How is your first day going? I had stared at the text message from Caderyn for three minutes before I built up the courage to respond back during my lunch break.
It's going fine. A lot more relaxed than I expected, to be honest. How is your day going?
Better, now.
So I have a question.
I might have an answer. What's up?
Do you want to come over tonight? Marcus is taking Candace out.
There will be pizza involved.
If you like pizza.
Do you like pizza?
I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed as I stared at the words as they popped up, one message after another. I took a bite of my sandwich, trying to figure out what exactly I was feeling at the moment. It was strange to go from hardly talking to Caderyn to having a private pizza party in his apartment. Maybe he wanted to explain things. Maybe he had an explanation as to how he avoided or absorbed those bullets. The thump of a body landing next to me made me look up from my phone and into the face of Julian. "I heard you sighing from across the room. What's up?"
"Oh... nothing. I'm just trying to figure out what I'm doing tonight." I waved the hand holding my phone nonchalantly, forcing a smile on my lips.
If you don't like pizza, we can get something else.
Julian leaned towards the hand with my phone, squinting. "Bullet evading boy?"
I tried not to glare at his obvious and somewhat obnoxious nosiness as he read Caderyn's texts over my shoulder. "He's a friend."
"You make friends who can evade bullets?"
"It's a joke. Long story. Look," I said, taking a bite of my sandwich, chewing and then swallowing. Note to self, change Caderyn's contact name. "Aren't you being nosey?"
"I'm just making conversation, new girl. It seems your bullet evading friend is asking you to dinner."
"I can read, Julian."
"I'd hope so. Testing out the repulsor boots this afternoon would be interesting with a lab partner who's illiterate." He gently nudged my shoulder, a sheepish grin on his face. He was too young and too friendly to get on my nerves right away, but he was working his way at it. "You should reply to him. See you in the lab, Eliana."
Sorry, co-intern decided to drop in on me.
We can do pizza. What time?
Seriously?
No.
...
I was kidding. Yes.
Sorry. Just had to make sure after last night. Marcus is leaving at 5:30. Would 6:00 be okay?
6:00 would be great.
I've got to go back to work. I'll let you know when I'm walking over.
See you later. Have a good rest of your day.
Thanks, Caderyn.
The rest of the afternoon flew by, and I was left in a whirlwind of wonderment when I left Elijah Monet's lab. I was handed a small section of what was an attempted replica of the chest piece and told to break it to the best of my ability. I had shoved it in my bag and tried not to skip down the stairs.
When I reached the exit, Julian was speaking to a woman about one thing or another. I tried to sneak by unseen, but the woman spoke pointedly before I could put my hand on the door to leave. "You must be my brother's other intern. Eliana, right?"
It took me longer than I want to admit but when I met eyes with the older woman, I realized who she was. Artemis Monet. There is no other way to describe Artemis Monet except 'contained': her braid fell to the middle of her back, she wore very little make up besides a light pink shade of lipstick and painted blue nails that went with her pristine blue blouse and skirt. Compared to her brother she was altogether in all the right places, and Elijah Monet was erratic and seemed unpredictable. Nice, but unpredictable.
"I – I – yes. I'm Eliana." Despite my attempts to compose myself, my words stumbled over themselves. I dropped my awkwardly outstretched arm from the door to my side, and I could feel Julian's smirk. "Has Mister Monet spoken about me?" I asked, shocked.
She nodded her head, "He always comes to me to help choose his interns for the year. Julian's been here before, that was an easy choice this year. However, there was scarce hesitation from my brother to choose you. Your researched articles fascinated him and that, little one, is a feat in itself." I was at a loss for words, causing myself to stare at her, stupidly. "We shall talk about this at a later time. I'm sure you both have various things planned for your evenings. I'll see you both tomorrow." She smiled and folded her hands and the folders that she held them to her chest. The sound of her heels clicked up the stairs, and it wasn't until she disappeared around the corner that either one of us moved.
"Care to enlighten me about her?" I asked when Julian opened the door and held it for me as I walked out.
"What do you want to know?"
"Does she hang around a lot? I mean from the research I've done about this company she's exclusively mentioned as Mister Monet's—"
"You know you can just call him Elijah. He does not mind. He might tease about a lack of respect, but he doesn't mind. He's not overly strict about that sort of thing if you haven't noticed." There was a hint of condescension to Julian's tone.
"It's my first day. Never once did he say to call him Elijah."
"Okay, I get it. You're nervous about impressing him. Get over it. You have this job, do you not? You've impressed him. You don't need to do anymore." As easy as he was trying to make it sound it was harder to try and wrap my mind around. I hadn't even been calling him Elijah Monet to Candace when we talked about it. "He's old fashioned in some ways you'll find, Eliana, but in others, he doesn't mind."
I didn't reply. I didn't want to start accusing Julian of trying to get me in trouble tomorrow morning by saying 'Good morning Elijah' and not 'Good morning Mister Monet.'
"She's only brought up as his sister," I resumed, "Besides from her philanthropy work in the city, there isn't much that I know about Artemis Monet. What role does she play in the company?"
Julian shrugged, "She pops in and out every once in a while. She's mostly gone traveling and taking care of business that Elijah can't do himself because he's so busy with his company. You'll find that once a month Reginald will watch over us in the lab. Elijah leaves for a few days for firm meetings in other states. Usually, during that time he'll give us a project, and it'll be expected of us to finish it before he gets back. Nothing too intense, or dangerous." A grin spread across his face. He put the other strap of his backpack over his shoulder and waved. "I'll see you tomorrow, Eliana." I waved back and approached the bench at the bus stop, thinking to myself how strange everything was becoming.
Author's Note:
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