Dear Heart, You Screwed Me

Monday soon rolled round. I was anxious and excited. This was the first day of my fresh start, the one I so desperately needed. A new chapter in my life, and the chapter of my new adventure.

Tucking my white silk blouse into my high waisted cigarette trousers, I slipped my feet into my new Louboutins that Connie hounded me on. Apparently, I needed them. And I hated to admit it.

She was right. Damn that girl was good.

My blonde hair was pulled into a high ponytail and makeup barely visible. I had a light flick of mascara and a dusting of bronzer across my pronounced cheek bones. My lips had a smudge of lip balm over, given them just a small sheen.

My phone rung on the bed; turning quickly I smiled when I saw my mum’s name light up the screen. Answering face time, my smile only grew.

“Oh, look at you.” My mum beamed as she cocked her head to the side, my dad’s head popping up behind her.

“Mi amor.” He sung, his eyes full or pride and admiration.

“Are you all ready for your big day?” she asked, the excitement in her voice evident.

“Yup!” I sighed blissfully, running my fingers through my hair.

“Okay darling, have the best day. Message us when you’re home.”

“It’ll be late.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

I smiled wide, “Love you both.”

“Te amo, mi amor,” my dad replied before the phone went dead.

My heart ached a little more today than it normally did after our phone call. This was a big step for not just me, but them too. I always worked with my parents, even when I went into PR I would work with them on evenings or weekends. They had a small patisserie and bistro they ran, serving the best Venezuelan food and cakes you would ever taste.

Reaching down and grabbing my large work bag, I dropped my phone, purse, and key card into it. It was pretty empty, but I wanted to be prepared in case I had work stuff to bring home.

Closing my eyes, I inhaled deeply through my nose before letting the breath out past my lips.

“Let’s smash this.” I said to the empty room, nodding at myself in the mirror reflection and walking out the door.

Walking out onto fifth avenue, I stood at the kerbside as the doorman hailed me a cab. I was grateful to him. I needed to figure out using the subway, but not today.

“Where to?” the doorman asked as he held the door open for me to climb in.

“Park Avenue, 1156.” I smiled at him, a small blush heating across my cheeks.

“You heard the lady, Park Avenue, 1156.” He repeated to the driver.

“Thank you,” I said softly, smiling at him.

He stepped back from the kerb, smiling and tipping his hat towards me.

Why couldn’t everyone be as kind as him?

The taxi driver indicated and pulled into the busy road. Here we go.

Pulling up outside the large, glass skyscraper I was taken aback.

“Wow.” I mouthed.

The beeping of the meter caught my attention as I fumbled through my purse and threw him some notes.

“Thank you,” I chimed as I climbed out the car and looked back up.

Lordes Public Relations.

I was amazed, it was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. Pulling my eyes from the impressive building I locked eyes with the security guard that stood outside. Earpiece in, hands locked in front of him. He intimidated me.

Shaking off the nerves that crashed through me, I stepped forward and headed for the door.

“Ma’am,” he nodded curtly as I pushed through the glass revolving doors. The air left my lungs as I took in the work of art in front of me. The floors were high shine marble throughout, the desk in a matching marble worktop, the base solid oak that wrapped around in a half moon. The walls were panelled with beautiful art hanging from the walls. All abstract and all stunning.

Rushing towards the desk, I placed my hands on the marble and instantly removed them.

“Welcome to Lordes Public Relations,” the impeccably dressed girl at reception said.

“Hi, it’s my first day here.”

“Welcome, you must be Reese Hernández? Is that correct?”

I nodded.

“Fabulous.” She tapped her long nails into the keyboard. How she typed with her fingernails like that amazed me. She stood up, handing me a visitor pass. “Here, take this. They’ll do your ID today, then at the end of the day just hand the visitor pass back to me,” she smiled. “If you go through the turnstiles, second lift, floor eight.” She held her hand out, showing me the way.

“Thank you very much,” I smiled before stepping back and following her instruction.

