It’s been about two weeks since my first day, and it’s been a bit of a breeze. I’ve definitely had hardships since it’s only my first few weeks, but it’s nothing I couldn’t figure out.
“Ms. Spades!” Ace shouts for me. I sigh as I stand, grab my tablet, and walk into his office.
“Yes, Mr. Phantom?” I ask, stopping in my tracks when I see another man in his office.
The tension in the room felt sickening. As soon as I stepped in, I wanted to leave.
“This is my right hand, Mateo. He’ll be around most of the time, so get used to his face,” he states as I turn to look at Mateo.
He stood near the door, hands clasped before him, tattoos covering both of his arms and a scar across his face. He studied me the same way I was studying him. His stare sent chills down my spine; it was cold, as if he hated me without even knowing me. I nodded my head, since he doesn’t seem like much of the talking type, looked back at Mr. Phantom, and turned to exit.
“Wait, Ms. Spades,” Ace says, making me turn toward him once more. “We want Jersey Mike’s today. I’ll take a pastrami sandwich.”
I proceed to pull out my tablet and type the kind of sandwich he wants and once more turn to Mateo.
“What about you, sir?” I say, looking up at Mateo. His body stiffens as he looks at me, eyes lurking with a sense of something.
“I’ll take the same thing as Alejandro,” he murmured. I can tell he was flustered, he was just good at hiding it.
“Alright, I’ll go get those. I should be back in like 20 minutes,” I smile at them, finally exiting the room from whatever tension was there.
Now confused and in a haze, I rush out, not paying attention to where I’m going, and run into a pole. “Ow, Jesus.”
With a deep sigh, I continued to walk, now actually paying attention to where I was going. Finally feeling like I could breathe as the sun hit my face, I took a deep breath.
“What is wrong with me?” I throw a fit as I walk toward my car.
Taking another deep breath before I got in my car and began to drive was definitely necessary. Oddly enough, this Jersey Mike’s had a Drive-Thru. I was so confused. I thought I was crazy. Finally obtaining the sandwiches, I drove back, and Linda’s car was in my spot. I knew it was Linda’s because she had it written on the hood. What a weird thing to do. I parked wherever I could and walked into the building where I found Linda yelling at the receptionist.
“I told you! I have a meeting with Mr. Phantom!” She shouted at the young lady who was on the verge of tears.
“Actually, you don’t. Stop yelling at this poor girl,” I calmly said, getting behind the counter and letting Cynthia go.
“But I do, you can ask him,” she tried to convince me, and I laughed.
“I’m his secretary, dummy. He would’ve told me to put it on his calendar, and we both know he’s too busy to not put it on his calendar,” I say. Offended at my comment, she tried to reach over and hit me, but she missed badly and I didn’t even move.
I laughed hysterically as she tried over and over to get to me. Once she finally gave up, she sighed.
“I just, I need to see him one more time,” she said to me sincerely, practically begging for sympathy.
“I’m sorry, Linda, I’m gonna have to ask you to leave,” I responded, genuinely apologetic.
She left. What in the hell made her act like that? Over Alejandro Phantom. I wonder.
I finally make it back to Mr. Phantom’s office, not knocking before entering and not even looking at him before I go to close the door. I begin to ramble, “Mr. Phantom, I’m sorry. I know you must be upset, but I had to deal with Linda. She was–” I finally turned to look at him and see he was nowhere to be found.
“So great talking to you,” I sarcastically say to myself.
“He said he’d be back in a few,” Mateo said from the corner of the room, scaring me half to death.
“Okay, please don’t scare me like that,” I say, putting my hand to my heart and taking a deep breath.
“So sorry,” he chuckles as he steps toward me.
“Here’s your sandwiches; I have work to do,” I pass him the bag and walk toward my office.
“Hey, uh, me and Ace are going out later tonight. Would you like to tag along?” He says, stepping in between me and the door.
“Can I bring my roommate? She’s definitely the one who deserves a night out,” I say chuckling, the hardest overworked worker ever.
“I don’t think he’d mind. Go ahead and bring her. The more the merrier, anyway,” he smiles, finally moving out of my way.
I thought he was stone-cold. Why the hell has his mood changed? Why is he chuckling and smiling? Lord, please don’t tell me I’ve lost it. I can tell something fishy is definitely going on, and I’m scared to get to the bottom of it.