Whoever decided that six in the morning was a great time to start a meeting at work needs to be fired. I'm absolutely exhausted from everything that happened last night, and I honestly can't even begin to function with anything work related. I couldn't do any code work right now even if my life depended on it.

As I walk into the building, I see Brian and Christina at the coffee bar. I smile as I approach the two.

"Good morning." I say, trying my best to sound as awake as possible.

"Good morning. You look tired." Brian teases with a smile.

"Is it that noticeable?" I ask with a laugh. I already know that it's completely obvious that I'm exhausted. I didn't even have the energy to put on makeup this morning. I can feel the messy bun on top of my head slowly falling, but hopefully this meeting is over before I actually have to fix it.

"Hey, I'm no better." Christina says, nudging me gently.

"Glad I'm not the only one." I laugh. "Oh, can I get a large coffee?" I ask the man behind the counter.

The coffee bar has to be my absolute favorite part about working at GRIP. I can have free coffee at any time of the day. Plus, it's honestly some of the best coffee I've ever had.

We wait patiently for our drinks as more people begin to walk into the building. I'm so glad that I got here early. Otherwise, my morning coffee would take nearly twenty minutes to get. As more and more of the staff enters the room, my eyes instantly set on Grayson. He's wearing a hoodie and basketball shorts, which is different than everything else I've seen him in. He looks so casual. I guess we all look pretty casual at the moment, but seeing him like this is different. He doesn't seem as tired as the rest of us. Maybe he's one of those guys who wakes up at four in the morning to go for a run. He seems like he might be the type.

"I bet this is about the app designs." I hear Brian say from beside me.

"You think?" I ask. "It's still pretty early."

"I bet it is. A ton of people had already sent their designs in early. He has had plenty of time to look over them and throw away the ones he didn't like. I bet this is the final few." He points out.

"Oh, it totally is. I heard Shane talking to Kara about which ones Grayson picked. Apparently he already has an idea of who he wants to be the final two." Christina adds.

"Which one is Shane?" I ask the two. As much as I've heard about him, I've never once seen this man. He's just someone whose name you hear and automatically know about.

"He's the one walking over to Grayson right now." Christina says in almost a whisper. Although we're halfway across the room from one another, I like that she chose to whisper these things.

As I look over, I see the man that talked to me yesterday in the hallway. He's dressed similarly to Grayson. I bet the two of them are those people who wake up to go for a run. It only makes sense.

"That's Shane?" I ask.

"Yeah. He's hot, right?" Christina laughs.

"Yeah. Really hot." I say in agreement. Shane looks like one of those guys who spends all of his time surfing at the beach. His tan skin stands out against his shaggy blonde hair. He is hands down one of the most attractive men I've ever seen.

"They're coming over here." She says quickly as we both turn away to look at the opposite end of the room. We pretend to talk about something absolutely pointless as Grayson approaches us.

"Good morning, ladies. Brian." He says, greeting all of us with a small nod.

"Good morning, Mr.Parker." Christina says with a large smile.

"Grayson." He replies. "Please." He adds silently.

"Good morning, Grayson." I say, taking some of the awkwardness away from his request.

"Well you look wide awake." Brian says.

"Shane and I just went for a run." Grayson says, gesturing over to Shane.

I knew he was one to run in the morning.

"Hell, I need to start doing that. I think I'm putting on some weight." Brian says with a laugh. Although this is a clear lie, as Brian is one of the most fit humans on this planet, Grayson gives a small laugh in return.

"You're more than welcomed to join us sometime." Grayson replies, giving a tight smile. He seems so...uninterested. I really wonder why he even chose to come and talk to us. We're all silent for a few moments before he walks away. No goodbye or anything. He just walks away.

"That was so awkward." Christina whispers.

"Yeah, it was." I say in agreement.

"He actually invited me to run with him and Shane. That would honestly be the most awkward experience in the entire world." Brian laughs quietly. "Hell, maybe I should go. It could end up paying off." He shrugs.

"I don't think you'll get any special treatment unless you're a pretty blonde girl." Christina laughs.

"Is that his type?" I ask, taking a sip of my coffee.

"I've seen one girl off and on throughout the years I've been here. She's a tall, blonde girl. She's hot, honestly." Christina laughs. "Of course that would be his type. All guys like him only like girls who are a size two with bleach blond" She says, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, everyone! Let's get this meeting started so we can all go home!" We hear Kara say from across the room. As we pull our attention away from our conversation and head towards the conference room, I see Justin walking just a few steps ahead of us. Although I should probably say something to him, I stop walking and let him get ahead of me. I don't want to talk to him. I don't want him to see me, either.

