Devon was on his way to Queens to meet Merritt, waiting for the elevator. The car arrived and the doors opened just as one of the building engineers got there with a small cart.
“Mind holding the door while I get the other one?” he said just as the girl intern approached.
“No problem,” Devon said.
She watched the man go by and said. “We’re gonna wait?”
Devon nodded. “Where you going?”
She looked at Devon and furrowed her brow. “Why?”
Devon motioned to the panel. “What floor?”
“Oh… Lobby.”
“Me too,” Devon replied.
She took a breath then said, “Why don’t you like me?”
Devon was shocked. “What?”
“Why don’t you like me?”
Devon scratched his eyebrow. “Okay… first off, what’s your name. We’ve never been introduced.”
The girl rolled her eyes a little. “Liza McDuffy. You don’t even know…”
Devon held up his hands. “You work for a different manager than me. I’m new. I… We’ve only been in the same room a couple times for meetings.”
Liza frowned and looked down.
Devon could see the building guy coming back. “Look… Liza… Let’s start over with something like… ‘Hi… We haven’t met, but we’re both interns. I’m Liza.’”
Liza looked up. She seemed a little skeptical.
“Hi…I’m Liza.”
Devon smiled. “I’m Devon Collier. I’m interning for Mr. Roberson. You?”
“Intern… Mr. Harris.”
“I don’t know him. How is it?”
Liza looked up and frowned. “Okay, you can knock it off. I get it. Don’t patronize me.”
“Liza… I’m not patronizing…” Devon smiled. “Look, I’m a nice guy. Really… I don’t know you… So… I certainly don’t dislike you.”
“Not yet…”
The building engineer pushed his cart on, and they didn’t say anything else until they were in the lobby.
They both started toward the exit and Devon decided to take a chance. “Hey… Liza… You got 15 minutes to spare? I’ll buy you a coffee and you can tell me about working for Mr. Harris?”
Liza smiled, looked down and said, “Okay… Coffee…”
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