(Monday Morning)
“Where is Bryce?” Kayla said out loud, checking the clock.
She looked at herself in the mirror once more before deciding she looked great. She finished putting her other earring in and walked out into the kitchen. She was too nervous to eat breakfast, but made something for Casey for when she woke up.
She peeked into Casey’s room and smiled, finding Casey peacefully sleeping in her bed. Kayla closed the door softly and returned into the kitchen, waiting for Bryce’s arrival. She checked her watch again and tapped her foot impatiently. She walked into the front hall and gathered everything she needed, slipping on her coat. She checked her watch again and finally heard a soft knock on the door. Kayla immediately swung open the door while Bryce still had his hand in the air to knock again.
“Waiting for me?” Bryce grinned.
Kayla shot him a look, “I was going to kill you if you took any longer. I have to leave.”
Bryce stepped inside and took off his coat slowly. He hung it up and smiled at Kayla.
She was dressed in a snug fitting, black knee length skirt. She had a soft green shirt on with a matching sweater tied loosely around her neck. She had a pair of heels on and her hair was done, all twisted up and clipped. Bryce could smell the faint scent of her perfume and smiled proudly, she looked great.
Kayla caught him staring, “Hopefully I’ll look better than I did at my interview and not scare everyone out of the building.”
Bryce grinned and nodded his head, “You won’t, good luck.”
“Don’t forget, get Casey up in about an hour. Her breakfast is waiting on the counter in the kitchen, all you have to do is put it together. Her lunch has been packed but you need to add her sandwich and drink, which is in the fridge. Her clothes are laid out for her and she needs to be picked up around 3...I’ll be home around 6,” Kayla said standing at the door.
Bryce nodded his head, “I think I can handle it.”
Kayla smiled, “I hope so...and Bryce...”
He looked up.
“Thank you.”
He flashed a lopsided grin and blushed, “Aww...shucks...” he said in a cartoon voice.
Kayla laughed lightly and nudged his shoulder playfully.
“Well here goes...” she said stepped outside.
“Go get ‘em,” Bryce said softly.
Kayla smiled broadly and sighed. She gave Bryce one last look and carefully made her way down the metal stairs into the busy streets.
Kayla made it to work ten minutes earlier than she was supposed to be there. She waited outside Mr. Collins office for his arrival. Twenty minutes later Mr. Collins came rushing down the hallway. Kayla stood up when she saw who it was and straightened her outfit out, making sure everything was perfect.
“Ah punctuality...I like that in a secretary Miss Dudley,” Mr. Collins smiled.
Kayla blushed and smiled in return, “I’m going try my best to do everything you like in a secretary.”
“Ambition...another thing I like,” Mr. Collins said walking to his door. “Yes...yes I think you’ll work out just fine Miss Dudley.”
“Please call me Kayla,” Kayla said quietly.
“As you wish,” Mr. Collins said swinging open his door. “Please come in,” he said standing to the side to let her enter first.
“Thank you,” she said slipping by him.
Mr. Collins entered after her and walked to his desk. He placed his briefcase on his desk and sat down, shuffling through some papers on his desk.
“Please sit down Miss...” he started. “Kayla...please sit down...Kayla.”
Kayla smiled and nodded her head, taking a seat across from him.
“Now, let me tell you everything you’ll need to know for now. As time goes by, you’ll get the hang of things and I’ll fill you in on the rest,” Mr. Collins said clearing his throat.
He placed his glasses on his nose and looked over at her.
She sat patiently waiting for his next comment.
He continued, “All right then, let’s get started.”
“Man...Darren’s early today...no more procrastinating...” Chris said snapping his fingers in disappointment.
“I wanted to check out that new secretary...she starts working today doesn’t she?” Joey asked.
JC nodded his head, “Yeah I think we should take her out to lunch or something to welcome her.”
“Aw...JC the little gentlemen...remember C...you have a girlfriend,” Chris laughed, nudging JC.
JC rolled his eyes, “Is anyone else interested?”
The other guys nodded their heads in agreement.
“Ok girls, enough gossip for now, we have work to do,” Darren yelled clapping his hands.
The guys turned around and groaned, walking to their spots in front of the mirror.
“Ok guys, let’s practice the dance routine for ‘It’s Gonna Be Me’,” Darren said walking over to the stereo system. “Did you guys stretch?”
Chris rolled his eyes, “I don’t need to stretch, I’m warmed up.”
“Chris stretch while I’m programming the cd player...everyone else stretch?” Darren said casually.
They all nodded their heads, covering their mouths to hold back the laughter while staring at Chris sit down on the floor.
Chris touched his toes once and stood up, “Wow that just made me feel so much better...well let’s get started!”
Darren turned around and stared at him.
