Tonight was girls' night and by that, I mean me and my 4 best friends were hanging out in my apartment. Drinking cheap wine, baking, and cooking, and just chilling really. Because of our jobs, we aren't able to see each other as much as we used to back in college so we try to squeeze in time every other weekend to hang out.
Right now Caroline and Heidi were in the kitchen icing the cupcakes we just made. Quinn, Willow, and I were in the living room watching sex in the city, the show not the pathetic movies.
"Maria, your phone keeps going off," Caro walks over to me handing me my phone.
I furrow my eyebrows and stare at my screen, "Everything alright?" Willow raises an eyebrow at me.
"Yeah, I just have 8 missed calls from Mr. Nayel" Why is he calling me at 8 pm on a Saturday?
"Your hot boss is calling you on a Saturday night, could only mean one thing" Heidi smirks shoving popcorn in her mouth. The other girls oo collectively at her comment.
I roll my eyes, "Shut up" I say and get up to go into my bedroom.
"Don't start sexting him, we're still here babe" Willow jokes as I shut my bedroom door.
For some bizarre reason, my friends have this ridiculous fascination with me and Nayel together, specifically in a physical sense. I gag just thinking about it. No matter how attractive that man is, I will never stoop that low.
I press the phone to my ear and he answers immediately, "Maria" his tone was calm.
"Is everything alright? I have 8 calls from you sir?" I pace back in forth in my room.
"Maria cancel any plans you have for tomorrow, we have a meeting with Stanley Enterprise"
"What? It's Sunday tomorrow?" I groan.
"I'm aware of that Maria" He spats rudely.
"So it's not a working day, technically I am not obligated to be taking your call right now either on my day off after hours," I say raising my voice.
I hear him sigh, "I'm not asking you for a personal favor Mar-Mar, this is part of the job" He talks to me as if I'm 5.
"I am not obligated to work on Sundays" I state.
"Well, you are this Sunday if you want to keep your job" He snaps and I get silent.
"Look, do you think I want to spend my weekend making small talk with bloody potential clients?" he pauses, "and be around your ray of sunshine self?" Okay, that was just hurtful, why did he specifically have to corner me like that.
"Making a deal with Stanley could be significant for us, they are a massive company. However, they pride themselves on their southern hospitality and believe that friendship and family are the keys to a successful business. That is literally their motto, they want to partner up with a firm that has the same ideals as them. So they want an informal meeting to see if we are fitted for them"
I laugh, "I hate to break it to you but we aren't sir, one look at just the two of us arguing will make them run away"
"Which is why we have arranged a meeting tomorrow with Stanley the CEO and his family, it's a get-together but if they like us they'll sign with us. It's super small nothing with the whole team. It will just be you and I"
"Why do I need to be there then? It's your firm it's not like I'm a partner or anything" I basically whine.
Nayel huffs, "Because you're my assistant and you have this bubbly personality and friendly face. You love making friends so seeing that will make them surely want to sign on"
"So you want me to pretend to be nice and charismatic the whole time?" I ask.
"You are nice and charismatic," He says lowly, wow that might be the first compliment he's given me in years.
"It won't last very long and it's meant to be a gathering it won't even feel like work" I don't know why he's trying to convince me, it's my job I can't say no.
"When and where is the meeting?" I ask.
"Around 11, I'll come to pick you up."
"Wait what? Why?"
"Do you not listen to anything I say ever?" He snaps, "They want a friendly company where the employees and the boss are like a fucking family. We need to act like we are friends, be courteous, and all that crap. Showing up and leaving together would make them think we are on such good terms as boss and employee"
"Or make them think we're together" I blurt out.
"Don't start with me right now, just be ready before 11 tomorrow," Nayel says.
"Fine" I sigh.
"And oh it's unofficial so make sure your attire isn't like something you wear to the office but more causal," Nayel says.
I roll my eyes and hang up without saying another word. Great I'll be spending Sunday with my boss and potential new clients how fun.
I throw my phone on my bed, run my fingers through my hair and walk out of the bedroom. All my friends were in the living room, their eyes glued to the tv then moved to me once I come into view.
