Watermelon

No Turning Back Now

Every employee of LD Marketing sat silently in the large conference room, their eyes all focused on Leroy Diaz as he stood at the front of the room. Camila's stomach was flipping and her palms were sweating. She had told Leroy that she was accepting the job before she left the office to go home on Thursday. Now it was Friday afternoon and he was about to announce the new north office expansion. More importantly, he was about to announce that Camila would be the one running it. She tapped her heel against the floor and wrung her hands in her lap, trying to focus on not vomiting or passing out from nerves.

"As you all know, I started LD Marketing after being laid off from a marketing job I had gotten fresh out of college. At the time, having my own office building seemed like a far-off distant dream — something that would take countless years to achieve, if I could achieve it at all. However, in this life I have been incredibly blessed. Just four years after starting the company I was able to move my office out of my parents' basement and into an actual building. I even was able to hire on a few new team members." He smiled in the direction of Leslie, the secretary who had been Leroy's first official employee. "LD Marketing began growing at a rate that we could hardly keep up with. Not that that's an issue, but it definitely was the cause of some minor growing pains. Before we knew it, we needed an even bigger office. That's when we moved here. We started on just one floor of the building and over time took over two more floors as well. Our growth has surpassed everything I had ever dreamed for this company when I started it...and now it's time for us to grow again."

There were a few hushed whispers and gasps between the employees.

"Our Miami office will remain here in this building. But it's time for LD Marketing to expand our reach — which is why I've decided that we will be officially opening our second location in downtown Toronto."

The hushed whispers and gasps got a bit louder as a slight applause filled the room. Everybody was excited but Camila just felt more nervous than before knowing that the news of her managing the Toronto office would be next. 

"With that, I'm also thrilled to announce that our very own Camila Cabello has been promoted to Vice President of Northern Operations. She will be moving to Toronto at the end of the month to oversee our new location. As I'm sure you can tell by her new title, she has also officially joined the executive team here at LD Marketing. Camila has been an incredible asset to our team and I know she will play a vital role in taking this company to the next level."

No turning back now, Camila thought to herself. Almost everyone seemed happy for her with the exception of a few employees that were older than her and had been there longer than her. She assumed they were probably just upset that the position wasn't offered to them instead of her. Oh well. Maybe they should've worked harder. 

"Camila, would you like to say a few words?"

Oh shit. She hadn't thought to prepare any kind of speech. 

"Well...um, I guess firstly I just want to thank Leroy for giving me this opportunity. As much as I'll miss Miami and all the wonderful people I've worked with here in this office I also can't wait to see what Toronto has in store for me and the future of LD Marketing."

A quiet applause once again filled the conference room.

"Congratulations again to Camila," Leroy said. "And thank you again to every single person in this room. This company wouldn't be where it is today if it weren't for the hard work of every single one of you. Feel free to email me with any questions you may have. You're all dismissed."

Camila tried to sneak out of the conference room and back to her office without anyone noticing but it was a lost cause. Nearly every person that had been in the room stopped her to personally congratulate her — some of them being more sincere than others. 

She got through all of the niceties and eventually was able to make her way back to the peaceful seclusion of her office. Of course, less than five minutes after she sat down at her desk Leroy called her into his office again. She took a calming breath before standing up from her desk and once again retreating to the floor right above hers. 

"You wanted to see me?" She asked as she stepped into the CEO's large office. 

"Ah, yes! Come, sit down. I wanted to discuss plans for the Toronto office." Camila sat down in one of the large chairs across from his desk as he turned his computer screen so she could see it as well. "We were able to find a nice building downtown with space for lease at a decent price." 

He opened up a folder on his desktop and clicked the first file — an image of the building's exterior. It was a modern yet industrial looking high-rise. "Not much of the exterior will change, obviously. This is just so you can see it." He opened the next file which was two images stitched together — one showing the way the main office area currently looked and one showing the interior designer's rendering of how they were going to remodel it. "This will be the main office area," Leroy explained. "All the remodeling is starting this weekend. It most likely won't be ready by the time you move so you'll be working from home for about a month, at most. Still, it'll be nice to give you some time to get acquainted with the city outside of just your apartment and the office building."

Camila loved the style of it. It wasn't the luxurious floor-to-ceiling marble and glass like the Miami office, but she kind of appreciated that. The exposed brick walls and finished concrete floors were much more her style. And she'd still have the giant windows that she loved so much about their current building, the view would just be a little different. 

He clicked to the next image, this one showing a large private office space. 

"This will be your office."

"That's my office?" Camila asked with wide eyes. "It's beautiful. That view is...wow."

"One of the best views in the city!" he replied. "Speaking of, my realtor in Toronto will be reaching out to you soon to discuss finding you a place to live."

"Oh, perfect. I was just thinking the other day that I probably need to get on that," she chuckled. "It's all happening so fast. It's crazy. I'm literally planning on starting to pack as soon as I get home today."

"Yes, I apologize for it being so last minute but I do appreciate your willingness to go with the flow. I'm confident that you're the perfect person for this job and I'm just so happy that you're willing to take this new position."

"I'm so happy you offered it to me," she countered. "I promise I'll make you and the rest of LD Marketing proud."

A/N: writing to pass time until my babies show up on the global citizen livestream lmao