Finally he just shrugged his shoulders, “If you pull something don’t come complaining to me, saying that I work you too hard.”
Chris grinned, “You work us too hard anyway.”
Darren finished programming the cd played and walked over to stand in front of the guys, “Your gonna pay for that comment.”
Chris groaned.
Justin laughed, “See where running your mouth gets you?...NOWHERE.”
The other guys laughed and Darren smiled casually. Chris shot Justin a look and mumbled something under his breath.
The music started to play over the loud speakers and suddenly the guys stopped fooling around. It was almost like when the first beat hit they transformed.
“All right, now show me when you remember,” Darren said watching them closely.
“Kayla?” Mr. Collins’ voice asked through the intercom.
“Yes Mr. Collins?” Kayla responded.
“Where are those files I asked for?”
“Um...I’ll bring them to you in just a minute,” she said looking around her desk.
Her first day was turning out to be hell, everything was just so new and confusing to her, she felt completely lost. She lifted up some papers on her desk and searched around for the files she was looking for. Finally she stopped to remember if she even took them out of the filing cabinet. She wasn’t sure so she walked over and pulled open a draw. She searched through and found what she was looking for. She pulled the file out and walked into Mr. Collins office.
“Here you are Mr. Collins,” she said placing the files on his desk carefully.
“Thank you Kayla, how’s your first day going? I hope I’m not working you too hard,” he said looking up from his work.
“No not at all, I think I’m starting to get the hang of things,” she lied backing away to the door.
“All right, well your lunch break is soon. So why don’t you finish whatever your doing and then head out for lunch,” he said taking the files and opening one up.
“Ok, thank you sir,” she said.
He nodded his head and she walked out of the door. She walked over to her desk and sat down, sighing heavily. She looked at the work in front of her and felt like crying. She had so much to do already, she would have to skip her lunch break. That didn’t really bother her much, but she had really hoped to go home and rest for a half hour or so. She ignored her wishes and started going through the papers on her desk.
“All right guys, LUNCH!” Darren yelled.
Chris collapsed on the floor in exaggeration, “Man! I thought we were never gonna stop!!!”
“Wuss,” Justin said standing over him and looking down.
“I wouldn’t start running your mouth Curly or I might have to hurt you,” Chris said, not moving.
Justin laughed, “Yeah right.”
“Guys...” JC warned.
They both looked over at him at the same time.
“What???” they asked innocently.
“You wanna go up and visit the new secretary?” JC asked, taking a towel and wiping the sweat off his forehead.
“Yeah, hold on a sec.,” Lance said shoving something into his duffel bag. “Ok I’m ready,” he said standing up and walking towards the door.
Joey jumped up and ran after the other two, “WAIT! I’m coming with you!”
They both stopped in the doorway and waited for Joey.
“You guys coming?” JC asked Chris and Justin.
Justin stood up straight and walked over to the door to join the other guys. They all stared at Chris.
“Hey Shorty, get up and come on!” Justin yelled.
Chris’s head popped up and glared at Justin. He jumped up and made a running leap for Justin. Justin saw him coming and bolted out of the room.
“I told you I hate that nickname!” Chris yelled, running after him.
JC sighed and shut the door behind them. Joey, JC, and Lance made their way to the elevator at their own pace.
“Come here Curly!!!” Chris shouted, running down the hall after Justin.
Kayla looked up at the door curiously.
“Come on old man, try and catch me!” Justin yelled back laughing.
Kayla narrowed her eyebrows in puzzlement. She opened the door carefully and stepped out into the hallway to see what the commotion was. Just as she stepped out and turn to her right, Justin rammed right into her.
They both tumbled to the floor, caught in each other’s arms and legs.
“OW!!!” Kayla yelped.
Justin scrambled up and looked down apologetically, “Sorry! I didn’t see you there!”
Kayla looked up at the guy standing over her and she sighed.
“Justin...right?” she asked.
“Yeah...wow you remembered,” he said flashing her a smile.
He held out his hand to help her up and she took it. She stood up and dusted herself off, adjusting her outfit in the process.
“Well...sort of,” she said brushing fuzz off her shirt.
“Sort of what?” Justin asked confused.
“I...oh never mind,” she said shaking her head. “Can I ask what you were doing running around the hallways?”
“I was running from Chris...” he trailed off, looking over at Chris.
Kayla turned to find Chris lying on the ground in a fit of laughter. His face was bright red and his laughs echoed throughout the hallway.
Kayla had no idea why they were chasing each other and frankly she didn’t really care. All she knew was she was gonna have a bruise from that last fall and she just wanted to get back to work.
JC, Lance, and Joey came around the corner to find Chris on the floor, laughing and Justin and Kayla standing beside each other staring at Chris. They walked up and looked down at Chris in wonder.
