i'm a new soul

joanna "jo" parker // 25 // office assistant at halpert publishing

[thejoparker-blog]

nathan-chandler :

Nathan furrowed his brow heavily at the mention of his big hands. Yes, he’d heard it before, obviously, it was impossible to miss. But it was odd to hear it from Joanna, and even weirder to think about anyone in the office gossiping about him in the break room. He just figured everyone hated him. He was their boss, you’re supposed to hate your boss. Then again, he’d had a huge crush on his boss back when he was an intern at Lovell and Co. She was equal amounts of mean and busy, which seemed to be Nathan’s type at the time

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that, trust me.” He retorted, glancing at her to make sure she saw his dramatic eye roll. He could start listing instances of Joanna over-sharing right then and there if he wanted to. It was an obnoxious habit of hers. He’d pointed it out to her several times. How else was she supposed to improve? As Joanna explained every little detail about her full name, Nathan listened, stifling a yawn while he nodded aimlessly. “JC Penny. No flowers. Got it.”

He pulled his phone out of his bag as he denied her answers to his past. Maybe it was because of his fear of being pitied or his deep-rooted fear of people realizing what a monster he was. Or maybe the fact that any serious relationship Nathan had ever been in, he’d never opened up about his family. He’d rather be deported than tell Joanna Parker about the soap opera that is his family, she’d ask him a million questions about it all and never shut up about it. And worst of all, she’d probably tell everyone about his dead parents who he didn’t even miss. Any positive talk about Nathan in the break room would cease immediately. Not that he cared.

“Our first date?” Nathan repeated, turning to look at his assistant. He gave her an annoyed look, ready to tell her that he wanted to catch some sleep before he was forced to meet the fucking Brady Bunch. But he figured he’d get it over with quickly so he could get her off his back. “We went to Del Posto on 10th Avenue and… I brought you flowers because I didn’t know you were allergic. We got drinks after and then called it a night. Instant love connection or whatever.” He shrugged, typing something into his phone, keeping his eyes on the small screen as he spoke, “We can figure out the timeline when we get to the hotel. Unless your lawyer mother and alchoholic Aunt interrogate us at the gate, I think we’re good for now.”

Joanna shouldn’t have been as frustrated by Nathan’s lack of interest as she was. This was for his benefit, he was the one at risk of being deported. The least he could do was act like she was doing him a favor. However, instead of spewing her annoyance out loud, she stewed quietly in her seat. No time to yell at her boss on the plane, might cause further embarrassment to an already regretful situation. Not only was he not participating in active listening, he wasn’t sharing much either about his family. Whatever, she’d let it go for now and pry more later.

“See? Wasn’t so hard,” she commented at his description of their first date, at least he was making somewhat of an effort to contribute. Jo peeked out the window for a moment, seeing the familiar strip of small houses and towns and whispered a soft “home” under her breath. “Great, because we’ll be landing-” Her sentence was cut off by the way the plane practically jerked once touching down onto the runway, leaning back in her seat and absently brushing the top of her hand against his. “-Now, actually.” Quickly pulling her hand back into her lap, Jo waited for the plane to get settled in the gate and glanced back over to Nathan. “You ready to meet the folks?” The look on his face spoke volumes, nodding slightly in agreement. “Me neither, but we gotta.”

After collecting their luggage from the baggage claim, Nathan and Jo made their way downstairs to where they could exit the gate and meet family members. Unsure of who was going to be there, the sigh of relief mixed with dread fell from pink lips at the sight of who did show up. Isaac and Clark were close to Jo, so this shouldn’t have been a big of a deal - but if anyone would be able to pick up the fakeness of their relationship, it would be them. “Hey,” the brunette beamed, leaving her bag with Nathan as she ran over to Clark, immediately hugging him and then Isaac. “Nathan, this is Clark and this,” she made sure to point out the difference between the two, not wanting the taller man to get confused, “is Isaac, my brothers. And Clark, Isaac, this is Nathan. My...fiance.”

[thejoparker-blog]

nathan-chandler :

Nathan watched Joanna answer quickly, a look of mild surprise on his face. She didn’t even hesitate to go into detail about both answers, which made him feel just a tiny bit of remorse for dragging her into this. He’d done a solid job at thinking of all of this as a business deal, since that’s what it was, but her quick answers to questions he was sure she wouldn’t know. 

“With the amount of names starting with G, that was just a lucky guess. I have a generic name, anyone could’ve put that together. None of those interns thought I was cute, by the way. They just- I’m their boss.” Nathan rolled his eyes as he turned back to the packet.He couldn’t deny that her knowledge of his allergy was impressive, but he wasn’t going to admit that to her.

