"Louise Bouvet," I read the name of the new intern from the note that was left, unannounced, on my desk. The fact that no one let me, the director of the marketing department, know that we would have a new intern is still completely beyond my comprehension. And on a Friday? Cruel.
Also, the fact I had no say whatsoever in this decision doesn't do wonders for my ego.
To top things off, she's late.
I look down at the clock on my computer for the fifth time, about 10 minutes past 9.
I tap my fingernails impatiently on my desk. I didn't see this girl yet, and she's already getting on my nerves. And even though, the reason I'm irritated is not completely her fault, it's hard not to associate it with her.
I take a deep breath as I hear 3 knocks on my door.
"Come in," I say a little too loud, maybe I'm a little too mad.
She didn't waste much time, she hastily opens the door and lets it close by itself causing a loud thud. "Sorry for the tardiness, Ms," she says lazily as she walks up to my desk in the middle of the room, I squint my eyes at her but she doesn't get the hint, she simply lets herself fall in one of the chairs in front of me.
A button-up and jeans, she isn't severely badly dressed, but I would think any normal person would put at least some effort into their first-day attire. Light hair, greenish eyes, she has an overall pretty face.
"Ms. Bouvet," I clear my throat. "You're late for your first day, how come?"
"Oh, I'm new here, you know, I'm still learning to get around the city," she says, a small smile playing on her lips.
"I see, I hope this isn't a reoccurring thing," I say, raising one eyebrow at her, waiting for some kind of confirmation.
"Of course, Ms..."
"Agassi."
"Ms. Agassi, such a beautiful name, where is it from?"
I simply pick up my phone and dial my secretary's number. "Joane, can you show the new intern around, please?" I ask in an unintentional impatient tone the moment she picks up. "Assign her to John, he'll know what to do with her."
"Of course, Ms. Agassi," she answers quickly, no questions added.
"You can wait outside," I say after putting the phone down.
"Well, that's unfortunate, I thought you'd be showing me around," she raises an eyebrow. "Aren't you the boss of this department or something?"
"That's correct and that's exactly the reason I don't have the time to show you around, now please," I say nodding to the door, seeing Joane was already there waiting for Louise.
"I was hoping we would spend more time together," she sighs in quite a sarcastic way as she walks away. "Oh well, I won't waste more of your very busy time."
After Louise left my office I had no time to think much about the situation, our company had just signed an important contract to merge with another well-known Magazine Publication House and all the sectors were loaded with work.
This isn't the time to babysit interns and annoying ones at that.
It was around 3 pm when curiosity got the best of me and I forced myself to check on how she was doing. I'm calmer now and maybe, just maybe I might have been too tough on her. It's only her first day after all.
Or maybe I spoke too soon.
I didn't need to walk up to the worker's area to find her. She was already right there in front of my office, or better yet, in front of my secretary's desk.
Her slender yet curvy body is leaned against Joane's desk, quite obviously flirting with her, and to make matters worse, it seems to be working.
I can't really call Joane a friend, but she's the closest to a friend I have, so it's needless to say that I'm disappointed to know she'd fall for such cheap talking.
Joane doesn't look exactly old even though she must be in her forties, she has the kind charisma that makes her look much younger, almost like a teen. It can be annoying at times.
"Miss Bouvet, if you're unoccupied, I can always give you something to do other than distract my secretary," I say walking up to them with my arms crossed.
"John gave me a break, so I thought I'd get to know my coworkers, especially Mrs. AlHadid here. is that a problem?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.
"There's no time for breaks, and definitely no time for friendship making," I say ironically. "Back to work, Miss Bouvet."
"Of course, Ms. Agassi," she says glancing over to Joane, giving her a little wink before leaving.
I simply scoff as I watch her leave.
"C'mon Esther, she's new, you don't have to go so rough on her," Joane laughs as I squint my eyes back at her.
"We're in our busiest month, she shouldn't even be here."
"You have to give her a chance."
"A chance? The kid was flirting with you like some highschool teen, how shameless."
"I don't mind a little flirting."
"You're married with children, Joane — and double her age."
