~ Zoie's POV ~
"Zoie! We're gonna need three copies for each document and a whole round of coffee for the conference room!"
"Yes, Sylvia. Coming right up,"
Zoie jogged from her desk to the copy machine and quickly made copies of the files in her hand. While the copy machine was working, she went to the kitchenette and prepared a fresh new batch of coffee. As the coffee machine was working its magic, she sprinted back to the copy machine to check the status of her copies. All her documents were perfectly copied, three copies each, just like Sylvia, the office manager asked. With the warm stack of paper in her hand, she went back to grab the coffee pitcher and brought it into the conference room.
The conference room was this large room with big windows overlooking Central Park. There were about ten to twelve people in that room, editors and writers mostly. They were brainstorming new ideas for the next issue of the magazine. It was an exciting thing to be a part of, even though all Zoie did was make copies and bring coffee for everyone.
"Here you go, guys. Copies and coffees," she beamed as she gave out the copies and went around the table to pour coffee into people's empty mugs.
"Thanks, Zoie," a couple of people said as she passed by them. Most of the other people didn't pay any mind to her though. They were all too busy to notice some scrappy intern.
Except maybe for Sylvia. From the moment Zoie walked into the office, Sylvia noticed Zoie alright. Sylvia was a lady in her early thirties. She had long blonde hair and quite an impressive rack. Her lips were red and plump, like those Kardashian's lips, and her eyelash extensions might as well be as long as the Brooklyn Bridge. Normally, Zoie wouldn't care about these things, but there was something about Sylvia that was kind of triggering. For one, Sylvia had this super high-pitched voice that was pretty annoying, to say the least. She was also commenting and nitpicking everything Zoie did, from what she wore to how she pressed buttons on the copy machine. It was like she hated Zoie's guts even before she knew her.
"Zoie!" Sylvia's high-pitched voice pierced through the air. Zoie had just returned to her little cubicle and Sylvia was calling her name again.
"Yes?" Zoie asked as she sprinted back. Sylvia was standing by her desk with two other girls around her. They were all eyeing Zoie from head to toe.
"I need you to clean the file cabinet," Sylvia pointed at a row of cabinets outside of the conference room.
"You mean, like, throw everything out?"
"No, silly! We don't want you to get rid of all our work!" she giggled and rolled her eyes as if Zoie had said something so dumb. "I just need you to wipe the cabinets with some Lysol. Gotta keep the office squeaky clean, you hear me?"
Wipe the cabinets...?
Zoie forced out a smile and said, "Yes, Sylvia. I'll get right to it,"
Sylvia smiled this fake-looking smile and said, "Good girl." Then, she returned to her friends and they all started giggling together.
Still keeping that smile on her face, Zoie turned to the storage room to find some Lysol spray. It took her a while to figure it out and she had to Google some stuff. Zoie never had to clean furniture before. She had maids in the house that did that for her. And when she was in California, Asher actually did most of the cleaning.
Guess it's never too late to learn.
Zoie walked back to the cabinets with the Lysol spray and paper napkins in hand. According to Google, it's best to spray the area a few times and wipe it in a circular motion. She followed the instructions carefully, spraying the area a few times before using the paper napkins to wipe it. But before Zoie could get a full wipe in, suddenly Sylvia came barging in.
"Oh my God! What are you doing?!" she squeaked.
"Wiping the cabinets? Just like you ask?"
"With that?!" Sylvia grabbed the Lysol spray forcefully from Zoie's hand. "This cabinet is oak wood! You need to get the wood spray for this!"
"Oh, okay. I'll go get it-"
"How dumb are you?!" Sylvia spat, interjecting rather aggressively. "How can you not know this?"
"Well, you said to get the Lysol-"
"Are you saying that this is my fault?!"
"N-no,"
Sylvia scoffed and stepped closer, getting all up in Zoie's face.
"Let me remind you, Zoie, that you just started working here for five minutes. I've been the office manager for two years. Just because you're Damon Van Zandt's daughter and your daddy got you a prestigious internship at our office, you think you can just waltz in here and do a crappy job and I won't notice?"
"Sylvia, I'm sorry if I made a mistake. It won't happen again," Zoie shook her head, apologizing profusely.
And why does she have to bring up my dad?
"Yeah, right!" Sylvia yelled rather loudly. The whole office was now looking at them. Zoie took a step back, but Sylvia came closer again, completely barging into Zoie's personal space. "Why is it that people like you can do whatever they want and I will have to be the one cleaning up after your mess!?"
Sylvia was glaring daggers at Zoie. Clearly, this was not just about some mistaken cleaning product. She really hated Zoie's guts while Zoie had been nothing but cordial. Heck, Zoie didn't even know her. They've only met three hours ago.
Zoie was caught off guard, she didn't know how to react to this kind of treatment. She just stood there silently while Sylvia's eyes were screaming bloody murder.
"Is everything okay here?"
Suddenly, a familiar voice cut through the tension. Zoie and Sylvia turned their heads to see Landon standing by the entrance. He was wearing a crisp gray suit and holding a briefcase in his hand.
"M-Mr. Grimaldi," Sylvia's tone of voice changed instantly. "Good afternoon, I wasn't expecting to see you today,"
Sylvia was batting her eyes and walking over to Landon, but Landon completely ignored her. Instead, he walked straight toward Zoie.
"Are you okay?" he asked, studying the horrified expression on Zoie's face.
Zoie forced out a smile and nodded her head. She wanted to cry, honestly. But she couldn't do that here. Not in front of fifty other people in this office.
