Summary: You're a college graduate interning in Patty Lance's office to be the next production assistant after your friend, Lexi Howard, got promoted to be a screenwriter. But working can get quite difficult when you develope a crush on your coworker, Maddy Perez.
Wordcount: 2.3k
Content: 18+ MDNI, nothing spicy happening...yet.
During your time at the office, you'd often steal glances at the executive assistant, Maddy, whenever you passed her desk. You admired her effortlessly chic style but more than that, you couldn't help noticing how beautiful she was. You never really had the chance to talk to her. The office moved too fast and by the time you thought of something to say, she was already answering another call or helping someone else.
One morning, your boss, Patty Lance, asked you to pick up coffee for a team meeting. You quickly ordered an Uber and headed to the café she'd requested.
You read each order off to the barista one by one. When you reached the end of the list, you realized Maddy's name wasn't on it. Without thinking too hard about it, you ordered an extra Frappuccino.
Back at the office, you spotted Maddy disappearing into the copy room. Your pulse quickened. Before you could talk yourself out of it, you set the drink on her desk and hurried away, carrying the rest of the coffees to the conference room. You distributed the drinks to their rightful owners while Patty reviewed her notes. Once everyone had their coffee, she assigned you your task for the day.
"I need those files in my office organized." You nodded.
As you stepped out of the conference room, you noticed Lexi standing beside Maddy's desk. Maddy held up the Frappuccino. Lexi shrugged. Then both of them glanced in your direction. Your stomach dropped. Pretending you hadn't seen anything, you immediately veered toward Patty's office.
With a quiet sigh, you stepped inside. Stacks of paperwork covered nearly every inch of the desk. Complaining wouldn't make the pile any smaller, so you rolled up your sleeves and got to work. You sorted documents into categories before arranging them alphabetically. Hours had blurred together. By the time Patty returned with Lexi trailing behind her, most of the filing was finished.
"Not bad.” Patty said, sounding genuinely impressed. The praise alone was enough to carry you through the rest of the afternoon. Soon everyone was packing up for the day.
You grabbed your belongings while Lexi rambled beside you about a plot revision the production team was debating. As you passed the reception desk, Maddy was cleaning up for the evening.
She lifted a hand in a small wave. Lexi called out a quick goodbye and you nodded awkwardly. For a brief moment, Maddy's gaze lingered on you before she looked away. The interaction lasted barely a second. You thought about it the entire ride home.
The next day was more of the same. You got assigned a task, ran an errand, then returned to the office to finish whatever busywork Patty had waiting for you. Such was the glamorous life of a production assistant intern.
Lexi knew the routine all too well. She had survived it last year before earning her promotion to screenwriter. You, meanwhile, were still very much in the trenches. Today's assignment involved making copies of a script. Apparently, Maddy hadn't been able to finish the job herself thanks to the endless stream of phone calls flooding the reception desk. Should be easy, right?
You stood alone in the copy room, script in hand, staring at a machine that looked like it belonged on a spaceship. The copier hummed quietly beneath the fluorescent lights. You pressed the power button to wake it up. Still, the sheer number of buttons and settings on the display screen made your stomach twist. You glanced toward the doorway. Patty was in the conference room with a group of executives. Lexi stood nearby, scribbling notes as fast as they spoke. The only other person in sight was Maddy.
She sat behind the reception desk, fingers flying across her keyboard as she typed. You considered asking for help. Then immediately decided against it. You already felt incompetent enough without announcing to your office crush that you couldn't operate a copier. As if sensing your thoughts, Maddy looked up. Her eyes met yours over the top of her monitor. Your heart promptly attempted to launch itself into orbit.
You snapped your attention back to the copier and pretended to be deeply invested in the machine's settings. The clicking of her acrylic nails against the keyboard slowed. You could've sworn you heard a quiet chuckle. Determined to preserve at least a shred of dignity, you decided to figure it out yourself.
Sliding the script onto the glass, lowering the lid, and pressing the buttons that seemed the most logical. The copier hummed then beeped and beeped again. Then flashed a warning message across the screen.
