The Assistant (AU, M/L, Adult) Chapter 10 1/14/11 pg 11
Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 10:15 am
A/N: Thanks for all the feedback. I don't name my chapters; but if I did I might call this one step forward, two steps back.
Chapter Eleven
Liz was five minutes late when she rushed into her parents’ apartment above the Crashdown. Her father was standing over the stove flipping pancakes and her mother was fussing over the place settings.
“Wow you busted out the good china.” Liz said giving her mom a kiss on the cheek.
“More incentive for you to come visit,” Her mom said pinching Liz’s cheek before pulling away.
“Do you want Mickey shaped pancakes?” Jeff asked waving his spatula.
“I think once you reach the age of 10 you are officially too old for Mickey pancakes, Dad.”
“Nonsense. You can never be too old. Now how many do you want, two? Three?”
“Two is fine, thanks.”
Jeff turned pack to the griddle flipping each pancake with a confident ease.
“So is your boss behaving himself?” Nancy asked as she poured her daughter some orange juice.
Liz’s mind immediately flashed to the night on the couch.
“Yes, no problems.”
“Good. I don’t like seeing you upset, honey. And you looked like someone told you your dog died when he let you go.” Her Mom could read her emotions far too well but Liz had no desire to talk to her parents about her confusing relationship with Max Evans.
“I’ve never had a dog. You're allergic.”
“Stop being a smart ass.” Her mother warned good-naturedly.
They made it halfway through breakfast, Liz carefully keeping the conversation about her parents and not herself before they seemed to catch on.
“Now, we know that work is going alright. But what about the rest of your life?” Nancy asked knowingly and her father agreed.
“You can’t be working all the time. You need to get out into the world or you’ll snap.”
“When was the last time you were on a date?” Her continued, while her dad inwardly cringed.
Jeff Parker never got used to the idea of his little girl dating. Even when she was married with kids of her own he still wouldn’t like it.
“I am not really interested in dating right now, Mom.”
Liz should have known that it wouldn’t get her mother off her case that easy. Jeff not wanting a part of this conversation started washing up the pans in the sink.
“That’s a shame because Paula from book club’s son is in town.”
“No…” For the love of god, why was everyone trying to get her laid?
“He’s a real looker.”
"No!”
“Big hands.” Nancy waggled her eyebrows.
“Oh gross, Mom.”
“Nancy, if Liz doesn’t want to focus on men right now that’s her chose. We should respect that.”
Saved by the Dad.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After Brunch was finished, Liz decided to pop downstairs and harass Maria while she was working. The blonde was leaning over the bar reaching for a new bottle of ketchup and didn’t see her friend approach.
Liz wound her hand up and smacked Maria’s ass, dropping her voice to a low octave.
“Hey there sweet cheeks,” She teased.
Maria’s entire body tensed making her look like a cobra about to strike. She turned around preparing to go off on the asshole and instead saw her best friend.
“Liz!”
“What’s happening, sweet cheeks?”
“You need to stop calling me that. I swear I tell you once about an ex’s pet names and you never let it go.”
“It’s my duty as your best friend to mock you with love for as long as I see fit.”
“So what brings you to my neck of the woods?”
“Brunch with the parental units.”
Maria pulled Liz into the back room.
“How did last night go? Was he good in bed? He looks like he would be good in bed. I mean he has big hands…”
“Stop! Everyone needs to stop talking to me about hands!”
“Who else is talking to you about big hands?”
“I don’t want to go there. Suffice it to say; last night we watched a movie. We cuddled. I had a dream that we sleep humped the shit out of each other and I woke up alone in my own bed.”
Liz flopped down on the break room couch.
“Wait, be kind rewind. You dreamt that you sleep humped him?” Maria’s eyes were huge. She couldn’t believe prudish little Liz Parker was talking about sleep humping her boss.
“Yes. I dreamt that we were spooning on his couch, and that I was getting off on his morning wood while he slept. And that he was responding in kind. Then we both finished. And went back to sleep.”
