She's the new secretary.
2011 Words
Eleanor's head pounded and she held it up in her hands. She had pulled up an all-nighter working on a project that had been handed to her. There had not been much time for her to sleep in the last few days. She dropped her head on her desk and let out a soft groan. She stared at her shoes from under the desk, remembering that she needed to get new ones before tomorrow.
She had to go with her boss on an outing. Right! An outing. How did she even not remember that? She raised her head immediately and took the schedule note to check. It was indeed tomorrow.
“Lord, I feel like I was hit with a huge sack of rice. Why does it have to be tomorrow?” She asked herself as she grumpily wrote down some things in the schedule. Dropping the ball pen, she put her head on the table again. She knew she would have enough time to rest. She had to go to the store to get new clothes immediately after work, then add some touches to the project she was working on, then probably get about four hours of sleep.
“Hey, sleepyhead!” Dennis called as he barged into Eleanor's office with a broad smile on his face. He was a crossdresser, who also had a great personality and sense of humor. But sometimes, he could just be annoying, like a time like this when Eleanor was having a headache and only needed some peace in her life for at least a few minutes.
“What now, Dennis?" she inquired tiredly even without lifting her head off the table.
“Just came to say hi to my favorite person here. My, my…are you doing fine?” He sat on the chair in front of her and tapped her lightly on the shoulder. Eleanor raised her head, her eyes were puffy and the strand of her red hair was falling from the sides of her head in her ponytail.
“I'm fine, just a little tired,” Eleanor answered, resting her back on her chair. She smiled at Dennis just so he wouldn't continue asking her questions or flare up the whole issue by telling her to take a day off and go to the hospital.
“Your choker is very lovely,” Eleanor commented in a bid to shift his attention away from her, but Dennis was not buying her idea either.
“I know that already, so don't try to change the topic, honey. You look like you're going to collapse anytime soon. Have you ever been sleeping at all?”
“Dennis, how about we go for lunch during the weekend?”
“There you go again, trying to change the topic. But yes, I'd love to but let's get you to the hospital first. I don't like the way you're looking.”
“I said I'm fine. I'm just very tired because I was up all night. Is Mr. McCarthy on the seat yet?”
“No, he's not. Anyway, I only came to check on you. I'd be leaving now. See you at lunch break,” Dennis said, getting up to his feet. He made a quick twirl and headed for the door.
Dennis always managed to put a smile on Eleanor's face no matter what she was feeling. She smiled as she watched him catwalk towards the door. He flickered his fingers in a wave which she reciprocated. Once he left her office, she let out another tired sign and dropped her head on her desk again.
“I wonder if I should remind him of tomorrow's outing. Ugh, what if he gets angry at me for calling him when he's not in the office? Never mind, I'll just let him know when he asks for his schedule.” Eleanor monologued.
In five seconds she picked up her phone and decided that she was going to call her boss and remind him whether he was in the office or not. A call came in on her phone as soon as she picked it up. It was from the nursing home her mother was staying and she already knew the reason they were giving her a call.
“Hello, Miss Monroe, how are you doing?”
“Hi, doc. I'm doing fine. How's Mom?”
“Well, she's been even better these days.”
“I'm so happy to hear that. I'll be there sometime next week. Uh…I also know that the monthly bills are almost due as well, so I'll settle that when I come over.”
“Oh, okay. That was the same reason I called. See you next week then. Bye,” The doctor said and hung up. Eleanor had her cheek on her left palm while she used her right to scroll through her phone, checking out random messages on it. She found her way to her gallery, checking out the pictures that were on it. The recent pictures were pictures of Dennis he usually sent to the group chat and stored directly on her media. She smiled when she scrolled on the picture of him doing a funny loss.
“Dennis is such a character,” Eleanor commented, laughing. The next picture was one with her mom, Elsie, at the nursing home. There was no doubt that Eleanor was the carbon copy of her mom. They shared almost the same features. Going from the grey eyes to the red hair, to the well-defined cheekbones, high nose bridge, and slight chin cleft.
The only difference was the fact that one was older than the other. And yes, one was crippled and had to depend on others to get things done for her while the other did everything on her own with no helper in sight.
