“It was a simple choice actually. The add popped up at least ten times while I was applying to other jobs, but most places want you to have real world experience first and I just don’t have that.” She shrugged, taking a bite of her pizza. I followed suit.
“You’ve never had a job before?”
“Actually, no.” Erica ducked her head and swallowed the bite, covering her mouth with her hand. She was shy about this, but I didn’t want her to be. I wanted her to feel comfortable here. I needed her to feel that.
“I hope we give you everything here to make it an easy transition.” I looked over at Greg, who had devoured three slices already and had piled even more on his plate. He was chatting up Delilah and Marcus, one of the illustrators we had on staff. “I’ll make sure he stays in line.”
I nudged my head toward Greg and Erica let out a small laugh.
“He seems nice. Everyone here does.” She beamed up at me and then looked around the room. I followed her gaze and knew exactly what she meant. This place was a family. Most of us started with the company just two months ago, once the guys graduated with the summer program.
We all worked well together and it made me even more excited to see what Erica could bring to the team.
What she could bring to our family.
Erica
I watched everyone around the room with awe and then turned back to Chase, who was staring directly at me.
Since I walked in this morning, I felt his presence everywhere I went. Like he was right next to me each time, and when I decided to be brave and sit down next to him in the small room we were in, I lost all nerve I thought I had.
Yeah, I had taken the seat, but I had chickened out on telling Chase I knew who he was. I introduced myself, a hope rising in my heart that he would hear me say my name and know who I was, but no such luck.
All hope was lost when he introduced himself too, but then I thought about how this could work in my benefit. Even though I wanted Chase to remember who I was, our past was just that, our past. We were both two completely different people than when we were back then, and it was high time that I actually learned who Chase was, rather than just following him around silently on social media. I could be his friend first, spend time with him, and then have him fall for the girl he had already fallen for once.
How hard could that be?
“We try to be nice as much as possible, but all this testosterone in one building sometimes builds up.” Jack made a comment from across the room. I learned today from Max that Jack and Greg were twins and it shocked me, but seeing them in such close proximity, I could tell they were related, with no questions asked.
“Jack.” Max pointed to him with a warning look and I just snickered and snuck a peek back to Chase, who still had his eyes on me.
A blush crept across my face and I wondered if it would be like this every single time I saw him. Like the seven-year-old summer camp crush was coming back to life.
“What? We can be open with her. She’s probably one of the best hires we have here.”
“She is,” Greg spoke up after his brother.
I looked around the room and none of the other employees objected.
“What did I miss?” Chase sat back in his chair and looked from Greg to Max.
“She already knows half of what I was ready to teach her.”
I dipped back into the chair I was sitting in. I hadn’t expected to know as much as I did when coming into the job, but it seemed all too perfect, me getting the job here. I hadn’t figured it out until I was halfway through talking with Greg that the software app I had created in college was bought out by Max. I was able to show them around the app, even offering up new updates I could do that would help the company out even more.
“Good job, rookie.” Chase poked fun, but from the way he looked at me, I knew he meant it as a compliment.
“Thanks.” I went to go tuck a piece of hair behind my ear, but it was already pinned back, so I set my hands in my lap. I shrugged and finally spoke up to Chase about what Max and Greg already knew. “It helps that I worked with the program we use for the marketing department with scheduling, payments, and royalties.”
“Worked with it.” Greg huffed out and I knew where he was going with this, but I didn’t want the credit, even though technically I deserved it. “Shecreatedthe damn program, Chase.”
“What?” Chase questioned. I looked at where he had put an arm on the back of my chair and I leaned back into it, trying to find some sort of comfort in all the attention. Every single person in the room was staring at me and all I could think about was how to make a comment about who was working and that we should get back to it, because clients were probably trying to reach us. But since Max was sitting here with us, it probably wasn’t an argument I was ever going to win.
“Yeah.” I glanced at Chase, trying to hold on to his features as I made everything else around me fade. I watched as his sculpted jaw ticked and was mesmerized by the slight stubble that was peeking through. Chase was most definitely a man now. A man I wanted to be proud of me and what I had done in the world.
I met his bright green eyes and smiled to myself.
He looked so concerned, not from what we were talking about, but with how I was dealing with all this attention. Like he knew just how uncomfortable I was, but when looking into his eyes, knowing that everyone was staring at us, the unease I felt went away.