Pushing through the turnstiles I walked towards the lift, pressed the button and waited anxiously. I played with the lanyard of the visitor card, I needed to keep my hands busy as my stomach was a ball of nerves.

The doors pinged, inhaling deeply I walked into the lift, turning as the doors closed. The lift moved quickly to the eighth floor, and I was grateful.

Stepping out, my high heels clicked along the marble floor. I wasn’t really a heel wearer, wedges yes, heels, no. I had to keep repeating what Connie had told me, heel to toe. Heel to toe. I thought the heel was going to give out and I would slip and fall on the high gloss tile. That’s all I needed on my first day.

I stilled for a moment as I walked through a large open planned office, my eyes scanning and scoping the space in front of me. Heads popped up from their desk dividers at the new girl standing out like a sore thumb.

Some were dressed smartly like me, others were more casual.

Now I knew, I would go for the latter. I was a tomboy, not a girly girl at all. I didn’t mind the odd dress, but I was mostly a baggy shirt and jeans kind of girl.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I headed towards the receptionist that sat behind a small desk in the corner. Smiling as I stood in front of her, her doe eyes pinged up from the computer.

“Can I help?” she asked sweetly.

“I hope so,” I laughed as nerves got the best of me. “My name is Reese, I am starting here today.” My smile growing now.

“Ah, yes. The British girl.” She smiled back at me. She pushed off her desk and walked round to stand next to me, holding her hand out for me to take. “I’m Taylor, I’ll take you through to Adele.” I shook her hand before following her down to the back of the office where panels of glass faced me.

I sort of felt like I was thrown in at the deep end, but I’ll get there. As I walked behind Taylor, I kept my head high and my eyes forward when I heard Julianne call out, “Reese,” her tone warm as she wrapped her hand round my shoulders, walking beside me.

“Hey,” my voice was quiet as we approached the office.

“Go in, Adele is expecting you.” Taylor smiled, knocking on the glass door then turning on her heel and walking away.

“You seem nervous.” Julianne whispered as we waited to be called in.

“I am,” a nervous laugh escaped me.

“Don’t be, you’ve got this,” she nudged into me as she stepped forward to open the door and greet Adele.

“Julianne, Reese,” the woman smiled as she welcomed us into her office. She had shoulder length blonde, wavy hair. Her green eyes glistening under the bright office lights. She sat behind her desk, elbows on top with her chin resting on her hands.

“First off, Welcome to Lordes and to New York. How is the jetlag?” Adele asked, her eyes pinned to mine.

“Thank you,” I said loudly, “I am pleased and excited to be here.” Rubbing my sweaty palms on my trousers, I could feel Julianne looking at me which made me even more anxious. “The jetlag is good, a lot better than it was. I am settling in nicely here.”

“That’s good, I am glad to hear that.” She dropped her hands and pulled out some paperwork, shuffling it round her desk. “So, as you know, we are Lordes Public Relations, we work closely with influencers, singers, low key actors and many more. We have been running for nearly twenty years and continue to grow every month. I loved your work ethic and commitment when Julianne showed me your résumé, have you always worked in PR?” her eyes were back on mine. I felt the sweat trickle down my back from my hair line.

I nodded.

“Part time as an assistant for Rocke PR.” I nodded again, “I worked for my mum and dad’s bistro as well, so could only really do part time,” I nibbled on the inside of my bottom lip.

“But, in that short time you landed one of the biggest influencers, Coby Swift. I mean, that is huge!” she dropped the paper, leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs.

“I mean, it was a joint effort,” I blushed feeling incredibly uncomfortable with her praise.

“Well, your manager seemed to blow the smoke up your ass, so that’s all on you baby.” She winked, “but honestly, when Julianne here found your name and what you had achieved in such a short time, we knew that we needed you working with us. I mean if you can land Coby Swift, I’m sure you can land us some big named guys over here!” the excitement in her voice was bursting out of her.

“Let’s hope so,” I scoffed a laugh, widening my eyes in horror at my comment.

“No doubt here. We wanted you, we got you. I am ready for us to take Lordes PR to the next level, and I am so excited to have you here doing it with us.” Adele sat back in her office chair and clapped her hands together quickly.

