CEO // t.h

Chapter Two - Presentation

Warnings: none.

Avery's P.OV

As I sit upstairs in my bedroom and try to decide what to watch on Netflix, I hear the front door open then close again followed by my roommate Ellie yell out "honey, I'm home". Followed by her giggle and I hear her say to herself "I'm so funny" causing me to laugh "how was work?" I yell back as I scroll through the movie options on the television. "Busy but it was alright" I hear Ellie say, her voice becoming more audible as she makes her way up the stairs and into my room.

She heads straight for my bed and face plants into the soft mattress. I hear her mumble "please remind me why did I decide to work from six am to eight thirty at night plus work late for the past two days", "because you like your job" I say looking at her laying across my bed, my response causes her to groan "and the extra pay" I add "okay it will be worth it" she mumbles again, she rolls over so she is laying on her back and faces her head towards me, "Still thinking of Mr. hot ceo?" She asks with a smile.

"Hey it's not funny! I'm actually concerned about what he meant when he said I should get used to him" I say furrowing my eyebrows in confusion as I scroll through Netflix, "he probably just meant that since he is the number one man in town, to get used to seeing his face in magazines or on television, something like that" Ellie explains whilst playing with the ends of her hair.

"Still, it was embarrassing" I say thinking back to when I spilt the coffee on him a week ago. "I can't believe that out of all the people you bump into, it's the most handsome guy" she says sitting up, "Oh I forgot to tell you, James is taking me away to his family's lake house this weekend so the house is all yours" Ellie explains standing up and heading towards the door.

"Maybe you could invite hottie ceo over and make up for the coffee incident" she says with a wink, "go to sleep" I say shaking my head laughing, we both say goodnight as she goes to sleep and I get into bed and finally find something to watch on Netflix.

-

This weekend seemed to have disappeared right in front of my eyes. Ellie left early Saturday morning and said she will be staying at James's house tonight, which is fine with me as I get everything ready for work tomorrow as I have a big presentation to do. Along with my part time job at Luke's café - my main job is being a communication designer at R&R's editorial - I had been working at Luke's for a year before I got the job and I loved it so much I couldn't leave so I changed to part time.

Although it's hard at times and makes my days very busy, Luke is probably the most understanding boss I've ever had and his so kind to all his staff. As I get my things organised I make sure I have all my designs and templates ready for tomorrow, once I'm done and all packed I turn the lights off and snuggle into bed allowing myself to drift off into a peaceful sleep.

-

The next morning, I stop by Luke's to get some breakfast and end up talking to Luke for what only felt like two minutes but ended up being twenty. Which is why I am currently running into my work building as I only have a couple minutes left before I'm late, knowing well enough my boss Meryl would take that off my pay.

Although I wish I could say I have the same bond with Meryl as I do with Luke, that would be a big lie. Meryl is very strict and matter of fact all the time, she has no time for messing around and reminds us of that every day - multiple times, seriously it's a bit over the top.

As I rush to the front desk to sign in I say hi to Linda who is our receptionist, we make quick chit chat but as I'm about to ask her how her weekend was I hear her gasp. Her gasp causes me to look up, "what?" I ask confused about her sudden behaviour, Linda nods towards the door. Along with Linda's actions the lobby seems to suddenly become silent, so silent as if you could hear a pin drop.

I turn to see what Linda is looking at and I am met with the sight of a tall man in a suit. My mouth slightly parts as I realise it's him, Tom Hiddleston the same person who I spilt coffee all over. I immediately begin to think the worst, "he must be here to get Meryl to fire me, she of course would without a second thought even though I am a hard wor-" my thoughts are interrupted as his body starts to turn to walk over to the front desk. I quickly turn back around so he doesn't see my face and I say bye to Linda before rushing to the elevator to get away from him as fast as I possibly can.

As the elevator doors reopen at the top floor I see Meryl walk past and quickly glance inside the elevator to see who is in it. "Avery, god where have you been?" She asks "I was ju-" i am cut off as she says "no time for messing around, hurry up". I quickly follow behind her "have you got the presentation ready?" She asks "the presentation?" I ask, my mind still focused on Tom, my reply causing her to look back and glare at me "the presentation I asked you for last Monday, about new media presentations" she says keeping firm eye contact as we walk.

"Oh yes, sorry - I have it all here" I explain, Meryl rolls her eyes and looks back to where we are walking "seriously sometimes I wonder how this company is still running" she says. "Um Meryl why are we going this way? the presentation room is down that hall" I ask confused as to why we are walking towards the break room, "don't you think I know that, I run the place, I am getting a coffee" she says, I just nod in response.

Once Meryl is done we head to the presentation room, once we are outside the door Meryl stops walking causing me to also stop so I don't walk into her. "Oh I forgot, slight change in plans - you won't be presenting for me but for Mr. Hiddleston, his company is looking for communication designers and ideas for the future of their company" she says as if it's no big deal "but I-I, what? Meryl, I haven't ever presented for another company by myself" I explain.

"I know that - besides it's just Mr. Hiddleston no other people there. you will be fine." Meryl replies, "but-" I begin to say. "No, no, that wasn't a question" she cuts me off, she then opens the door and practically shoved me through the entrance "ah Mr. Hiddleston, here is your coffee" Meryl says walking over and handing him the coffee she made.

"Thank you" he replies then looks at me, "this is Avery Johnson, she is our communication designer and she will be doing the presentation" Meryl explains, "I will see you shortly" she says then heads out the door.

I look away as I set my laptop bag onto the table and connected it to the Bluetooth projector and I start going through the slides. The presentation is moving much quicker than I thought it would as I read without taking my eyes of the projector, knowing that I'm not presenting but instead just reading out loud, as I get to the final sentence I hear Tom clear his throat from behind me which causes me to look back at him.

I see him sitting there leaning back into the chair with his hands grasped together leaning on the arm rest. Tom raises an eyebrow almost asking me why I turned around in the first place, I face the projector and go to read the final slide "Overall this, um, uh..I believe that with this" I struggle to say as I feel his eyes practically burn into the back of me. "I think you understand the concept, if you excuse me" I say closing my laptop and start walking towards the door.

My actions cause Tom to ask "what do you think you're doing?" as he stands up from his chair. "Leaving?" I reply but it comes out more as a question than a statement, "in the middle of a presentation?" he asks I stand there in silence knowing that I have no valid reason to leave just because I don't want to be with him. I am about to reply when Tom asks "Avery, are you afraid of me?" as he walks closer towards me, "what? n-no, no" I say taking a step back but instead of getting further away my back is pressed up against the door, Tom is now standing directly in front of me, his blue eyes staring into mine.

"Is that so?" he says with a smug smirk forming across his face, "yes, I'm not afraid of you." I say in a more confident tone to convince not only Tom but myself, "hm I see, intimidated then?" before I can answer I feel the door begin to open pushing me closer to Tom. As I am shoved out of the way I also end up getting pushed into Tom causing me to move us both back a few steps, I feel Tom's hands grip onto my arms to steady us from the sudden impact.

I quickly turn to see who opened the door and I'm met with my co-worker Mason. "Meryl asked me to check to see how the presentation was going, but clearly you two have moved onto a different topic" Mason says glancing at Tom's hands which are still holding onto my arms as we are still standing together, "no Mason it's not wh-" but am cut off by Mason saying "whatever" as he walks away. I sigh to myself and ask Tom "can you let go now?" surprisingly he lets go without any hesitation "If you'd excuse me, I have to talk to Mason" I say not waiting for Tom's response and walk after Mason.