She gathered her things and decided to call it a night since she would be staying up late working on the Tilbert file anyways. Her comfy couch was calling her name and there was nothing more Emily could have wanted more than a hot cup of tea, her new highlighter set, and a project to keep her busy. She got every single one of those wishes and on her very first day at work.
The train ride home was less packed than the morning but there were still office lights on all over the city. Emily dreamt about late nights with take out in the office conference room, something that to everyone else seemed like a nightmare, but to her, seemed like the perfect night. She walked slowly back to the apartment, mostly daydreaming about walking into the office the next day and wowing everyone around her, though she found her thoughts drifting to Bridgette several times. She shook off the idea that she could possibly have a crush on her and chalked it up to admiration. When Emily made it inside the front door she took her shoes off and neatly placed them on the mat next to the door. Her feet were on fire but she hadn’t noticed until right at that moment. Actually she hadn’t noticed much after the Tilbert moment outside of her job and what it entailed. In all reality that part of it she still wasn’t too sure on but she was just going to, for the first time in her existence, go with the flow.
She readied her tea, changed into some comfortable sweat pants and a t-shirt, and pulled the moveable tray her mother had gotten her, up to the couch. The Tilbert file was so huge that Emily decided to start from the beginning and read through the entire thing so that she could be on the same page as Bridgette when she went in the next morning. Emily wondered what Bridgette did on her evenings off; did she bury herself in files like Emily, or was she so far removed from the motivation of the early career that she went home and relaxed? Emily wanted to be successful but she realized in that moment that there was no professor or mentor out here in the real world to fashion herself after. Emily would have to take what she learned from Bridgette and mix it with her own ideas and hope that it pushed right where she wanted to be. In that moment Emily realized Bridgette was her best asset.
Chapter Three
Emily spent the whole night researching the history and demographics of all of the different locations Tilberts had on the map. She put everything into a binder and labelled each location. At the front of each tab was a printed sheet that listed the primary interests and financial demographic of each area so that they could better brainstorm the slight differences between commercials for each sector. Tilbert didn’t want to run one general ad across the whole country. They wanted to focus each commercial on the twelve different areas plus one commercial for the East Coast to get them interested and aware of the brand before they began building.
This project for Tilberts was huge and Emily knew, if it weren’t for her lucky break yesterday, she might not see a project like this for years. This type of work was reserved for people like Bridgette, who seemed to have it in control up to that point. Emily knew she needed to be careful. She wanted to help and to show her worth but she didn’t want to offend Bridgette since she had obviously spent years with this client. The balance was a little hard for Emily to wrap her head around since she barely knew Bridgette, but either way she had to make an impression and she hoped it would be a good one.
Emily had already prepared for the next morning’s wake up before starting on work and fell asleep well after three in the morning. Being up and working on assignments wasn't unusual for her, though, after spending four years at Princeton where studying went way later into the dawn then three am. The lack of sleep was masked with excitement for her new job and all of the work she had put into this project. When she thought about Bridgette’s reaction to the binder, she began to get even more excited and then stopped herself, realizing that feeling may not all be coming from possible praise. She didn't understand why she was getting giddy about some older woman in her office that was obviously out of bounds. Besides, Emily had decided before she even got to New York that relationships were on the back burner until she got further along her path to success.
Emily moved in a sort of trance as she ate her breakfast and got ready for work. Her thoughts moved from the events of the day before to all the research she had put in over night on the project. She then found herself slowly melting into thoughts of Bridgette. They started as completely professional, moved to her curiosity of what she does when she is not in the office, and then without warning, began moving into her noted attraction to her. Emily realized quickly that wondering if Bridgette was interested in women and wondering if she could get around the work-relationship dynamic was completely the opposite of what she needed to be focusing on, but she still couldn’t shake that pit of her stomach butterfly that was calling Bridgette’s name.
Emily shook the entire thought from her mind and spent the subway ride studying the file and binder on Tilberts. She didn’t even remember walking into the building, but she smiled when she looked up to see the same security guard checking people in. Emily jumped in the elevator, this time not having to force her way in and headed up to her floor. By the time the elevator hit floor twelve she was the only one left but the next ding came from floor sixteen where the coffee shop and deli were located.
Emily barely looked up as someone entered the elevator but the sweet smell of lilacs and vanilla caught her attention, and she glanced up to see who was wearing it. Her eyes first met six inch patent leather heels and slowly moved up a set of muscular but feminine legs covered in black stockings. The bottom of the woman’s skirt hit right below the knees and a bit of black lace from her slip peaked out the bottom of the skirt. Her eyes then moved quickly up over the person’s large breasts and up to the collar bone. At that moment Emily knew it was Bridgette standing in front of her and she quickly took her eyes up to her face hoping she hadn’t noticed Emily’s long stare. Bridgette looked back at her smiling coyly and then looked down at Emily’s binder. She reached out and took it from Emily and smiled saying,
“Wow, over achiever. This is awesome! Excellent work, you probably saved us an entire two days by putting this together. I am impressed.” Bridgette handed the folder back, and their hands slid against each other. There was an awkward silence as Emily’s stomach grew warm and her cheeks became flushed. She looked forward so Bridgette wouldn’t notice but she was looking right at Emily with a half smirk on her face. Emily fidgeted as she watched the elevator slowly move towards the 20th floor. She felt like it was going in slow motion and she could feel Bridgette’s eyes pressed firmly on her. She glanced over at Bridgette who was not looking at her face, but seemed to be inspecting her outfit, or checking Emily out, she wasn’t sure. Bridgette’s eyes met back with Emily’s and the entire elevator seemed to heat up about fifteen degrees. Bridgette opened her mouth to say something but the ding from the elevator stopped her and both women turned towards the silver doors.