"What happened with Mr hottie?" Caro wiggles her brows at me.
"Nothing, I just have to spend the day with him tomorrow, yay!" I say sarcastically throwing jazz hands into the air.
"If my boss was as hot as him, I'd want to work on weekends too, I don't know why you complain all the time," Willow smirks at me.
"Looks aren't everything, he's an asshole." I shake my head taking a seat on one of the sofas.
"So why is he calling you in on a Sunday?" Quinn asks.
"Some meeting with a few potential clients, need to make sure they sign with us. Just perks of always being on the grind" I shrug.
"Can't the meeting be on a weekday?" Heidi asks getting up and taking a seat next to me.
"No, it's like an unofficial thing so we need to act like it's not a meeting when it really is" I roll my eyes.
"It's been a while say you got laid M, I say bang on out with him" Quinn winks and the girls laugh.
I roll my eyes, "I don't know what obsession you guys have with me and him, sure he's hot but he's such a piece of shit I would rather die"
"Babe, hate sex is the best type of sex. What do you have to lose? You guys already can't stand each other so I doubt things could get even worse or awkward. Get all that hatred for each other out once and for all and just have fun" Caro sips on her wine.
I laugh, "You guys are too much and bold of you to assume he would let me sleep with him?"
"Oh shut up, you are so gorgeous and not to mention hot. Any guy would sleep with you if you asked" Willow rolls her eyes.
"I do not want to sleep with my boss, so drop it," I huff, getting annoyed.
"Yeah enough teasing Maria, regardless of you guys talking about sex and all he seems like a piece of shit and stresses her out so much so let's be a bit supportive," Heidi says and I smile at her.
"Aww no we love you, we know it's so hard for you with him," Caro says giving me a hug from behind.
"It's fine, really. Just wish he was a little more tolerable" I sigh shoving popcorn into my mouth.
After my blazing hot shower, I dried then straightened my hair. I did my usual minimal makeup but instead of lipstick, I put on some gloss. I decided to wear a beige oversized sweater, which had lantern sleeves with blue and white stripes on the sleeves. I put on my favorite pair of blue jeans and accessorized a bit with a necklace and gold earrings. It was 10:40, I just put my uggs on when my phone started ringing.I pick it up and see it's Nayel, "Hello?" I answer."I'm downstairs, please tell me you're awake" insincerity ringing in Nayel's voice."Yes, I'm ready, I'll be there in a minute," I say and hang up. I pick up my purse and check myself out once in the mirror. He said causual so I shrug to myself.He was right outside my building in his white Benz. A douchebag car for a douchebag, I smile at my own joke. I walked over to him and knock on the window, he looks up at me and unlocks the car.The car smelt like it was drenched in the David Be
I got home at 11 last night due to all the stupid traffic and all I wanted to do was take a day off today so badly but I can't on a Monday. I didn't even bother with my appearance today, I just put on whatever I could find that didn't need ironing and headed out of my apartment.I reach our floor to see that Nayel is not in yet so I leave his coffee at his desk and come back and sit down on mine. I didn't get much sleep last night, I kept tossing and turning in bed.I sigh as I rest my elbows on my desk and run my hands through my hair. I rub my face in exhaustion."We do not come to work to sleep Ms. Reynolds" I hear Nayel say in a stern voice as he approaches my desk.I flash him a forced smile which was basically my version of fuck you which I think he recognizes so he simply scowls and walks into his office.....I don't know if this is a good thing or bad but today was a very slow lazy day. On one hand, I could relax since I barely had
I tighten my seatbelt as the air hostess walks down the aisles to see if everyone is buckled in. We are currently on a plane heading to San Diego for a conference, we fly back later tonight.I was sitting in the middle seat with Winston on the aisle side and Nayel on the window seat. Three of our other colleagues, David, Jenna, and Haris were behind us. I was not looking forward to a 5-hour flight then straight to the conference and then back to another 5-hour flight. Luckily tomorrow is Saturday so at least we didn't have to worry about coming to work at 9 tomorrow.Not to mention flying while in full business attire, such a hassle. Everyone knows flying is only meant to be done in casual clothes and it's frustrating that we won't get time to change so we have to dress accordingly.I was wearing a black pantsuit with a white turtle neck top crop top underneath with high-waisted pants so it barely showed 2 inches off my stomach. Nayel was looking dashing as alwa
I was finishing up with the dishes when I heard my phone going off. I wipe my hands with a washcloth and pick it up. My brother Jared was calling me. I smile to myself as I press answer, "Hi loser, what did I do to receive a call from you?""Maria" Jared's tone instantly made me concerned. It was shaky."What happened? Are you okay? Are you in trouble?" I ask as the anxiety started rushing through me."It's dad," Jared's tone sounded uncertain, I wasn't able to get a grasp on how he was feeling.My heart dropped, "What happened? Is he okay?""He had a heart attack, he's fine he's alright. We're in the hospital" Jared fills me in.Tears started welling up in my eyes, "What happened?" I rush to my room pulling out a bag and hurriedly throwing some clothes along with some essential items in it."He was not taking his HCM pills regularly or consistently and then stress from work possibly that's what the doctors saying," Jared says.
