




Helping Him
Gray
I arrive home from work, I know my father is home because his car is in the driveway. The delicious aroma of his cooking hits my nostrils when I walk in the door. He always cooks when he is home. I enter the kitchen and see he is making pasta, which is my favorite. I walk over to him as he sets the table, and kiss his cheek.
“How was work today?” he asks.
“It was okay, Mark offered me an assistant job, but I can still make web designs. There was a huge amount of backlog and Jackie showed me what I needed to do, so I did it. My day was productive, but tiring” I say.
“Is Mark treating you okay?” he asks as he gently places the pasta down in the middle of the table.
“Yes, he is. He is just swamped with a lot of work.”
“Maybe you should help him, that’s what assistants are for,” he says, giving me a soft smile.
“I know, but I first needed to get through the backlog,” I say as I take a seat.
“That is a nice pair of shoes that you’ve got on,” he says, looking down at my shoes. I follow his gaze.
I shrug “My heel broke off my other shoe, so Mark gave me these.” I dish pasta onto my plate.
“That is generous of him.” he takes a seat across from me.
“Yes, it is.” I smile, looking down at my plate of food.
“Mark has been working very hard since getting the company. He sacrificed a lot to get to where it is right now. I would visit him when I had business meetings with him. He looked more exhausted and stressed when we were just alone and talking as friends. He would ask about you and I would fill him in about you briefly. He was like another father to you, and that is what I’m grateful for. He was there for us when your mother died and he remained a good friend to me. I am even more grateful that he took you under his wing at his company.” he says with tears in his eyes.
Despite my crush on Mark, I put it aside for this moment and focus on my father. After dinner, I helped my father to clean up and then I went to my bedroom. I get into bed after my shower. I can’t help but think of Mark, the way he gently touched me, those forest green eyes that burned into me with so much intensity. The way he looked my way when he seemed to be in thought. How he looks when he works hard, preparing for meetings.
I fall asleep eventually, but far too soon my alarm clock wakes me up. Dammit, I have to get ready for work now. I get up feeling like a zombie, but as soon as my thoughts go to Mark, my body and mind perks up.
I feel nervous walking past his office, my thoughts of last night didn’t make my feelings or my crush on him any easier anymore. The only problem is that he doesn’t return my feelings. So, all I can do is fantasize about him.
I avoid looking inside his office when I walk past it. I get to my desk and I settle in, powering up my computer to start working. I smell his scent even before I see him.
“Good morning,” he says as he looks towards the photocopy machine. He doesn’t even look my way. Well, he is a busy man.
“Hey, need any help with anything?” I ask because I know that he is bombarded with so much work. As he is busy at the copy machine, I can’t help but admire him again. It’s like a movie that I can watch on repeat. I sigh. He is wearing a navy blue suit today.
“No, not at the moment,” he says.
“I can help you with the documents that you are putting together into booklets?” I offer.
He turns around as if in thought while he has a stack of paper in his hands, “Why the hell not?” he says as he walks past me, still not looking in my direction, but I don’t take it personally.
“So, I can help?” I call out after him.
“Yes, my office now,” he demands over his shoulder.
I jump from my seat and hurry into his office. He is still busy preparing for this meeting because when I enter, documents upon documents are everywhere. I’m just standing still in my spot, looking around in shock.
“Now will be the time to help me.” I look at him, he has an amused smile on his face, taking in my reaction. " It’s a big meeting, so I had to prepare all of this,” he shrugs.
I walk further inside the office. “Did you even get any sleep?” I ask.
“No, I worked through the night on another presentation.” he shrugs, “Hard work and sacrifice pay off,” he says as he continues with his work. No wonder I haven’t seen him in years. Now I get to see firsthand why he never had the time to visit after he left. “So, you can help attach these new batches of documents,” he said,s as he sits down.
I started to attach documents. At times I can feel his eyes burning into me, but I don’t look his way. Instead, I concentrate on what I’m doing. I take a sticky note from his desk, and as I reach for the only pen that is in front of him, he also reaches for it. Our fingers touch, sending sparks through my body. Our eyes meet for a brief moment. I pull my hand away.
“You can use it,” I say flustered.
“You can use it, Gray,” he says as he takes out another pen from his desk drawer. I grab the pen that I reached for and continue with the work. I catch him watching me as I work and he has an amused smile on his face. I feel so nervous right now, I try to block his presence out of my mind, but it is impossible to do so with such a gorgeous man. I’m curious to know why he is watching me.
“Why do you keep looking at me like that?” I ask with a shy smile.
“I love the way that you work. I don’t need to tell you what to do or how to do things, you just take control of it all and just know what to do. That’s what I like about you or any assistant that has that kind of work ethic about them, but just so that you know, you’re the first assistant I’ve had over the years that worked that way..” he says. I feel the heat rising in my cheeks as I blush and I carry on with my work.
Lunchtime comes and Sam waits for me to have lunch at the coffee shop. We didn’t stay long at the coffee shop because I needed to complete the documents before Mark’s meeting. I got him a cappuccino as well.
As I entered his office, he was getting ready for the meeting and I helped him by taking all the booklets to the boardroom, which was huge. Floor-to-ceiling windows on one side overlooking the city. We place the booklets on the boardroom table and I leave the rest of the preparation to him. The meeting lasted the whole day, so I completed the rest of my work and I went home.