“Who?”
“Jane Greiner. The new social media lady that won that competition. She’s the one you chose remember. The one that you fought to have over the other guy.” Alison sounded annoyed with me. She was always reminding me about things that I had forgotten. But that was her job. That was why I hired her.
“Oh of course. Sorry, I was daydreaming. Yes, please send her in.” I hoped that this wasn’t going to go on for too long. I had far more important things to do that day.
Alison walked in with Jane and I nearly fell off my chair. It was the same Jane that had spilled coffee all over me not so long ago. I hadn’t for one minute put two and two together when she said her name and from the look on her face I could see that she hadn’t either.
“Thank you Alison. Jane, please sit down.” I waited until Alison closed the door before continuing. “Goodness, I did not realize you were the one coming in today. Well, we’ve already met then. But like I said before, I’m Sebastian.”
“YOU run this casino?” She asked and sounded incredulous.
“Yes. Why? You look surprised.”
“I guess I just thought that somebody older would be running it. I don’t know – that’s silly I guess. Well, what an entrance I made then. Again, apologies for the coffee spilling and the card not working. I promise that things will get much better after that.” I couldn’t figure out what to make of her then. She seemed a bit stand-offish suddenly and I wasn’t sure if it was because she was embarrassed about what had happened earlier or whether she wasn’t too pleased that her boss was a man her age.
“Well, like I said, it’s no problem at all. I had a clean shirt at the ready and as you can now see, a cup of coffee is the least of my worries. Before we get into it, I’d like you to please read through these papers. I know it’s a bit long but it details exactly what you can expect from the job and what we expect from you. If you’re happy with it all please just sign your name on each of the pages. We can continue after that.” I handed her the pages and watched as she carefully read through each page one at a time. Most people that came for a job skimmed through these pages quickly but Jane was looking at each word at a time – making sure that everything was in order. I was both frustrated and impressed by this. I sat back and watched her. I was glad that I had a moment to assess her without her looking at me. She certainly wasn’t striking and by no means would she win any modelling contest. In fact, if I had to use one word to describe her I’d probably use the word average. Or plain. Yes, plain Jane. But yet, there was certainly something about her. She was pretty and she had some edge about her that I couldn’t quite place. She was… Interesting. Yes, very interesting. I was surprised not to see her in a suit – as seemed to be the case with most people on their first day, but I quite liked what she was wearing. Her jeans were tight and her green shirt looked good against her skin. Her best asset was definitely her breasts – which were clearly visible through her shirt under certain lighting, and I was lucky enough to be able to see them clearly at that moment. I looked up and said a little silent thank you to my bright light bulbs. They were very big for her otherwise small frame. When she looked up I quickly looked her in the eyes so that she wouldn’t see me staring down and I smiled.
“All done? You happy with everything? Let me know if there is anything that you think might be missing or anything that is wrong.” I asked. I truly didn’t want to hear that anything was wrong but I needed to be polite. I was the boss after all and this was her first day.
“All done. Sorry I took so long. I’m a little bit obsessive with details. Yeah, everything looks to be in order. Abbie actually ran through everything with me on the phone when she told me that I’d gotten the job and this is all in line with what she said. I’m very happy with this.”
“Ah… Abbie. Always on the ball that one. She gets so annoyed with the rest of us so it looks like the two of you are going to get on just fine. So, Jane, I just wanted to tell you that I was very impressed with your proposal. We whittled it down to three people and after that it was a fight between two. Both Abbie and I both wanted you and, of course, as the boss I got to make the final decision. So… don’t let me down, okay?”
“Oh I definitely won’t let you down. I wanted this job very badly.” And something in her voice made me believe her.
“As you can see, the casino is running very well at the moment. The only area that we are lacking in is our social media side of things. Which is why we needed someone with a good head on their shoulders to come in and take charge. What I especially liked was your idea to start interacting with the public more and your examples of how well this has worked for your other clients in the past. You say that the public don’t want to see us as just a company but they want to see us a people who run a company. It sounds like you want to personalize us a bit more in order for the public to relate to us. Am I right in that assessment?”
“Absolutely. And I have tons of ideas on how to make it happen. Most of the time it’s really just being available behind the computer to not only market the company but to also listen to what the public are saying. Companies just don’t listen enough these days – and something like that can make all the difference.”
“I like you Jane. I think this is going to work well.
“Thank you Sir, me too.”
“Sir? Since when am I Sir. No, call me Sebastian.”
She laughed, and suddenly she didn’t seem nervous any more to be around me. I wasn’t sure if I liked that or not. “Sebastian. Thank you. I’m looking forward to it.” She had a twinkle in her eye and I wondered if there was a little more to this plain Jane than I first thought.
