Dollars & Roses -Chapter 2

Adelaide POV

I really loved the morning breeze - the way it brushed against my fragile skin and whispered silently into my ears, in fact, I loved everything about nature; the stars of the night sky, the rolling waters of the deep blue sea and, most of all, the bright red flames of a burning fire. Today was my second day on the job, and I walked through the doors with an unwavering smile plastered on my face. I'd already made a new friend and couldn't wait to find out more about her. I checked in and bounced towards cubicle 526, where I found Callista typing almost insanely on her keyboard. "Hey," I greeted, and she froze, it was so funny to watch. Like, less than a second ago, her fingers were moving madly along the keys of the keyboard and she suddenly just froze and slowly turned around as if I was some sort of bird she didn't want to scare away. "Um - uh, hey," this was the same person who said she doesn't stutter, I guess this makes her a liar then. She reminded me of me when I was talking to angry Caitlyn, eyes looking down on the floor, fingers trembling and unstoppable stuttering. Since I couldn't really look at her eyes, I had to look at her other facial features. Her nose was sleek and gorgeous, but I couldn't take my eyes off of her gorgeous pink lips and if that was lipstick, then that company did a really good job at making lipstick look natural. "Where'd you get your lipsti-" I was interrupted by some sort of loudspeaker booming through the walls:

Interrogate limited is working on a project that is taking place in Cuba. A few of the best, most hard-working employees have been chosen to come along with our CEO, Miss Beatrix Ronalds, to go and meet our partners in Cuba.

Callista's eyes widened. I didn't see why it was such a big deal, but the first couple of sentences in this announcement seemed to make her extremely anxious.

The selected employees are:
Ricardo Palio
Jason Ronalds
Callista Anne Jamison

Callista leaped out of her chair at hearing her name and she could see that I was amused by her display of sudden excitement. But I could tell that this meant a lot to her. She whispered a 'sorry' and sat back down to listen to the rest of the names. I couldn't help but giggle.

Edward Collins
Chloe Marie Peters
James Archer
Avril Jane Hart
Connor Dave Mathews
Gwen Johnson
Adelaide Susanna Oxford

The last name caught me off guard and I could tell that even Callista was confused, I mean I'd only been in the company for less than two days and I was already part of the 'best, most hard-working employees' and to be clear, there were 2,486 people working her so I couldn't possibly be part of the top ten. There was probably a mistake somewhere, the only problem was I didn't know how I was supposed to sort it out.

These people are to immediately report to the conference room. Thank you.

Callista took one glance at me before she grinned, leaped out of her seat and held my wrist, pulling me towards the conference room. I was unsure if that was the same person, seconds ago she was this flustered bundle of nerves and suddenly she was smiling and zig-zagging all over the place. Maybe she was an opium addict with her mood easily changing second after second, or she probably had manic depression, or she was just suddenly excited about her mini- vacation to Cuba. We stopped in the middle of the hallway and she placed her two hands on my shoulders "Do you even know what this means?" I subtly shook my head and searched her features to find which one of my three assumptions were right. I decided to land on opium addict because that was exactly what she looked like at that moment. "We've made it, Adelaide," hearing my name from her lips felt nice and all of a sudden I could feel heat moving from where her hands touched my shoulders throughout my body. "We've made it to the yearly top ten, I don't even know how you got there so fast, but I won't bother myself about it. Adelaide, you have absolutely no idea, they're going to quadruple our salaries and include us in all the major stuff" I was extremely intrigued, not by the benefits I was going to get from my little moment of good luck, but by how fascinated Callista was by this 'promotion'. When she finally shut up, she closed her eyes, took three deep breaths and walked ever so professionally towards the conference room. I scurried along and couldn't stop smiling. I just couldn't wait to find out what this was all about.

~~~

Callista pushed on open the dark wooden doors of the conference room and waited for me to walk through. I said a simple 'thank you' and smiled at the thought that chivalry still existed. I lifted my head up and I was dumbfounded. I suddenly understood why Callista made such a big deal.
The conference room was enclosed by three white walls and one wall made entirely of glass. In the center of the room was a long, dark, wooden table with curved edges, it was neatly polished and surrounded by 30 black leather chairs, one was bigger than the rest and I guessed that was the CEO's chair. The main attraction, however, was the kind of people seated around the table. Twenty-one of the seats were occupied and seven people hadn't arrived yet including Miss Ronalds. Eight of the people seated looked pretty normal and just as anxious as Callista but the other thirteen were incredibly intimidating; they wore luxurious suits, luxurious shoes, luxurious bags, and luxurious jewelry. In short, they were luxurious people and they made me feel terribly underdressed in my flowy black halter-neck dress. I took the spot next to Callista and glanced at my black heels. They were simple jet shoes while these people wore Gucci, Bvlgari and Yves Saint Laurent. I guess Callista saw me staring at my shoes because she whispered, "Don't be scared, most of them were once like us," Her encouragement was relatively calming, apart from the fact that felling her breath on my ear made me jump and I heard her giggle. I gave her a death glare and noticed the dimples in her cheeks. I couldn't help but think, ' she's absolutely adorable '. Just then, the doors swung open and in came Miss Ronalds and six other people following behind her. She stopped in front of the doorway as her eyes glanced around as if they were searching for something, then they met mine and they froze. my heart rate quickened and I knew it was a mistake and my name was not supposed to be on that list but I really didn't want her to embarrass me by publicly kicking me out, especially in front of all these luxurious humans. "I'm glad no one is late" she boomed and I let out a breath that I didn't even know I was holding and thought, ' so this is really happening'.