“You have a clear upper-hand. It’s your job to be able to suck up to me.” Nathan retorted, “I don’t know any of this about you so you should definitely write the important stuff down.” He requested in a tone that really proved how strongly he believed this was strictly a business deal. “But I guess since we’re stuck on a plane together… What’s your middle name? And do you have any allergies?” 

 At the mention of his family, Nathan leaned away from his assistant, “Nope. Those details aren’t important.” He answered shortly, keeping his eyes down. He wasn’t actually reading any of the questions anymore, but he wasn’t about to look up at Joanna just to witness her unsatisfied reaction to his statement. He flipped through the packet aimlessly, mumbling, “A real fiance wouldn’t know anything about the either, you can tell the Deportation Office that.”

“You didn’t hear the break room talk that said otherwise, I’ve heard one too many comments about how big your hands are.” She got the last bit out through a soft laugh, still finding it remarkable that the naive interns had managed to be charmed by her strict boss. It was odd, Jo couldn’t even imagine a circumstance in which she would’ve been enthralled to work with Nathan. Huh, imagine that.

“I’ll be sure to get any answers you’d need ready for you, I’m a bit of an open book.” She messed with her watch for a moment, clearing her throat as she pondered her answers. “My middle name is Casey, my mom’s really big on music and had a favorite radio host back when she was a teenager with the same name. I don’t mention it much, I was teased a lot in middle school for my initials being the same as JC Penney.” Clearing her throat of the dull memory, she continued her response, “No food allergies, but am super allergic to pollen, so flowers are usually a no-go. Unless they’re Periwinkles, those are one of the most hypoallergenic.”

Slightly frustrated by Nathan’s answer, Jo shot both of her eyebrows up at his refusal to mention anything about his parents. “They’re gonna ask-” She started, but was immediately shut down after hearing his mumbling. Okay, then. Obviously a touchy subject, but it made sense considering how aloof the man next to her was. Figuring she had to move on and change the subject, she flipped through the packet to find another question, since they seemed to be spitballing off of each other. “How did our first date go?”

[wayfaringellie]

[thejoparker-blog]

schottjr :

Jamie Wellerstein & Cathy Hiatt (The Last Five Years, 2014)

[part 1 of 4]

[alakdjeiekbr]

[thejoparker-blog]

nathan-chandler :

Nathan, eyes still closed, furrowed his brow and turned his head as he began to disagree, “You don’t know all,” When he opened his eyes, he was surprised how close he was to Joanna, causing him to sit up and lean away from her again. Nathan cleared his throat, “You don’t know all of those things about me.” 

Avoiding eye contact, feeling a tad awkward from being so close to Joanna’s face, Nathan grabbed his packet of questions again. He found himself seeking out questions that Joanna couldn’t know the answers to about him. It was almost as if he needed to prove to himself that she didn’t know as much about him as she thought. As Joanna went on about her family, he continued to skim the list, showing no sign of comprehension to what she was saying. 

With an exaggerated sigh, Nathan looked back at Joanna, “I’m listening. Your parents are smart, twin brothers, Gram, and an alcoholic aunt. All very original. But,” He pointed back to the packet, “You don’t know all of this about me. What’s my middle name? And… Do I have any allergies?” He tested her proudly, sure that she wouldn’t know the answers. 

Joanna’s brow furrowed once Nathan leaned his head over and opened his eyes, following his action of pulling back awkwardly. Her shoulder hit the window of the plane, chuckling nervously as she tried to draw her attention back to the questions at hand. Rolling her eyes lightly at his denial of her knowledge, she shrugged her shoulders as an invitation for him to quiz her. “Bring it,” she started, raising an eyebrow at him once the questioning began.

“Easy,” she quipped, “your middle name is George. I figured that out from all the documents you’ve given me over the months, and your signature has a fancy ‘G’ in the middle of it.” Hearing the next rapid fire trivia question about her oh-so-interesting boss, she exhaled boredly. “You’re allergic to strawberries, to the point where if you consume one or are exposed to it, you get hives on your arms and under your chin. You also could go into anaphylactic shock if you eat one, which is why you have an Epi-Pen set in both your satchel and in the bottom right drawer of your desk.” Glancing back over to him, she wrinkled her nose at the subtle confused expression taking over his face. “You’ve had me go on prescription runs before and...I was able to deduce the strawberries thing because you’ve thrown away boxes of chocolate covered strawberries that the interns who thought you were cute would give you for Valentine’s day.”

