“You’re early.” Laz smirked as he whipped off his glasses and pushed his fringe out of his eyes. “I’m always early” Lily muttered, handing him her personnel card and leaning against the reception desk.
“I know,” he replied as he swiped her in, “it’s not healthy.”
Lily picked up his glasses and slipped them on. Walking round behind the desk she leant her elbows on his shoulders and peered at the computer screen. “Do I have any mail?” she asked eagerly.
“Nope. Sorry babe.”
She shrugged and handed him his glasses. He passed her personnel card to her over his shoulder, and she kissed him on the cheek and walked towards the lifts. “Are you not going to tell me how it went?” he called after her.
“I’m sure you can wait until lunch.” She replied, chuckling as she stepped into the lift and pressed the button for floor 7.
Shoving her mirror hastily back into her bag as she stepped out of the lift three minutes and six juddering stops later, Lily began the perilous journey from the lift doors to her desk in a dark corner on the opposite side of the room. Even 20 minutes before the day’s work was due to begin the office was a madhouse of technicians, cleaners and personal assistants making doubly sure that they had got the bosses the right coffee, and that morning’s edition of The Daily Standard was laid out neatly on their desks. Breathing a sigh of relief as she reached her station, Lily turned on her computer, switched her mobile to silent and sat down heavily on her swivel chair.
10 minutes later, a tall, slim woman walked into the room, brushing her long, straight blonde hair out of her face. Lily smiled widely as every man in the room stopped what he was doing for a moment to look admiringly at the beautiful woman with the sparkle in her pale grey eyes, winking at Lily as she strutted across the room towards her. Alexis Clarke dumped her bag on her chair and perched on the edge of Lily’s desk. “Wow Alex, you look so great today!” Lily breathed in awe. It was true; Alex’s natural beauty was blindingly obvious in the pale red and green, paisley-patterned chiffon dress skimming the tops of her knees, leaving a glimpse of her flawless, rose-tinted skin before the top rim of the black leather, buckled boots which totally shouldn’t match but did, and as she whipped off her maroon leather jacket, a flash of sky blue glinted from the butterfly necklace lying gracefully over her collar bones. As usual, Alex answered the compliment with a simple smile.
“So...” she said, “how’d it go?” Her eyes sparkled even more than usual, as they always did when hearing tales of Lily’s romantic exploits.
“You’ll have to wait until lunch. I’ve promised Laz a full account as well.”
“Fine then.” Alex went to sit at her own desk, pulling a cherry mocha out of her bag and shoving it haphazardly under her desk. “So how is Laz this morning?”
“Impatient as ever.” Lily chuckled.
Alex smirked and took a meditative sip of her mocha.“So when are you and Laz going to admit your true feelings for each other? It’s been four months since you came to work here, and every time you see him your whole face lights up.”
Lily opened her mouth to reply, but just in time she noticed the playful smile playing on Alex’s face. “You!” She giggled, “Every excuse to tease me. I don’t know why I put up with it!”
“It’s only because you love me.” Giggled Alex, dumping her starbucks cup on a neighbouring desk and switching on her monitor.
“Eugh.” Groaned Lily as she noticed the clock ticking dangerously close to nine. Alex simply held up her left wrist in response, as she did every morning when the phone lines were about to be opened. Around Alex’s wrist were tattooed the words ‘onwards through the mist’. It was a mantra that kept Alex’s spirits at a constant high, and lifted Lily’s when her own optimism failed her.
As the minute hand hit twelve, a bell rang in the office, and within seconds the ‘incoming call’ button on Lily’s phone flashed red. “Time for work, helpline girl.” Alex said, slipping on her headset and turning in her chair to face her computer screen.
Lily sighed and pressed the button. “Daily Standard Enquiries, how can I help...?”
No comments:
Post a Comment