S E V E N T E E N

"LET'S GO, GUYS."

That was how Ashton wrapped up his pep talk to the office who was currently standing there, waiting for a cue to get to work.

The crew was a mixture of our team from Baldwin Industries as well employees of the hotel. We all got to work on unpacking boxes of decorations and setting up the technology that Ashton would need to give his presentation. I worked with Elijah and his friends on hanging up streamers and setting up tables. They were a nice group, the reception team plus Eric and his friend from human resources.

"So," Eric's friend who was named Dana said, "I hear that you're the new personal assistant. Did you hear about how the last one nearly had a breakdown, the girl dating the baseball player?"

"Yeah," I said with a laugh, "that's kind of how I got the job in the first place. My cousin is on the team and he told me when the job opened. So here I am."

Getting past the starstruck reactions of hearing about how my cousin was famous, they definitely opened up a bit more to having me around. There was some talk about rumors that Bretton would be doing the ESPN Body Issue, but other than that, I was completely comfortable with talking to them.

"So," Dana said with a suggestive wink, "you tapped our good ole boss yet? He looks like he's got a firm ass and he could sit on my face any day. Or vice versa, I love a submissive man but I can give what I take."

Because I didn't have a glass of water in my hand, I ended up spraying saliva all over the floor in front of me, coming up coughing and sputtering.

Elijah decided that he wasn't going to wait for me to recover, nodding along in agreement before saying, "yeah, I could eat ice cream off that man for days. Weeks, actually." His tone was dreamy and since he was imagining that kind of scenario (of course, with me in it and not Elijah), I technically couldn't blame him. Of course, he snapped out of his trance when he noticed Eric glowering at him.
"No," I said. "I haven't done any of that because he's my boss and that isn't morally sound. Besides, he's probably got a lot of baggage since I'm sure he sleeps with a bunch of women. I don't really want to be a part of that."

Dana looked taken aback, as if what I said was insulting to her. "Emotional baggage is the new black, I'm positive that everyone's got it."

I knew, I knew it all too well. I was just trying to make excuses and dance around the topic of Emilie. I just did not need to hear her name, especially since she was already going to be sitting at the head table with us.

I just had to get used to the fact that she was his girlfriend, whether it was real or not, good or not, and me one not. It made me feel bad about how rude I was that one day when she came to the building to meet with Ashton and I acted like a total bitch to her. Ashton felt content with her, especially because she was the one who got away according to him.

He didn't know that he was the same thing in my eyes.

"Where should we hang these up," I asked to divert the focus away from me and my hypothetical sex life with my boss. All of the other groups were in the process of decorating but because of Dana wanting to talk about sex with Ashton, we barely got anything done.

Elijah blinked at the box of gold streamers as if finally realizing that we had a purpose here. I hated to be the wet blanket, but I also wanted to do a good job so Ashton didn't hate me again. Regardless of my romantic feelings, he was still my boss and I couldn't afford anymore mistakes or I would be risking getting fired. "Um," he said, "I guess everyone else is hanging theirs up along the walls."

We all got to work, making small talk here and there but otherwise keeping our hands busy which meant that I didn't exactly kill all of the fun like I was scared that I did. In fact, people still talked to me every now and then until twenty minutes later, we decided to take a break because we were all lazy bums who loved to gossip.

The conversation was going great until Dana said "I swear, that man can stick his fish stick in my tartar sauce any day."

I assumed that she was talking about Ashton or one of the sales hotties, but when I looked up and in the direction of where she and everyone else were looking and I almost swallowed my tongue in my throat.

Because none other than Luke Johnson was standing there with some woman with a clipboard. The last time I had seen him was when Vivian had that meltdown and Ashton and I got back on good terms. He looked good, still, like if I could fall in love with his words the way I had when we worked together. And maybe since Ashton was with Emilie, I should do it. I was going to invite him to the event with me. As a date.

"Hey," I said with a wave as I walked to him. When he saw me, he instantly said something to the girl that made her step away.

"We meet again, Fiona White," he flashed me his teeth with a wide grin. "I mean, it's only been a day since we last spoke but yeah, I missed you."

His words made me blush because, like always, he knew what words would be able to open up my heart. I suddenly felt silly for being so hung up on Ashton because Luke was the real deal. Maybe Ashton and Emilie were made for each other, rich and beautiful, it was a match made in heaven.

I ran a nervous hand through my hair. "Well, I missed you too. How is Vivian doing?"

"Oh," Luke said as if he were surprised that i was going to turn the tide of the conversation to Ashton's little sister. In my defense, I had no idea what else to talk to him about. "Yeah, she's good. I originally thought she was going back home it to her aunt's summer house in Scranton, but she's staying for this," he said with a gesture towards the ballroom. "What is this supposed to be, again?"

I broke out into a chuckle that I couldn't contain, even when I knew that people were watching me. "It's a product unveiling. I have no idea what kind of product, I don't think anyone does, so we're all just kind of waiting in suspense."

"Sounds fun," he said.

-

AFTER MANY MORE PEOPLE CALLING ME FEE, IT WAS FINALLY TIME FOR ME TO GO HOME.

Elijah felt rather self-satisfied by how well the nickname he gave me had taken off. I heard from Dana that he paid everyone in the building a dollar to do it, so when considering how large of a company Baldwin Industries was, he definitely lost a lot of money on this prank. I had to give it to him, the man had dedication.