"Yeah they delayed my flight by another hour, Mr. Nayel is going to kill me," I shudder a sigh as I tell my dad on the phone."I'm sorry you had to go through so much trouble for your old man," Dad's voice laced with remorse."No dad it's nothing, It's going to be alright do not worry about a thing""You take care of yourself, sweetheart," Dad tells me."You take care of yourself please, I'm going to be calling you twice a day to make sure you take your medication okay?" I say sternly.Dad laughs loudly, "Alright sweetie"."I think we're about to take off, I'll call you later okay?""Okay sweetheart""Bye dad," I say."I love you, Maria," Dad says.I smile, "I love you too dad" and I hang up.I quickly text Nayel saying I had a family emergency and will be taking half the day off, we have 2 important clients coming in today which wasn't something out of the ordinary but Nayel had trusted me with the task of
We were in the conference room, the clients were settling in. I was sitting next to Nayel, just taking notes. Winston and John from IT were put in charge of presenting this one for the Johnson Centre clients.Winston walks into the room greeting everyone, our eyes meet and he flashes me a warm smile, I smile back as he proceeds to the front.40 minutes into the meeting I feel my phone vibrate on my lap. I carefully pick it up looking to see if anyone is looking at me, it was a text from Jared. I was about to open it when I saw Nayel scowling at me. I gulp and mouth a quick sorry and put the phone back on my desk.Less than 5 minutes later, my phone started vibrating yet again and it was Jared. I started to freak out, what if something happened to dad? What if something happened to him? I look over to see Nayel already looking over at me grimacing.I move my seat closer to him, "It's an emergency can I please take it?" I ask.Nayel huffs in frustrat
Today we are finalizing a deal with a very influential client duo of ours. Well not that important but we've been trying to lock them in for months. It's these two friends who have an IT company called Steve & Ryder. They are two fairly young guys who started off their company about 5 years ago and immediately blew up, they made this spyware software which the market loved. They have been making several other programs and now are currently looking for some lawyers as there have been some cases about fraudulent matters as well as copyright and piracy issues basically just people trying to sue them because they have money now so they are kind of desperate.Most of our clients are older established businesses, signing on people like Steve & Ryder would make our cliental base more diverse leading to newer younger person types wanting to sign with us.However, I personally wasn't the biggest fan of them the last time I got to meet them. Even though both of them are
Winston, Nayel, Julie, and I were gathered in the conference room just preparing for Monday's hearing. It was really nice seeing lawyers in action but hearing their game plans, techniques and strategies was even better not going to lie.We had been here for over 2 hours when Nayel finally decided to tell everyone to take a break for a while as we had been going over this case for hours. Julie decided to step out for fresh air for a bit while Nayel continued sitting on his chair taking out his phone and scrolling through it. I always wonder what he does on his phone, does he have friends? Surely he does, everyone does but I just can't imagine him making an effort with anyone to be likable. Is that mean? Also, I know he's not on social media because I tried to find him multiple times, as have my friends but no nothing. So what is he doing on his phone when he's scrolling through it, is he playing subway surfers on mute? Why do I even care? I mean, I don't I'm just curious.