“And you are sure this was a dream?” Something wasn’t adding up for Maria. She knew that Liz believed it, but she wasn’t sure if she did.
“Of course it was a dream, Maria. I woke up in my own bed, remember?”
“Right.”
“So what did you do last night?” Maria knew she was just trying to avoid the subject, so she humored her for now.
“Michael came over. Did you know that he carries around real handcuffs in his pocket everyday?”
“What?! Oh god… I’m sorry I asked.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It became strikingly clear that the man who she spent a fun and teasing weekend with disappeared the moment the workweek came calling. Max and Mr. Evans were such vastly different personalities that Liz almost thought of them as Jekyll and Hyde without the weird facial deformities to denote Mr. Hyde. Max Evans could never be anything but handsome.
As she sat sorting through the mail, she wondered how one person was capable of being so vastly different from one day to the next save having split personality disorder. She didn’t think that was the problem. What she wouldn’t give to sit in on one of his sessions with Langley to know what was running through that mind of his.
A dark blue envelope drew her attention back to the present, and she slowly slid her finger under the flap prying it open.
Two embossed tickets to the Samuel Hunter Gala fell out into her palm along with a small card reminding them of the occasion. It was in two weeks and she had yet to make Mr. Evans’ travel arrangements. She would bring it up with him this afternoon.
Liz’s eyes locked on Max’s as he emerged from his office. She hadn’t seen him look so conflicted since the day he visited her in the Crashdown. Her body itched to comfort his in the smallest of ways, a gentle hand on the shoulder a whisper of encouragement. But she knew that it wasn’t allowed here.
“Ms. Parker, I will be working in my office through lunch. If you wouldn’t mind ordering some Chinese for me I’d appreciate it.” His hand reached out toward her, only for him to push it back through his hair.
“Of course, Mr. Evans. Do you have any preferences?”
“I trust your judgment.” She watched him shove his hands in his pockets as he wandered down to the boardroom for the meeting.
It was almost as if he hadn’t slept in days. But he hadn’t been this way on Saturday, which meant that whatever was bothering him occurred after their viewing of “E.T." so maybe the movie had given him nightmares.
Somehow Liz didn’t believe it was his fear of aliens that had kept him up at night. When they went home she would suggest Courtney make him a cup of chamomile tea before bed. The half-dead look didn't suit him.
Her desk phone rang, its shrillness disrupting the quiet that had settled on the floor.
“Mr. Evans’ office?”
“Hello, this is Tess Harding calling. Is Max available?” A slightly accented voice chirped over the line.
“I’m sorry Ms. Harding he just stepped into a meeting. May I take a message?”
“Yes, please tell him that I have something very urgent to discuss with him before he comes to New York for the Hunter gala and that its vital he calls me before then.”
“Of course Ms. Harding, may I take down your number?”
As soon as Liz had scrawled the digits into the message pad, she bid Tess goodbye.
Tess Harding was the daughter of Edward Harding, she knew that much. But beyond that she had little knowledge of her. It was so easy to Google these days; it wouldn’t hurt to take a little peek.
It was already loaded up on her computer screen as it was.
It wasn’t like it was weird for her to Google Tess.
Before she could stop herself, she had entered her name into the search engine. The first few pages that popped up were the standard info about the girl. She was finishing up her masters at NYU, she had been educated at Spence. Her mother was a well known Australian socialite, her father was of course Edward Harding co-founder of Evans-Harding.
There was a picture. Tess Harding was gorgeous in a tiny elfin way. Her light blonde hair fell in short curls over her shoulders, her small body achieved curves hers couldn’t. And worst of all, Tess had her arm around Max’s waist in the photograph.
The caption read:
“A joining of houses, couple Maxwell Evans and Tess Harding arrive at the Evans-Harding benefit at the Met.”
The photo was from this past Spring. So who was Tess? An ex-girlfriend? Or worse the current girlfriend who was waiting back home in NYC. Liz felt sick. A lead weight had dropped into her stomach and it was a thousand times worse than the idea of Max and Whitaker. She knew that Whitaker wasn’t Max’s cup of tea, but clearly Tess was.