After letting him get away with it, I just needed to go home and sink into a tub of roses with a bag of popcorn and a glass of red wine so I could forget about everything. It sounded like quite the plan in my head but I would need to buy a meticulously exact number of roses to make sure that I had enough for the scent to carry without creating a huge and sticky mess in Bretton's tub.

While I contemplated the perfect way to pull off a rosy bathtub the proper way, I felt myself being pulled backwards. Before I could see who had grabbed me, their hands covered my eyes, so I started to scream and flail my limbs instead.

"Fiona, it's Ashton," he said, letting me go and spinning ne around to face him. After we all left the hotel and went back to the office, pretty much everyone had left already and it was just the two of us alone on the forty-fifth floor.

I sighed. "You didn't have to scare me like that. But what's up?"

"I still feel bad for making you take care of my little sister, so how about we go out for drinks? My treat," he said.

And that was the story of how I ended up back at Fiasco Friday's, only this time with Ashton instead of Meredith.

Ashton was talking on the phone with an investor or a client - I hadn't any idea - so I just leaned against the bar counter, waiting for my order to be taken. It was kind of boring just to sit here and watch him like this because we were something that would never be. He seemed very invested in this phone call, not even looking my way the whole time, his gaze completely focused on the bowl of peanuts in front of him. I desperately wished they were replaced with some corn chips or something since I hated nuts and eating would help pass the time.

"Alright, it was nice getting in touch with you too," he said before hanging up. He set his phone down on the table and turned to face me with that mischievous grin on his face. "You were staring at me."

"Um," I gulped, my mind going for a blatant lie as a diversion, "you have some nut on your face. Around your mouth, I mean."

"Wow, this is a new spin on an old tale," he smirked.

"Gross," I said and smacking at his arm, "you never cease to amaze me with all of your sexual jokes. I'd imagine someone like you would be more all-work-no-pay, but I must be mistaken."

"That's only when I work from home," he said, his eyes lit up with childlike amusement as he waited for me to react to his euphemism.

So I didn't give him the satisfaction, instead turning to face the bar and calling over the bartender. When he finally made his way over to me after chatting it up with two pretty blondes, his eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Oh my god, you're Busty Bitch! Guys, it's Busty Bitch!"

I was appalled because I didn't expect any man to have the gall just to make a comment about my boobs in such a public space, even if it was flattering to get a compliment on the twins every once in a while. But that felt better when female friends did it, not just some bartender who worked at the same bar where you got set up by some evil mastermind. Now I had most of the bar's eyes on me and deciding for themselves that my name was Busty Bitch. I'd honestly take Fee over that any day.

Ashton seemed to think it was inappropriate as well, because he stood up and slammed his hand on the counter, cutting an imposing figure in the laid back atmosphere of the bar. "Excuse me, sir, but I'd appreciate it if you apologized to my friend."

Friend? This just got one-hundred times more worse, if that was humanly possible.

"Oh no, sir," he said, "I didn't mean anything sexist or derogatory. It's just that she's got a scene out with Hardon Matthews that is the bomb. I know you like to go by Fiona, but I just couldn't help it. I don't exactly have the Hardon accent, but the way he says your stage name so many -"

"Wait," I cut him off. "What in the hell are you talking about?"

-

IT GOT WORSE.

Apparently, Busty Bitch - also known as Fiona Black - was the name of an up and coming adult film star. That was what I gathered from a quick Google search back at his place, not to mention a boatload of pictures that were far from being safe for work. If Ashton wasn't looking up the video that the bartender was talking about but knew I had researched this, he would've probably banned me from ever seeing Vivian again, even if I'm sure she's most likely slept with more guys than I have.

I looked identical to a porn star who had the same name and body shape as I do, it was completely uncanny and it made me wonder if I had a secret twin who did adult films and didn't tell me. It would make a great story with her as a disgrace to the family as a black sheep in a cookie cutter - in their opinion - family, while I was the daughter they loved more because I wasn't a porn star. But that was not the case, meaning that if I were recognized on the street by anyone, then I knew exactly why they thought that it was me who was a sex worker, one with an embarrassing name like Fiona Black had, I'd
likely want to combust immediately. Into tiny flames, thousands and thousands of them.

"Hey," I heard him call from the couch facing opposite to mine. "Come and look at this."

He was playing a video titled "Busty Bitch sucks Hardon Matthews off" that opened on a girl standing next to a dolphin pool being trained by a woman who looked like me, except her outfit was a lot tackier than what I would regularly wear. She was feeding the dolphin - which was produced by CGI - when she got a piece of fish on her shorts and the dolphin came up out of the water, ripping her pants off of her and exposing her in a tiny pink g-string.

Suddenly, a man came up behind her. He was very muscular and handsome, looking like a charming marine biologist in his lab coat until he said, "nice panties, bitch. Take them off so I could taste you."

I literally gagged, using my hand to quickly force Ashton's laptop shut. "No, I can't watch anymore of that. Not now, not ever."

Getting up from the couch and heading for the door, I turned to tell Ashton I was heading back home when I noticed him trying to sneakily cover his lap with one of the pillows on his couch. Did Ashton Baldwin just get an erection from watching a porn video that featured an actress that could've been my twin sister?

I had no idea what exactly that meant, but maybe, it was a good thing.