The Design(70)

I couldn’t give up yet, though. My design was good and I wanted someone to recognize that. I moved toward Grayson’s door, slowly, and without real intent. I can still turn back at any time. Once I stood in front of it, I glanced over my shoulder and tried the door handle.

Unlocked.

I sighed; one less thing I’d have to feel guilty about. Was I technically even breaking in if the door was unlocked?

“YES!” my conscience screamed at me.

But maybe it was a sign that I was meant to proceed?

My heart rate picked up as I slipped past his door. This is wrong. I’m a bad person. I tried my best to ignore the nagging thoughts in the back of my mind.

I walked straight to his desk and pushed his heavy leather chair out of the way. His mahogany desk was annoyingly clean, which meant there were no stray pieces of letterhead waiting for me there.

My gut told me that I was doing the wrong thing. Grayson meant more to me than this dumb submission. Right? But, at the same time, just because I got a piece of his letterhead, didn’t mean that I had to go through with the plan. I can still stop at any time. I’d get the piece of his letterhead and then decide.

I checked my watch and then turned to his desk drawers. The top left drawer was completely filled with office supplies: pens, pencils, paperclips, and a stapler. I moved to the drawer beneath it but it was locked and so was the drawer at the very bottom. I cursed under my breath and shot to the other side of the desk. I could feel a cold sweat trickle down my neck and I knew my time was running out. If Alan decided to show up ten minutes early instead of five, he’d catch me red-handed.

Grayson’s top right desk drawer was unlocked, but it was full of junk: stray business cars and rubber bands. I rifled through its contents to no avail.

Shit. Shit. Shit. If I didn’t find a piece of his letterhead, the committee wouldn’t accept my design submission and I’d have snooped around his things in vain. I had to find at least one piece.

I tried to pull open the second drawer on the right only to find that it was locked. The rest of the drawers were all locked as well, which meant I had to revert to plan B. I reached for the bobby pin I’d set down on top of his desk and finagled it into the small gap in the lock. Five seconds passed and it didn’t budge. Ten seconds. Twenty. Thirty. I rotated the bobby pin in every direction and tried to shove it into the hole as far back as I possibly could. Nothing helped. Maybe lock-picking wasn’t quite as easy as it looked in the movies.

I shoved my bobby pin back into my hair and mulled over every idea I could think of. Maybe he kept his stationery somewhere else? No. It would definitely be in one of his desk drawers. I sighed and pulled open the top right drawer again, looking for anything that could help me.

I shoved aside the highlighters and drafting pencils, and then my fingers touched cold metal.

A key.

Without hesitation, I pulled it out and tried it on the drawer I’d just attempted to break into.

It worked. The drawer slid open, and inside, waiting for me in a neat pile, was Grayson’s stationery. I squealed as I pushed aside two boxes of business cards so that I could reach the pristine stack of letterhead at the back of the drawer. The Cole Design logo was printed at the very top and beneath that, “Grayson Cole, CEO” was embossed in bold black lettering.

I reached for one, then thought ahead and grabbed two. With my luck, I’d accidentally rip the first one or spill coffee on it and have to repeat the whole process over again.

I’d done it. I had the letterhead and I could submit my design. I pushed the drawer closed again and it locked into place just as the phone on Grayson’s desk started to ring. The shrill sound made me jump out of my skin as it ricocheted off his office walls. It rang again, the piercing sound seeming to grow even louder. Without thinking, I reached out for the phone, and pressed the first button I could find.

The ringing stopped and I stood frozen, unsure of what to do. Why had I touched it at all? I should have just let it ring!

A second later, his voicemail began playing on speakerphone and Grayson’s voice surrounded me.

“Hi, you’ve reached Grayson Cole. I’m not in the office at the moment so leave your name and number and I’ll give you a call when I get in. Thanks.”

Hearing his voice made me feel a sharp pang of guilt for what I was doing. Grayson trusted me and how did I repay him? By breaking into his office and stealing company property.

What was I doing? I had to get out of his office. I couldn’t go through with the plan. I couldn’t forge his signature.

As I started to move, his voicemail cut off and then the person who’d called started to leave a message.