Looking over his shoulder at the packet, she’d figured she’d ask him about the few questions she wasn’t able to answer organically. “The only thing I’m not 100% confident in is anything about your parents or your family. You’re meeting mine, do I get to hear about yours?”

[kendricksnerd]

[thejoparker-blog]

Anna Kendrick VS. Adam Devine: Ultimate Staring Contest [x]

[nathan-chandler]

Nathan cleared his throat as he read over the packet that he’d been given at the Immigration office. What’s her favorite color? What’s her birthday? What are her parents’ names? Does she have any scars? Does she have any allergies? Where did she go to college?

The more he read the more he realized he didn’t know a single thing about his assistant. Half the time he didn’t even remember her last name and now he’d have to memorize all these details that he wouldn’t even be able to answer about his own siblings. He closed the packet and put it back into his bag, “We might as well just start filling these things out with our own answers so we can study each other’s. Unless you plan on some serious bonding this weekend.” He retorted sarcastically. 

Nathan glanced toward Joanna for a quick moment before looking past her out the window of the plane. The morning sky was clear, not a single cloud in sight. As he laid his head back and closed his eyes, Nathan couldn’t help but ask, “So if you love your mommy and daddy so much and they’re only an hour and a half flight away, why do you never see them?”

It was unlike him to bring something like that up, but he was feeling anxious about having to meet her stupid family, so he decided to get under her skin just a little bit while he still could. 

@thejoparker

[thejoparker-blog]

This was definitely not how Joanna expected her weekend home to be going. What she had been expecting was to separate herself from work, to see her brothers again as well as her parents and other family members who trickled in. Instead, she was taking work with her in the form of her boss- crap, her fiance - and to say that Joanna was pleased about it was an overstatement. She kept trying to think of the positives instead of the negative currently sitting next to her on the plane. Curled up with the coffee she’d gotten in the terminal, Joanna narrowed her eyes at Nathan with a small grimace.

“I looked over the packet last night and was able to answer most, if not all, of the questions regarding you,” she answered simply, shrugging as she fixed the cardigan on her shoulders and rested one of her hands on the top of her paper coffee tumbler. The questions were oddly specific, but working under Nathan had provided her with many of the answers that she’d needed. There were a few about his family that left unanswered, she figured she would get to those before their scheduled interview next week.

Hearing him ask about her family, in a less-than-caring tone, she pushed a piece of brown hair out from her eyes with a content sigh. “I see them whenever I can, we’re both very busy, sometimes I’m doing your work until I can see the light of the next day.” Huffing softly and thinking about having to really face her parents once they both stepped foot off the plane, Jo rolled her bottom lip between her teeth. “Mom’s a lawyer, dad’s a surgeon, my two older brothers are gonna be there - Isaac and Clark, they’re twins but they’re fraternal so try not to get them mixed up. Gram Nancy’ll be there, she’s a card. Maybe Auntie Candy if she’s out of rehab.” Pausing for a moment, she corrected herself. “That was a joke, she’s never been to rehab - we kid around because she’s a bit of a wine-a-holic - and you definitely aren’t even listening right now, are you?” Her eyes narrowed once more at her boss, this was going to be a long weekend.

[thejoparker-blog]

 nathan-chandler :

Nathan spat back quietly, “Our boss has better things to do than gossip the way you and your little friends do on my floor.” He let out a deep breath, rubbing his face quickly to compose himself before the elevator doors opened. His eyes stayed up as he watched the numbers descend back to their floor. 

Ignoring Joanna’s stupid question, Nathan fixed his jacket as he watched as they reached their floor. When the doors opened, he wasted no time making his way to his office, keeping his chin up and avoiding all the obnoxious staring and whispering.  I think there should be something in it for me. Him staying in this country was her only way to keep this job and she wanted more? Unbelievable.

The tall man went right to his desk without a word , hovering over it to read over more paperwork. Joanna’s shrill voice led him to left his focus back to her, giving her one of his famous dirty looks. 

“Something in it for you? You mean like keeping your job? If I go, you lose your job and get stuck wasting four years being an assistant somewhere else. And considering we’re the best publishing firm in the country, that’d be a severe waste of time.” Even if he was talking himself into exhaustion, his expression was still pretty confused by her sudden demands. This girl had never even asked for a long lunch break let alone threatening to let him get deported if he didn’t give her what she wanted. 

Nathan stood up straight, giving her his full attention as he made it visibly clear that she’d have to really fight for whatever it was she wanted. “A weekend off, fine. You’ve got yourself a-” He stopped mid sentence as his jaw dropped ever so slightly, “No way.” He shook his head, his voice staying even despite his clear distaste, “You’ve only been working here for a year!”

