by Aiden Bates
I sighed and did my best to temper the curdling in my stomach as I forced myself to smile. “Oh, yeah. No, I totally understand. Whatever is best for the entire team, right? I think I can do a lot of good work down there.”
The words I heard coming out of my mouth tasted bitter and sounded like betrayal. But, for the moment, what choice did I have? The unstated choice could easily be either agree to this with a sweet smile or be ‘reassigned’ right out of the door for ‘not having soft skills’ or for ‘refusing to collaborate.’
“Great!” Wilcox clapped his hands. He was no doubt excited that he’d pulled it off and managed to talk me into it peacefully. He was feeling as though he’d won. I guessed he had, so it was justifiable, I supposed.
“Do you need a box?”
With the small cardboard box containing all of the belongings I had at work, I dismounted from the elevator. Perhaps without seeing the necessity of really concealing that this branch was the red-headed stepchild of SynergyNow Incorporated, the poor bastards downgraded to this had been literally downgraded. We were in the basement, for god’s sake, in a cubicle square.
The cubicle square wasn’t even fully occupied. Across from each other and divided by the fuzzy partition, sat an older man, crouched in his seat and blinking owlishly at his monitor through his thin-rimmed glasses. One monitor, I noted. One monitor each. Gone would be my two monitors and my beautiful display.
The other person I could hear, but not yet see, popped her head around one of my walls as soon as I’d set my box down onto my new desk.
Oh, man. I knew her. It was hard to miss her. She was pretty and was one of the only young women to work here, but I only knew her remotely. I couldn’t for the life of me think of…
“Naomi,” she said, helpfully. “Naomi Singh.” She came around the corner with her hand outstretched. “We’ve seen each other upstairs.”
“Right,” I agreed, “The quarterly meetings. I’m…” I turned my attention to the gentleman who had now stood up to peer at me and Naomi. “I’m Teddy.”
“Oh, I know.” Naomi nodded quickly with a smile. “Teddy O’Rourke. This is Edgar, by the way.”
“How do you do, Teddy?” Edgar greeted me warmly in response to his own introduction.
“From the box you brought down with you, I assume that you, me, and Edgar are now the entirety of SynergyNow’s user interface branch.”
“Oh wow,” I said, unable to contain just how much I was becoming aware of how bad a demotion this was. “Yeah, I guess so.”
Edgar and Naomi traded glances, and Edgar gave a sarcastic sort of snort that in turn made Naomi laugh.
“Son, what did you do?” Edgar finally asked incredulously.
“I didn’t…” I shook my head, uncomprehending. They seemed nice enough, if a little offbeat. “I don’t think I did—”
“I’m old,” Edgar offered. “I was there for the birth of this field, which, in lots of other industries, is sometimes considered a plus.” He shrugged as if to say, ‘you know, not here though.’
I tracked Edgar’s gaze back to Naomi, indicating it was her turn to share.
“Oh, man, take your pick!” She rolled her eyes, mockingly. “Woman. Young. Young-ish. I tried signing e-mails with N. instead of Naomi, and I never posted any pictures on headhunting websites, you know? But people were constantly asking to talk to my supervisor instead of the ‘operator.’” She’d enclosed the word ‘operator’ with delicate air quotes and an even thicker layer of sarcasm.
“At least the ‘young’ part takes care of itself, eventually,” Edgar said as though presenting her with a reason for optimism.
I laughed in earnest at the first bright spot in this situation. They seemed to understand the situation immediately without explanation.
“I guess my ironclad control of a normal biological function slipped in front of…less well controlled coworkers? More broadly, I’m guilty of being me while working here in an all alpha military contracted company?”
“Ooh. Ouch.” Naomi winced in sympathy and Edgar hummed in agreement. “Now, that is the truth.” Still smiling a little too coldly to genuinely mean her statement and a little too warmly to mean it in real unkindness, she pointed a finger up as if she’d just thought of something. A little cartoon lightbulb above her head wouldn’t have gone amiss. “You know, there is this one digital co-op. Out in the Midwest? Lovelace. They’re all-omega and all-woman run. I fantasize about running away and working there instead. Sometimes, it’s just about the only thing that keeps me going.”
“Well, put in a good word for me, will ya? Sooner rather than later, maybe?” Edgar disappeared from view as he settled back into his chair.
“Welcome aboard, Teddy.” Naomi laughed softly as she held up her palm in farewell and walked around the corner to her own side.
Well, I thought, as I pulled each of my things from the box and arranged them, even if it was in no other way an upgrade or even a lateral shift from where I’d been only a few days ago, the company down here was certainly much more enjoyable. Silver linings and all that.
The feeling was apparently more mutual than I’d initially realized since, on my way back to my car at the end of the workday, I detected the distinct click-clack of heels following me back to my car. Not very many people I worked with owned heels so I knew immediately who it was. I stopped and turned around to make her chase easier.
“Naomi!”
“Teddy! Geez. I thought you weren’t going to stop. Ow,” she said, briefly extending a hand to lean on my shoulder as she readjusted something in her shoe.
“You could have said something. I would have stopped,” I said, easily and casually placing my palm over hers to help her in her balancing act. When she was done, she planted both feet firmly on the ground and straightened back up.