Liz didn’t want to go down that train of thought. Not here. Not now. She took a sip of water, and focused herself going back to work. A call to Senor Chows allowed her to order a selection for Mr. Evans to choose from and a small lunch special for herself. She had learned her lesson last time.
The food arrived and he wasn’t out of his meeting yet. It gave her the chance to set everything up for him in his office without being in his way. She couldn’t be in his way, not now.
Liz had only just settled back at her desk when she strolled by her, sniffing the air.
“Has the food already arrived?”
“Yes, it is waiting for you in your office. Also you received a phone call, the message is on your desk.”
“Thank you, Liz. Did you want to join me for lunch?” His voice was soft and he'd stammered a little at the end.
“I’m sorry, I have errands that I needed to run today. I will be back by the end of the lunch hour if that is alright.”
“Yes, of course. You are free to do as you wish.” She hated that she was making him feel like she kicked his puppy, he seemed so resigned.
Liz grabbed her lunch and purse and rushed to get into the elevator.
‘What the hell did I say that for? I don’t have errands.’
She ended up eating her lo mein in the nearby park watching small children play on the jungle gym. When Liz could no longer force herself to eat the greasy noodles, she tossed them into a garbage bin.
While she was out, Liz realized that she needed to stop at the ATM to get out more cash. Her paycheck from Evans-Harding should have deposited by now.
Liz hated using her debit card, she felt like she never kept track of how much money she was spending that way. And she needed to pinch her pennies if she wanted to pay off Harvard by the time she was 80.
Liz stepped up to the ATM machine, and slid in her card punching in her pin when prompted.
$15,342,83 was her balance.
‘Sweet baby Jesus!’
Liz knew all about the $342.83. But where did the other $15,000 come from? Surely her paycheck wouldn’t be that much. It couldn’t be that much. It said in the dossier $60,000.00.
Maybe they made a mistake and deposited too much. She’d have to stop by the payroll department before she left to get it straightened out.
Taking out forty dollars, she slipped the cash into her wallet and headed back to the office. It was tempting to know that much money was sitting in her account. She could easily take care of so much debt in one fell swoop. But if the money really wasn’t supposed to be there and they demanded it back she’d have no way to pay it back. So she’d wait.
When she got back to the office the sight of Mr. Evans sitting behind her desk shocked her. He was at her computer and the screen still displayed the article on Tess Harding with the photo of him and her together.
‘Well fuck my life…’
“Mr. Evans, can I help you with something?” Liz asked as she divested herself of her purse.
“I was doing some work and I realized that I had misplaced an excel file you sent me. I was hoping to just pull it off your computer, I was a little surprised to see this when I turned on the screen.” His voice was too calm. Not good.
“I can explain that.” She forced herself to think to come up with anything that might seem less like a creepy stalker.
“Please, do.”
“I received the phone call from Ms. Harding while you were in the meeting and I realized that I knew little about her. What her involvement was with the company, etc. I like to keep myself informed of who’s who, it makes my job easier when determining the urgency of matters. So I Googled her, and this was the first article that popped up. I mustn’t have been distracted by the arrival of lunch and forgot to close it down.” Liz lied through her teeth, she was barely making eye contact with him.
Max looked at her distrustfully. He wasn’t buying it. Liz wished she could say what she really wanted to say to him:
‘You see the truth is Mr. Evans is that I have an unhealthy fixation on you, and your hands, and in a moment of insanity I decided to see who my competition was.’
No that wouldn’t go over well at all.
“Ms. Harding is a personal contact of mine and in the future I wish for you to leave my personal life private.”
“Of course, Mr. Evans. I will stay out of your personal life if that is what you want.”
‘Please tell me that isn’t what you want. Please tell me to just stop being nosey but don’t tell me to stay away.’ Liz’s eyes pleaded.