But the look on her face made it clear that it was either promote Joanna or get promoted. He was screwed. Nathan narrowed his eyes at her, crossing his arms, “Fine. I’ll promote you. Fine by me, maybe my next assistant won’t be so… Shrilly.”

He let out an exaggerated sigh, raising his eyebrows at her, “You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m not proposing to you. This is a business deal. No.”

But once again, Joanna’s determined glare told Nathan that he didn’t have choice. “Oh my god,” He muttered as he walked over to her, taking the ring hastily and looking down at his assistant miserably. He cleared his throat and took a step back, getting onto one knee, and uttering the words he swore he’s never say, “Will you marry me?”

At Joanna’s initial refusal, he sighed, smiling falsely, “Joanna…. Parker Would you do me the honor of… becoming my wife?”

“You’re not the only one affected by your crazy idea of getting married, I deserve a little something if I’m going to cooperate.” She let her eyebrows raise as she laid out her demands, realistically she knew all of this was a long shot. He barely agreed to let her leave work on time some days, let alone approve a job promotion. But it was what she wanted to try, and she was glad that she did once he agreed to all of her propositions.

Especially the last part, that one seemed to be her favorite. She crossed her arms over her chest at his first attempt at getting out of it, amazed at how firm she was able to be out of nowhere. Her newfound courage only seemed to increase once he was down on one knee, shaking her head at his first try at getting the words out in a grumble. His second attempt was much better, bringing a proud smile onto her face as she nodded. “For the promotion,” she reiterated, holding out her left hand for him to slide the ring on before admiring it.

“Wonderful, that wasn’t so bad now, was it?” Sighing softly with a proud look still embellished on her features, she returned to her desk and pulled out her cell phone. “Let me just give my mom a quick call to tell her that I’ll be able to make it this weekend. She didn’t think you’d give me the time off.” It was true, Nathan had been a stickler about having her around to do her work that she didn’t think that she’d find a way to make it out to Maine for the reunion. “She’ll be happy to hear that I can make it.”

[thejoparker-blog]

 nathan-chandler :

Nathan definitely wasn’t expecting Joanna to lash out at him the way she did. She’d always just taken his harsh remarks silently, probably crying to herself in the bathroom or on her way home like his last assistant had admitted to doing. Her strong tone caused him to slow down slightly as he looked over his shoulder toward the brunette, eyebrows drawn in closely. He wasn’t intimidated as much as he was surprised- impressed even. The word fiancee sent a shiver down his spine that suddenly made all of this feel ten times more real. His gaze only stayed on Joanna for a moment before he noticed the other people in the hallway who had turned their attention to the couple. Nathan cleared his throat awkwardly and turned forward again, his expression blank as Joanna caught up with him. “What the hell w-”

This time he was the one being cut off, causing him to grind his teeth together, realizing just how shrill Joanna’s voice was. Stepping into the elevator, he kept his eyes forward until the doors closed leaving him looking at his own reflection. Standing beside his elf of an assistant who was looking toward his expectantly. He turned to her, looking frustrated and quite literally out of patience.

“First of all, great job announcing that to the entire floor, by the time we get back to my office the whole building will know.” He got in one last jab before turning his body to her, keeping his distance all the same, “I was getting deported. And they were giving my job to Darren Kincaid.” His all-business tone made it all sound like it Joanna didn’t even have a choice in the matter, ”Remember, that disgruntled worker who you used to hang up on daily when you first started here? That’s him. And if he got my job, the second he got here, he would have fired you just because you were my assistant. So unless you want to lose your job and never become an  actual editor, play along.”

Nathan cleared his throat again and turned forward, crossing his arms over his chest. His mind was racing but he did his best to stay calm. If Joanna knew how much he was freaking out, she’d never agree to this. That wasn’t an option. He was not going back to Winnipeg. He added without turning to her, “We’ll get married, stay married long enough to ensure my paperwork gets straightened out and then we’ll get a quickie divorce and be done with the whole ordeal.”

“Your boss already knew, I think you’ll live.” Joanna bit back sarcastically before silencing herself to give him a chance to explain. Deportation? Fuck, this was more serious than she’d thought. Nodding to his question, the brunette opened her mouth to say something. She did want to become an actual editor someday, staying at the bottom of the food chain wasn’t anywhere in her upcoming plans. Maybe this would benefit her some way down the line...

