City Girls: Heather. Book 1

Today being Tuesday, meant that all employees at Heather’s workplace were to be in the conference room by 9 AM sharp, with the team leader for the current project already there ahead of time. 

That’s what’s supposed to be happening, Heather thought as she looked down at her watch.

So where was everyone? More importantly, where was the team leader?

Her timepiece read 8:52. She sighed; here we go again. 

Cursing loudly, she realized she would have to take one for the team and field the meeting today. Just like she did last week. 

And the week before. 

She wrinkled her nose in frustration and was just about to barge into the conference room to demand that her boss increase her pay since she was the only one who did any bloody work around here when Bethany, the actual team leader whose ass she was about to cover for, burst into the room with a coffee in hand. 

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry, Heather,” she apologized profusely while splashing her latte everywhere, “my car had trouble starting,” she said, clattering her things onto her desk and avoiding eye contact.

Heather wiped a drop off her cheek and smiled unkindly. 

“Isn’t that what you said last week?” 

Bethany paled, and Heather shook her head. 

“Just don’t let it happen again.” 

Bethany nodded grimly, even as she was swearing at Heather on the inside. ‘How dare she? Just because she was in the boss’ favour this week didn’t mean she could talk to her in that attitude!’

Bethany conveniently forgot Heather had saved her from being fired two weeks before and strode angrily into the conference room.

‘God, I don’t get paid enough for this shit,’ Heather thought, nearly sighing aloud.  

Now that one of her coworkers had arrived, she’d slipped on her icy cold exterior. 

They all called her frosty on a good day. 

On a bad day, she was known as the cold-hearted bitch. People would climb tables just to get away from her when she was in a mood. It didn’t help them that she was the rising star of the office and, in their boss’ eyes, could do no wrong. It certainly helped her, though. She was free to be as mean as she liked.

Of course, this meant Heather hadn’t made many work friends.

Though she didn’t mind that and even delighted in their terror. 

It was sure to keep the men away, which was worth it. 

During the meeting, as Bethany droned on and on about their newest client, Heather fought the urge to fall asleep. She cursed her roommate and best friend Anna, who’d made them stay up late watching reality TV reruns. Whipping out her phone in a bid to keep herself busy, her home screen wallpaper caught her eye. It was a photo of herself as a baby, cradled in the arms of both her parents. 

They were all smiley-faced and happy in the picture, and Heather wondered why she rarely ever saw them smile in real life. 

Then she realized it was because she rarely ever saw them at all. 

With both parents being successful workers at the General Hospital, one a dentist and the other a gynecologist, they were very absent in Heather’s life. 

Growing up, they were almost never at home and rarely spent any time with her. She was practically raised by various nannies and her grandma, who moved in to help around the house. 

She was an only child and never learned to get along with other people. 

‘I suppose that’s why I’ve got such tough skin,’ Heather thought sadly. 

“...trust that you can handle it, Heather,” her boss was saying. 

What? She quickly turned her phone off and raised her head. 

Everyone was looking at her expectantly, so she just nodded. 

“Of course, sir, bring it on,” she said.

‘But bring what on? What on earth have I just agreed to?’ she thought, slightly panicked. 

“Then I’ll go on and bring him in,” said her boss and stepped out of the room. 

Bring him in? Heather began to hyperventilate. 

She was just about to ask to be excused when a warm hand fell on her shoulder. 

It was Veronica, another coworker. 

Being the youngest around, Veronica was nice to everyone, but she was especially nice to Heather because she loved her dress sense. 

“You’ve just agreed to supervise a new intern,” Veronica informed her, seeing that Heather was lost. 

“I have?” Heather exclaimed.

Everyone was momentarily shocked. 

It was the most emotion she had shown since arriving here.  

She quickly composed herself and smiled prettily. “I mean...I suppose I have.” 

That’s what you get for ignoring my entire presentation, thought Bethany nastily. 

As if she could sense her malice, Heather looked in her direction. 