You stared at it. The machine stared back. "Shit." You muttered. A voice drifted from the doorway.
"Do you know what you're doing?" You nearly jumped. Maddy leaned against the doorframe with one eyebrow arched. Her gaze moved from the blinking copier to your guilty expression. The corner of her mouth twitched. Your face immediately heated.
"Not really…" You admitted. "Can you help me?" Maddy pushed away from the doorway and crossed the room at a leisurely pace, as though she had all the time in the world. Unfortunately, watching her walk toward you wasn't helping your ability to think.
She stepped beside the copier and glanced at the screen. "Come here." You obeyed instantly. Maddy pointed at the error message, her other hand rested on her hip. "Read it."
You cleared your throat. "'Unable to print. Check device connection.'" She looked at you and you glanced back at her.
Neither of you spoke then she sighed. "You hit the Bluetooth option."
"You're using a physical copy."
A faint smile threatened to appear on her face. "You needed this one." She tapped a different button. The copier immediately sprang to life, feeding pages through the machine without complaint.
"That's it." She blinked. You groaned. The sound made her smile for real this time but only for a second. "Got it?" She asked.
"Yeah." You rubbed the back of your neck. "Thank you..." You intentionally let the sentence trail off. Maddy tilted her head. You absolutely knew she caught it. A knowing look settled over her features.
"You know my name." Your chest tightened. Before you could formulate a response, the office phone rang. Maddy glanced toward the reception desk then back at you. For a brief second, it looked like she was considering saying something else. Instead, she pushed away from the copier. "We'll work on your copier skills another time." Then she was gone.
You watched her leave before dropping your forehead against the nearest cabinet. Smooth…Real smooth. The copier continued spitting out page after page beside you like it was mocking you.
The next morning, you decided to step up your game. If Maddy was going to keep pretending not to notice you then maybe you needed to become impossible to ignore. You showed up in an outfit that was a little more fitted than usual, a little more stylish. Professional enough to avoid comments from Patty but intentional enough that you spent ten minutes staring at yourself in the mirror before leaving home.
Throughout the morning, you found excuses to pass Maddy's desk whenever a task took you toward the copy room. Not that you were counting or hoping she'd notice. Or that you were checking your reflection in the glass doors every time you walked by.
Your boss assigned you a script to proofread and instructed you to make a digital copy of the marked-up draft before sending it back to her. The task itself was simple you thought then a sudden idea struck you. Before you could back out, you turned on your heel and headed toward reception.
Maddy was finishing a phone call when you stopped beside her desk. You leaned forward slightly, resting your hands against the edge. "Do you have a minute to help me with something?"
Maddy slowly lowered the receiver, her gaze lifted to yours. Her doe eyes fluttered and it almost took your breath away. Then she dipped them briefly to the collar of your shirt, which may have been unbuttoned one button lower than necessary. The corner of her mouth lifted just a smidge.
"Sure." Maddy stood and followed you into the copy room. You tried not to look too pleased about that.
"Sorry to bother you." You began. "Patty wants me to send this physical copy to my computer and I'd rather not accidentally fuck it up." A quiet laugh escaped you. Maddy didn't laugh, just simply held out her hand. You immediately handed over the script. She reviewed the pages before navigating the machine with practiced ease. Giving it a few taps with a few selections.
Meanwhile, you were trying very hard not to stare. Unfortunately, Maddy chose that exact moment to glance over. Your eyes met and neither of you looked away. Seconds had gone by before Maddy’s eyebrows knitted together.
"You wanna go check if it worked?"
"Oh!" You cleared your throat. "Right. Yeah." Your retreat from the room was far less graceful than you'd hoped. Behind you, Maddy bit back a smile. When you confirmed the file had arrived, you peeked over your cubicle wall. Maddy was answering a phone call. You gave her a thumbs-up. Without missing a beat, she returned one small nod before turning her attention back to the caller.
You sank into your chair with a sigh. “Maybe next time.” You mumbled under your breath.