...But maybe not soon enough. “So I’m just supposed to agree to this because you tell me to?” It seemed to be a rhetorical question, she wasn’t expecting a real answer. “I think there should be something in it for me.” As she was just about to make a proposition, the elevator door reopened on the floor that their office was.

Word had definitely spread quick, it seemed like everyone popped their head out of the cubicle to watch the pair of them make their way silently to the office. Jo tucked her left hand into the pocket of her blazer, not wanting any questions about the ‘ring’ before walking inside and closing the door. “That was weird,” she murmured, once her back rested on the door, bringing her attention back to her boss. “But as I was saying,” she stepped towards the middle of the room, putting the files down on her much smaller desk before addressing Nathan, “something in it for me.”

The confused look on her boss’s face prompted her to continue. “I want you to give me this weekend off for my family reunion in Maine,” she started with her same firm tone, keeping dark navy blue eyes locked on Nathan’s to keep his attention, “and I want a promotion. To editor.” She was dead serious, face stoic as she spoke. She wanted to be taken seriously, needed it in a way.

Pulling the ring off of her right finger, she held it out for Nathan with a raised eyebrow. “And finally, you propose the right way right now. Don’t cooperate and I’ll see myself out.”

[thejoparker-blog]

 nathan-chandler :

Nathan stood beside his assistant with his hands in his pockets, his mind racing at the thought of actually getting away with this. If she would just play along for now, he’d be able to convince her into helping him later. Nathan Chandler was good at a lot of things, and one of those things was definitely knowing how to get what he needed from people. That was one of the reasons he’d gotten this far in the first place. He’d never met a person he couldn’t get the best of- other than his father. But that didn’t matter anymore. 

As Joanna explained her position in the office, he nodded, glancing her way and realizing he’d never been this close to her before. His instincts told him to put more space between himself and the short brunette, but couples stood close to each other, right? He hadn’t had a girlfriend in years, god, since before his parents had died. That was just a coincidence, right? 

This was not the time to add to the list of things he had to talk to his therapist about. He shook his head slightly and turned back to his superior and the HR rep with a charming smile, “We had been keeping our relationship a secret because we didn’t want to cause any kind of drama or anything. You know how people can be about office romances, it just complicates things. But, you know,” He paused, reminding himself to smile more realistically, “All the late nights at the office and working so closely everyday. These things happen all the time.”

Nathan nodded, feeling the pain in his chest lighten up ever so slightly as David expressed his acceptance of the total shit show that Nathan had just spewed. “Right, no extreme measures. I’m sure everyone here would be much happier without Kincaid coming back to terrorize everyone, am I right?” He asked with a chuckle before hesitantly placing his hand on Joanna’s upper back again and leading her to the door.

Once the door closed behind them, Nathan removed his hand from the young woman’s back and smoothed out his suit jacket carefully. He cleared his throat and started walking back to the elevator, not waiting for Joanna to follow, “Keep your voice down, Joanna. You didn’t even count to one hundred did you? I gave you time to think about your entrance so you wouldn’t put your foot in your mouth. And with that you ignored my instructions, interrupted the conversation we were having, and looked like an idiot in front of the head of the company.”

Joanna couldn’t help but to shrug the taller man’s hand off of her back, extremely put off by the scene he’d caused in the meeting room. She still wasn’t sure why the lie was produced, but she was smart enough to know that she was just being used because she was available. She was teetering on the edge of demanding an explanation when Nathan didn’t even bother to stop to say anything, immediately heading in the other direction. “Nathan, I’m talking to y-”

And that was when she was cut off - even worse, she was scolded. Without eye contact, either. She’d gone from almost standing up for herself to shrinking down to a small level (right where Nathan wanted her) in less than a second. She wanted to find everything in her to tell him off, to risk getting fired if it meant she’d stop allowing him to speak to her like that, but wasn’t able to somehow.

As Nathan kept walking away from her, Jo brought one of her hands up to run over her face, catching a glimpse of the ring her mother had given her on her right ring finger. Family heirloom passed down from the maternal, and it sparked an idea in the brunette. Even though she wasn’t able to stand up to him in the past, like hell she’d have a bit more of a reason to now.

“You will not speak to your fiancée like that, Nathan.” Her voice was shockingly firm and big, so firm that she even startled herself. Seeing a few people walking from other hallways look towards the bustle she’d created, Jo quickly strode to meet her boss. Lowering her voice before the elevator doors opened, the brunette tilted her chin up to quietly tell off Nathan. “I don’t know what that was about in there, but I’m expecting you to tell me the second these doors close.” Raising an eyebrow, she followed her boss into the elevator and closed the door so they were the only ones inside. “Get to explaining-” She gazed up at him, noticing the inevitably harsh look she was receiving and cleared her throat, “-sir.”