“I was going this way anyhow and I didn’t want to yell across the parking lot. Anyway, I was wondering, would you be interested in coming with me to the Piggy Bank?”
Uh. I liked Naomi fine. Liked her a lot. But this was…unexpected.
“Oh, no. Easy, O’Rourke. It’s not like that…” She flashed up the back of her hand and the diamond on it as evidence. “I just wanted to see if you’d like to get drinks. You seemed pretty disappointed at getting moved in with us earlier, that’s all.”
Oh. Oh, good. Great, actually.
“Sure! I mean. Well…” I smiled awkwardly, not sure how to voice my slight reluctance. I was never one to drown my sorrows, and having drinks tonight would feel too much like doing that. “I don’t know. I might still be a little off-kilter from all the hormones this week, but… I’d like to go, really, I’m just—”
“I get it. No worries. You’re bummed and not ready to socialize.”
“Honestly, yes,” I agreed, relieved she’d once again understood without my having to get the words out. “Rain check? This weekend, maybe?”
“Why not? And, you know, if you’re not feeling the Piggy Bank, my wife makes these beef empanadas. Crazy good.”
A few minutes, a brief crash course through what technically counted as an empanada, and some tentative dinner plans later, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.
I’d told the truth, I wasn’t up to making polite conversation. Still, it was becoming more and more apparent that Naomi was both friendly enough and driven enough to be a valuable ally and potentially a good friend. It was more networking than I’d ever gotten to do upstairs.
I was still trying to decide how I felt about the whole situation when I pulled into the parking lot at the apartments. I’d lucked into a parking spot about a block away from the direct entrance to my building when I suddenly did a double take and froze.
Through my windshield I could see Roman across the street from me. He was busy unloading armfuls of groceries from his truck. Why? He wasn’t there for me, was he? My heart sped up at the thought before the rational part of my brain figured it out. Roman had moved into Silas’s old apartment, which was
only a couple of buildings down from mine. That made much more sense. I almost laughed at my folly, and my rather traitorous heart. Of course Roman wouldn’t be here for me.
With everything he was trying to carry, he seemed to be losing his footing, so I quickly got out of my car and jogged over to help him secure a bag he was barely hanging onto.
“Is the entire squad living with you up there?” I asked with a groan as I struggled to help him sort out the bags in his arms. “Why do you need so many groceries? And why are you carrying them all up in one trip?”
“Drilling is hungry work, thanks a lot. And I’ve got them.”
Roman manifestly did not ‘have’ them because I ended up rescuing a couple of the bags away from him and into the backseat of his truck. “How’s studying going?”
“I’ve finished. I took the test this morning,” Roman replied, setting down one bag and flexing his fingers before preparing to pick it up again. “How ’bout you? How are you doing?”
I stared at him like he’d insulted my papa. He stared back like he was trying to figure out how anything he’d said could have been misconstrued in any way as offensive.
“No, it’s nothing you said. It’s just been…” I shook my head, feeling weary after the recent string of events that had hammered down on me the last few days.
“It’s been what?” Roman asked with a frankly touching amount of concern.
Without really understanding why, other than the sweet relief of being able to say something to someone, I briefly settled into his backseat and ran through a synopsis of everything before the party and everything after the party, only skipping over the bits that would have been awkward to tell him, like the conversation with Dad and how endeared I’d been watching him rock the baby, that sort of thing. I gave him a brief timeline of what had been happening and what had just happened at work, and once done, sighed. “That’s all.”
“That’s all? That’s crazy. How could they move you? Ain’t that a little like shooting themselves in the foot?”
“Well, I appreciate you seeing it that way, but evidently, they don’t agree.”
Roman scoffed loudly and shook his head at the ground.
“What? What is it?”
“Man, if you could get demoted? That means anyone could get demoted. I can’t believe that.”
“Thanks, Roman. I mean it.” I smiled softly and sighed again, slumping my shoulders as I crossed my arms.
Roman pushed a bit of gravel around with the toe of his boot for a second and watched it intently while I gathered myself.
“I’ve got a bottle of pretty good whiskey upstairs, you know.” Our eyes met briefly as he looked up from his rock to gauge my reaction. “Not meaning it in an inappropriate way or anything, just, you know. You sound like you need somewhere to vent.”
“Aw, no, thanks, Roman. I’ve vented to you enough already, and besides, you ought to take your milk and eggs up before long.”
“No way. That’s not venting,” Roman said, but he at least began to gather up his bags again. “That right there was like a fifth grade book report by your standards. I know you and there’s probably all these little details and clues you picked up on before anyone said anything. I promise, no funny business. Just good whiskey and venting. If you want.” He held up a hand at me in reassurance as best he could with a bag knotted around it. “No pressure.”
If there was one thing about Roman Carpenter, it was his ability to be the absolute most devoted, attentive listener I’d ever met. He usually credited his popularity to his looks and to other more adult attributes, but I think his real success with omegas is that he had a way of paying attention.
