Claire thought of refusing her but she knew she wouldn't win.
So, she told her what she was doing and in no time they finished them all.
It was very quick as she already knew all the contracts and right away she saw the differences. Somehow, she was glad she let Jamie help her.
"Ok, so shall we have dinner?"
She thought of declining her as she was not comfortable being near her but not in a bad way.
Even Claire was busy with what she was doing, her body was fully aware that she was just inches apart from her as they were sharing her table and god knows how much she tried to refocus every time their elbows touched.
Her scent was intoxicating, so feminine yet so distinct, like when you smell it, you knew already who owned it.
"Claire? Let's go, I'm starving."
Claire organized her stuff before following her to the elevator.
"Should I follow you? Or you can give me the location and I'll meet you there."
Jamie pressed the B1 button and looked at her.
"What are you talking about?" She asked her in confusion.
Claire pressed the B2 button and answered her.
"Convoy." She told her plainly.
"Mmm-mmm, I don't do convoy. You're riding with me."
"But I have my car here!" She reasoned with her.
"Yeah, so? You leave your car here , nobody will steal it."
"I'm not saying somebody will steal it, I'm saying that I need my car for tomorrow's transportation." She started getting irritated and she knew it sounded in her voice.
"It's okay, I'll pick you up tomorrow. Anyway, I'll drop you off to your place after dinner so I'll know where you live." She said casually, like they've been doing that for so long and she should be comfortable with it.
The elevator opened and she stepped out, Claire was still standing inside, confused.
She held the door to keep it from closing.
"Claire!" She called on her.
When she didn't move, she grabbed her hand and literally pulled her out of the elevator.
"Jamie!"
"Claire!"
They both said their names at the same time.
"It's not a big deal, Claire, ok?"
"But..."
"Please, I am really starving, I told you I didn't have lunch today,"
Her eyes softened saying that, it was like she was begging her.
Claire gave up and just followed her.
"Fine!" Claire muttered under her breath.
Jamie smiled in victory. She was still holding her hand, guiding her where her car was.
If you would see them. you'd think they already knew each other for a long time.
She opened the back seat of her Red Cadillac Lyriq and put her stuff in, then she took Claire's and put it there as well.
She opened the passenger seat for her and gestured to get in then she turned to the other side.
Her distinct scent was all over her car, you could still smell the leather seat but her scent dominated it.
"You ready?" She started the car and looked at Claire before she drove away from the parking.
Claire nodded at her and wore her seatbelt.
Claire looked around her car, it was so neat and clean. The length of her dashboard was half of the windshield. Everything was just a press of a button.
It was Claire's first time to ride in a luxury car and she knew she looked like a kid just looking around her car.
That proved her right when Jamie laughed.
"You're so cute." She said while laughing.
Claire turned her face to the window as she felt her cheeks heat up, her heart suddenly danced along with her laugh and before she knew it, her lips were forming a smile.
She hid it in her, of course.
What was she doing to her, why did she feel all those things whenever she was with her?
It was all new to Claire so she didn't know how to handle them.
"How old are you, Claire?"
"I'm 22." Claire turned my face to her.
"You?"
It's like you don't know. Claire's mind shouted.
She didn't stalk her, but she googled her last night.
She knew her age, her birthday, where she studied, how many siblings she had. her rumored boyfriends and Claire knew that she had a lot of celebrity friends. She liked going to parties as she was always photographed with her celebrity friends outside of clubs.
Was it considered stalking?
"I'm 27, I graduated early."
"Why did you interned in my company? Did you target it or did you send your resumes to a lot of companies and we were just lucky that we chose you?" She continued.
We were lucky that we chose you. That echoed in Claire's mind.
It had only been 2 days and she was considering her joining as lucky.
Claire took a moment before answering her as she needed to calm herself, good thing she was driving.
"I actually sent my resume to 2 companies only, Williams & Brown and... Moore Capital."
That made her to look at Claire. Moore was the main competitor of W&B.
"Bold, I like that." She smirked.
She parked her car in front of the Italian restaurant nearby the office.
"You will love this place." She said before getting out of the car.
The place was huge and she could see from outside how many people were dining in.
She felt conscious when they entered inside as she could see how elite the people were, Claire suddenly felt small.
Jamie saw the hesitation in Claire's face then She leaned near her ear and whispered. "They are fake people from the inside, plasticity at its finest. Believe me, you are the most genuine person here." She was trying to assure her and reached for her hand.
Somehow, she believed it.
Claire smiled at her and accepted her hand. She let Jamie guide her to where they'd seated.
"Good evening, Ms. Miller, your table is ready." The maître d' greeted.
Jamie nodded at him and walked towards the stairs. They sat in the open corner area of the restaurant where they had a great view.
Once Claire was seated, she looked around. All of the people dining were in suits and formal wear, you could tell by their looks that they were wealthy people.
Claire looked down on herself and there again she felt conscious.
"Hey, I'm here with you."
She felt a gentle touch on top of her hand and Jamie's eyes assured her that that evening would be great.
The waiter brought them a red wine and poured in each of their glasses and handed them the menu.
Claire let Jamie order for her as she felt shy to even look at it.
As soon as she finished ordering, she looked at Claire.
"Do you have a boyfriend, Claire?" Jamie asked her like they were friends, it was so casual.
"No, I don't have."
"Really? With that face, you're telling me you don't have a boyfriend?" Disbelief was written across her face.
Claire couldn't blame her really. When somebody asked her that question and she tell them no, they didn't believe her as well.
In this generation, at 22, who would believe that she had never been touched, let alone kissed.
"Well, I prioritized my studies first, I'm planning to take my masters in a year, maybe. I just need to save the money for it." Claire sipped her wine and waited for her reaction.
"That's.. great. I mean really, it's great." She took a sip of her wine as well.
"You look disappointed." She couldn't help but tell her what she felt.
There was a long pause before she spoke again.
"Well, I just feel like... life is too short to plan and prioritize all these things, you know. You're young, live your life, stay up late, go to parties, have boyfriends or girlfriends, have a lot of sex, spend all your money, you know what I mean? Life... is too damn short to worry about tomorrow, live in the now, live your life like it was your last, because you will wake up one day and realize that... you reached your end but you did not fully live."
Claire was just looking at her while she delivered her long speech. Her brows furrowed and her eyes... they were sad. She sipped her wine and looked back at her.
"So, what I'm trying to say is... live and stop planning."
She ended it with her glass in the air waiting for me to do the same.
Claire lifted up hers and they toasted.
"Cheers!"