by Mia Archer
I stepped into my cubicle and managed to suppress a shudder at the familiar surroundings. My ancient computer in one corner with the monitor situated so it could easily be seen by someone walking past, a requirement from Christine because she wanted to make sure no one was screwing around. Not that anyone could screw around on the computer if they wanted to considering all games and access to any website that wasn’t strictly work related was strictly restricted.
There was one major difference to the usual soul-sucking decor in my cubicle. A girl. Sitting in my chair. I raised an eyebrow. What the hell was this? I cleared my throat and the girl whirled around. Immediately anything I was about to say caught in my throat because holy shit, it was her. It was the girl from the elevator yesterday who had me in a funk all day long because my thoughts kept drifting to her.
Thoughts and daydreams were about the only thing Christine couldn’t strictly control on the seventh floor, and so I spent a lot of time doing that when I wasn’t in a mood to work. That had been another big part of the reason why I didn’t get done until close to midnight.
The girl seemed just as surprised to see me. I suppose that was a good sign. I wasn’t the only one looking like a complete idiot, at least. Her eyes ran up and down my body and for some reason that look felt more intimate, more sensual, than any lover’s caress I’d ever felt. That was the kind of look that made me feel like I needed a cigarette when she was done. Fuck!
“You!” we both said at the same time.
I blinked. Of course I recognized her, but it didn’t seem like she would have any particular reason to remember me. We’d just had that brief moment in front of the elevator, after all, and it’s not like I was anything special to look at. Definitely nothing compared to the runway model meets business attire goddess who was sitting in my chair.
“I’m sorry, but can I help you? Are you starting on this floor?”
“You could say that,” the girl said. She held her hand out. “I’m Erica. Your new intern!”
I took her hand in a daze, and it didn’t help that taking her hand sent an electric fire dancing from my fingers down to the rest of my body, particularly to between my legs where that electric fire turned into a raging atomic maelstrom of arousal. Fuck! If this girl was my new intern and this is how I reacted to seeing her then we were in for a bit of trouble. Briefly I thought about asking Christine to reassign her to someone, anyone, but of course I wasn’t going to do anything of the sort.
For one I didn’t think that would end well at all. Christine thought she was punishing me by giving me this intern, though I guess the joke was on her since giving me this intern was going to be anything but a punishment. It was sure to be absolute torture every moment I had to be working close with her given how I’d already reacted to her presence, but it wasn’t going to be anything close to punishment.
Secondly, and more importantly, I had no intention of letting this girl get away from me. No, that reaction yesterday in front of the elevator was telling me something, and I felt like her showing up in my cubicle like this today was the universe trying to tell me something. What it was I wasn’t sure, but I was going to roll with this and see what happened.
“I’m Nicole, a definite pleasure to meet you Erica,” I said.
Erica glanced back at my chair. “Sorry for taking your butt rest there. My marching orders said I was supposed to be working with Christine, but then when I got down here this morning there was a note on her door saying I should come looking for you?”
I sighed and rolled my eyes. That got a raised eyebrow from this Erica girl. I made a quick decision in that moment. I wasn’t going to be dishonest with this girl. Not completely, at least. I figured if she was going to work here then she should probably know enough to tread lightly around Christine.
“Sorry,” I said. “Christine has a habit of pushing her work off on me. That’s how I inherited you. Though it’s not a problem at all!”
I hastened to add that last part after an odd look came across her face. The last thing I wanted was for the poor girl to think there were two people in this office who thought she was a burden to be foisted off on someone else. I’d be crushed if I felt like I wasn’t wanted when I went to my first internship, and I was not going to do that to this girl.
“Well this looks like it’s going to be an interesting experience,” Erica said. Then she shifted gears, or at least she tried shifting gears without realizing she was just moving on to a different version of the same problem. All fucked up roads led back to Christine’s dictatorial management style on floor seven. “So what brings you in this early anyways? I got in early to impress the new boss, but what’s your excuse?”
I sighed again and glanced at my watch. “I suppose you should know this as well. If you’re not here on time then you’re late, and Christine considers “on time” to be fifteen minutes before you’re supposed to be here. Not sure if that will hold true for you as well, but it’s probably better if you don’t find out.”
“Damn,” Erica said. “This Christine really sounds like a dragon lady.”
“You have no idea,” I said. Then my eyes went wide. I heard the elevator door opening followed by the telltale click-clicking of Christine’s high heels making their way across the tile floor. My eyes went wide and it was obvious from the look on Erica’s face that she could tell something was up. I hated that I was looking so worried in front of her like that, but I couldn’t help it. I just hoped Christine was in a good mood this morning, because I really didn’t want this poor girl to have to put up with her bullshit on the first day in.
“That her?” Erica asked.
I nodded and turned to face the door to my cubicle. Christine appeared, and my jaw very nearly dropped. I found myself wondering who this woman was and what she’d done with the sour faced bitch who usually ruled floor seven with an iron fist.
The woman standing before us couldn’t have been any different from the usual Christine. She had the same bun, the same clothes that didn’t fit quite as well as they used to, the same makeup that was way overdone, but there was one huge difference. The scowl that was usually on her eyes was gone and the puckered expression that bore so much resemblance to a cat’s asshole plastered on the front of her face was gone, replaced by a wide smile.