Chapter 10 - Jane
After going through the papers meticulously, I finally handed them over to Sebastian, telling him that everything looked perfect. I tried to sound nonchalant about it all but the truth was that I was doing somersaults in my mind at what I had just read. Abbie hadn’t quite finalized the final pay amount to me, only giving me a rough idea at the time. But the amount that I just saw on the paperwork showed that I would be getting twice the amount that I had initially expected. Which meant no more cards getting declined in front of cute men.
“Okay Jane, I think that’s it then. Abbie, who you spoke to on the phone, will come in and take over from here. She’s going to help get you all set up today. Thanks for coming in. Lovely to meet you and I look forward to seeing all the great work that you do for us.” Sebastian said. I could swear I caught him looking quickly at my breasts but I couldn’t be sure. Probably not. But why did I almost wish that he was? I would normally be very upset if I saw somebody looking at my breasts instead of at my face – and yet something about this gave me pleasure.
I smiled at him, still trying desperately to keep my composure. I still couldn’t believe that this was the man that I had been flirting with not so long ago. Worse, this was the man that I had spilled coffee all over and the man that had seen my card get declined. The man that I could barely look at because he was so damn hot. “Thank you Sebastian. I’m looking forward to working here. I already have some great ideas. It’s hard not to have ideas in a place like this.” I hoped that I sounded professional and worthy of the job.
I watched as he picked up the phone, trying not to stare at his perfection and yet at the same time desperate to find something imperfect about him. “Alison, please call Abbie into my office. Thank you.”
We waited in silence until Abbie came in and I breathed a sigh of relief at the prospect of getting out of his office. His office might have been big but I felt the walls closing in on me the longer I sat there. I was glad that I wouldn’t be working alongside him because he was far too much of a distraction. I still couldn’t believe that my new boss was the man that had seen me make such a fool of myself. I knew that if Danielle was in my place something like that never would have happened. Abbie walked in with a slight jump to her step and I felt an immediate liking to her. She was short, slightly plump in all the good ways,
and had a smile on her face that was definitely genuine. I felt myself relaxing around her.
“Right, I’ll take over from here Sebastian. Hi Jane, I’m Abbie – lovely to meet you.” She came straight over and shook my hand. It was a firm handshake and I could see that she was used to doing business and to dealing with people. There was nothing nervous about the way she moved. She was confident in a very friendly and easy going way.
“Are you pretending to be the boss now Abbie?” Sebastian asked her with a cocky voice and I wasn’t sure if he was mocking her or teasing her.
“Eat your words Sebastian. One day I’ll be the boss of you.” She laughed, not in the least bit nervous around Sebastian. Perhaps one day I’d be able to be that cool around him too.
“Come on Jane, this way.” She motioned for me to follow her and I nodded awkwardly at Sebastian as I walked out. He grinned at me and again I couldn’t be sure if he was laughing at me or simply being nice. He was definitely a very hard person to read – unlike Abbie who seemed like an open book.
I walked out with Abbie and listened while she talked about the office and where I would be sitting. “I’m so excited to have you here Jane. We were blown away by your proposal and I knew from the moment that I spoke with you that you were going to be the one for this job. And luckily I didn’t have to convince the big man himself – he agreed with me from the start. But listen; don’t worry too much today or even tomorrow. I know how overwhelming first days can be. So I want you to use this time to just get to know the place and the people and I want you to feel comfortable. I always find that I work so much better when I feel comfortable and I know that is not going to happen on day one. Okay, so this is your desk.”
I almost whistled out loud at it. That’s how impressed I was by my new working space. I was used to always getting a small little corner office or cubicle to do my work and this looked like luxury to me. The space was big and fit a desk, a chair, a couch, a book shelf and another little table with ease. I looked around the room and saw four other spaces similar to my own. Most companies would squeeze in at least ten people, if not more, into a space like this. This one only had five. Abbie caught me staring and smiled.
“It’s a nice space isn’t it? I felt the same when I first joined. So, this is the marketing department. There are just five of us, you included, and it’s a great team. Let me introduce you to the others.” And then Abbie stood up on the chair and yelled, “Hey guys, this is Jane. Wave hello!” Two faces popped up and waved. I waved back, slightly embarrassed by this awkward introduction. “We’ll do a proper introduction later on for sure,” Abbie continued, stepping down from the chair, “Over there in the far right corner is Kevin and that over there is Michael. They’re very nice guys. They’re just busy on some deadline now so I’d rather introduce you properly when they’re not so stressed. Maybe we can all go have a drink sometime – I find that to be the best way to get to know people.”
I laughed at that, “I must agree.” Then I looked around and noticed two empty desks, “What about those?” I asked her.
“Oh, well this one is mine. And trust me, I am so happy to have a girl in the office with me now. What a relief. I think I’m starting to talk like a boy these days. My mom mentioned it to me the other day when I started telling some rude joke which I never would have found so funny before. And over there, well that’s the head of the marketing department – our boss. His name is David Ellis. He’s not in right now but you’ll meet him soon enough. I’ll be honest, between you and me, he’s quite a tough one. But if you do your job right you won’t have a problem. He’s a good boss, but not an easy one by all means. I’m just warning you because he can come across a bit scary at first. Just do your job and he’ll warm up to you. I actually like him now but in the beginning I thought he was awful.”