[thejoparker-blog]

 nathan-chandler :

Nathan walked into the medium-sized office confidently, it wasn’t until he noticed one of the higher-ups standing across the room that he painted on a fake smile. “Toby, David, good morning.”

While Toby was just a lowly HR rep, David O’Hara was technically Nathan’s boss, and unfortunately for Nathan neither of them looked very pleasant. Nathan stood across the large desk as his boss spoke up.

“Nathan, we’re going to cut right to the chase with this. Do you recall last month when you and HR agreed that you would not to attend the Manchester Book Fair because your Visa Application was being processed?” David’s voice was level but stern.

“Yes.” He answered simply, not breaking his confident demeanor.

Toby continued, “Well, you went anyway and…”

Nathan cut him off with a chuckle, “Well, we would’ve lost the Hodgeman account, one of our biggest clients and I wasn’t about to let that happen. Small price to pay, I guess.” He shrugged.

The two men in front of him didn’t seem to laugh along with him, “Well, we just got a call from you Immigration Attorney and apparently the US Government doesn’t think keeping a client is a good reason to violate Visa restrictions and fail to hand in paperwork in time.” Toby was enjoying this way too much.

“It’s all been taken care of, it’s-”

“Nathan, your Visa Application has been denied. You’re being deported.” David announced sternly, arms crossed tightly over his chest.

Nathan let out a long breath, brow furrowed in complete confusion, “I’m sorry, what?”

“You’re being de-”

“Thank you, Toby, I heard that part actually!” Nathan snapped at the meek man before returning his gaze to David, “I just don’t really understand. It was just a couple pieces of paperwork. Can’t we re-apply or something?”

“We can but even if we do, you have to be out of the country for at least a year…” Toby responded.

“And if you’re deported, you’re not allowed to work at an American company.” David added, his frustration, “Which means everything we re-arranged just a few months ago is completely useless.” He took a deep breath and continued, “Until this is resolved we plan on re-hiring Darren Kincaid to take over your position.”

“Kincaid?! You really think he’d come back after we dissolved his position?” Nathan asked, dumbfounded. He’d single-handily proposed a business plan just a few months ago that resulted in Darren being let go while Nathan took over all of his duties. The thought of Darren Kincaid sitting in his office made him sick.

“Well we don’t exactly have a choice, Nathan!” David argued back, raising his voice, ”You completely dropped the ball here! He’s the only person who we’re sure can handle this position since clearly you couldn’t!”

“David, sir, this has nothing to do with my ability to-” Nathan started to retort when he heard a small voice behind him.

All three men turned to look at the brunette, all looking equally annoyed. Nathan had his bottom lip tucked under his teeth as he gave Joanna just about the nastiest look he’d ever given her. He turned away from her in annoyance, “Joanna, can you just-!”

But before he could finish a bright glare distracted his view. Sunlight from outside was hitting the glass frame that sat on Toby’s desk But Nathan saw enough of the picture to halt himself from scolding his assistant. Peeking out from the large glare on the glass was a thin women in a wedding dress. It must’ve been Toby’s daughter or something, not that that mattered. Nathan quickly turned his head back to Joanna as a very very bad idea overcame his brain.

Suddenly, his voice was soft as he forced a very fake smile on his lips, “Can you tell them to call back because I- we have something important to tell Toby and David right now…” He waved her toward him slowly as he turned back to the others, “I should’ve mentioned this before but I was so thrown off by the- the deportation thing but….”

He turned back to Joanna, his hand still motioning for her to come closer regardless of where she was standing now, “Joanna and I are engaged.” 

He announced hollowly as he hesitantly placed a hand on her upper back before scrapping that idea entirely and shoving his hands in his pockets. He shot Joanna a pained smile before turning back to David and Toby.

Honestly, Joanna couldn’t say what compelled her to burst into a room at work with the audacity to even interrupt people that were way higher up on the food chain than her. Maybe part of her didn’t want the dude who reamed on literally everybody in sight to be reamed on - but even that was a stretch. Didn’t Nathan deserve anything that was coming to him in one way or another? Despite herself, the brunette was soon making a grand entrance into a room of big wigs, and Jo realized she was way in over her head.

She winced slightly at the beginning of Nathan’s words, feeling a verbal beatdown coming on as the phone remained tightly glued to her ear. The last thing she was expecting was the clearly forced smile coming from her boss, telling her to hang up the imaginary phone call. Jo played the part with a streak of confusion across her face, tucking the phone into the pocket of her blazer as she stepped forward with hesitation. Navy eyes flickered from those scolding Nathan to Nathan himself, resting at his side as she did her best (which wasn’t very good) to hide the shock on her face.