It had been exactly three years since Elsie was admitted to the nursing home after suffering from partial paralysis. This, she sustained when she fell down the stairs where she worked. It had been such devastating news for the teenager. Hearing about her mother's accident caused so much grief for her that she almost had to drop out of college. The financial stress was a huge burden on her so she had to move her mother to the nursing home permanently…or ahead till the time she would miraculously recover someday.
Eleanor had to run multiple part-time jobs to pay for her expenses, and school expenses and also pay for her mother's stay at the nursing home. It was indeed a good turn of things in the life of the young girl who recently got a job at Perfect Touch Corporations. It was like a dream come true, plus the pay she got was like three part-time jobs combined. Things got slightly better for her, so Eleanor was determined to put her best into her work and get promoted. Which would automatically mean she would get more pay and be able to save more for herself and her mother.
Eleanor exited the gallery and went back to the call log to give her boss a call about the party they were to attend together as she had intended on doing.
“Yes?” His husky voice came on the phone. Eleanor could sense the grumpiness in the tone of his voice. She could not make any mistakes that would cause her to lose this gift of a job she had gotten.
“Are you going to waste my time or what?” Rex asked in a tone of growing annoyance.
“H..hello sir. I called to remind you of the business party you're to attend tomorrow evening. It's the next on your schedule, so I thought of reminding...”
“Yes, I know that,” he interrupted and cut the call.
Eleanor looked at the screen of her phone and saw that he had already disconnected the call. Her brows knitted together in a slight frown.
“Such a grumpy man,” she complained and put her hands over her mouth, looking around to confirm if there were CCTV or tapping cameras around. She had heard that the last person before her was fired because the boss caught her badmouthing him. Eleanor always suppressed her anger or watched a funny video on her phone anytime she felt the urge to spill out how she felt about her boss' annoying behavior.
****
Eleanor got down from the taxi and headed into the boutique. She was welcomed in by the security guy at the door, but instead of being ushered around to check out the clothes and accessories that were available, Eleanor knew exactly where she was headed.
She walked herself to the other side of the boutique, jumping in from the desk in front of her. The dark-skinned lady behind the desk looked up from the game she was playing. A broad smile appeared on the corner of her lips on seeing her friend, Eleanor in front of her.
“Oh hey, baby girl!” She piped, lowering her voice a little on noticing the awkward stares. The two hugged each other.
“Are you here to buy stuff or you're here to see me?”
“Both," Eleanor beamed.
Eleanor and Sandy had been besties since high school. Sandy was a fashion-oriented girl who lived with her aunty. She had been the closest person to Eleanor aside from her mom, but the two ladies had not been seeing each other as much as they used to before Eleanor got her new job. Eleanor had gotten work as a salesperson in the boutique three months before Eleanor got her new job, but she had never gone to the boutique.
“Okay! I'll be the one to show you around then," Sandy told her. “What kind of dresses do you need?”
“I also need to get a new pair of shoes too. There's this party I'm attending tomorrow with my boss and I don't think I have the right dresses in my closet.”
“Oh—my—God! Party? With your boss?” Sandy exclaimed with a smile on her face that confused Eleanor.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“When did you say you started working there?”
Eleanor could not understand what her friend was trying to play at.
“Two weeks, why?”
“You only just started working there for two weeks and you're going to a party with him? Way to go, girl!” Sandy danced.
“Eww, what are you even saying?” Eleanor laughed.
“It's just a business party, and I'm only going with him as his secretary,” Eleanor added.
“Duh, that's how it always starts,” Sandy teased.
“What? Eww! No! Do you know what kind of a person he is? Proud and ugh…”
“Is he handsome or not?”
“Why?”
“Answer my question. Is he handsome or not?”
“He is…but…”
“End of discussion. Let's get you some sexy clothes,” Sandy did with a tone of finality and took her friend by the hand to check out some clothes.
“You must be out of your mind, Sandy. Do you think I'm interested in him? Or that he's interested in me?”
“Doesn't matter. You just have to set the ball rolling. Do you know what dating a guy like him means? More money, for you, for me, for your mom.”
“Do you think I'd go out with someone who makes my skin crawl so much? Because of money? You must be high on something. He probably even has a girlfriend. So, what am I supposed to do? Seduce him?”
“Anything you can, okay?” Sandy told her friend and pulled out a fancy short gown from the hanger.
“Just stop it, Sandy. Just get me something decent and not too expensive. It's not a club party but a business party.”
- Writer
