AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Charlotte knew Maggie was bluffing. Maggie had fired her out of turn, out of jealousy, perhaps. She quivered, not wanting to argue. If she revealed what she actually knew, she’d be showing all her cards. And that was against the non-fraternization clause, completely and totally. That would destroy her for good.
“I got the feature because he liked the idea,” Charlotte whispered. “I’m not trying to… to be with him.“
“Ha. I can see right through you,” Maggie said harshly. “I just wanted to tell you to watch yourself. Don’t make yourself out to be a fool. You could ruin your career, which is proving to have quite a bright future, isn’t that right?” She mocked, making Charlotte out to be a fool.
“I don’t know,” she breathed. “I just want to write the feature.”
“My eyes are on you, Charlotte,” Maggie whispered. “You may think you’re queen of the interns, but that can fall apart in a second.”
She flipped her red hair, returning to her chair and beginning to highlight things with a bright blue marker. She hummed evenly, like an evil villain.
Charlotte stared at her stupidly, trying to remember to breathe. What the hell?
“You can leave, now,” Maggie said primly. “I have tons to do before I leave. Unlike you, I have actual job responsibilities, besides flirting.”
Charlotte spun from Maggie’s office and shut the door a bit too loudly, causing several editors and writers to snap their heads toward her. They’d surely noticed her in the previous few weeks, perhaps even sensing the tension between her and Maggie. None of them made eye contact with her, not choosing to include her, as she reeked of intern status.
Entering back into the intern office, she made momentary eye contact with Pamela, who grinned madly, like a clown.
“Somebody had a bad meeting with Maggie,” Pamela said, her voice heavy with snark. “I don’t suppose you got fired again, did you?”
Charlotte ripped her purse from her desk and snapped her laptop closed, anger zipping through her.
“Actually, she just wanted to discuss the feature I’m writing for the magazine. About Thick Soled,” Charlotte said, her eyes dancing with anger. She felt on the brink of insanity.
Pamela’s jaw dropped. Interns didn’t get features—this was a hard and fast rule. She shot up from her desk, clearly trying to think of some kind of haughty response. But Charlotte was already bursting from the intern office, seeking solace in the silence of the elevator, where she finally collapsed in a fit of tears.
She was a mockery. She was a scam. She was nothing.
24
Friday afternoon, there was a slight crispness to the air, an assurance that fall was coming, easing into their summertime, soon to rob them of afternoon warmth and evening sun. Quentin left the office early enough to pick up Morgan at school. She’d been back since the previous Monday, brimming with frustration at being “a few days behind on piano” after her hospital stay, but generally content to be elementary-school-popular, having been one of the only kids to stay the night in the hospital.
Quentin waited out front, a small, brown paper sack in his hands, holding two chocolate croissants he’d picked up at the local French bakery. Perhaps ice cream was out of the cards for a while.
As he waited, he checked his phone, finding a small message from Charlotte. Immediately, a smile flickered across his face and his heart palpitated, showing his lust and growing intense affection for this girl. As they’d grown increasingly emotionally attached to one another, they’d also found ways to sneak around their schedules, hooking up in his office at work or making love after Morgan left to visit her mother. He found that he felt lighter, more even-keeled than he had in years, and he knew it was a result of this budding relationship.
In truth, he’d never felt this way.
When Charlotte brought up the non-fraternization policy, Quentin always talked over her, teasing her, telling her not to worry, they would figure it out later. And he was certain, somehow, they would. Or perhaps he was just too giddy to care, really, what the future held. He was enjoying the lust-filled waves of the present.
Morgan leaped into his arms, becoming a flurry of long blond hair and sticky fingers, which she confessed was due to the snack she’d just eaten. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t get to have my croissant,” she said, her eyebrows high.
“If you say so,” Quentin said, guiding her toward the sidewalk and into the swarm of children and parents, picking up and rushing away.
“Is Charlotte coming over tonight?” Morgan asked, ripping a slab of crispness from her croissant.
“Do you want her to come over tonight?” Quentin asked, curious. Morgan had brought up Charlotte more and more often, recently, leaving him to believe she was falling for her, just as he was.
