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be.
Set in an up and coming and area on the edge of the city financial
district. Minimalist modern style offices, bare, cold and soulless.
Monochrome colour scheme, all black, white and chrome. Everybody
dressed in boring bland corporate suits and shirts, as per the
strict dress code that Liam Starr insisted every member of staff
adhered to, be they male or female, although there weren’t very
many women employees in any case, I quickly realised.
    I still felt
very uncomfortable about the fact that Jamie had persuaded his
brother to give me this placement rather than getting it on my own
merit, but as he’d pointed out, I’d have been stupid to turn down
this golden opportunity to add a sterling name like Starr Capital
Ventures to my CV. He had argued that other people benefitted from
strings being pulled, so why shouldn’t I? And so I’d taken up the
hastily arranged placement, in order to meet the final application
deadline for the exchange program. At least it tied in with the
Easter break from uni, so I didn't have to miss any lectures or
seminars.
    I would be
forever grateful to Jamie for pulling this out of the bag. He
really was such a sweet guy to me, despite the fact that I couldn’t
give him what he wanted from our relationship, not yet anyhow. We
were working on it, and he was being very patient and understanding
of the fact that I’d freaked out when he’d tried to make love to me
at his birthday party a while back. It had been so mortifying for
me, and exactly what I’d feared would happen yet again. It always
did. Jamie was good looking, had a great body, was friendly, kind,
a bit immature maybe, but that was only to be expected from a
fellow student. So why on earth I couldn’t just let go and enjoy
myself with him, and finally lose my wretched virginity with such a
great guy, I didn't understand. But I just couldn’t.
    Abbey had no
such problems – she and Toby had had a great night together, she’d
informed me the next day. He’d certainly been grinning from ear to
ear the next morning when she’d left, and from the unmistakeable
sounds coming from his bedroom in the early hours, it’d been
obvious why. Now they saw each other now and again for repeat
performances whenever either of them felt the need. So why couldn’t
I be more like her? Although Jamie had tried to his best to hide
it, he’d obviously been green with envy, and I truly felt sorry for
the poor guy. I tried to tell him I’d understand if he wanted to
move on and go out with other girls rather than be stuck with a
freak like me, but he’d insisted he was happy just spending time
with me.
    On my first
day at Starr Capital Ventures, I was left in little doubt about all
the correct protocols, first by the pages of very detailed
instructions I received, and secondly by the lecture I had to
endure from Simon Draper, the fifty something, old school Creative
Director who headed up the team I was doing my ‘internship’ with.
General dogsbody was more like it, but as it was only for a month I
wasn’t bothered. All that mattered was that I would be able put a
well respected company on my CV to help with my exchange program
application, and longer term to get a decent job. Everyone bigs up
their role on their CV anyway, so I was sure I could be just as
creative in describing mine.
    Simon had made
it crystal clear that all I was expected to do was general running
around – the kind of thing a kid on work experience would be
allowed to do. I would be entrusted to do the photocopying, make
the tea and coffee, go get lunches, that kind of thing. And then,
if I was really lucky, after a couple of weeks, if I hadn't stuffed
up majorly in any way, they might actually trust me enough to
answer the phones and take messages. Whoop de doo. Lucky me.
    I was
certainly not expected to make any kind of an artistic
contribution, but at least I was there in the office, watching what
was going on, listening in to all their discussions. It was