Days passed. You continued finding reasons to interact with Maddy. Questions you could've answered yourself. Errands that somehow required walking past reception. Coffee runs that always resulted in an extra drink appearing on her desk. Meanwhile, Maddy remained infuriatingly unreadable. At least when you were looking.
When you weren't paying attention, however, she watched. She noticed the way your face lit up whenever she acknowledged you. The way your shoulders slumped when she appeared too busy to talk. The way you immediately looked away whenever she caught you staring. She thought it was sweet. More importantly, she knew exactly what you were doing. She was simply curious how long it would take before you admitted it.
One afternoon, Patty treated the team to lunch off-site, leaving Maddy in charge of the office while everyone else went out. You spent the quiet afternoon sending client emails from your desk. Just as you hit send on the final message, a chat notification appeared.
Maddy: Your lunch is here.
You frowned because you hadn't ordered lunch. Curious, you stood and made your way to reception. Maddy sat behind her desk with a container of sushi. When she spotted you, she nudged a takeout bag toward the edge of the desk.
"Is Patty treating us now?" You quipped.
"No." You opened the bag. Inside sat another container of sushi. Maddy took another bite from her own meal. "I figured I'd repay you for the Frappuccino."
Your eyes widened. A pleased smile crossed her face. "You didn’t have to."
"I know." She shrugged while taking another bite. Something warm settled in your chest. "Sit." You obeyed before she had to ask twice. Perched on the edge of her desk, you opened your lunch and immediately took a bite.
Your eyes nearly rolled back. "This is amazing."
Maddy looked far too satisfied by your reaction. "Thought you'd like it."
The conversation drifted into comfortable silence. For once, being around her didn't feel intimidating. At least not until you glanced up. Maddy was already looking at you as she leaned back in her chair. You immediately dropped your gaze. A soft laugh escaped her.
You frowned. "There what is?"
"That thing you do." She pointed and uncrossed her legs. You looked up cautiously.
"What thing?" Your voice dripped with curiosity. Maddy playfully rolled her eyes and gave you a deadpan look.
"The looking away." Heat flooded your cheeks at the callout.
Maddy leaned back further in her chair. "Every time I catch you staring, you suddenly become fascinated by literally anything else." You focused very hard on your empty container. Anywhere except her. "Mhm." She let out a soft laugh. "Look at me."
The words weren't loud. Yet somehow they felt impossible to ignore. Slowly, you lifted your eyes. Maddy was smiling as she observed you making your pulse quicken.
"Am I making you nervous?"
"A little." You tried to appear calm.
"A little?" Maddy challenged.
You groaned. "Okay. Yes."
That earned another smile. "Why?"
You swallowed while looking at her. She was absolutely gorgeous. It was almost impossible for you to think around her. She occupied ninety percent of your thoughts for weeks.
Instead of confessing, all you managed was "...You know why."
Maddy's expression softened like she wasn’t surprised. "I do."
The realization hit you immediately. She knew and had known for a while. Maddy reached over and gently adjusted the chain of your necklace where it had twisted. The touch lasted barely a second but felt much longer.
"You have a crush on me."
You let out a defeated laugh. "Yeah."
"Yeah?" She locked eyes with you.
"Yeah." Your voice replied timidly.
Her smile widened. "Cute." Your heart nearly stopped.
The sound of the elevator interrupted the moment. Both of you looked toward the lobby. Voices echoed from down the hall. The team was returning. Maddy straightened immediately and settled back into her chair as though nothing had happened. As though she hadn't completely dismantled your ability to function in less than ten minutes.
You returned to your desk in a daze. A few minutes later, Lexi stopped by carrying a dessert she'd saved for you.
"We love having you here." She beamed genuinely. "Patty thinks you're doing great."
As Lexi disappeared, another notification appeared on your monitor.
Maddy: Ms. Lance wants you to help me review client applications next week.
A second message followed almost immediately.
Maddy: Think you can handle that?
You stared at the screen then shifted toward reception. Maddy was already watching you. And this time when she smiled you didn't look away.
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