Bethany paled for the second time that day and looked away. 

Heather’s boss, Mr. Igalmen, walked back into the room, trailed by a young man who looked to be in his early twenties. 

Heather was appalled.

Were they asking her to babysit this child?

She was only twenty-six herself, but since she was so proud of being mature for her age, she often forgot about it.

“This is Zac Maron, and he’ll be joining us as a new intern for the year. Heather, he’ll be in your care. Try not to scare him off,” Igalmen said, causing everyone except Heather and Zac to burst into laughter.

A faint blush crept unto Heather’s cheeks. Surely, she wasn’t as bad as they made her out to be? 

‘Maybe I could try to be nicer...?’

She quickly stopped that train of thought. ‘What do I care what these incompetent people think of me anyway?’ she said to herself. 

Dusting imaginary dirt from her skirt, she gave Zac a polite little grin and told him she was excited to work with him. 

He visibly relaxed and extended his hand for a handshake. She cringed but took his palm anyway. 

She didn’t allow herself to admit that it felt nice or that their hands fit perfectly like they were made for each other. 

Instead, she squeezed a little harder than necessary, which caused Zac to raise his eyebrows in surprise. 

Feisty, he thought. 

Heather worked in an advertising agency, but they specialized in experiential marketing. This meant that they were in charge of creating a relationship between brands and consumers by planning events. They did all the normal stuff, too — jingles, radio and tv advertisements, posters, the whole shebang.

***

“So, what exactly do you know about advertising?” Heather asked Zac after the meeting. They were at her desk, and she was looking at him from under her glasses. She was trying to seem intimidating and wise, but he just thought she looked cute. 

“I know quite a bit about it, actually. I work at the sister firm of this establishment. Weren’t you listening at the meeting?” he asked, amused. 

Heather blinked twice and lied. 

“I was just...testing you. I wanted to see how sharp you were.” 

He looked at her with an amused grin and shrugged. 

“Okay, then.” 

‘God, I already don’t like him,’ Heather thought to herself. 

“Well, sit down then. Let’s work out a schedule.” 

He declined her offer and rested against the desk instead. 

“A schedule? Oh, we don’t need a schedule. I’m to be around you 24 hours a day unless I’m needed at my original job or by someone else. So, anything I can help you with?” he said with a grin. 

‘Why does he keep smiling at me?’ Heather wondered. ‘Is there something wrong with my hair?’ She discreetly patted her afro and found nothing out of place. 

Maybe there’s something wrong with him.

“Okay, then. I need you to help me with some research. Ask Paul in finances to set up your computer—” She stopped midway as she realized they were going to set his desk up right next to hers. 

Oh God, can this day get any worse? 

Apparently, it could. 

“Goodnight, Heather,” Bethany grinned nastily as she began to pack up her stuff. 

Heather was staying behind to do some paperwork, and this seemed like the funniest thing in the world to Bethany. 

They had been at it all day, with Bethany going out of her way to annoy and make trouble for Heather. 

She made sure to do it out of the boss’ line of sight, though. Heather couldn’t work as well when she was mad and didn’t want to mess up her stellar performance, so she’d spent most of her day in the backyard, smoking away the urge to strangle her coworker.

Heather couldn’t decide whether or not she wanted to reply to Bethany. 

On the one hand, it would be so satisfying to ignore the wench, but on the other hand, replying would show her they weren’t on the same evolutionary scale.

“Have a good evening, Brittany,” Heather said, getting her name wrong on purpose. 

“It’s Bethany,” Bethany replied through gritted teeth. Honestly, the audacity of this skinny bit— 

“Bethany!” Veronica called from the hallway, “Are you leaving already? Let’s go together.” 

Veronica said goodbye to everyone and then waved at Heather shyly. 

Heather smiled prettily at Veronica, mostly to spite Bethany. 

“Goodnight, sweetie,” she said. 

Veronica nearly collapsed from joy