The elevator doors opened, and Bridgette got off first, heading back to her office. Emily stopped at her desk and began unloading her briefcase and checking her email’s. Nothing crucial was there except an email from her mother scolding her for not calling to let her know how the first day at High Point went. Emily plopped down in her chair not sure what she was supposed to do next. She didn’t have anything set in her calendar and no messages were left on her desk. Maybe they assumed she would need more than one day to get her things organized. Emily glanced around to see if there was anything else that could be done but she had pretty much done everything including organizing cleaning products she picked up from the stock room to keep her area clean. She looked around the office and everyone else was either chatting away with their ear pieces in or writing feverishly in a file. No one looked up or noticed she was sitting there and Emily began to feel nervous thinking she had missed something.
“Hey,” Bridgette yelled out from her office door. “The meeting starts in an hour. You are going to want coffee; it is going to be a long day. Grab some now and I'll meet you at your desk before we head
over to the conference room.” Bridgette shut her door before Emily could respond.
Emily breathed a sigh of relief now knowing she at least had something on her schedule. The idea of a meeting taking a really long time excited Emily and she grabbed her lunch she had packed and stuffed it into her bag. If she needed to she would work straight through lunch. Though she had put coffee on her no fly list she felt that drinking it would be inevitable and the thought of a hot cup of vanilla coffee with soy milk in it made her mouth water. That was it, she was going to give in, but other than coffee, no caffeine. Emily made a resolution in that moment and filed it firmly in her mental bank of lists she kept in her brain.
In that moment she picked up her cell phone and she made her way back to the elevator but realized there wasn’t any service in the tower so she slipped it back into her pocket. Emily continued to fight with herself about drinking caffeine but as she thought about it the fact that she had only 4 hours of sleep sent a wave of sleepiness over her, and she quickly changed her mind. As the elevator doors opened to the twelfth floor, Emily stepped out and rounded the corner. She almost ran straight into a tall thin woman carrying two coffees and a bag with some Danish in it.
“God watch out,” she said bitterly. Emily looked up but before she could apologize the lady had turned the corner and entered the elevator. Emily rolled her eyes and chalked it up to the typical New York attitude. It was moments like these that Emily really missed the people in Nebraska. The people here were always in a hurry, their attitudes were always bitter or condescending, and Emily wondered how any of them managed to make any friends. Even in a working environment there was eye roll after eye roll and she had been snidely laughed at twice already in the office and it was only her second day. The clique wasn’t ready to accept her into the fold yet but what made matters worse was that Emily really could give two craps whether they ever did or not. She was perfectly happy slaving away in her own little world. Emily figured she would have plenty of chances to make friends later on in life.
The line was short so Emily grabbed a coffee and hurried back to her desk, she wanted to make sure she had ample time to finish her notes before the meetings started. Bridgette’s door flew open, and the same woman from the coffee stand burst through the door, an angry look on her face as she passed. Bridgette sauntered out after her, rolling her eyes and sighing. She looked over at Emily and threw her hands in the air and walked back into the office. Emily wondered what that was all about but decided; this drama was not on her list for the day.
She stuck her head down and continued her notes from the night before but she was having a hard time concentrating after watching whatever that was just happen. Emily would glance up from time to time at the window in Bridgette’s office but all she could see was a phone cord and Bridgette’s well manicured hands flying up in the air. She was obviously having some sort of very important conversation. Emily decided to ignore it and stuck her nose back into the pile of papers she had written and neatly stapled together, sorted into topic and severity of importance. She had finally finished her thoughts and set everything into a neat pile when she saw Bridgette exit her office and go into the lounge. Emily scurried back through her notes making sure she hadn’t forgotten anything important, not really sure how long it would be until the meeting began.
Bridgette tapped on the desk when it was time to go, and Emily shoved her stuff into her bag, grabbed her cold coffee and followed Bridgette into the elevator. Apparently, there were more conference rooms one floor up, and they were going to need space so that is where they headed. When the elevator doors shut Bridgette let out a sigh and turned to Emily saying:
“I am sorry about that,” she said with exhaustion in her voice. “That is my now ex-girlfriend who let me know missing lunch plans again made me a heinous individual and that she was leaving me.”