“What happened?” Joey asked, looking up at Justin and Kayla.
“I accidentally ran into...what was your name again?” Justin asked turning to Kayla.
Kayla smiled weakly, “Kayla.”
“I accidentally ran into Kayla when Chris was chasing me and he obviously thinks it’s hilarious,” Justin explained, pointing to Chris.
“You...you...you should have seen it!!!” Chris managed to get out. “The look on...on...her face...and then...” he said laughing even harder. “Man that was a classic...”
“It wasn’t that funny,” Justin mumbled.
Chris finally caught his breath and stood up.
He adjusted his shirt and walked over to Kayla, “Hey there, sorry you had to meet J over there like that.”
Kayla gave a fake smile, “It’s ok...well it was nice running into you...” she said looking at Justin. Justin blushed and she continued, “But I have to get back to work.”
Kayla turned around and walked back into her office, sitting down at her desk. She noticed they all had followed her into her office and were standing in front of her desk.
“May I help you with something?” she asked looking up at them.
“Actually yes,” JC said, before anyone could say anything else. “We came up here to take you out to lunch, since it’s your first day and everything.”
Kayla studied their faces for a second before responding, “Well that’s very nice of you, but I have a lot of work to finish and I was planning on working through my lunch break to catch up.”
“Aw come on K! Just come out with us...I didn’t mean to run into you and we want to get to know you better since you’ll be working here,” Justin pleaded.
She was about to correct Justin on her name when she thought she should just keep her mouth shut. After all these guys were big shots with this company and she didn’t want to piss of any of them and get herself fired.
“I really can’t...” she started.
“Nonsense, you can come with us,” Lance said cutting in.
She looked up at him, surprised, “No I really can’t.” She motioned down to all the paperwork in front of her, “I have a lot to catch up on.”
“It’s your first day...how do you have stuff to catch up on already?” Chris asked, looking at the papers on her desk.
“Mr. Collins wastes no time to get me working and I’m perfectly fine with that. I came here to do a job and that’s what I’m doing,” she replied.
“Aw Mr. Collins won’t mind if you go out on a lunch break...come on...please Kayla,” Chris said batting his eyelashes at her.
She gave him a weird look and hesitated for a second.
She almost said yes until she looked back down at her desk, “No really...thank you for the invitation...but I should really stay here.”
They all realized she wasn’t going to budge and decided to give up on her for the time being.
“We’ll be back tomorrow,” Justin warned.
“Please don’t make the same entrance...I might not be able to handle another one,” Kayla blurted out.
She covered her mouth and scolded herself for being sarcastic. She had done so well holding her tongue and being polite, but she let herself slip at the last minute.
Justin looked at her for a brief second before laughing, “I’ll try not to.”
The other guys gave a chuckle and made their way out of the office.
“See ya around Kayla,” Joey said over his shoulder. “BYE!”
She gave a small wave and breathed a sigh of relief after they left. She made a vow to herself to hold her tongue...all the time. She looked up at the clock and sighed tiredly. She still had the rest of the day ahead of her.
Joey shut the door behind him, “I don’t think she likes us.”
“I think she likes me,” Justin joked puffing up his chest.
“Yeah right, did you see the looks she was giving you?” Chris laughed.
“I think she’s just shy, we’ll get her out of that,” JC said casually. “But for now let’s go eat, I’m starving!”
They all nodded their heads in agreement and raced down to the cafeteria to eat.
“Kayla? Did you go out to lunch?” Mr. Collins asked, walking back into his office.
“No Mr. Collins, I had a few things I needed to do, so I just skipped lunch,” she said looking up.
“Why dear?”
“Well...” she trailed off. “I had a lot of paper work to catch up on.”
“Oh honey, don’t worry about all that paperwork, it never dies down. Just as long as you get things done by deadline and don’t lose anything, your fine,” he said stopping to talk to her.
“I don’t like being disorganized...so I decided to take a little extra time to organize myself,” she said looking down at her desk.
“Well don’t worry about it...and no more skipping lunch breaks ok?”
She nodded her head, “Yes Mr. Collins.”
“Good,” he smiled. “So where are those papers I asked for before lunch?”
She looked up with a panicked look, “Papers...?”
Mr. Collins chuckled, “I’m just kidding dear, loosen up...your doing great and don’t worry so much.”
She let out her breath and smiled in return, “Thank you sir.”
He smiled once again and walked into his office.
“I’ve got to learn everyone’s sense of humor around here,” Kayla said to herself shaking her head.
“Ok guys, that’s a rap for today...get some rest and good luck recording,” Darren said walking over to the cd player and turning it off.
Lance’s arms fell and he sighed in relief. He walked over to his duffel bag and pulled out his bottled water. He opened it and took a long drink, satisfying his thirst. JC walked up next to him and wiped a towel over his forehead.
