Three is a Crowd

Beginnings

Amanda looked at the mirror, her blue eyes scanning the reflection staring back at her as she nervously ran her hands down her freshly pressed suit. It was her first day working at Dark Horse comics as a Personal Assistant to the man in charge, Mr Gerard Way. She had never met him before; the assistant she was replacing had done her interview and did her in house training the week before when Mr Way was on annual leave.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves.

She had looked for a new job for months, trying to get out of the retail sector she had been stuck in after college. Four years in college and she couldn’t get a decent job, until now. She knew she had all the skills necessary to do the work, but being under pressure was never her thing. She would need to get use to it, and quickly if Lisa, the old PA, was to be believed.

‘He’s nice’ she said’ but he does expect a lot. If he asks for something do it quickly or you’ll never hear the end of it. Also, don’t get sick, ever. He doesn’t believe in sick days. Make sure you stock up on multivitamins. But other than that, he’s a great boss really. Just don’t get on his bad side and you’ll do fine.’

They hadn’t been the words of advice she had been hoping to hear, but at least she was forewarned. All she could do was try her best not to mess it up.

‘Don’t be nervous’ she told herself, looking at her reflection in the mirror. ‘You’ll be fine. Just go in, be confident, remember what Lisa told you and you’ll do fine.’

She looked at her watch, and realised she was cutting it fine to make it in early. She wanted to make a good first impression, and she hoped being earlier than expected would be a good start.

She grabbed her bag and keys as she left her tiny apartment and got into her car. She was fortunate enough to have gotten a small decent apartment that was within her budget to rent by herself. Working in retail had made her hate people. She liked individuals, but people as a whole she hated, so she was happy to be able to live by herself and not have to deal with people when she didn’t have to.

She didn’t have to drive for very long before she reached the building. She felt the butterflies in her stomach as she turned the ignition off and looked up at the building that was to be her second home with the amount of time she would have to spend there. Another perk of the job was the long hours when Mr Way had deadlines to meet, or was just in a foul mood, but the pay wasn’t half bad, which is why she was determined to make it work. She took another calming breath as took her keys out of the ignition and got out of her car.

She walked up to the building and showed security her badge she had gotten on her day of training. She got into the lift, which was occupied by one other person. He was quite good looking she had to admit. He had black, floppy hair and hazel brown eyes. His eyes glanced at her quickly before he went back to reading the pages he had in front of him as he drank a steaming cup of coffee. She scrunched her nose slightly at the smell. She never particularly liked the smell of coffee, she was more of a tea person. Mr Way was a coffee demon according to Lisa so she was going to have to get use to the smell unfortunately.

‘Not a coffee person?’

She looked up at the man, who hadn’t raised his eyes from the pages in front of him.

‘Eh, not really.’ she replied awkwardly, trying not to blush. She was twenty five; she shouldn’t blush every time a good looking man talked to her.

‘As my new PA you’re gonna have to get use to it I’m afraid.’ He spoke without raising his eyes.

Amanda froze.

'Shit' was the only coherent thought in her head at that moment.

She hadn’t stepped into the office yet and she felt like she was already making a bad impression.

Just my luck she thought miserably.

She pulled herself together quickly.

‘It’s nice to meet you Mr Way.’ She mustered with as much grace and poise as she could. ‘I was hoping to be in the office before you started.’ She added.

‘So was I, it is normally the job of my PA to be waiting for me. But it’s your first day so I’ll let it pass for today. I assume Lisa didn't explain to be in thirty minutes before I arrive.’

He still hadn’t looked up from his reading material, but Amanda was certain that he could feel the heat of embarrassment radiate off her body in waves as her face turned bright red underneath her pale make up. As a matter of fact she had forgotten to mention it. Or maybe Amanda had just misheard Lisa. Either way it didn’t matter, she was messing up before she had even sat at her desk.

When she didn’t reply, he finally looked up from his page. She saw his smirk before he burst out laughing.

‘I’m sorry’ he said while continuing to laugh’ I can’t…the look on your face is priceless…you’re not late, don’t worry. I was just trying to scare you with the mean boss act. I normally last a day but you looked like you were going to faint’

He laughed for another minute as Amanda felt relief sweep through her, as well as even more embarrassment. When he stopped laughing, he put his papers under his left arm as he held his hand out.

‘Nice to meet you Ms May.’

She took his hand and gave it a confident shake.

‘Nice to meet you too, Mr Way.’

The elevator doors opened, and Mr Way motioned for Amanda to enter the floor first.

‘Did you have far to travel to get here?’ he asked, taking on a much more friendly tone than before as he walked beside her. It sounded much more natural to him that the tone he used in the elevator.

‘Not too far, it’s about twenty minutes in the car.’ She replied, trying to overcome the nervousness she felt after the disastrous introduction.

‘That doesn't sound too bad. I hope Lisa explained everything to you about what’s expected of you.’

They stopped in front of a glass office door. Mr Way opened it, and motioned for Amanda to enter first and he followed directly behind her before falling in step with her again.

‘I think so. She pretty much went through everything on Friday so I think I have a fair idea.’ She said, trying to sound confident.

‘Good. If you have any problems just come to me, okay? I’m not a mean, scary boss. I remember what it’s like starting a new job. Life will be made much easier if you come to me if you’re unsure, no matter how silly you think it is. I would rather you ask a million dumb ass questions and do everything right the first time than make a stupid mistake I have to correct because you wouldn’t ask.’

She wasn’t sure how to respond to this little speech.

‘Will do, Mr Way.’