“We’re getting married -?” The statement she’d tried to make came out more as a question, tilting her chin up to look at Nathan as she still tried to figure out what the fuck was even happening. Obviously, he was trying to pitch this to the men in front of her, but why? Was it even working.

“Isn’t she your secretary?” One of the men directed at her, not looking too trusting of this speculation. 

“Uh - office...assistant, but I double as a secretary.” Jo wanted to punch herself in the face, the one moment she wanted to come across as a little more than softspoken, she was failing. Maybe it’d be best to just keep her mouth shut, let Nathan do the talking.

And the talking he did, Joanna was standing there in awe of the story being put together. Every now and again, she’d nod her head in agreement, just to make sure that Nathan wouldn’t shoot her a look to cooperate. The men in front of them looked on in both confusion but also...acceptance? Were they buying this?

“Great,” the older man nodded to Nathan, clearly skeptical but going along with this, “just make it legal so we don’t have to take our extreme measures.” The brunette’s eyebrows furrowed as they were soon being waved out of the office, still hugging the files underneath one of her arms as the door closed behind them. 

“Okay, what the fuck was that about?”

[thejoparker-blog]

 nathan-chandler :

Nathan cleared his throat as he read over the papers on his cluttered desk. He didn’t even hear Joanna’s response, he was known for tuning people out when he decided he was done with a conversation. He just kept nodding aimlessly as he focused on his work, proving that he wasn’t paying attention as he nodded while she answered the phone.

Even as Nathan looked up at his assistant, his mind was in five different places. He only took in keyword’s of her nervous little announcement. “Well nothing involving HR is ever good but it’s probably nothing, probably just some overdue paperwork again. Do. Not. Cancel. Any. Of. My. Appointments.” He spoke slowly, making eye contact with the young woman to prove how serious he was, “I’ll go in, sign a few papers and be done with it, cancel a single appointment and you’ll be competing with Kevin for jobs at Barnes and Noble.”

Nathan stood up swiftly, flattening his tie as he grabbed a few of the papers off his desk. His eyes focused on the papers, he made his way across his office, “Come with me.”

He made his way through the office, not looking up from his papers once, easily navigating blindly through the busy office. When they stepped into the elevator, Nathan held his papers over toward Joanna for her to take them as he took his phone out of his pocket. Utter silence consumed the elevator as Nathan sent out an email to one of their many clients. By the time the doors opened, his phone as away, he lead his assistant toward the HR office.

“Okay, wait out here and count to one hundred. If I’m not out of there by then, come in and tell me that I have an important call from one of our big clients, okay? We do not have time for HR today.” He scoffed before heading into Human Resources.

Joanna was reaching for the phone once again, complying with whatever HR had told her on the line when she heard Nathan’s tough tone. Her eyes locked with his, pretty positive she was looking like a deer in the headlights and slowly put the phone back on the receiver. Honestly, she’d worked for him for so long but was still shit terrified of him. “Sorry.” She half-heartedly mumbled, clearing her throat as she smoothed down her blazer.

Once again following orders, Joanna nodded as she scurried to Nathan’s side and closed the door on her way out. The elevator ride was silent, grabbing the papers he’d held out for her without looking up once. In a way, Joanna hated how awkward she still felt around her boss. But she’d rather have silence than being talked down to yet again.

Stepping outside the HR office, she looked up at Nathan and gave an obedient nod. “Yes, sir.” She agreed softly, the papers hugged against her chest like a security blanket. A breath of relief fell from pink lips once the man was inside the office, unsure of why she was so compelled to eavesdrop but wishing to anyway. She counted to 100 as she tapped her heel against the wall, getting to 50 when she heard stern yelling from the other side and knowing that the voice wasn’t Nathan’s. Figuring he needed a quick escape, the brunette burst into the room earlier than expected with her cell phone out as if she were on a call. “Mr. Ch-” She interrupted whoever was speaking, seeing eyes on her in a fixed glare as she suddenly became nervous. “You’ve, um,” blue eyes flew to Nathan as she tried to gesture to the phone, “sorry, uh - phone call. For Mr. Chandler.”

[thejoparker-blog]

 nathan-chandler :

Nathan ignored his assistance’s apology, he was used to her awkward little apologies by now and hardly ever stopped to roll his eyes anymore. But when she continued to speak, he looked up from his laptop and raised his eyebrows at her. Kevin Anderson’s wife was the one who died? He could’ve sworn it had been Kevin Vance’s. Whoops.