“I want you as my assistant for the time being, I have to have a lot of meetings with investors and the board, so it’ll be nice to be able to pass a few of my jobs over to you if that’s okay?” she asked, but I knew she wasn’t actually asking me. She was just being polite.

“Of course.” I nodded and smiled sweetly. Something about her made me uneasy, a familiarity coursing through my blood but I couldn’t for the life of me place her, but then again, maybe she just had one of those faces.

“Brilliant. I will get you a small desk set up outside my office, it’ll all be ready for tomorrow morning, so in the meantime, Julianne,” Adele’s eyes now moved from mine to my little HR friend, “why don’t you show our new colleague around the offices and then take her for some lunch. I have one of the investors in this afternoon so will be otherwise occupied.” I felt the tension in the air for a moment, my eyes moving from Adele to Julianne before they fell back to Adele.

“Of course.” Julianne smiled sweetly, pushing off her chair and waiting for me to stand.

“It was lovely meeting you Adele and thank you again for this amazing opportunity.”

“You’re most welcome,” she tilted her head to the side before turning to face her computer, silently dismissing us both.

I nodded to myself, picking my bag up from the floor and following Julianne into the hallway.

“And breathe,” she whispered, linking her arm through mine as we headed towards what I assumed was her office.

A small laugh escaped me, “That felt intense.”

“But that’s the hard bit done; Adele is wonderful to work with if you’re on her side. You cross her, she will make your life a living hell.” Julianne whispered before looking over her shoulder.

“I can survive that; I have lived through hell… well… I still am.” I shrugged my shoulders up softly. Before Julianne could ask me anything about my little outburst, she ushered me into her office and closed the door behind me.

She gestured for me to sit down before she sat behind her computer.

“Just give me ten, got a quick couple of emails to send and then I’ll be your tour guide…” she smirked before rolling her eyes.

I suppose she was busy and the last thing she wanted to do was to show the new girl around.

“If you’re busy, I can just wander round the office… I don’t want to be a burden.” I blush, the heat on my cheeks evident.

“Don’t be silly, I would love nothing more than to show you around, then I’ll take you for lunch and a glass of wine or two…” she looked at me for a moment, letting her jaw drop open as she over exaggerated her wink to me.

I giggled before I let my eyes fall to my lap as I knotted my fingers. I heard my phone beep, reaching down quickly I pulled it out of my bag and saw Connie’s name.

Hey bitch tits, I hope you have a fabulous first day and there is some hot CEO that will fuck your brains out. If not, I’ll buy you a BOB.

Love your face. Dinner tonight?

Your new best friend.

Connie x

I couldn’t help but laugh. I tapped a quick response telling her to piss off with her battery-operated buddy, that I wasn’t going to fuck the CEO and yes, I wanted dinner tonight. Sliding my phone back in my bag, I sat back in the chair.

“Is it just you in HR?” I asked.

“No,” she smiled, her eyes on her screen as she tapped away, “I am director of the human resource department, my team are just outside the door, on the table of eight. They are the best group I could ask for.” Her eyes met my gaze before they moved back to the screen.

I didn’t respond, just turned and looked over my shoulder and out of the glass panelled office as I saw her team sitting there.

I hope I made friendships like that here, I know I had Julianne, but I craved friends. I was always a loner. It was me and Elijah. He was all I knew. All I had.

My throat burned, but I switched the emotions off.

Not now.

Not here.

“Okay, let’s get the tour sorted. No doubt Adele will want to show you off to the investors, a big shot like you means more money for this department.” She winked.

I fumbled picking my bag up and standing from my chair as I fidgeted with my shirt buttons. “I’m honestly no big shot.” I shook my head from side to side.

“To her you are,” she smiled, opening her office door for me to leave. I did.

“You’ll have a laptop and a company phone by the end of the day, all ready for tomorrow.” Julianne beamed as she walked me across to her team, introducing me one by one.

I felt so out of depth.

But it was fine.

I had this.