‘Please, call me Gerard when we’re not in front of clients. It makes me feel older than I am.’

‘Okay… Gerard’.

He smiled kindly at her.

‘Don’t be so nervous. Just so what’s asked of you and we’ll get along fine. I’m not the perfect boss but I try my best to be respectful and accommodating. I only ask the same of you.’

She nodded at him, smiling. Looking at him properly, she realised that he was a very handsome man.

‘Uh, this is gonna be fun, working with a man I’m gonna drool over all day’ she thought to herself, mentally rolling her eyes at herself.

They finally reached his office, her desk directly outside his office.

‘I assume you were shown how to log into the computer and phone system?’ he enquired.

‘Yup’ Amanda replied, stepping behind the desk and typing in the password, feeling pleased with herself when she remembered how to do it first time around as Gerard watched her. When she logged in she looked back up at him, making direct eye contact with him. Her heart literally stopped for a moment, caught completely by surprise as she again registered just how attractive she found him.

A look she couldn’t quite place flashed across his face quickly before he nodded at her.

‘Okay Amanda, could you print off a copy of my schedule for the day, and send an email to Michael Patterson requesting a meeting at some stage this week when I’m free.’

‘Sure, no problem.’

‘Great.’ He said as he handed her the pages in his hands. ‘Also, when you’re finished that I’d like you to type up the notes I made on these pages in time for my meeting with Franco later.’

She couldn’t help but notice he didn’t wear a wedding ring as she took the paper off him. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the thought from her head. He was her boss for heaven’s sake! Whether he was single or not it wouldn’t matter, because he was her boss.

‘Are you alright Amanda?’ Gerard asked, concern in his voice.

‘Yes, I’m fine. I’ll get started now’ she said, flashing him a smile that would hopefully convince him that she was okay.

‘Okay then Amanda, I’ll leave you too it then. Give me a buzz on the intercom if you need anything’ He said, giving her a quick smile before he walked into his office, closing the door behind him.

She let go of the breath she didn’t realise she was holding as she sat down in front of her computer and got straight to work.

*************************************************

Four hours later, she was still typing away as she tried to fix Gerard’s schedule. Lisa had made a bit of a mess of it apparently, so Gerard had to spend his first morning back correcting it before asking Amanda to type it up when she finished typing up the notes he made on the new comic he gave her. Her fingers ached with all the typing, but the morning went by quickly much to her relief.

‘Amanda?’

She looked up to see Gerard leaning on her desk, a smile on his face as he gazed at her.

‘Yes?’

‘It’s lunch time. C’mon, I’ll take you out’ he offered as he stepped away from her desk as he waited for her to save her work.

She grabbed her coat and bag and followed him out, trying not to feel awkward as he led her out of the building.

‘There’s a lovely place just down the street, their food is amazing. Is Italian okay?’ he asked as they walked side by side.

‘Italian’s good, that sounds great.’ She smiled back at him, as she made an effort to maintain eye contact whilst not blushing.

‘So Amanda, how has your first morning been?’ he asked, sounding interested.

‘It’s been good so far, it’s gone so fast I haven’t had time to stop which I like.’ She replied with a smile.

‘That’s what I like to hear.’ He said as they stopped in front of the restaurant. It looked cosy from the outside, and judging by the smell coming from inside the food would indeed be amazing.

Her stomach rumbled as she stepped in through the open door after Gerard. The Front of House seemed to recognise him very well, as he greeted him with little formality.

‘Gerard how nice to see you, it’s been a while!’ he said, as he picked up two menu’s and led them to a table.

‘I know I was away on holidays with Frank, just got back on Saturday’ Gerard informed the man as they reached their table.

‘How is lover boy? Did you pop the question yet?’ he asked they sat down.

Gerard chuckled.

‘You know Frank, the minute I pop the question is the minute he runs away.’

They took their menus as Amanda felt slight disappointment.

Of course he was gay.

A man that good looking could not be straight and single, it was the law of fate. Any good looking, nice guy was either gay or married. Now Amanda could stop drooling over him in the knowledge that he was completely out of the realms of possibility.

'Yeah right, like that ever stopped you before' she said to herself, knowing better than to believe this new knowledge would make her stop drooling over him

‘I’ll come back in a few minutes to take your order’ the man said before he left them alone at the table.

Gerard looked at Amanda, trying to gage her reaction.

‘Can you suggest anything?’ Amanda asked, trying to act as though she didn’t hear anything, hoping it was the right thing to do. His personal life wasn’t her business so she should act as such.

‘Frank and I always go for the vegetarian lasagne.’

‘Oh, are you vegetarian?’

‘I’m not, but Frank is so I’m forced into the vegetarian lifestyle’ he said with a laugh, still giving her that piercing gaze that she swore was trying to see right through her.

She laughed along, silently hoping that the waiter would come and take their orders just so she could avoid talking to Gerard for a moment. She said a thank you to whatever God was watching over her in that moment as the waiter arrived and took their order. Gerard ordered the Lasagne while she ordered the Carbonara.

The rest of lunch went by smoothly, with conversation ranging from taste in music to the last book they read. By the time it was over, Amanda was ready to burst after eating the whole serving of Carbonara. Amanda just hoped the afternoon would go as quickly as the morning.

.

Notes

Hi All, I've had this idea for a while so while I was at home bored I decided to write it up.
Like writing two other stories wasn't enough.

Anywho, let me know what you think. Comments, subscriptions and votes mean a lot so please vote/comment/subscribe.

Til next time :)