He stood up and ran a hand through his hair. For a moment Liz thought he might refute her, instead he excused himself to the restroom. His silence said it all.
Chapter Eleven
Liz was five minutes late when she rushed into her parents’ apartment above the Crashdown. Her father was standing over the stove flipping pancakes and her mother was fussing over the place settings.
“Wow you busted out the good china.” Liz said giving her mom a kiss on the cheek.
“More incentive for you to come visit,” Her mom said pinching Liz’s cheek before pulling away.
“Do you want Mickey shaped pancakes?” Jeff asked waving his spatula.
“I think once you reach the age of 10 you are officially too old for Mickey pancakes, Dad.”
“Nonsense. You can never be too old. Now how many do you want, two? Three?”
“Two is fine, thanks.”
Jeff turned pack to the griddle flipping each pancake with a confident ease.
“So is your boss behaving himself?” Nancy asked as she poured her daughter some orange juice.
Liz’s mind immediately flashed to the night on the couch.
“Yes, no problems.”
“Good. I don’t like seeing you upset, honey. And you looked like someone told you your dog died when he let you go.” Her Mom could read her emotions far too well but Liz had no desire to talk to her parents about her confusing relationship with Max Evans.
“I’ve never had a dog. You're allergic.”
“Stop being a smart ass.” Her mother warned good-naturedly.
They made it halfway through breakfast, Liz carefully keeping the conversation about her parents and not herself before they seemed to catch on.
“Now, we know that work is going alright. But what about the rest of your life?” Nancy asked knowingly and her father agreed.
“You can’t be working all the time. You need to get out into the world or you’ll snap.”
“When was the last time you were on a date?” Her continued, while her dad inwardly cringed.
Jeff Parker never got used to the idea of his little girl dating. Even when she was married with kids of her own he still wouldn’t like it.
“I am not really interested in dating right now, Mom.”
Liz should have known that it wouldn’t get her mother off her case that easy. Jeff not wanting a part of this conversation started washing up the pans in the sink.
“That’s a shame because Paula from book club’s son is in town.”
“No…” For the love of god, why was everyone trying to get her laid?
“He’s a real looker.”
"No!”
“Big hands.” Nancy waggled her eyebrows.
“Oh gross, Mom.”
“Nancy, if Liz doesn’t want to focus on men right now that’s her chose. We should respect that.”
Saved by the Dad.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After Brunch was finished, Liz decided to pop downstairs and harass Maria while she was working. The blonde was leaning over the bar reaching for a new bottle of ketchup and didn’t see her friend approach.
Liz wound her hand up and smacked Maria’s ass, dropping her voice to a low octave.
“Hey there sweet cheeks,” She teased.
Maria’s entire body tensed making her look like a cobra about to strike. She turned around preparing to go off on the asshole and instead saw her best friend.
“Liz!”
“What’s happening, sweet cheeks?”
“You need to stop calling me that. I swear I tell you once about an ex’s pet names and you never let it go.”
“It’s my duty as your best friend to mock you with love for as long as I see fit.”
“So what brings you to my neck of the woods?”
“Brunch with the parental units.”
Maria pulled Liz into the back room.
“How did last night go? Was he good in bed? He looks like he would be good in bed. I mean he has big hands…”
“Stop! Everyone needs to stop talking to me about hands!”
“Who else is talking to you about big hands?”
“I don’t want to go there. Suffice it to say; last night we watched a movie. We cuddled. I had a dream that we sleep humped the shit out of each other and I woke up alone in my own bed.”
Liz flopped down on the break room couch.
“Wait, be kind rewind. You dreamt that you sleep humped him?” Maria’s eyes were huge. She couldn’t believe prudish little Liz Parker was talking about sleep humping her boss.
“Yes. I dreamt that we were spooning on his couch, and that I was getting off on his morning wood while he slept. And that he was responding in kind. Then we both finished. And went back to sleep.”
“And you are sure this was a dream?” Something wasn’t adding up for Maria. She knew that Liz believed it, but she wasn’t sure if she did.
