Taking the stairs two-by-two with an untasted Pop-Tart still in my mouth, I shoved through the glass doors to a beautiful fall day outside my rundown apartment building. It was the best I could afford and much preferable to the ‘suite’ my parents had set up in the basement while I attended college.
I’d wanted to go away for college and experience everything on-campus living had to offer, but they wouldn’t hear of it. The term helicopter parenting could have been created with them in mind.
They were determined to keep watch over their precious little girl, which was part of why I was still a virgin at nineteen. That, and the fact that I was a nerd.
I loved facts, particularly math. I’d wanted to major in it, but Dad wouldn’t allow it, decreeing that math was a man’s discipline.
It wasn’t sexism per se. It was more that he didn’t want me surrounded by hot, young guys. As if all math nerds looked like the two Brians—Cox, the British physicist and Greene, the American physicist—both of whom I had posters hanging on my bedroom wall throughout high school. While other girls had Bieber, I had the Brians.
Following my dad’s wishes, I found something more ‘girly’ to major in; I studied journalism, focusing on business and finance. The degree just said B. Journo, so he was none the wiser. He was just happy and proud that his little princess had graduated with honors.
One drawback to being an only child, let alone the only daughter, was that my parents refused to let me drive. Now that I was free, I would learn and get my license, but, for now, I took the bus to get where I had to go.
Over the years, I’d learned to love public transport. Mom and Dad didn’t mind paying for that because they considered buses far safer than cars, and it could be a math kid’s dream trying to figure out the exact schedules, which I did.
I often knew them better than the drivers themselves. At least, that was how it used to be before I moved to Brooklyn.
My parents hadn’t been happy when I said I was moving, but they couldn’t stop me since I was an adult who no longer needed their help with college tuition. While they didn’t give me their blessing, they didn’t stand in my way, either. My grandmother had unfortunately passed away, leaving me enough money to help cover rent and living expenses for quite some time.
Crap. Now I missed the bus. Making my way to the vacated bench, I tried to calm my mind. It couldn’t be that long before another one came along.
Time was a funny thing. It seemed to fly when you were enjoying yourself and ground to a near halt when under stress. I only had to wait twenty minutes according to my watch, but it felt a long longer than that.
It was my first day, and I’d wanted to get in super early. I had only one chance to make an initial impression. I knew from hard experience that that first impression could last forever.
Once I finally got on and then off the bus, I was in such a hurry to get to the office that I forgot to change my shoes before entering the building. Opting for an empty elevator instead of the stairs, which would have been faster, I swapped over.
When the elevator doors opened, I looked put-together and professional as I strode up to the reception counter, hoping I appeared a lot more stable than I felt.
“Shit,” the woman behind the reception desk muttered.
“What?” I inquired, despite myself.
Without a word, she came steaming toward me. Taking me by the hand, she led me to a small office beside the copy room.
“I’m Charli,” I tried to say, although it came out in a squeak.
“I know,” she said, glancing all around. “Sorry about that, I just didn’t want him to see you when he arrives.”
“Who?” I asked innocently.
“Mr. McInnes.”
“Oh.” My forehead furrowed at the mention of the CEO’s infamous name. “Why don’t you want him to see me?”
“He’s wonderful at what he does and not vindictive in any way. He can just be a bit intense when he isn’t happy. And at the moment, he’s super pissed. He cycles to the office every day and was cut off more than a few times this morning. People are in a panic over the pandemic and are treating everyone as the enemy.”
Great. Exactly what I needed, a pissed-off boss.
I had heard of bosses being total assholes, shouting at their assistants, and even throwing things. I was mentally prepared for that, but what she was saying sounded almost sinister.
“So, you know who I am?”
“I do.” She nodded, seeming to relax a little. “I reviewed your application and had you fully vetted. We had about a million girls wanting the job. Vetting them all fell to lucky old me. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I love my work. There are just some particular pitfalls. Like with anything, I guess.”