“Thanks for the heads up. It always makes a difference when someone tells you what to expect.” I said. I didn’t mind so much. I’d had plenty of bosses in the past that were the same. Most of the time they ended up being the ones that I got on with the most. They simply didn’t like any sort of inferiority in the work place, but if you proved yourself to them you generally stayed in their good books forever. Proving yourself was always the hard part but a challenge that I was always up to.
Abbie sat down with me and showed me the ropes. I felt comfortable with almost everything that she showed me. It was more a case of just getting the hang of a different system and figuring out how they did things here. But that was the same for any new job and I knew that the important thing was to just get through the first week. By week two you always felt more comfortable and by week three you generally just felt like part of the furniture. Still, the incident with Sebastian had thrown me a bit and I tried not to think about it. I hoped that I wouldn’t have to deal with him much and I assumed I wouldn’t. Often, the owner was the one that you saw the least. David was probably the one that I had to worry about more. He was my boss. I was grateful to have Abbie around – she seemed like someone that I could get on with. She was a different sort of bubbly to how Amy had been and it was easy to spot the difference. In fact, I even thought Danielle would like her – and Danielle abhorred bubbly people. When Abbie left me to do some things on my own I sat back and smiled at my surroundings. The feel of Sebastian’s abs came into my head and I, once again, shoved it as far back into my mind as possible. I was here to do a job. And I was going to do it well!
Chapter 11 - Jane
The morning went by very smoothly. Despite easing me into the job there was still quite a lot that needed to be done and it was hard to do anything quickly when I was still figuring out how to do things. But I seemed to be picking things up easily and I was confident that I just needed a few days to fully integrate into the place. The environment at work was good but very quiet and the entire morning all I could hear was the clicking of fingers on the keyboard. Abbie assured me that it wasn’t always so quiet but the deadline had forced the boys to do nothing but work. Also, I noticed that everyone wore headphones so I assumed a difference in opinion when it came to music preferences meant that the only way we could listen to anything would be to come prepared ourselves. I was so glad about this because in my old job I sat alongside my boss who was adamant that the only music to listen to was the pop charts on repeat. It used to drive me insane but because she was in charge I could do nothing but grin and bear it. I wondered briefly what everyone was listening to. I tried not to but I had a natural tendency to judge people by their music choice. I often thought that the best way for me to figure out a person’s true personality would be to ask the following questions: What music do you like? Wine or spirits? Do you like animals? The answer, according to me, should be alternative rock, wine and yes. I made a mental note to ask Abbie at some stage. Then again I think Danielle liked spirits and had a particular liking for hip hop so perhaps these weren’t the best questions after all. My mind started drifting then to Sebastian. What would he like?
Then, just as I was thinking about him, I noticed a girl saunter in from outside, and walk straight past my desk and up to his door. She walked slowly and with purpose as if she wanted us to notice her. From where my desk was I had a clear view of his office and I watched to see what would happen. The girl was dressed in what had to be the shortest dress I had ever seen in my life – so short I thought that it might actually just be a shirt and she seemed to have a little bit too much make up on for that time of the day. She glared at me as she walked past. In her hand she was carrying a big box which looked to have various food items and drinks. She carefully placed the box down onto the floor, which took her a lot longer than it should have as she was unsteady in her high heels, and then she tentatively knocked on the door. After a while she knocked louder and shouted, “Sebastian, it’s me.” I literally saw her adjust her breasts so that they perched higher on her dress and then she bent down and picked the box up and waited. I saw her trying out a few different poses until she finally settled on the one leg
cross slightly over the other while her one hip jutted out to the side. It looked rather ridiculous and very obvious. When Sebastian opened the door I noticed that he looked shocked to see her standing there, but then he quickly covered it with a smile and allowed her to walk back in. He looked out and saw me staring and I quickly put my head down so that he wouldn’t see the big blush forming on my face. I hated that I got embarrassed so quickly. The door shut and I saw that Abbie had been watching too. She looked at me and rolled her eyes and then came up to my desk.
“Hey, do want to go for lunch? That girl just reminded me that it’s lunch time. I don’t know what she had in that box but I got a whiff of it and it smelled delicious.”
“I have food but I left it in the car. Let me go and get it quick.” I said.
“No, don’t be silly. Lunch is on me today. Or should I say… on the company.” She whispered that last part and then laughed. “A very important marketing lunch I think! To be honest, I actually have a salad waiting for me on my desk – but it’s now the last thing that I want. I need real food.”
I laughed at that, grateful that I wouldn’t have to eat lunch that had been melting in my car all day.
“I’d love that!”
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