Chapter 1: Meredith is Late

It was a normal day, as normal as any day at least, and Meredith was running late for work again. She had gotten a job in one of the top marketing companies right out of college and had been working there for nearly a year now with no promise of advancing. She didn’t mind too much. She didn’t think she needed to go too far to the top. She just wanted to enjoy creating with the graphic design team at Maxwell Sharpe Marketing Inc. and live a peaceful life with her cat Dino. 

She had tripped coming out the subway steps and her leftover bag of popcorn from two nights ago spilled all over the sidewalk attracting a flock of crazed pigeons. She was afraid of stepping on one’s feathers and getting revenge poo all over her before work so she hopped carefully back and forth around them like she was in some strange frogger game only instead of cars she was dodging pigeons.

Meredith managed to escape the pigeons and turned the corner, nearly colliding into a handsome man just outside of the doors to Maxwell Sharpe’s office building downtown Chicago. 

“I-I am very sorry.” Meredith told him as he helped her pick up her belongings that had spilled out of her purse. He paused to look at the brass knuckles and raised an eyebrow as he handed it to her. “Can never be too cautious?” She said as a way of explanation.

“Indeed.” He replied in a low voice that sent her belly in loops. He smiled briefly at her and then quickly steered her by the small of her back to the side and towards the entrance of the building as two men who looked extremely expensive strode past into a waiting town car. “Sorry about that Mr. Maxwell.” 

“No worries, Sean.Let’s get going.” The man responded in a commanding voice as he climbed into the back of the vehicle.

“Yes, sir.” Then the handsome man, Sean, closed the door behind Mr. Maxwell, quickly walked around to the driver side door, and got in before pulling the car into traffic, leaving Meredith behind gaping.

Here I am drooling over the boss’s driver, Meredith thought to herself before realizing she was already late to begin with and now even more so. She quickly pulled herself together and entered the building. She was fishing for her badge in the chaos that was her purse as the guard waived a hello at her. 

“Hi Ms. Glenn” He said as she finally pulled out her badge. She looked up into his warm brown eyes that were smiling back at her. She always pictured him as having a Sponge Bob tattoo over his heart holding a mom banner. He seemed like a big softy that would love to cuddle every night.

“Good morning, Ben.” Even though his name tag said Smith he had told her on many occasions to call him Ben. He was about five feet eleven and built as though he definitely spent time in the gym nearly everyday. He had a dazzling smile and his cropped hair was just the right amount of wavy. He was endearing and cute and definitely had a crush on her. But she was stuck in the past.

Meredith’s last boyfriend, Chad she had met in high school and chose to go to school in Chicago to be close to his school. He was set on going to University of Chicago and so she also applied to the with her portfolio to the arts program and got accepted. While her boyfriend became a different person once he entered college, she did manage to refine her portfolio and win an internship at one of Maxwell Sharpe’s competing companies. So the choice wasn’t entirely a waste.

She was still heartbroken. Chad had cheated on her several times and didn’t even try to hide it. When she confronted him about it he told her it was her fault for always dressing so dopey. Meredith wasn’t the hottest dressed girl on campus that was for sure. She spent all her savings to help her parents pay for school and shopped mainly at Thrift stores, Target, and Walmart. While on a budget she still managed to get some decent finds and dressed conservative with a slight flare. Her brother had once told her it was called peacocking. She usually had some odd accessory that she felt made the outfit more her. But Chad apparently wasn’t impressed.

Meredith was in love with Chad and tried to make the relationship work. She bought a few lingerie pieces and tried to spice things up. But Chad was busy with school and his new friends and brushed her off several times before she was ever able to reveal them to him. When she finally did he told her he didn’t have time and had to study for an exam the next morning. She later found out that he had agreed to a date later that night with another girl and while he didn’t have time to have sex with Meredith that night he was turned on by her outfit and with her in mind cheated on her with his date.

When Meredith found out about his date and how he had cheated on her he again blamed it on her and told her it was a study date for the exam and that if she hadn’t been so sexy and made him so horny he wouldn’t have cheated on her that time. It continued this way until Meredith found herself becoming desperate to do something to fix the situation and finally Chad broke up with her to date the hot foreign exchange student from China.

“Ms. Glenn?” Ben brought Meredith’s attention back to the present. And while he was cute and polite and clearly into her she still was heartbroken even though Chad had broken up with her nearly two years ago.

“Sorry, I spaced out for a moment there.” Meredith responded. She grabbed her badge that she finally found in her messy purse and scanned it on the reader before entering the gate. 

“Have a good day.” Ben said after her as she rushed to the elevator.

Meredith reached her floor and tried to slip into her desk but her boss had already sent her an email to meet him in his office as soon as she arrived.

“Mr. Hubert?” Meredith rapped her knuckles on his door frame.

“Please come in and close the door.” Mr. Hubert told her. He was in his early forties and seemed to think he was still in his twenties. He often winked at the office girls as though they had some sort of inside secret, which they never did and always found it a bit creepy when he did it but he never took notice. He had curly short blonde hair, wide-rimmed glasses, and a thin mustache. He always wore a sweater vest and looked like he could pass for Jeffrey Dahmer’s cousin, which didn’t help with his winking attempts.

“Yes, sir.” Meredith closed the door leaving them in silence although his walls were made of glass and they were still fairly visible to the rest of the floor.

“You were late again.” He declared and lifted an eyebrow as though he were awaiting an excuse.

“Y-yes, I-”

“I need you to work on this next ad campaign project that is coming from Edward Maxwell’s office.” He interrupted her, apparently not caring why she was late at all. “Your style will fit this project perfectly and we want to make a good impression on Mr. Maxwell. I am trying to get our budget increased for next quarter so we can get a few upgrades down here.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I am forwarding you the information on the campaign and Karen will be assisting you on this. Also if you two need further assistance you will have full priority over our intern, what’s his name?”

“Greg.”

“Yeah, him. They want this done in two weeks. I'm giving you one. If we need to revise anything I don’t want us waiting until the last minute. We need this. Your future supplies and programs depend on it.”

“I understand, Sir.”

“Good get to it then. You have already wasted enough time today.” Meredith nodded at Mr. Hubert’s words and promptly left his office to return to her desk. She found the campaign information in her email and took a look over it. Apparently they were working on a luxury car company and needed to revamp the marketing around a specific model that was being launched during the next auto show. She forwarded the information to Karen and set up a time to meet her and Greg in the small meeting room that the graphics department used to present and brainstorm ideas. She would meet them after lunch. 

Meredith called Edward Maxwell’s office and his secretary transferred her to Edward’s assistant. Meredith asked several questions regarding the project and also was given direct contact information to the car company for any additional clarification.

She had taken enough notes and organized the information so she could go over it efficiently in the meeting after lunch. Meredith looked at the clock and realized she was five minutes late to meeting her friend Taylor at the front doors for lunch.

-- Author Note:

I hope you enjoy these characters. I am having fun starting a new series. I'm looking forward to their story. Don't forget to add it to your library. :)