Why did he sound so amused? Nate glanced back at her, and Emily regretted looking so dressed up and different. She felt like a schoolgirl chasing her crush, even though she was only dressed up for work.
“Thank you for hiring me,” she said awkwardly.
“Thank HR. They convinced me. And if it doesn’t work, there’s always Brandon.”
“Oh.” So he still wasn’t sure if she fit in there. She didn’t know what he meant by “Brandon”.
Emily’s mind went blank. She wanted to say something charming, something witty and intelligent and insightful, something that would miraculously turn her internship into a full-time job. But instead, she felt confused and tongue-tied. So much for impressing the boss, she thought bitterly, as they stepped into the elevator and Nate pressed “41”.
There was no-one else in the elevator at this hour. Nate leaned against one of the steel walls, and Emily stood as close as possible to the opposite wall. The shiny box was as large as an elevator could be, but even then, she felt like she was standing too close to him, and the air between them felt hot and intoxicating.
As the elevator inched its way up, Emily could feel Nate’s eyes on her.
Finally, he said softly, “You didn’t need to get all Prada-ed and plastic-ed up just to work here.”
“I wanted to fit in.” The words were out before she could stop herself, and Emily wanted to kick herself – she sounded like a nerdy girl wanting to hang out with the cool kids.
The corners of Nate’s lips went up. “You didn’t have to get into debt to buy a suit.” The elevator reached his floor and he stepped out, and then turned to look at her. “You look great either way.”
And then he turned and walked away, and the elevator doors closed behind him.
For a very long time, Emily was aware only of the loud thumping of her heart. Nate Steele had said she looked great! Was that a compliment, or did he just say that to all new recruits? The elevator still smelled slightly of his cologne, and Emily recalled the way his eyes twinkled darkly when he smiled.
And then it hit her – she was stuck in the elevator. She didn’t have an ID card yet, so she couldn’t activate the buttons. She pressed them anyway, mortified by her lack of foresight, and hoped that Nate wouldn’t come back to the elevator for some reason, and find her standing there.
Emily felt panicked for a few long moments, and then the elevator began to descend downwards. She breathed a sigh of relief – someone must have pressed the button from the ground floor.
As soon as the elevator reached the atrium level, Emily stepped out and walked past the small group of waiting people. She went to the tiny reception area, and spoke to the woman working there, explaining that she was a new intern at Alpha Investments.
The woman glanced at her through half-rim frames, and found her name on a list.
“Here you go,” she said, handing Emily a plain ID card. “It’s a guest pass to use for the day. You and the other intern, plus the three new recruits get one of these each. HR should give you a proper card by the end of the day.”
Emily nodded, and headed over to the 32nd floor, where she was meant to meet Jim, the head of HR. It worried her that they’d hired two interns – as if they expected one of them to fail. She also didn’t like the idea of three people being hired directly as employees. Maybe her mother was right, maybe being an intern was just about working for free. When they hired employees, they hired them directly.
***
Just before 8:30, the three new recruits showed up. Emily felt relieved to learn that Jessie, Michael and Aaron were network security experts and were being brought on the help increase server security at Alpha.
A few minutes later, the other intern showed up. He seemed friendly, smart and hard-working, and Emily had no doubt that he’d be a great employee. Unfortunately, his name was Brandon, and Emily understood what Nate had meant by his off-hand comment in the elevator. Brandon and Emily were both liberal arts majors, and would work in the investment analysis department.
Jim arrived just before nine. “You guys’re making me look bad,” he joked, and ushered them all into a small conference room. He introduced them to a junior HR executive, Stacey, who’d be in charge of their orientation.
A few hours later, the five new recruits had sat through a brief presentation on Alpha, and a presentation on client profiles. They’d had their photos taken for ID cards, and then they’d been given a tour of the office. Alpha Investments occupied six floors of the building, and Stacey introduced them to a bunch of people whose names Emily promptly forgot.
After lunch, they were given folders to read, and Stacey left them alone in the tiny conference room. The five of them chatted about their lives instead of reading the boring material in the folders, and just after four o’clock, Stacey reappeared with their brand new ID cards.