Page 7 of It's Only Make Believe

Finally, Mel takes me to one of the last doors before we reach Luke’s office. It’s directly opposite Mel’s office. She opens the door, and I’m ushered inside of a room that is basically a storage cupboard, but instead of supplies, there’s a desk and a chair crammed into the room. On the desk is a computer and atelephone, plus two empty trays marked in and out. The walls are grey, and the paintwork is white. A small window lends some light to the room. It’s tiny but functional and as an intern I’m just happy to have an office at all.

“This is where you’ll be based until Luke says otherwise,” Mel tells me.

I look around again, more critical this time now that Mel has made it sound like I could be here for a long time. It’s still tiny -there’s no getting around that - but the décor looks new and fresh and it’s not like I’m wanting to host parties in the space. It’s big enough for a desk and a chair and I can’t see what else I might need at this point.

“Sit down and switch your computer on,” Mel says.

I move around the desk with a small degree of difficulty. The real Louisa wouldn’t have gotten through the gap without going up on her tippy toes, but I have no ass, so I manage it without too much contortionism. Just. I plonk down in the chair, waiting for it to break or something equally bad, but nothing happens, and I switch the computer on as Mel directed me to. Mel perches on the edge of the desk and points to a sheet of paper on the top of it. It should be in the in tray I can’t help but think. Naturally, I choose not to point this out to Mel in case she is the one who left it there. Or worse, Luke left it there. I stop obsessing over the sheet and turn my attention back to Mel as she begins to speak again, pointing momentarily at the sheet again as she does.

“That’s your logins for each system. Even if you don’t know the system or how to work it yet, please enter each one and make sure the logins work. Don’t do anything else. You will be shown how the systems work as and when you need them. You will also find details of how to get paid on the sheet. Once you have done that, you can go back to Luke and see what he wants you to do today,” Mel says. “Do let me know if there are any issues.”

“Got it,” I say. “Thank you for the tour and for making me feel welcome.”

Mel smiles at me and goes to leave. She stops at the door.

“If you want to impress Luke, don’t go to his office without his coffee,” she says.

I nod. I really don’t like the idea of being the dog’s body, but I know I have to suck it up and prove myself before I’m trusted with anything else. And at least there’s a coffee machine. It’s not like I have to do much, just put a cup beneath the spout and press a button. I’m sure I can manage that easily enough.

Mel leaves and I quickly go through the list in front of me and log in to each system. Each one works perfectly well and then I get to the bit about how to be paid. I go to the page on the company intranet that I’m directed to and download a timesheet. I need to fill it in every day and email it to the payroll department at the end of the week, which again, I’m sure I can manage. I set a reminder on my cell phone for Friday to send the time sheet just in case I forget all the same.

With all of that done, I go to the breakroom, grab a mug and put it beneath the spout on the coffee machine, and then I hit the button for an Americano. The machine rattles to life and while it makes and pours the coffee, I find the sugar and the milk. When the coffee is done, I add milk and two spoons of sugar. I give the drink a quick stir and then I rinse the spoon and return it to the drawer where I found it and then I head to Luke’s office with the cup of coffee in my hand.

I take a deep breath to steady my nerves and then I knock on the door.

“Come in,” Luke calls and I open the door and step into his office.

Chapter

Five

TIA

Iam once again floored by how good looking this man is. He is at least six feet tall and while some people that tall look gangly, Luke isn’t one of those people. He is toned and perfectly in proportion with himself. He has dark brown hair which he wears short around the sides and a bit longer on the top, and he has the most gorgeous green eyes. He has the classic chiselled cheekbones, and I’m sure that beneath the stubble he sports on his chin, his jawbone will be equally pleasing to the eye. But I don’t fancy him. It’s not an attraction to Luke that makes my palms sweaty and my mouth dry and it’s certainly nothing to do with him that makes my pussy feel damp.

I walk towards the desk and put the cup down in front of him.

“Americano, milk, two sugars,” I say.

“I don’t remember asking for this,” Luke replies.

“I can take it away if you don’t want it,” I say, forcing myself not to sound annoyed.

“No need for that,” Luke says as though he’s the one doing me the favor rather than the other way around. “I’ll drink it.”

Big of you, I think but don’t say.

“I’ve had my tour, and I’m live on all of the systems,” I say. “You said to come back and get my first task when that was done.”

“Sit down,” Luke says.

I’m glad he has finally invited me to sit down. Standing up, I didn’t really know what to do with my hands, but I had a feeling if I had sat down without an invite, Luke would have had something to say about it and I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of that. I sit down, feeling like I have passed some sort of test, and I wait for him to tell him what he wants me to do now.

“Did Mel show you where the storage room is? For the archived paper work?” Luke asks and I nod. “And did she show you the room next to it?”

“We didn’t go inside, but she told me it was for photocopying, shredding and scanning,” I reply. “Oh, and for filing current paper work.”

“Good,” Luke says. “I want you to go into the storage room, which unfortunately has become a bit of a mess in recent years and go through all of the archived paper work. For tax reasons, we have to keep the last seven years’ worth of paper work. The current year’s stuff is either in the photocopy room as you rightly pointed out, or it is still with its relevant department, so you need only worry about last year’s files and then the five years previous to that. The paperwork for those times should all be organized properly and archived in some sort of sensible order. And anything older than that needs to be shredded. Do you have any questions?”

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