“Well, his wife dying doesn’t make him any better at his job, now does it, Joanna?” He spoke confidentially, even though he felt a terrible pang of guilt in his stomach. “I’m sure he’ll get a job at Barnes and Noble or something, he’ll be fine.” He took a quick sip of his coffee before placing the cup down on his desk. 

“It’s very unfortunate that his wife died but that doesn’t mean we should continue letting the rest of the editing staff pick up his slack. He’s been a sub-par worker since he started working here, it was a long time coming. Do I have any meetings today?” He asked, not hint of hesitation in his transition.

Expecting her boss to realize his mistake and think he should rectify it was a stupid expectation in hindsight. Joanna winced at his terse tone, rolling her bottom lip between her teeth at how harsh he was being. It surprised her how someone could be so detached just because they’re in a position of power, blinded to someone else’s feelings because it didn’t affect their own. “Okay, if you say so, sir,” she mumbled softly under her breath, seeing no use in trying to stand up for her former co-worker when the man in front of her obviously didn’t care. “You - um - have a meeting at noon with Johnson from the 3rd floor, nothing too bad but -” 

As she was speaking, the office phone on her desk rang, and Joanna immediately scurried over to answer it. “Halpert Publishing, you’ve reached Nathan Chandler’s office, how can I-” The brunette was immediately cut off by the other voice on the line, eyebrows coming to furrow on her forehead before responding. “Yes, I’ll send him right down. Thank you.” Returning the phone to the receiver, Joanna looked back up at her boss with a soft exhale. “They want you down in Human Resources, and to cancel all your appointments for the rest of the day.” Giving Nathan a look, Joanna raised her eyebrows. “That can’t be good.”

[thejoparker-blog]

 nathan-chandler:

Today was no different than any other for Nathan. He’d gotten up early enough to work at home a bit before getting ready and coming into work. Per usual, most of the employees avoided eye contact with him as he strode past their little cubicles. Adorable. When his tiny assistant finally arrived, he barely looked up from his computer, “Don’t call me Mr. Chandler, I’m not your teacher. I’ve got a first name for a reason.” 

His tone wasn’t exactly sarcastic, it was more cross. Sometimes it felt like he was her teacher. It wasn’t that he timed her every morning to see when she arrived, but he did notice that she’d been closer and closer to arriving on time as the days passed. “Only eleven minutes late this morning, nice improvement. You’ll be on time by the time the New Year rolls around,” Again, not sarcastic, but cross, “All you missed in those eleven minute was me finally firing Kevin and I left some paperwork on your desk for you to fax up to Johnson.”

He finally glanced up at her, reaching forward a bit to take his coffee from her with a silent nod that could’ve been interpreted as a thank you or an I’m done talking, now you go.

Navy blue eyes traveled down to her boss as she held out the coffee for him to take, chuckling softly under her breath as he corrected her. “Right, sorry, Nathan.” She’d learned quickly in her time working under the man that bothering to argue with him was pointless. Nathan was always right, and Jo had just begun to expect his annoyance at whatever she was doing.

“You fired -- Kevin’s wife died last week,” Jo hesitantly reminded him, the only reason either of them would know being that they received a copy of the obituary in the paper and an address for the funeral. There was only so much of a heartless limit that Jo thought Nathan couldn’t cross, but hearing that he fired Kevin just proved that. “I don’t mean to question your choices, but...he had a lot going on, and you just fired him?” Her voice was softspoken, not trying to cross any boundaries but still feeling the need to speak up on her friend’s - more so co-worker, but Jo tried to see all the people who worked in the office a friend - behalf.

[thejoparker-blog]

After bobbing and weaving through the chaotic sidewalk with the cardboard coffee tray in her hands, Joanna could confidently say that she was getting better at this whole ‘coffee run for Nathan’ thing. She’d stopped pondering why she was getting coffee like some temp because any time she’d bothered to ask her boss a question, he’d either cut her off or not pay attention. So what if she’d been working under the much taller man for a few months and she was still out fetching coffee like an intern? She was doing a damn good job at it. Her heeled boots were padding against the office carpet once the elevator took her up, trying her best to get the hot drink to Nathan before he’d catch the chance to see how late she was. “Hi,” the brunette panted as she walked through the doors of the office, almost tripping on her own two feet but managing not to spill any of the coffee, “ I’m -- hi, here’s your...here’s your coffee, Nath -- Mr. Chandler, sir. ” @nathan-chandler

[daily99]