If I'm being honest with myself, I really want Justin to like me. I wish that I were one of those people that he got along with easily in the office. I wish that for myself and everyone else in this office, too.

If Brian wasn't here, work would actually be a living hell. I know that everyone always says that they hate their job, but I actually hate my fucking job. I just wish it came as easily to me as it seemed to come to everyone else. I just want to be liked here.

Going from being pretty well liked in both high school and college, coming to GRIP was like a slap to the face. I used to think that being a female in a predominantly male major in college was a benefit. Not only that, but I believed that being a Latina would help me get this job. Although being both female and Latina did help me get the job, it makes my life an absolute hell here.

"Okay, everyone. We know it's early and you all probably want to get back into bed, so we'll make this quick." Shane says to everyone. "This is something that we felt just couldn't wait. We made the decision last night, so we're sorry for this very early and last minute staff meeting." He announces with a chuckle.

I look around and see the very few women that work here absolutely drooling over Shane. Yeah, I get it. He's hot. He's really, really, hot. But damn, do they really have to make it so obvious?

"Grayson and I were going over your app designs, and he picked the final few that will be continuing on with the finalization process. As you all know, we picked one app from each team. This person will be working with the rest of the finalists to help collaborate and share new ideas to perfect the apps. And while there can only be one apps being picked for this particular project doesn't necessarily mean that the other apps won't be used in the future. With that being said, it is in your best interest to help one another on this project." He explains. Everyone nods their head in mutual understanding before he claps his hands together.

"Okay, great. If we don't have any questions, I'll have Grayson go ahead and take the floor." He says, slapping Grayson on the back. Grayson gives a tight smile and steps forward.

"All of your app designs were amazing to look over. I'm so glad to have such a brilliant group of individuals working for this company." He says with little to no actual emotion behind his words. It's hard for me to imagine these two as close friends. They seem like such...opposites. Maybe it's because Shane seems so nice and outgoing. He seems genuinely excited to be sharing this news, and Grayson just seems like he couldn't care less. Or maybe Shane is just really good at hiding his real feelings about everyone. Maybe these two are exactly the same after all.

I see a flash of something in his hand which completely draws my attention to him. He's holding something in his hand and fidgeting with it gently. As I look closer, I see exactly what it is.

Rattlesnake Eggs.

I remember having a set of the little magnets when I was in middle school. I remember the boys in the class making that obnoxious noise with them constantly. The teachers eventually had to take all of them away from the students, claiming that they were too distracting. I haven't seen these magnets in over ten years. I didn't even think that they made those anymore.

"I'm going to let Shane go ahead and announce the finalists for the app designs, but I just wanted to step up and say that I appreciate everything you all are doing. I'm excited to see where this goes." He says with a nod, taking a step back. Shane pats him on the back and steps forward once more, smiling widely.

"Okay everyone. Fun stuff! Let's get pumped!" He says excitedly, trying to get everyone else as riled up as he is right now.

At six in the morning? Not likely.

"Okay, starting with Team 1, I have Ben Thompson. For Team 2, we have Jason Taylor. Team 3, Natalia Zamora. Team 4, Brian Weathers. And finally, for Team 5, we have Greg Miller." He says, earning a loud applause in the room.

I can't fucking believe this. My app is one of the final five. If I can somehow manage to pull this off, It will jumpstart my career here in LA.

"See! I knew you could do it!" Brian says to me, giving me a quick hug.

"Oh my God. I literally can't believe this." I say, hugging him back. "You did it, too!" I tell him.

Our excitement is cut off by Shane clearing his voice, silencing us all.

"Congratulations to the finalists. The next deadline is two weeks from today. Grayson will send out an email that contains the instructions. But other than that, I think we're all good here. Any questions?" Shane asks. When we don't reply, he turns to Grayson and shrugs. "Alright, well go ahead and get out of here. Enjoy your weekend!" He announces as everyone gets up and begins to exit the room.

"I can't believe we made it." I repeat. "Will you help me with some of the engineering on my app?" I ask.

"Of course. Here, give me your number and maybe we can meet up this weekend to work on some of the designing." He says, handing me his phone. I quickly type in my number before handing it back to him. He smiles and sends me a quick text with his name.

"Well, I'm going to go ahead and get home. I'm absolutely exhausted." I reply with a laugh.

"Same here. I'll see you later." He tells me before walking away. I wave goodbye to Christina as I head towards my office.