"It boosts my self-esteem, every woman needs it once in a while."
"Back to work," I groan, dismissing her completely and walking back to my office. "Call John to my office."
"Yes ma'am," she says immediately but I could sense amusement in her voice.
It didn't take long until there was a knock on my door, "you wanted to see me, boss?" John asks as he pokes his head inside my office.
"Come in," I say simply and he was quick to comply. "How's the new intern doing? Any progress?"
"Oh yeah, Louise is doing great."
"What did she do so far?"
"She's getting accustomed to the softwares we use and the company guidelines, first day stuff."
"Don't go soft on her, John."
"You definitely didn't go soft on me," he chuckles. John was one of our interns just about 2 years ago and I was the one assigned to help him, truly, poor guy.
"And you're at the top of your team, don't forget that."
"After a lot of suffering."
"Success takes time and effort," I say simply.
"I know ma'am, I'll do my best to provide her with the best mentoring."
"Assign her with one of the filler pages of next week's volume. Tell her to send me the finished product by the end of the day. I want to see what she's capable of."
"That's a little too soon to judge maybe?"
"She made it into this company for some reason, right now of all times — I want to know why."
"Yes, ma'am"
"You're dismissed. And no breaks for Louise, John, this isn't kindergarten."
"Aye, aye," he says, saluting me and quickly leaving. Maybe leaving Louise to his mentoring wasn't the best idea. Much like Louise, John was a major pain in the ass, but at least at that time we weren't in such a rush.
My phone never stopped ringing today, meetings and more meetings scheduled for the next days up until the end of the month. The bar is set high and we need to overstep it.
"I got you coffee," Joane says entering the room with two disposable cups.
"Thank you, Joane, I was really needing it."
"I know, I was needing one too," she smiles, leaning a little over one of the chairs in front of my desk.
"Why are you getting comfortable?"
"You've been working a lot," she says with that specific tone that I hate, the you need someone tone.
"Yes?"
"Mark and I are planning to go to the new bar downtown with some friends of ours this weekend."
"Good for you."
"We have a friend that is also single, he works in the company just a few floors down."
"The insurance one?"
"That one."
"That will be a no. Thank you though, enjoy your date," I say taking a sip from my coffee and going back to what I was doing.
"C'mon Esther, he's a nice guy."
"I bet."
"It will be fun."
"I'd rather stay in."
"When I was your age I was already pregnant and married."
"How nice."
"You'll be thirty soon, you can't run away from love for much longer."
"I'm one year away from thirty first of all, and yes I can."
"You're going, Esther," she says, giving me the eye, the one that tells me she'll not rest until she gets what she wants, the annoying way.
I don't have the opportunity to talk back, my phone rings, making her leave the office like she has won the argument. Well, I have bad news for her.
The rest of the day passed by rather slowly but definitely rushed. It was about almost half an hour until the end of the day when I finally got an email from Louise. I think about leaving it for Monday but curiosity gets the best of me. I open it and surprisingly, it isn't that bad.
At least for an intern.
The colors are ok, the layout is great but the content could be better. She definitely does a lot better on the designing aspect of the ordeal.
"Joane, call Louise to my office please," I say, not really waiting for an answer.
Louise takes a solid 5 minutes to get to my office and after a rather unbothered 'Come in' she enters the room. Closing the door like a normal person this time.
"You called, ma'am?" She is surprisingly acting a lot more professionally, John must have given her a heads up about how things work around here. Very much appreciated.
"I want you to further develop your assigned page, think about it this weekend. I want to see a result worthy of publication by the end of next week."
"You'll actually include it?"
"Depends on what you'll bring me."
"I won't let you down," she smirks, making me automatically regret saying anything.
"I wouldn't get that confident, my standards are set very high, Miss Bouvet."
"So I've heard, I want to surpass them."
I've heard that enough times to know it probably won't, but it'll still be fun to watch. I must admit such confidence from an intern is a little surprising, they're always so scared to get things wrong that they end up not doing anything truly remarkable.
"I truly hope for it. Have a good weekend, Louise."
"Of course, Ms. Agassi."
Now, how to kindly refuse Joane's date.