It was a dangerous attribute, one that had gotten me into trouble with him in the first place. But there wasn’t any danger of that now. Dad obviously didn’t have cameras installed on the inside of Silas’s apartment—I hoped, anyway—and my heat was finished, so it wasn’t like I’d melt over Roman’s active listening skills all over again.
It was fine. We could be friends. We’d said we’d be friends. Like Naomi and I were going to be. Friends vented to one another, and when I was done I could ask him about his terrible test and then we’d be even.
Just friends.
“Why not? Come on. I’ll get the bread,” I offered and followed Roman upstairs.
9
Roman
I’d never realized how small my couch was until this moment. It had been Silas’s, and he’d left it here when he’d moved out and married Garret. I’d never bothered replacing it even though it was old and threadbare. But now, it was full of Teddy. He was gesturing everywhere with his glass as he told me more and more of the bullshit that had happened to him today. The brown liquid was sloshing this way and that, and occasionally, adding spots and splotches to the poor couch’s many faults. It was harder and harder to think of the cheap, half-broken sofa as anything other than the best thing I’d ever owned now Teddy was sitting on it.
It felt strange to have him here. I could tell he needed someone to talk to, and it was such a shock for it to be happening that I was more than happy to sit back, sip my whiskey, and listen to him while he stained my furniture.
“I’m just so sick of the whole…ugh, alpha culture at work. I’m so sick of everyone either being shocked that I’m there working with them or thinking the only reason I am working there is because of some sort of free pass because I’m an omega. Jesus Christ.” Teddy paused only long enough to catch his breath before beginning anew. “What bothers me most of all is those fucking alpha dickheads… Uh, sorry.”
“Don’t apologize on my account,” I said, shaking my head. He wasn’t wrong, after all. “What bothers you most…”
“Right. Well, what bothers me most is that they can’t even see the value in having an omega in the engineering program in the first place, software or otherwise. Like they can’t understand why it might be helpful for them to have another point of view on anything, at any time, that isn’t theirs.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that, and I realized posing an alpha comment probably wouldn’t be well received, anyway. So, I just let him talk to his heart’s content and listened along. I wasn’t sure how long he spoke for, but eventually, my glass was empty and Teddy was relaxed, his head lolling on the back cushion of the couch.
Teddy blew out a huge sigh. “Sorry to go on and on. It’s just been a really stressful day. And week. Damn, if I’m honest all of it has been stressful since I started there.”
“When was that?” I asked.
Teddy thought for a second, his brow furrowing before looking surprised at his answer. “Over two years. Feels like forever and no time at all, all at once.”
He seemed so miserable, and I was reminded of all the excitement he’d shown about working in something like this when we were in school together. To see that contrasted with how he was now—frustrated and held back—not by the work, but by something he couldn’t help. It made me sad in a way I couldn’t really explain.
“No, you’re fine,” I said, setting down my empty glass and waving a hand. “Really, I promise it’s fine. It’s just… Fuck, Teddy, I’m sorry to hear all that. I wish there was something I could do. But for what it’s worth, I’ve always known how damn smart you are. You’ve always been smarter than everybody else around, alphas and omegas alike. You’re the smartest person I’ve ever known. I’ve always thought so. I mean, to be fair, I’m just shy of an idiot, so I don’t know how much weight you should give my opinion on it.”
“That’s not true, Ro.”
It had been years since I’d had anyone call me that. It was all I could do to keep my face straight and not wince at the nickname and all the memories that came attached to it. I kept myself busy by gathering up the glasses.
“Do you want more?” I asked, holding up his glass.
Teddy shook his head. “No, better not. Early morning.”
I nodded and made my way into the kitchen to wash the few dishes in the sink w
hile we continued the conversation. “Well, anyway, thank you for the compliment. But really, I know I’m not, you know, the brightest bulb in the box.”
Teddy leaned up against the door jamb between the living room and the kitchen as I soaped and scrubbed. “Well, I’ve never believed any of that.”
“Well, believe it. I passed that drill sergeant exam by the skin of my teeth. No doubt you could have done it better cold.”
“Wow! Congratulations! That’s good news. Well, I mean, I suppose it is.” The silence hung for a second. All those things that were still hanging between us filled the space entirely.
“No, I mean, yeah. It is good news. Yeah, definitely. Well, even if it does mean re-enlisting.” If the silence had been oppressive before, now it was nearly unbearable. All the easy relaxation on Teddy’s face was well and truly gone now. Teddy didn’t say anything, and I took that as my cue to change the subject, and fast.
“You know, though. I was always in awe of you. I mean, damn, Teddy. Artificial intelligence? That’s like next level shit. Really, like something out of a sci-fi movie. Amazing. Like, you could change the world.”
Teddy snorted at that.
“No, I’m serious. I mean that.”
Teddy didn’t say anything, but his face softened and the left corner of his mouth pulled up.
“I’m just sorry you’re not getting the recognition you deserve. Because you do. Deserve it, I mean.” I busied myself with rinsing the dishes. Teddy didn’t respond, and I kicked myself for trying and failing to get things back to the place they’d been. Oh well. Maybe it was too much to hope for. The reality was that there were always going to be things between us. Things neither of us wanted to talk about but couldn’t entirely ignore.