“Of course it was a dream, Maria. I woke up in my own bed, remember?”
“Right.”
“So what did you do last night?” Maria knew she was just trying to avoid the subject, so she humored her for now.
“Michael came over. Did you know that he carries around real handcuffs in his pocket everyday?”
“What?! Oh god… I’m sorry I asked.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It became strikingly clear that the man who she spent a fun and teasing weekend with disappeared the moment the workweek came calling. Max and Mr. Evans were such vastly different personalities that Liz almost thought of them as Jekyll and Hyde without the weird facial deformities to denote Mr. Hyde. Max Evans could never be anything but handsome.
As she sat sorting through the mail, she wondered how one person was capable of being so vastly different from one day to the next save having split personality disorder. She didn’t think that was the problem. What she wouldn’t give to sit in on one of his sessions with Langley to know what was running through that mind of his.
A dark blue envelope drew her attention back to the present, and she slowly slid her finger under the flap prying it open.
Two embossed tickets to the Samuel Hunter Gala fell out into her palm along with a small card reminding them of the occasion. It was in two weeks and she had yet to make Mr. Evans’ travel arrangements. She would bring it up with him this afternoon.
Liz’s eyes locked on Max’s as he emerged from his office. She hadn’t seen him look so conflicted since the day he visited her in the Crashdown. Her body itched to comfort his in the smallest of ways, a gentle hand on the shoulder a whisper of encouragement. But she knew that it wasn’t allowed here.
“Ms. Parker, I will be working in my office through lunch. If you wouldn’t mind ordering some Chinese for me I’d appreciate it.” His hand reached out toward her, only for him to push it back through his hair.
“Of course, Mr. Evans. Do you have any preferences?”
“I trust your judgment.” She watched him shove his hands in his pockets as he wandered down to the boardroom for the meeting.
It was almost as if he hadn’t slept in days. But he hadn’t been this way on Saturday, which meant that whatever was bothering him occurred after their viewing of “E.T." so maybe the movie had given him nightmares.
Somehow Liz didn’t believe it was his fear of aliens that had kept him up at night. When they went home she would suggest Courtney make him a cup of chamomile tea before bed. The half-dead look didn't suit him.
Her desk phone rang, its shrillness disrupting the quiet that had settled on the floor.
“Mr. Evans’ office?”
“Hello, this is Tess Harding calling. Is Max available?” A slightly accented voice chirped over the line.
“I’m sorry Ms. Harding he just stepped into a meeting. May I take a message?”
“Yes, please tell him that I have something very urgent to discuss with him before he comes to New York for the Hunter gala and that its vital he calls me before then.”
“Of course Ms. Harding, may I take down your number?”
As soon as Liz had scrawled the digits into the message pad, she bid Tess goodbye.
Tess Harding was the daughter of Edward Harding, she knew that much. But beyond that she had little knowledge of her. It was so easy to Google these days; it wouldn’t hurt to take a little peek.
It was already loaded up on her computer screen as it was.
It wasn’t like it was weird for her to Google Tess.
Before she could stop herself, she had entered her name into the search engine. The first few pages that popped up were the standard info about the girl. She was finishing up her masters at NYU, she had been educated at Spence. Her mother was a well known Australian socialite, her father was of course Edward Harding co-founder of Evans-Harding.
There was a picture. Tess Harding was gorgeous in a tiny elfin way. Her light blonde hair fell in short curls over her shoulders, her small body achieved curves hers couldn’t. And worst of all, Tess had her arm around Max’s waist in the photograph.
The caption read:
“A joining of houses, couple Maxwell Evans and Tess Harding arrive at the Evans-Harding benefit at the Met.”
The photo was from this past Spring. So who was Tess? An ex-girlfriend? Or worse the current girlfriend who was waiting back home in NYC. Liz felt sick. A lead weight had dropped into her stomach and it was a thousand times worse than the idea of Max and Whitaker. She knew that Whitaker wasn’t Max’s cup of tea, but clearly Tess was.
