I had to go through a few people, but I was finally being patched through. A few rings in and he answered the phone, "Hello, this is Jon."
I could hardly hold in my excitement, "Hi Jon, this is Megan."
Jon replied, "Megan, Hi! So glad you called me."
"I wasn't completely sure that you wanted me to call you directly, but I felt you wouldn't be upset when I told you the news."
"I was hoping you would call me. I assume you have made a decision?"
"I have made my decision. I have signed the offer letter and am ready to move forward with this internship."
"That is excellent news Megan. Was your decision influenced at all by your desire to fully take me in all of your lovely openings?"
I laughed, "Maaaaybe. I am a very goal-oriented person who loves a challenge."
Jon laughed with me and replied, "That's great. I am delighted that you are joining us. The team will also be very happy to hear the news."
I took a deep breath. I think this was the decision I wanted to do all along, but I was now committed. I asked, "So now that we made it through this small step, what is next?"
"Have you told anyone else?"
"I have not. I called the main number and she forwarded me to your admin who forwarded me to you."
"Then the next step is for you to call Steve and let him know you've accepted. Then he can direct you. I think you'd need to come in and submit your signed offer letter and potentially spend a bit of time with Steve and Nicole on making sure you have everything ready for your first day."
"Okay that sounds great."
"In fact, I can connect you from here... Where is that button... Ah. There it is. Megan, I look forward to seeing you in a couple weeks. Thanks so much for calling me and letting me know."
I heard the phone click and the now familiar forwarding tone came on. He answered soon after, "Good afternoon, this is Steve."
"Hi Steve, this is Megan."
"Hi Megan. So happy to hear from you. Please tell me you are calling to let me know that you are accepting the offer."
"That is exactly why I am calling you. I spoke to Jon and told him already and then he forwarded me to you for next steps."
I heard Steve let out a huge sigh of relief. "Most excellent! Yes. Next steps. Uh... I need you to bring the offer letter and the packet in so we can get that to HR. And we need to connect with Nicole so we can walk through the next two weeks and prep for your orientation. When can you come in?"
"I can come in right now. Are you and Nicole available?"
There was a pause on the other side. I assumed he was looking at his calendar. He soon came back. "It is almost 1:30 right now. I have a quick phone call to make and then I am free. Let me look at Nicole's calendar and block off some time."
I waited through another pause. I could hear him talking to himself, "Okay, so Nicole... dang she is always so busy... Uh... She is open at 4. So, if you come in by 2, then I could walk through some things with you, and have you meet with HR and with IT and then we can catch up with her at 4. She has another appointment at 5, so we only have an hour. Yeah, I think that might work."
He came back to the phone and asked, "As you might expect Nicole is a bit busy, but I think we can fit in what we need in between appointments. Can you be in here a bit after 2 pm?"
I replied, "That works for me. I'll see you shortly."
I hung up the phone and took a deep breath. My heart was beating fast. It was starting to become real. 'My journey begins now I guess,' I thought to myself.
A little more than a half hour later I was at the front desk asking for Steve. The receptionist notified him I was waiting. As he exited the elevator, we exchanged smiles and greetings and he asked me to follow him. He directed us to the seventh floor, one I had not been to before.
We exited the elevator, and as we weaved our way through a sea of cubicles, I saw what looked to be offices on the outer rim. Soon enough we came upon his office. He motioned for me to sit in a chair opposite his desk. His office was not as big or as nice as Stella's or Matt's, but his chairs were more comfortable.
He sat at his desk and began, "I am really happy you accepted the offer for this internship. I was a bit concerned about how the rest of your day went and whether that would scare you off. How did the rest of your day go?"
"I think it went fine. My meeting with Matt was good. He was an attentive lover and I felt like I got into my groove with him. Stella was interesting."
"Did she boss you around and make you do anything surprising?"
I laughed. "I didn't think it was too bad, but I am starting to worry given Jon asked me the same question. Should I be worried?"
He paused. "Not necessarily, but as a general statement you should consider where your line might be and make sure you are prepared to react accordingly."
His comment made me nervous. Although, stay calm and be prepared is sound advice anyway.
He asked, "So, what about Victor? How did that go?"
"You mean Victor, Frank, and Arthur?"
"Victor, Frank, and Arthur... what do you mean?"
I mean I knocked on the door to the apartment next to Nicole's. Victor answered the door and led me in. And lo and behold, Frank and Arthur are standing in the living room."