CLXXIV- One More Time

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Monday, June 14th...

The inside of Brier's Co. is cold and noisy. There is a small sign hanging over an area of desks. It's the only guide I have so I walk up to the two women talking at their desks. "Excuse me." I interrupt them and offer up a smile. "What floor is Jack Briers and Shawn Morgan on?"

    The blonde one with a white blouse gives me a confused look. "Do you have an appointment?"

    I nod and take out my orientation email from Jack. "I'm supposed to start my internship today."

    "Good for you." She chuckles lightly as she takes the paper from me.

    The other woman eyes me up and down. Her thin lips part as she speaks, "Do I know you from somewhere?"

    This grabs the attention of the blonde. "Yeah. What's your name?"

    Hesitantly, I answer her question. "Livia Gardner."

    They both gasp in unison, my eyes flicker between the two. "Oh my God!" The blonde looks at me with wide eyes, "Your Ty's girlfriend right? We always go to his bar downtown."

    "Only almost every Friday night."​​ The other woman adds.

    I shake my head at them, "No. I'm not his girlfriend."

    "Hmm." The blonde hands me back my paper with a badge and points to the elevators on my right. "Mr. Brier's office is on the top floor. I'll call up so he will be expecting you."

    "Thanks." I half-heartedly reply as I follow her directions.

    The elevator ride is packed with other workers, it takes a while to get to the top floor because of the constant filtering of people on each floor. Eventually, the elevator doors open on the top floor and I step off. The middle of the floor is filled with large cubicles, while even larger offices surround the sides. Directly ahead is an office with Jack's name on a gold plate with his CEO title after it.

I take a deep breath and cross the floor until I'm face to face with his glass door. At this time, Jack looks up and sees me on the outside of his office. He waves me in, so I quickly make my way inside. "Livia, right on time." Jack stands with vigor and straightens out his expensive suit. "Follow me."

    Following him out to the office beside him, he opens the door similar to his own. I walk in first, Shawn immediately looks up at me. Our gaze is so intense that I barely hear what Jack is saying. Something about him wanting us to get a chance to talk in private before the morning meeting.

    "Five minutes." He finishes before walking out.

    Shawn breaks the tension. "Have a seat."

    I smile, this feels like the beginning. Like I'm in his classroom and we have no idea what's going to happen next. "The women downstairs think I'm still with Ty." I'm not sure why I began with that. Especially after we left things in Colorado.

His chin lifts up the slightest bit when he asks, "Are you."

"No." 

Shawn suddenly turns to the computer screen. His eyebrow raises slightly and he clears his throat. "You'll have three other co-coworkers that report directly to me. I will have a meeting every morning at nine-fifteen in the conference room. You get two fifteen minute breaks and an hour lunch at one-thirty." Shawn continues for another minute before pausing to ask, "Are you listening to me?" I nod but I barely am. All I can focus on are Shawn's lips moving as he talks to me. "Then what did I say?" His mouth curls up in a smirk. He's testing me, like he did in school when I was too focused on him to hear the lesson. It feels like we're back to that place, even if we can't be. This internship means a lot to me. I don't want us to get so caught up in each other that I end up wasting this opportunity. We can't go through this again. I repeat what he said back to him. Shawn sighs, "Livia." He could say my name billions of times and it would still have the same effect on me. I get chills, goosebumps over the way it comes off his tongue.

"Yeah, Shawn?"

"I'm glad you took the internship. Also it's, Mr. Morgan." He corrects, leaning in to say quietly, "While we're here." With that, he stands up and walks around his desk. I pay attention to his fingertips dragging across the mahogany wood with him. His body stops in front of me. "Are you ready to go meet your co-workers?"

I nod, standing up and following him out of his office. The office a few doors down is really a conference room. One other boy and a girl are sitting near each other at the long table. I find a chair and sit down. Shawn stands in front of the four of us. He exudes confidence and power. As a teacher, Shawn seemed like a natural. However, being the real boss in a huge corporation is a whole other experience. "I'm Madi Rodgers."

I smile at her, "Livia Gardner."

"It's nice to meet another girl in here that isn't a receptionist." Madi lifts her arms up to adjust the braids that lead into double buns.

She must've run into the same receptionists as I did. "They're kind of judgemental aren't they?"

I joke along, earning an "Uhum." from Shawn. The two of us look up to him, giving him our undivided attention. "My name is Shawn, I am a new partner at Briers Co. I will also be handling your training and supervising after that. This internship will last for the season, and if you do a good job, we're looking to hire one of you. We've already met Ms. Rodgers and Ms. Gardner, so why don't we move on to you." He points to the guy across from us.

They look formal in their business attire, serious in stature. The blonde introduces himself first. "My name is Eli Miller. I'm a business major at Columbia University."

"Great, why don't we go out onto the floor and set you up in your cubicles?" The three of us stand up, eager to find where we'll be spending most of our time.

