Where It Begins... (Ch. 5)

The next few days at work seem to drag on. The days seem to become repetitive and I hate it; wake up go to work, home, and bed. Saving the weekends for the enjoyment and adventures. I always told myself that I am not going to be spell checking these writers my whole life. I will be able to make my own schedule and not have to be in the physical office every day. I will take the most beautiful pictures and have them displayed in the magazine for the world to see. What can I say, I know what I want.

Work has been more boring than usual, but that's probably due to Khyle not being in the office. His automatic reply on his email says that he is out for a business trip and will be back in on Monday. Dammit, that sucks. I go into the office with that little hope to see him and make some kind of connection with him. Or to at least see his beautiful ass face but he has to be selfish and work hard. I laugh at myself and roll my eyes. Friday can't get here soon enough.

I have been working at Free Flow magazine for almost two years now and trying to move up on the scale is difficult, especially when your manager hates you and acts like a child. I have submitted some photos of mine to her for a new local restaurant to go with the article but she refuses to look at it, saying that it is not going with the vibe of the writing. How is it in the past two years I do some of the best work and she still refuses to really acknowledge me or give me a chance? I roll my eyes and shake it off.

Finally, Friday rolls around. I jump out of bed and I have never been so excited to go to work, mostly to get work done with so I can go out on our date. Date? Wait, is it even a date? He didn't call it that on the phone. When I get to work, Mariah is already in her office banging away at her keyboard. I already know she in not in a good mood so I figure I'll stay out of her way. I go through my normal morning routine. The first half an hour when I get to the office always seems to be the most peaceful. There is no one here, the halls are empty and quiet.

Back at my desk I see I have three messages from Mariah. "Come in my office please" followed by "where are you" and then "asap." I can read her tone through the messages and I instantly become annoyed. Damn woman, I can't even get some coffee before she has to start barking at me?!

There was a time when I was first hired on by Mariah that we were friends. We would go get coffee downstairs. She would invite me out for lunch. It made working here so much easier and more enjoyable. Then she started getting to comfortable in her position and messing up but blaming it on the people in her department.

Seconds after setting my coffee down on the table she walks out of her office and stomps over to my desk. I look over to her and she says "come to my office." I roll my eyes and follow behind her, being careful she doesn't see it. I take a seat followed by a deep breath, I tend to have a little anger problem and its hard for me to hide it so I know I need to keep calm.

"I have noticed that you have been putting in some good work and completing your article corrections in a timely manner...." she says as her voice trails off.

Wait, it sounds like she is actually complimenting my work. "However, I do see that you have been clocking in earlier than your actual start time which does not look good," she finishes.

I furrow my eye brows in confusion, there it is. Mariah always comes in super early, clocks in, and then disappears to get food and coffee from downstairs, but of course that is allowed, she is the boss. I hide my annoyance and just nod my head.

"This is just a warning as the next time I will have to write you up and that will affect your yearly review which is coming up....." She pauses to look through the papers on her desk. "... in two weeks."

I bite my lip to keep from saying something I will definitely regret. She seriously threatening to give me a bad mark on my review for a few minutes of arriving early when she and her little favorite employee Kelly are always misusing the company time. Employee favoritism at its finest. I decide not to say anything other than "understood," as my leg is bouncing up and down with my anxiety building and I feel my cheeks heat up in anger.

She slides a paper over to me with a pen and asks me to sign. "This is just a paper acknowledging we had this conversation as a warning," she says in a dry tone.

I take the paper and look at it, reading over its details. No way in hell I am signing some crap and not looking at it when it comes to this lady. I take a deep breath sign it and leave her office without a word. Great way to start my Friday, ugh.

Back at my desk I take a sip of my coffee which has now gotten cold. I leave to go heat it up and see Kelly sitting at the table eating. I look at the clock, its 9:30 AM and she was supposed to be working at 9. Of course she can just leave to eat with no worries. Her bff Mariah won't care. I heat up my coffee and walk back to my desk without acknowledging her.

I look through my emails and just tell myself to ignore everyone and get to work. Mariah has sent me five articles for the upcoming spring edition to edit. I put my headphones in and get to work, figuring I would do these slowly to avoid any mistakes. Randomly, I look at the clock and realize it's been three hours. Man I lose myself in my work sometimes and now I desperately need a break. As I go to stand up I get a IM from Kelly saying, "The articles that Mariah sent to you, she needs them done by 4pm." WTF. It normally takes me a whole day just to edit two articles and now she wants five done in one day? And why couldn't she tell me herself and not have her little pet do it? I clench my jaw and walk away from my desk walking away to reset my brain.

I walk by Kyle's office and as I do so he calls for me. When did he get here?? I never saw him come in nor did I think he was going to be here today. I stop and stick my head in his door. "You call me?" I ask.

"Come in and shut the door behind you please," he waves. I do so.

He looks concerned and softly says, "Is everything okay?"

I realize I probably still have "that bitch" look all over my face. I relax with a sigh saying, "Yeah sorry, I just haven't had a good morning."

He brings his hand to his chin and gently rubs his stubble, saying, "I'm sorry. Let's hope the rest of the day gets better."

I scoff. "Doubtful."

"Why do you say that," he says with a confused look.

"Mariah sent me five articles this morning to review which all need to be done before I leave today," I say dryly.

"Hm... that seems excessive," he says, scratching his head.

I wave my hands in front of me to break the tension, "Anyways, sorry. I'm not trying to complain to you."

He lets out a little laugh and says, "So how does 7:30 sound for dinner tonight?"

"Perfect," I reply.

"Do you like Japanese food?" he asks.

"Of course I do, food is food," I laugh.

"Great, I will pick you up at your place then." He smiles.

I send him my address and head back to my desk. I feel motivated to get the revisions done and show Mariah I am not scared of her little tactics. I put my headphones in and get back to work. Now I am grateful that I worked through my lunch so I get more work done.

It's now 3:30 and I am finally done. I take off my headphones, save the files and attach them to an email to Mariah and hit send. I let out a big sigh of relief when Kyle walks over by my desk with his things in his hand. He gently says, "I will see you later," leaning over the little wall and winks. A little surge of excitement fills my body. I finish up my work and pack up to leave.

The car ride home is spent thinking about what to wear. Something revealing but not too revealing. I've got to leave something to his imagination.