calls with Gilbert Enterprises and Cornwell Tech.

3. get me sushi for lunch.

Have a productive day.

Lewis Cunnan

Ladies and gentlemen, turns out I just found my new goal in life. Get my boss sushi for lunch.

Sighing, I start to type an email.