"She's fine," Sylvia waved her hand carelessly as she walked back, interjecting in between Zoie and Landon. "I was just teaching Zoie here how to keep the file cabinet clean,"
Sylvia flashed Zoie a smile. It was one of those fake smiles again. This time, Zoie had no energy to reply, so she just kept a straight face.
"Don't you guys already hire a cleaning crew to do that?" Landon asked.
"Well, yes, but I like to make sure that we do our part anyway," Sylvia said sweetly. "And Zoie's doing a great job. She's been very helpful,"
Landon turned his eyes to Zoie again. He noticed the stress on her face. Something bad must've happened. Letting out a scoff, he turned to Sylvia and said, "That's great and all, but if you don't have any real work for her, may I steal Ms. Van Zandt from you for the time being?"
"O-of course, sir," Sylvia stammered, trying her best to keep her cool.
"Thank you," Landon said as he grabbed Zoie by the hand and led her into one of the empty office rooms.
As soon as they got inside the room, Landon closed the door shut and pulled the blinds down so no one could see them. Zoie was thankful for Landon, of course, but she knew that Sylvia was only gonna give her a harder time later after Landon leaves.
"Zee, are you okay?" he asked, searching her face carefully. "What was that about?"
"I'm fine, Land," she sighed. "It was just some argument about a cleaning product,"
"Why is she making you clean stuff anyway? What about coffee or data entry and stuff like that?"
"I already did all that," she shrugged. "I guess she just doesn't like to see me sitting down and doing nothing,"
"What a bitch," Landon rolled his eyes and scoffed. Zoie couldn't help but smile.
"Hey, you gotta let me go back out there," she said. "I don't want them to think that I'm getting special treatment just because I'm Damon's daughter,"
"Who's thinking that you're getting special treatment? Tell me their names and I'll-"
"You're not gonna deal with them for me, Landon," she cut him off. "I need to be professional about this. I do actually like it here and I wanna stay,"
"But-"
"It's fine, I can handle it," she cut him off again, smiling reassuringly. "Sylvia's just being petty. She's not that different from girls in my high school anyway,"
Landon let out a smile. He admired how tough Zoie was. Despite being the youngest girl and all, she could handle herself. Maybe all those years growing up with three older brothers did prepare her well.
"Okay," Landon said finally, nodding his head. "So other than cleaning cabinets, how's your day going so far?"
"It's going alright, and I feel much better now that you're here," she paused for a beat before continuing, "Speaking of, why are you here? I thought you're working in the Upper East Side office today?"
"I am, but I came over here to take you to lunch. There's this place called Juliana's and they've got the best pizza in town. You're gonna love it!"
"Oh, that sounds good, but I don't think I can go," she frowned.
"Why not?"
"I'm supposed to go get lunches for everyone,"
Landon rolled his eyes and tsked, "No, you don't,"
"Yes, I do,"
"No, you don't,"
"Landon," she warned him.
"Let me handle it," he said.
Before Zoie could say another word, Landon opened the door and said, "Sylvia, can you come in here?"
Within seconds, Sylvia appeared at the doorway, smiling and batting her eyes.
"Yes, Mr. Grimaldi?"
"I'm taking Zoie to a lunch meeting with a client. You can get everyone's lunch order, can you?"
"Certainly, Mr. Grimaldi,"
"Great, thanks, that will be all,"
Sylvia bit her lips to suppress the anger on her face. She gave one last smile to Landon before turning to her heels.
"Landon," Zoie glared at him.
"What? I'm not gonna let anyone step all over Zoie Van Zandt," he said matter-of-factly. Then, he grabbed her hand and whisked her out of that office. "Now, come on, I'm starving!"
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~ Asher's POV ~
Asher sat straight in his cubicle, staring at the computer screen. His cubicle was located right outside Damon's office. From the glass window, Damon could see every move he made. There was no room for error here and Asher was on edge. Everyone was watching him. He had to do everything perfectly. He didn't want to let Damon down.
"Hey, you still working on that proposal?" Damon said as he sauntered out of his office. Liam, Zach, Zander, and Zane followed behind him.
"Yes, it's only gonna take another ten minutes," he replied.
"You can continue that after lunch," Damon said.
Asher glanced at the clock. It was 12.30 PM.
"That's alright, I'll finish this first," he said instead.
"Alright, suit yourself," Damon said as he walked away. The other guys followed closely behind.
Asher glanced back to his computer screen and continued typing. It wasn't that he didn't want to have lunch with Damon and the guys, but he didn't think it was appropriate. There was clearly a line of hierarchy in this office and he was just some lowly intern. What would the other people think if they saw him eating at the same table as the boss and his sons?
As Asher was finishing up the last sentence of his proposal draft, he felt a buzz coming from his phone. Since Damon was around all day, he couldn't check his phone, but now, he was free. Asher pulled his phone up to see several texts already piled up.
Zoie: Hey! How's your day?
Zoie: I'm having the worst time at the office! It's so stressful here :(
Zoie: There's this girl, Sylvia and she's a total witch!
Zoie: OMG. Just kill me!
Asher typed a text quickly in response.
Asher: Hey, sorry I just got your texts. I'm sorry you're having a tough time. Anything I can do?
He waited for a moment, and he saw the three dots appearing under Zoie's name.
Zoie: Yes.
Zoie: I need a stress reliever.
Zoie: Big time.
Asher: Lol, ok. Anything in mind?
Zoie: I just sent you a google reminder. Check your email.
Asher couldn't help but smile. He checked his e-mail on the computer screen and it read:
Zoie Van Zandt has requested a meeting with you tonight at 12 AM at the Playroom. Please don't be late.
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- - - - - - To Be Continued - - - - - -