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It’s been a long time since I posted my last story about Kate’s desperate interview. Been pretty inactive since then because I’ve been so busy, but I finally got around to writing another story. It’s a rather long one, so I’m gonna post it in parts, just so it’s easier for me. Here is the first part for now, I’ll be adding the rest below in the coming days/weeks. Ok enough talk, enjoy! Abby: Business Trip Agony Part 1 Early morning company meetings were almost always a dull affair. For 24-year-old Abigail Moore, today was no different as she sat at the large desk with her many colleagues and higher-ups, wondering how much longer she’d have to endure this boredom until she could get out of the stuffy meeting room. It was always the same: the same bosses and executives sprouting the same old information with the same old charts and graphs showing the same old data. Abby practically had the whole thing memorized by now. And yet for some reason, no one thought to put a stop to them, so here they were, sitting through it yet again. Abby was at least glad that she had her cup of coffee on hand. With nothing else to do, she found herself taking sip after sip as she listened to the endless droning of presenters up front. It wasn’t even her first cup of the day; she’d had a cup of hot coffee back at home, then bought a large Starbucks iced coffee on her drive to work, which she had promptly finished by the time she had pulled into the parking lot. Not long after, as soon as the morning meeting was called, the first thing she had done was go to the break room so she could pour herself some more into the largest cup that she could find. To say Abby liked coffee would be quite an understatement; by this point, it was practically her life-blood. Even with all this caffeine pumping through her veins, the endless monologues threatened to put her to sleep. She thought back to when she had first started working at this company two months ago, how she had sat eagerly on the edge of her chair, not wanting to miss a single word of the discussions out of a desire to be the best at her job. Her colleagues had joked around at her attentiveness, betting how long she would go before she lost all interest like the rest of them, even though she had insisted she wouldn’t. So much for that, Abby thought amusedly, her attention all but non-existent as she absentmindedly watched a fly crawling up the wall in front of her. It wasn’t that she didn’t like her job; she’d worked very hard in college and gone through many interviews and internships to land her position as a financial advisor at this firm, and outside the dreadful meetings, it was a job she very much liked. Since she had started two months ago, she’d been assigned to shadow one of the older female employees, Renee Wilkins. At 40 years of age, Renee was a kind but firm woman who has had much success at the job, and was a figure often looked up to at the workplace. In just the two months she had worked with her, Abby had already learned a great deal, eager as she ever was to learn from the best. Meanwhile, Mrs. Wilkins had developed a growing liking for Abby and her enthusiasm, something which Abby was very happy about. This growing relation had led to the two women working very well together, with Mrs. Wilkins leading at the helm and Abby as her protégé following in her footsteps. As eager as she had been to work independently, Abby had found herself enjoying Mrs. Wilkins’ company as they traveled from client to client in their daily endeavors. Lost in her thoughts, she took another sip from her coffee as she wondered what would be in store for the day. Mrs. Wilkins often had her start by making calls to the day’s list of clients, a task which she was now trusted to do unguided. Whenever there were bigger and more important clients, though, they would leave the office together for a face-to-face meeting. Mrs. Wilkins had often taken the lead in these, especially in the beginning when she would do most of the talking, but slowly but surely Abby had been given a bigger role in them as her confidence grew. It wasn’t long before she had been put in the driver’s seat, given the chance to do most of the talking while her mentor simply provided support on the side. Before she could do any of that, though, first she had to get out of this meeting room. Glancing down at her phone, she checked the time to see how much longer this would take, sighing in annoyance when she realized they were only halfway through, with at least another thirty minutes left. This time, though, it wasn’t just the boredom that was bothering her; all her morning coffee was starting to make their way down to her bladder, which was now sending up signals of need. It wasn’t terribly urgent, but still an annoyance, nonetheless. Maybe it’ll help me stay awake, Abby figured; she could use all the help she could get. She glanced towards the front of the table where Mrs. Wilkins was sitting. Even she looked bored, resting her chin on her hand with her elbow propped up on the table. Abby picked up her coffee cup, realized it was empty, and set it back down, wishing she had more. With nothing else to do, she began picking at her clothes, running her fingers down her black blouse and rubbing her palms along her tight white jeans. Looking below the table, she admired her knee-length black velvet boots, a pair she was quite fond of. The attire was more casual than what she usually wore, but she was still able to pull off an elegant and professional look. She crossed her legs as she settled down to wait out the rest of the dull affair. It certainly felt like forever, but at long last, the discussions were wrapped up and the meeting was called to an end, much to everyone’s happiness. Abby uncrossed her legs and stood up eagerly, glad to finally be able to get out of this room and get back to doing some real work. But first, she needed to visit the Ladies room where she could finally go answer the calls from her bladder, which had grown quite insistent in the past half hour. Considering the copious amounts of coffee she had consumed, this wasn’t unexpected, and she hadn’t had a chance to use the toilet since she’d come into the office. Throwing her empty coffee cup into the trash, Abby joined the swarm of people heading out of the room, then turned left into the hallway and headed in the direction of the restrooms. She had hardly gone ten steps, however, when she heard her name ringing out from behind her. “Abby!” Turning around, Abby saw Mrs. Wilkins walking briskly towards her, phone in one hand and purse in the other. Clearly in a hurry, she wasted no time in launching into speech as soon as she got close: “Listen, Abby, I just got a call from Michael Lee. He said they need to have a meeting with us in one hour to discuss something urgent. We have to leave now to make it on time.” She gestured at her watch, then turned and began walking back down the corridor. “Go grab your stuff from the office and meet me outside. Quickly!” With that, before Abby could even get a word out, Mrs. Wilkins raced off towards the exit. For a second Abby stood there, still processing Mrs. Wilkin’s words. Mr. Lee was the manager of a very important client of the firm that was being managed by Mrs. Wilkins. Clearly something had come up that needed to be sorted out immediately, lest they wouldn’t have called a meetup at such short notice. Given what a valuable client they were to the firm, Mrs. Wilkins’ hurry was understandable; showing up late and not resolving the issue quickly would set a terrible impression, and could even prove disastrous if the company decided to switch to another firm instead. Abby was certainly not about to let that happen. Thoughts of using the bathroom all but forgotten, Abby quickly turned on her heels and hurried to her office. She wasted no time picking up her purse and some files containing important documents, before dashing back out and heading towards the front of the building.
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