Liz didn’t want to go down that train of thought. Not here. Not now. She took a sip of water, and focused herself going back to work. A call to Senor Chows allowed her to order a selection for Mr. Evans to choose from and a small lunch special for herself. She had learned her lesson last time.
The food arrived and he wasn’t out of his meeting yet. It gave her the chance to set everything up for him in his office without being in his way. She couldn’t be in his way, not now.
Liz had only just settled back at her desk when she strolled by her, sniffing the air.
“Has the food already arrived?”
“Yes, it is waiting for you in your office. Also you received a phone call, the message is on your desk.”
“Thank you, Liz. Did you want to join me for lunch?” His voice was soft and he'd stammered a little at the end.
“I’m sorry, I have errands that I needed to run today. I will be back by the end of the lunch hour if that is alright.”
“Yes, of course. You are free to do as you wish.” She hated that she was making him feel like she kicked his puppy, he seemed so resigned.
Liz grabbed her lunch and purse and rushed to get into the elevator.
‘What the hell did I say that for? I don’t have errands.’
She ended up eating her lo mein in the nearby park watching small children play on the jungle gym. When Liz could no longer force herself to eat the greasy noodles, she tossed them into a garbage bin.
While she was out, Liz realized that she needed to stop at the ATM to get out more cash. Her paycheck from Evans-Harding should have deposited by now.
Liz hated using her debit card, she felt like she never kept track of how much money she was spending that way. And she needed to pinch her pennies if she wanted to pay off Harvard by the time she was 80.
Liz stepped up to the ATM machine, and slid in her card punching in her pin when prompted.
$15,342,83 was her balance.
‘Sweet baby Jesus!’
Liz knew all about the $342.83. But where did the other $15,000 come from? Surely her paycheck wouldn’t be that much. It couldn’t be that much. It said in the dossier $60,000.00.
Maybe they made a mistake and deposited too much. She’d have to stop by the payroll department before she left to get it straightened out.
Taking out forty dollars, she slipped the cash into her wallet and headed back to the office. It was tempting to know that much money was sitting in her account. She could easily take care of so much debt in one fell swoop. But if the money really wasn’t supposed to be there and they demanded it back she’d have no way to pay it back. So she’d wait.
When she got back to the office the sight of Mr. Evans sitting behind her desk shocked her. He was at her computer and the screen still displayed the article on Tess Harding with the photo of him and her together.
‘Well fuck my life…’
“Mr. Evans, can I help you with something?” Liz asked as she divested herself of her purse.
“I was doing some work and I realized that I had misplaced an excel file you sent me. I was hoping to just pull it off your computer, I was a little surprised to see this when I turned on the screen.” His voice was too calm. Not good.
“I can explain that.” She forced herself to think to come up with anything that might seem less like a creepy stalker.
“Please, do.”
“I received the phone call from Ms. Harding while you were in the meeting and I realized that I knew little about her. What her involvement was with the company, etc. I like to keep myself informed of who’s who, it makes my job easier when determining the urgency of matters. So I Googled her, and this was the first article that popped up. I mustn’t have been distracted by the arrival of lunch and forgot to close it down.” Liz lied through her teeth, she was barely making eye contact with him.
Max looked at her distrustfully. He wasn’t buying it. Liz wished she could say what she really wanted to say to him:
‘You see the truth is Mr. Evans is that I have an unhealthy fixation on you, and your hands, and in a moment of insanity I decided to see who my competition was.’
No that wouldn’t go over well at all.
“Ms. Harding is a personal contact of mine and in the future I wish for you to leave my personal life private.”
“Of course, Mr. Evans. I will stay out of your personal life if that is what you want.”
‘Please tell me that isn’t what you want. Please tell me to just stop being nosey but don’t tell me to stay away.’ Liz’s eyes pleaded.
He stood up and ran a hand through his hair. For a moment Liz thought he might refute her, instead he excused himself to the restroom. His silence said it all.