Two weeks is going to go by too quickly. I know I need to start on this project today, because I can't chance missing yet another deadline. The fact that I was even picked as a finalist truly blows my mind.

As I approach my office, I hear voices coming from inside. I already know who the voice is coming from as I recoil.

"I can't fucking believe that Natalia was picked over one of us." I hear Justin exclaim loudly.

"I heard she was doing a workout app. Is that true?" The other voice says. I can't really decipher who the voice is coming from, but continue listening either way.

"Yeah. A workout app, I mean seriously? She's a fucking intern, for crying out loud." Justin spits out.

"You know how I felt about a girl being on our team. This was our man cave." The other guy says with a groan.

"Oh, I know. I bet she can barely code. I bet she's going to end up completely flopping on this next round, though." He says.

I feel a hand on my shoulder as I jump, turning around to see Grayson standing behind me. He gives me a confused look but I hold my hand up to him, indicating for him to be quiet. He stands with me as I listen to what else they say.

"No, she'll end up having Brian do all of the work for her. I mean, do you see the way that guy looks at her? He'll definitely do it. Even if it's only to get a quick fuck in." He replies.

I turn to see Grayson listening with confusion. He doesn't say anything as he steps closer to the door quietly, trying to hear what they're saying. Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one entertained.

"Brian Weather? And Natalia? No fucking way. There is absolutely no way he'd go for a girl like her. I think he just feels bad for her, honestly. Besides, I don't think Brian is the one that she's manipulating. Or should I say, bribing." Justin laughs.

"What do you mean?" The other guy asks.

"Oh come on, you don't think it's a little bit convenient that the second she meets Grayson, she automatically gets picked from our team? We all know that her app was the least impressive out of all of them. I mean, he extended her deadline just so she could finish. I should have never sent her upstairs with those files. I should have just done it myself. That way, she would have never met him and none of this would be happening." Justin spits out.

"Dude, you're tripping. There is no way something is going on with them." The other person laughs in reply.

"Maybe not right now." Justin says. "But just wait. She'll suck his dick, and then watch her app win." He replies.

As the words leave his mouth, Grayson walks into the room quickly. I follow behind, not really knowing exactly how this is going to play out.

"What is going on in here?" He asks quickly. He seems out of breath and nervous. I have no idea why he would be nervous. Justin should be the one who's nervous right now.

"Grayson. Mr. Parker, I mean. Hey, we were just-" Justin says quickly. I see the person standing next to him, and feel myself grow even more insecure. Not only was he talking badly about me, but he was talking about me to our assistant team leader. Clark is standing next to Justin looking even more nervous than Justin.

"I heard exactly what you were doing." Grayson replies, "And I am disappointed to see that it's coming from a team leader." He adds.

"Sir, I can explain." Justin says, holding up his hands in defense.

"Save it. We will discuss on Monday." He replies, "You are no longer on Team 3." Grayson says, turning to me.

"I...what?" I ask, not exactly sure why I'm being punished. "But, I didn't do anything." I say, not really sure where to go from here.

"Exactly. You have done nothing wrong and they are still treating you like this." He points out. I'm confused. I'm so confused.

"You will no longer have an intern on your team. You will be responsible for doing your work, plus any addition work an intern would assist you with." He tells Justin. "We will discuss more on Monday." He says, walking out of the office. I stand in the middle of the office looking clueless. Justin and Clark are staring at me, and if looks could kill, I would surely be dead.

I quickly leave and follow behind Grayson. Whatever I was going to get in the office will just have to wait until Monday. There is no way I'm going back in there with those two. Not right now, at least.

"Uhm, Mr. Parker?" I ask, following behind him into the elevator.

"Grayson." He replies, pressing the main floor's button.

"I'm just...I'm confused by what you mean when you say I'm no longer on Team 3?" I ask.

"I am removing you from that team." He replies simply.

"I get that much, but where am I going? Am I in trouble?" I ask nervously.

"No. Why would you be in trouble?" He asks, giving me a confused look.

"I don't know. You just...I'm confused." I reply.

"You are going to work under me." He replies.

"I...what?" I say, shaking my head with confusion.

"You are going to work under me. You will be my intern." He replies just as soon as the elevator door opens.

"I'm going to be your new intern?" I ask, following him out of the elevator and down the hall. I have absolutely no idea where he's going right now, but I need some damn answers right now.

"Yes." He says, "Meet me in my office on Monday. We will go over everything then." He tells me. When I don't reply, he gives me a quick nod and walks out of the building, leaving me in the empty area.

"What the fuck is happening right now." I mumble to myself as I adjust my purse and walk out of the building.