“Only 3 more hours,” JC grinned.
Lance nodded, “Yeah...lucky us.”
JC laughed lightly and took a sip of his bottled water.
He looked up at Lance, “You ready?”
Lance nodded his head and shoved the rest of his belongings into his duffel bag. He picked up his bag and followed JC out the door and into the hallway.
“Today’s a really long day for some reason,” Lance commented in thought.
JC thought for a second, “Seems normal to me.”
“Then maybe it’s just me...” Lance trailed off. “I guess I just want to go home and go to bed.”
“Don’t we all?” JC laughed.
Lance smiled and nodded his head.
They got to the recording studio and walked in to find the other guys already there. They greeted their producer and walked into the sound booth.
Justin was humming a tune only he could hear and started dancing around the small room. JC gave Justin a questioned look, but ignored his usual antic. Chris wandered in after everyone else and placed his headphones on his head. Joey was bouncing up and down in his place and Lance was laughing at something Joey had said.
Their producer watched them with amusement and finally came in over their headphones, “You guys ready to get started?”
They all nodded their heads and eventually the rest of them put their headphones on.
“All right Kayla, let’s call it a day,” Mr. Collins said pushing his chair back from his desk
“Yes Mr. Collins,” she said standing up. “I’ll have this all typed up for you tomorrow.”
“Take your time, there’s no rush,” Mr. Collins said casually.
He stood up and stretched, fixing his tie. He unrolled his sleeves and proceeded in putting his suit jacket on.
Kayla jotted down a few more notes and excused herself. She slipped out of his office and back to her own desk. She arranged and few more papers and decided to wrap up her first day. She filed the last few papers she needed to and looked around her office to see what else needed to be done. A lot of the tasks she left undone could be done the next day so she decided to leave it that way. She was anxious to get home to Casey and see how her day was, also to relieve Bryce of his baby sitting duties.
After checking everything over twice she put on her coat. She grabbed her purse and made sure everything was in order. She took one last glance and walked out the door, closing it gently behind her. She made her way to the elevator and hoped she could get out of the building on the first try.
She succeeded and waved to the security guard on her way out. She opened the door and stepped outside, inhaling the warm air. She smiled to herself and started walking towards the bus stop.
She finally made it home and up the flight of metal stairs to her tiny apartment.
She opened the door and called out, “Hello? I’m home!!!”
Bryce walked out of the hallway and greeted her with a smile, “Hey! How was your first day?”
“Long,” she replied, dropping her things by the door.
She shrugged out of her coat and hung it up neatly. She left her things by the door and walked into the kitchen.
“How’s Cass?” she asked, putting the kettle on the stove.
“She’s doing fine, she’s worn out so she’s taking nap,” Bryce said sitting down. “So tell me about your day!”
Kayla shrugged her shoulders, “Nothing exciting really...I’m up to my ears in paperwork, I got invited out to lunch by some guys and my boss told me I need to loosen up.”
Bryce sat there for a second before laughing lightly, “That well huh?”
Kayla sighed and nodded her head, “I’m just tired that’s all...I really hope I can handle this job because I really need it to pay the bills.”
“You’ll do fine...first days are always rough,” he assured her.
Kayla sat down across from him, “I hope your right.”
Bryce sat up, “I’m always right.”
Kayla smiled weakly. She was happy she was home.
“Well what's for dinner?” Bryce asked.
Kayla shot him a look, “Who said you could eat here?”
Bryce looked offended, “I’ve been here all day...slaving away...while your out at some glamorous job...and you can’t even...” he paused dramatically. “You can’t even make me dinner!”
Kayla laughed and pushed Bryce’s arm, “Oh all right you can eat here.”
Bryce laughed and shook his head, “Better yet why don’t we go out?”
Kayla’s smile fell, “No Bryce...”
“My treat...come Kay, we have a reason to celebrate! Your new job!” Bryce insisted.
“I don’t know...” she started.
“Oh god, we’re not going through this...we’re going out so go get ready and I’ll wake Cass up,” he said pulling her arm to get her up.
“Bryce...” she whined.
“Go!” he said giving her a little push.
She sighed and gave in, to tired to argue. She made her way back to her room to get changed.
When she and Casey were both ready, Bryce was waiting patiently in the small sitting room in the front. Kayla and Casey walked out hand in hand, grinning broadly.
Bryce stood up when he saw them enter, “My my,” he said, while signing it.
Casey giggled and blushed, running up to Bryce. Bryce scooped him up and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Kayla watch admiringly and sighed deeply. She walked over to the closet and pulled out their coats. When everyone was ready Bryce opened the door for the two girls and waited for them to go first. Kayla smiled gratefully and stepped out into the night’s young air.