“Oh,” Emily said uncomfortably. “Well if it is any consolation I almost knocked her down when I went to get coffee. If I had known, I would have thrown an elbow in.” Emily smirked, and Bridgette studied her face for a moment before bursting into laughter.
“You’re cute,” she said as they exited the elevator. Emily’s cheeks turned red as she entered the office and realized there were more than twenty people crowded around a huge table.
At first Emily’s nerves raged but as she grasped the folder that was now double in size, she began to feel more confident. She needed to think of the work she had done as a contribution and not as an attempt to take over or outshine. Her professor always told her to do the work but never look to take credit for it, that in itself will make people remember your name. Emily smiled as she walked in behind Bridgette and set her notes down in front of the group, letting Bridgette take the lead on the work she had done.
Though long, the day went by fast in a flurry of excitement, just how Emily had imagined it for the last four years. There were storyboards and ideas flying every which way, and Emily was right in the middle of it, giving ideas and learning from the people around her. Bridgette was brilliant, as usual, and ended up taking everyone’s ideas and streaming them together to come up with the first of twelve videos. That was a record setting pace for the marketing team, and as the sun began to sink outside of the windows, Emily and Bridgette were cleaning up the conference room as the other’s drug themselves down to the elevator exhausted but high with progress.
For Emily this was the only drug she would ever need. The feeling that she had accomplished so much in such a small amount of time was thrilling. The team she was on were all motivated, all business forward, and there were very few moments of “me.” Everyone in the group referred to ideas as ours and we, something Emily wasn’t used to since Princeton was such a competitive place, everyone was fighting for the line light. At High Point you could definitely tell each person had their own goals but you also understood very quickly that without each other, no one was going anywhere but down. This was the kind of business that one person couldn’t possibly handle the entire thing by themselves and sharing responsibility and learning from each other is what ultimately got the whole team recognition. Of course it didn’t hurt that Emily was so on top of everything, her information ended up being the cornerstone for the video and everyone made sure to make her feel appreciated.
Emily walked to the trashcan with an arm full of empty plates and half eaten bagels. Bridgette was washing the coffee mugs in the sink when she turned to Emily, her hands dripping onto the floor.
“Emily,” she said curiously. “Have you been out in the city at all yet?”
“No,” Emily replied. “By the time I got here I just wanted to relax. Besides, I don’t know the city very well and felt weird going to a bar and sitting by myself.”
“Ha!” Bridgette laughed. “It’s New York! Trust me you wouldn’t be the only person sitting by themselves at a bar. That’s how people in this city meet, besides you are young and beautiful, you could snag one of these handsome trillionaires in a second.”
Emily blushed and sprayed the table with cleaner, her hand was shaking a little bit, and her cheeks were red again. She wasn’t quite sure what to say at that moment and didn’t know if she should be flattered by the compliment or offended by the fact that Bridgette thought she was some kind of gold digger. Emily continued to clean, mulling over what to say next but coming up short. She thought to herself that maybe silence was the best answer to that comment. Besides, she needed to try to keep some sort of restraint, it was only her second day and she was finding herself wanting to spill her life story to some woman who probably wouldn’t remember her name in six months.
“What?” Bridgette stopped and turned to her. “Oh, you have some sweet Nebraska boy waiting for you don’t you? Well, he better be tough cause this city eats little Nebraska kids as snacks.”
“Do you always talk like you are a walking marketing machine,” Emily said laughing. “No, I don’t have a boyfriend. I’m gay. And no I don’t have any little Nebraska girl waiting at home eith
er. My girlfriend in college went off to medical school so we broke up, no use in pining over each other and not being able to have a life.”
Emily could feel Bridgette staring at her but was too nervous to turn around. She heard Bridgette set the last coffee mug in the cupboard and pick up the towel. Emily walked over and grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder and turned to Bridgette. She was standing there staring at Emily as if she was contemplating something. Emily began to get a little nervous realizing she had just come out one of the most important people in the office. It had never even been a thought to Emily since she kept her private life extremely quiet but now thinking about it she realized letting them know she was gay might not have been the best choice. Emily fiddled with the straps on her bag and rechecked the brackets twice, unsure of what her next move should be. She looked up cautiously at Bridgette. Bridgette smiled and stuck her hand out towards Emily.
“Come on,” she said excitedly. “Let’s go celebrate this awesome day. I’ll take you to my favorite bar in the city, and we can have a drink. Promise I won’t keep you out too late.”
Emily thought about it for a moment; she was excited and boisterous around Bridgette, and she easily got embarrassed when Bridgette flirted with her. Emily knew forming a personal relationship, even a friendship, with the VP of Marketing was a huge no, but the look on Bridgette’s face and the sparkle in her eye collapsed Emily’s judgement. Emily reached out and took Bridgette’s hand. As their skin moved over each other’s Emily could almost feel sparks and her knees began to tremble. Bridgette pulled her out of the room, making her wait only a moment as she grabbed her stuff from the office, and then made their way to the elevators.
One Little Letter_A Bad Boy, Second Chance Romance Page 51