Madi stays close to me on the way out. "I hope we sit beside each other. Maybe I'll make a friend in this place." She whispers.

I glance over at Eli, "What about him?" I ask.

Madi scoffs, "Are you kidding? He's the one in Columbia, He's our competition. Besides," She begins. "The last thing this building needs is more testosterone." Her eyes roll as she shakes her head. I like her, she's honest and it reminds me of Becca.

Shawn places the three of us in three cubicles facing each other. "I want you three to help each other." He then runs off to find someone from IT who can set up our computers.

Eli rolls his chair closer to me. "Your Livia Gardner."

I smile awkwardly, "That is my name, yes."

His eyes dart back and forth between Madi and I. "You know who this is right?" He asks her.

Madi nods slowly, "Yeah, Livia." She gestures to me.

Eli sighs, seeming a little frustrated, "No, she's in good with Jack because he's her boyfriend's best friend."

Madi's eyes slowly widen in realization. "Holy shit!" Madi whispers at me in excitement. "You're Ty's girlfriend? I love his bar, he throws the best parties! More so now with live bands." Does everyone in New York City know Ty?

"He's actually my ex."

"Even better." Madi decides. Eli waves us off and rolls back to his desk. "It gives us an advantage over smarty pants over there."

Shawn walks back up with a man in a blue polo shirt and slacks. "He's going to set you guys up, I'll come back when he's done." I watch him walk away. He moves with purpose now, he's happy here.








"Earth to Livia." I jump, slightly startled. Shawn paused, "I didn't mean to scare you. I was just wondering if you wanted to share your lunch break with me."

I raise my eyebrows, confused by his invitation. "I thought formalities were in place here? Keeping things professional and all that."

Shawn smiles, "I'm buying the other interns lunch too. I thought you could come downstairs and pick it up with me." Shawn holds his hand for me.

Nobody is around us, Madi and Eli went to learn how to run the copy machine. I wonder if he let me stay back on purpose. So that I could put my hand inside of his and follow him downstairs. So he could be alone with me.

I take his hand. The moment I stand up he let's go, for fear of someone seeing. Silently, we make our way to the elevator. No one steps inside with us, and as the doors close my heartbeat gets faster.

Without wasting a second Shawn's close to me. His hands are on my face as we share an intense gaze. "We're not supposed to be doing this." He brushes his lips against mine. The angst and emotion alone pull me towards him.

"So why are we?" Why is he on the brink of kissing me in an elevator?

He holds me in place, knowing any second the elevator doors will open. "Come over tonight. I want us to be together again. Just like we talked about in Brookview."

I sigh, unable to look him in the eyes. "Shawn...the elevator is going to open and the blonde receptionist is going to see us together."

Shawn steps away from me and pulls out the red elevator button. The elevator comes to a hult, stopping the advances of the doors opening. "No more bullshit, Livia." He grabs my face and brings me back to him. "Just one more time."

I kiss him, needing to feel that spark that's inevitable with him. "Are you crazy? I'd take you back a hundred more times."

He chuckles, his breathing just as erratic and desperate as mine. "Only a hundred?"

I stand on my tippy toes and press my lips against his forehead. "Atleast." I add.

Shawn steps back so I adjust my hair and blouse. He keeps his eyes on me while I do this and shakes his head. "You think I want to keep you a secret." Shawn says, his voice firm.

"I'm not jeopardizing this on the first day." I remind him that both of our careers are here now. "What else should I expect?"

He doesn't respond right away. His fingers wrap around the elevator button and he resets it. The elevator rumbles slowly before taking off again. It doesn't begin to open until we reach the bottom floor. I begin to realize what he's planning. "Bullshit." I think out loud.

"Bullshit?" Shawn leans in close beside me. "Do you trust me, Livia?" He asks, his question full of possibilities and choices.

"Of course." I reply.

Shawn intertwines his fingers between mine until we're holding onto each other. The doors open with a ding. I hold my head up as the two of us walk out of the elevator. We pass the receptionists and everyone else coming and going for lunch. Shawn never let go of me. Not while taking the delivery, not when people begin to whisper and ask questions, and not when we bring the food back upstairs for the other interns.

When he feels ready to let go, he does. Proving that we don't need to sneak around anymore. I'm no longer Ty's girlfriend at this company. I'm Shawn's, and whatever they think about me is fine. I know my story, I know what the two of us went through to be seen together today. We're not breaking any laws, we're not hiding anymore. This freedom sheds a light on our relationship. We'll only need one more time.

The End...

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Author's Note:

Thank you for reading my series and sticking it out with me. This book have always had an attachment to me and it's been so hard finishing them. Thanks to the support of my friends and family, along with my lovely readers, I finished the story between Shawn and Livia.

The next "chapter" I'm posting is the first chapter of my next book series called Roses are Red. If you liked BCD please give the first chapter a read and look out for my uploads when the book launches. I look forward to continuing being your GhostWriter. XOXO

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