Chapter 14 : Waiting for the elevator

"You are coming with us ?", asked Ellie curiously.

"Yeah he is coming with us just to make sure you're gonna be alright during the presentation", Larry replied quickly without giving Nathaniel the time to answer.

"Oh! Ok then", she only said.

Arrived at Jefferson Building

Nathaniel's thoughts

Every time I arrive in this building I'm amazed, everyone was so well dressed while I was only wearing a simple white shirt (the only shirt he had that is quite presentable) with a black pants that I wore to all my interviews while Ellie was walking straight ahead with her wavy black jet hair falling down her shoulder to her lower back and Larry on her left side a little further behind and finally me just behind Larry.

Every time she walked past people they all stopped and waved at her, all nodding their heads a little even when she didn't look at them. She was wearing a white sweetheart peasant top with only a long, high-waisted camel-colored skirt that perfectly molded all of her curves. She is just so d*mn perfect.

A middle aged woman with the same black jet hair as Ellie, elegantly dressed, was waiting outside Ellie's office door.

"Good morning mother", Ellie said without any emotion in her voice. Her behavior changed so quickly : she became all of sudden so cold and emotionless, the Ellie I have in front of me is no longer the Ellie with whom I chatted with last night.

"Ellie, Larry and...", she said only while looking at Ellie then Larry but stopped speaking when her gaze landed on me.

"Excuse me, can you remind me who you are, young man?", she said a few seconds later when she finished peeking me up and down.

"He is actually the new intern that Larry took under his wing", Ellie replied one more time without letting me speak for myself like Larry does earlier.

"Oh! Perfect then. Young man, can you bring me a black coffee without any milk and no sugar ?", Ellie's mother, Catherine, said.

"Right away ma'am", Nathaniel replied quickly.

"Mom, he is not under your orders", said Ellie to her mother.

"You don't really have to do this Nate", she said while looking at me. But I just answered her with a reassuring smile.

"Larry, can you please help him ?", Ellie said.

"Of course, Ms Jefferson", Larry replied.

Then Ellie and her mother entered Ellie's office.

"How are you doing ?", Catherine asked.

"I'm 'perfectly' fine, mother.", Ellie only replied even if it was clear that she wasn't fine at all. She was tense and worried about the presentation because it will be a decisive step for her career.

"I'm glad you are fine then. About our last conversation I...", Catherine said but Ellie interrupted her and said coldly : "this is neither the place nor the time to talk about family matters mother. And now if you'll excuse me, I have to do a few final checks on my speech alone. So can you please go to the conference room".

Catherine sighs and then said :"of course, you're right it's neither the time nor the place to talk about such things. I'll see you at the conference room then" and Catherine left Ellie's office after that.

"Continue straight ahead a little longer, it will be just to your left.", Larry said while showing the way which leads to the cafeteria to get Mrs Jefferson's coffee but once there everyone was looking at me weirdly as if I someting stuck between my teeth.

"Uhm...Who are you ?", asked Jacob, an arrogant JPI's employee.

"My name's Nathaniel. I'm Larry's new intern", I said while holding out my hand.

He stared at me from head to toe and then laughed so loudly that I'm sure that everyone in JPI could've heard it and then the others followed him.

"What's so funny about what I said ?"I asked, surprised by his reaction.

"Lies!", he exclaimed.

"How can someone like... you can be hired by JPI ?", he replied.

"Excuse me ?! What do you mean by 'someone like me' ?", I asked annoyed.

"I mean just look at you. You are just so pathetic", he replied.

How dare he ? It's right that I'm not perfectly dressed like them but how dare he talk to me like that.

When I was about to let him know my point of view, a pretty soft yet strict female voice at the same time said behind me: "Come on Jacob! Leave that poor boy alone!"

"Don't meddle with this Jennifer and go back to your stupid counter", he said and then laughed.

When I turned around to see who had stood up for me, well that was her, the front desk girl that I saw when I first walked in here.

"Guess what Jacob ? My stupid counter f*cks you", she replied to him.

"Come on, new boy. Let's get out of here", she added before leaving the room while pulling me out of the room and holding my hand.

"Jennifer, right ?I'm Nathaniel Carter ….", I asked when we walked in the hallway leaving Jacob and his stupid friends in the cafeteria but Jennifer interrupted me.

"And you are Larry's new intern ?", Jennifer said, continuing to walk straight without even glancing at me but still holding my hand.

"Yeah, kinda. I just wanna say thank you for defending me earlier but I could defend myself you know", I said awkwardly.

"Yeah, if you say so", she said rolling her eyes

"And no need to thank me, it was a pleasure for me to put idiots like Jacob in their place", she finally said.

As we were heading for the elevator, we bumped into Ellie and Larry who were heading there too

"Good morning Ms. Jefferson '', Jennifer said quickly and respectfully.

"Good morning Ms. Blake", she replied firmly and then just gave me a look at that moment. Her face was emotionless, I must admit it, it's a little bit scary. But then her gaze shifted more to my hand that Jennifer was still holding. I immediately let go of Jennifer's hand when I noticed this is what she was looking at.

"Uhm... Ms. Blake , are you going to join us for the conference ?", Ellie asked coldly.

"No, ma'am ! I will go back to my office immediately, I was just taking a few minutes break", Jennifer replied quickly and always respectfully.

"Very good ! Then maybe you should take the other elevator because we're all heading into the conference room", Ellie replied while throwing a little glance at the other elevator which was right next to us.

"Yes, you're right Ms. Jefferson. Come on ! Follow me new boy !", Jennifer said, pulling my hand to follow her in the other elevator. But then Ellie pulled my other hand and said : "no ! Mr. Carter is coming with us to the conference room".

"But it's always me who takes care of the new interns in general and I am sure that Mr. Carter here is not yet ready to attend such an important event Ms. Jefferson", Jennifer replied, still holding my hand.

"Yes, but Mr. Carter is Larry's new intern so he needs to stay with Larry to learn more and I'm sure you have a lot of work to do. Let Larry take care of his new intern", Ellie replied firmly, still holding my other hand.

This situation is very very awkward for me and I know Ellie needed me to carry out her conference.

"But...", Jennifer said but Ellie interrupted her and said : "Ms. Blake, I know you want to do well but Mr. Carter is under Larry's responsibility so he has to keep an eye on him. So now go back to your post !"

"Of course, right away ma'am", Jennifer finally said and moved away to wait in front of the other elevator and we were still waiting for that d*mn elevator which really seems to take his time to come.