Mr. Harvey - Part 1

As you've probably noticed, the majority of this week has been new series that are coming up. Here's another one!

All characters are consenting adults (18+)

Her face reminded me of a grotesquely large bulldog, though the rest of her body was more insect like. At the end of her pointed nose, a pair of thick lensed glasses sat perched, and her beady eyes darted back and forth as I stood before her like a defendant in court.

“How old did you say you were?” She asked, her voice so nasally that I genuinely believed the words came out of her large nostrils.

“Twenty three”.

“You’re very young” she replied, as though she was violently disgusted that anybody below the age of thirty could exist in her world. “It says here you have a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance?”

“No, I just write that on my résumé to impress people” I joked, and her eyelids slid closer together like some sort of hideous reptile.

“We’ll keep you in mind if any intern positions come up”.

“Right, it’s just I actually applied for the intern position that’s advertised on your website”.

Her lips tightened. “I see” she said, and her claw like fingers began to smash at the keyboard of her computer. “Well, I think Mr. Harvey would be looking for someone slightly…” Her gross eyes feasted upon every inch of me from top to bottom, “more experienced”.

“Older, you mean?”

“More experienced” she repeated, the words turning sour in her mouth. “Besides, the hours are very long and I’m sure people of your generation have other things you’d rather be doing”.

“Nope”

“Nope?” The word sounded strange coming from the mouth of a six hundred year old lizard. “Like I said, Mr. Harvey –”

“–Might like to at least interview me” I interrupted, and her crater sized nostrils flared.

“It’s a very difficult role” she parried.

“I like a challenge”.

“You’ll be expected to stay after hours”.

“I work better in the evening”.

“The money is terrible in your first year”.

“Then I’ll have something to work towards”.

Her face became increasingly purple until eventually she let out a loud, angered sigh. I could see her wrack her brains for something else to say, until the door to my right swung open and a middle aged man in a fancy looking suit cackled his way from the office. He held a briefcase in his hand, and choked out the most obnoxiously fake laugh I’d ever heard, before a second man appeared, and my eyes widened.

Never in my entire life had I seen somebody as stunningly beautiful as the man who stood before me. My heart began to flutter as I gawped at him, with his perfectly styled jet black hair combed to the side, and his impeccable suit gripping his tall, muscular frame. He looked like a celebrity. He looked like a god. He looked… Right at me.

“I’m finished with interviews today, Betty” he said, turning his attention back toward the man who’d just left his office. “In fact, I think I’m done with interviews for the rest of the week”. He made a ‘crazy’ gesture with his finger against his head, and realised that I was still drooling in his direction.

“Sorry kid” he shrugged, which was slightly condescending considering he looked no more than ten years older than me. “Try Sachs, I hear they’re looking for interns”.

As Mr. Harvey turned back toward his office, Betty gave a smug smile and opened her mouth to say something petty. Before she had a chance, I struck.

“I’ll work harder than anybody you’ve interviewed so far” I blurted, and although every organ in my body began to convulse from the anxiety that poured through me, I continued. “I come with a recommendation from Professor Paul Grisham, he said you might remember him”.

Mr. Harvey stopped walking and dropped his shoulders. He reached up and rubbed his forehead before turning back to me and opening his dazzling blue eyes. My heart jumped again.

He took a long deep breath and held out his hand. “Give me the résumé” he sighed to Betty, who looked like I’d just pissed in her morning coffee.

“I can have security escort him from the building if you’d like, Mr. Harvey” she replied sharply.

“No, no, Professor Grisham and I go back, let’s just hurry this up though, okay?”

I nodded as a furious Betty handed over my documents, and suddenly I was following the handsome heartthrob into his huge, clean, brightly lit office.

“Holy shit” I said, a little too loud, as I stared down over the entirety of Manhattan.

“Yeah, holy shit” he replied, and my face burned as he sat down and kicked his legs up on his desk. “You’re a kid”.

“I’m twenty three” I corrected, and Mr. Harvey pointed at one of two plush leather chairs on the other side of his immaculate looking desk.

“Well sit down”.

I sat and he read, and after a few minutes he slid the sheet across his desk and said “no, sorry”.

I stared at the sheet, then at him. Why did he have to be so hot?

“No?”

He took an apple from the bowl and took a chunk into his mouth. The juices squirted down his chin.

“Yeah” he nodded, “no”.

“But… I… Professor Grisham said–”

“Professor Grisham is a lecturer, kid” he said, still chewing, “don’t get me wrong, he’s a smart guy and he’s good at what he does, but he doesn’t run the most successful investment firm in America”.

I had no response. As lame as it sounded, this had been my dream since I was twelve years old, and in less than thirty seconds, it was gone. The confidence that I’d found in front of Betty was now dead in the water.

“Want some advice?” He chewed, “go travel the world. Go fall in love and have a family. Go have fun, because here’s a little secret about working in finance, it’s all work and no play. When was the last time you jerked off, huh?”

He’d spoken too much for me to even grasp the end of the sentence. I opened my mouth, closed it, opened it again, and scratched my head. “I uh… I um…”

“I jerked off this day last week” he said nonchalantly, “did it outside a gas station in the front seat of my Bentley. Worst part?” He scoffed, “I didn’t even finish because one of my junior associates shit the bag on a big deal, and who did he call to come fix his mess? Yours motherfucking truly”.

I had no idea what to say. I sat there, sweating and awkward.

“What I’m saying” he continued, and threw his apple core over my head into a trash can in the corner, “is that you’re twenty three. You don’t want this. Maybe you want to be rich or you want to wear a fancy suit or drive a nice car, but you don’t want this”.

“Yes I do”.

He stopped chewing and stared at me.

“I’m trying to help you…” He scanned my résumé again “Cooper”.

“Then help me” I said, finding my fire again, “this is all I want, Mr. Harvey. Ever since I was a kid. I don’t care about the long hours or the shitty pay. I don’t care that I’ll never jerk off again. Please just let me prove that I’m not just a kid”.

He pushed his tongue against the inside of his cheek, or maybe he was getting apple from his teeth, but he continued to stare at me with narrow eyes.

“I started in this place nine years ago” he said, sitting up, “I was twenty one years of age”.

I nodded intently. Perhaps we were finding some common ground.

“While all my friends from college were out getting fucked up and partying, I was staying late in the office. While they were all out having fun and meeting their future wives, I was closing business deals. I used to arrive at the front door at five in the morning every morning, and I didn’t leave until the janitors showed up. This isn’t a job, kid, it’s a fucking lifestyle. So tell me, Cooper, what do you say to that?”

It felt like he had me under a spell. His eyes looked as though they were swimming, and his perfect face had me in a trance. Eventually I swallowed the growing lump in my throat and nodded.

“I’ll arrive at four thirty then”.