The New Assistant
by uno
by uno
Chapter 1
Today was a new day for Nicole Thorne. A new town, a new job and a new beginning for herself. Even if it wasn’t all on her own accord. Nicole has some … habits that necessitated a completely fresh start. She moved practically overnight, changed her phone number, deleted her social media and already had a new job lined up.
Nicole knocked her interview at Greene, Lawson, Uhler & Temple out of the park and Human Resources had her start immediately to fill an assistant position in the legal department. Nicole dressed herself in her most conservative size 16 pant suit, which at 5’7” still left her stunning, and showed up to her first day early and met with Mrs. Harmon from HR who showed her around the offices and led her to Legal. Mrs. Harmon, a lady in her early-fourties was polite enough with an undercurrent of a stern attitude that she displayed as she explained office protocol throughout the office walkthrough. The tour ended as Mrs. Harmon led her to the office of Lucas Nesley.
“Now Ms. Thorne, I’ll leave you to Mr. Nesley here. You’ll be assisting everyone throughout the office but you’ll be reporting to Mr. Nesley. At least until we hire a new office manager for this department. Good Luck.” Mrs. Harmon stated as she walked off.
“Hello Mr. Nesley, nice to meet you.” Nicole reached her hand out only to be cut off.
“Please stop. Mr. Nesley makes me feel old as hell. I’m only 28. Call me Lucas, Luke or Lu … well not Lu but just not Mr. Nesley” he said shaking her hand.
Nicole giggled at Lucas’ abruptness and she could practically feel the ice breaking. “Okay and you can call me Nicole.”
And like that the two began to quickly endear themselves to each other. As the days and weeks went on in the office they considered each other friends and got to know more about each, although Nicole kept a handful of things about her life before coming to the office guarded. When Lucas would trip into discussing something Nicole didn’t want to talk about, he would just it go.
While not actually about her past, Nicole also kept guarded her true feelings that have been developing towards Lucas. He was funny, kind, helpful but he just wasn’t her type physically. At 6’1” and maybe 200 pounds she considered him a beanpole and her taste in men we a tad larger. She thought that maybe Lucas was attracted to her but he would never act on it because while he was becoming her friend he also kept things professional. And Nicole respected this about him but sometimes she would catch her mind wondering, what if.
Nicole had been successful in keeping things friend but professional with Lucas for a few more weeks. She continued to file paperwork for him and the rest of her superiors in the office, make copies, answer phones, and go on runs out of the office. One such run landed her in the mall down the road. Janet, one of the lawyers in the office was on her last day before going out on maternity leave and there was going to be a baby shower. Lucas wanted to get a present but couldn’t get out of a meeting so he sent Nicole to the mall to get a card, a baby toy and a coffee from the mall’s new coffee shop. She had got everything everything but the coffee and was about to pick that up until she walked in front of a herbal storefront. She stopped and looked at some of the item in the window and whatever she could see on the counters from outside. The she saw the counter with the sign marked diet.
Out of curiosity, she walked in to get a better glance and she saw names that gave for flashbacks of days past: plum extract, fish oil, gentian. She knew these names, appetite stimulants. The names ringed out to her like old friends. She bit her lip, gazed at them until a stock boy walked up to her.
“Need some help ma’am?” The stock boy asked.
“Huh uh no … dammit … fuck it …” Nicole got flustered, grabbed the items and bought them and rushed out the door.
Her final stop was for Lucas’ coffee. He got him the largest cup they had and loaded with sugar and cream. As she parked back at the office, she was breathing quickly and talking to herself.
“Don’t do this. It’ll be okay. You’re better than this now. It’s not a big deal. It’ll only be one time. Oh crap.”
In a quick motion, she crushed a couple of the plum extract pills and stirred it into Lucas’ coffee.
“He won’t even notice. One time. It’s just one time and it’s not even going to be effective.” She convinced herself.
Nicole walked back into the office just as the shower was starting. Lucas rushed to her grabbing the gift, card and coffee.
“Thank’s Nicole, you’re a lifesaver.” Lucas whispered to her taking a sip of the coffee.
“Oh don’t worry about it Lucas, anytime.”
After the party, everyone started dispersing and Lucas started helping Nicole clean up. A bit to her shock.
“Oh Lucas, you don’t have to help. I got this.”
“After you made that run for me, this is no problem.”
“Like I said, it’s now problem, anytime.”
“Careful, I may ask you to get me coffee everyday. It never taste as good when I get. You must be magic.”
Nicole laughed, “Well maybe I can pull off some more magic in the future.”
“Well he liked it.” Nicole took that as all the confirmation that she needed.