I wondered if the pod people invasion had finally started and Christine was the first one they got. That made more sense than the idea that she had suddenly decided to grow a heart and act like a genuine human with real emotions.
“Good morning Nicole! Wonderful to see you!” she said, positively beaming. I was immediately on guard. Her acting nice in front of the intern was an explanation I could almost understand. Maybe she wanted to make a good impression or something. Her being nice to me, though? Particularly after that incident yesterday where I actually dared to show some backbone? Well that was way out there.
“Um, good morning?” I managed to stammer, and for a moment I saw a flash of something. A flash of the old Christine everyone on this floor knew and hated. It was a flash of irritation that was almost comforting because it was familiar, because it meant that I wasn’t going crazy and I hadn’t inexplicably stepped into a parallel mirror universe where Christine’s evil twin was the nice one.
Still, it was disheartening at the same time. The old Christine was still there. Lurking under the surface. Waiting.
She turned to inspect Erica for a moment, though it wasn’t the kind of inspection we’d shared. No, she was staring intently, almost as though she was searching for something. I didn’t know what it was or if she found what she was looking for, but no sooner had her eyes returned to Erica’s face than she was stepping forward with her arms outstretched for a hug! I watched in stunned silence as she wrapped Erica up in a hug.
“And you must be our new intern Erica!” she positively beamed. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to have the opportunity to work with you!”
The opportunity to work with her? Wait a minute. Did that mean
she was going to pull the new intern away from me? Damn it. Yesterday I would’ve jumped for joy at the possibility, but today, now that I knew who she was, it was the last thing that I wanted. It was a selfish, jealous desire, but I wanted Erica all to myself! I definitely didn’t want to share her with Christine. That would be throwing her to the wolves.
“Actually I’d already been working through assignments for Erica, and so you don’t have to…”
Christine’s hand went up in an obvious silencing motion, but I plowed right on. I wasn’t going to go down without a fight even as I thought how ridiculous it was that I’d showed backbone twice in as many days. That was usually the sort of behavior that got someone fired. I was starting to wonder if maybe I did enough work for her that she couldn’t afford to fire me, but I also knew that was a dangerous line of thinking.
No one was irreplaceable in this department. People who started thinking like that usually learned the hard way that it couldn’t be farther from the truth.
“And I was planning tours of the floor and the facility, really let her dig in and see how things work around here. I know you didn’t have much…”
This time Christine actually turned to fix me with a glare. A glare that Erica wouldn’t be able to see from where she was standing, I might add. Clever how Christine managed to pull that off. What the hell was her reasoning for suddenly acting all nice like this? Why did she care what a simple intern cared about her?
“Since you can’t understand a gesture I’m going to ask you to please shut up,” she said, menace and some of the real Christine bubbling to the surface. Behind her Erica cocked an eyebrow again, but otherwise there was no reaction. Damn. She was a cool customer. If I’d been thrown into a new workplace and the first thing that happened to me was getting thrust in the middle of an office catfight I think I’d have some sort of reaction.
Christine turned back to Erica. “Now as I was saying. I was hoping we could have a meeting and go over all the fun we’re going to have with your internship.”
All the fun they were going to have with her internship? The hell?
“What about that sign on your door that said I needed to come see Nicole here?” Erica asked. “That didn’t seem like you had anything planned for me?”
I braced myself for the explosion. I had to admit that the girl had balls for standing up to Christine like that on her first day, but there was enough of the old Christine percolating just under the surface that I figured a little talkback from an intern of all things would be enough to set her off. She did tense for a moment, but otherwise there was no reaction. No blowup. She just gritted her teeth and that smile stayed plastered on her face.
“Yes, well about that…”
“Oh it’s perfectly okay Christine,” Erica said. “I know you’re probably very busy with all the work you do to keep this department running.”
I resisted the urge to laugh at that. If I didn’t know any better I’d say Erica was having some fun with Christine, but of course that was impossible. Still, I was in the know enough to think that was pretty damn funny, even if I wasn’t about to show any outward sign of just how funny I thought it was. This Erica girl might have some blessed star watching over her and keeping Christine from getting really mad with her like she would with anyone else, but I didn’t have any such blessing.
“I’m sure it would be a much better use of everyone’s time if I stayed here with Nicole and learned the ropes while you focused on running the department.”
As she said that she looked at me. Fixed me with an intense stare that had me wondering if maybe there wasn’t another reason why she was suddenly so interested in sticking with me. I found myself daydreaming about a forbidden office romance for the briefest of moments, but then I viciously stomped down on that notion. It was ridiculous. Not to mention that it would be terrible for me to get involved with an intern I was supposed to be supervising, assuming I actually got to supervise her. And that wasn’t even taking into account that it was probably just wishful thinking that she’d be interested in me in the first place!
“Are you sure about that? I think you’d get a much better idea of everything that happens here on floor seven if you were in the big office,” Christine said.
Erica’s eyes darted to me again and then she turned back to Christine with a smile. “That’s quite all right, but thank you for your dedication. I think I’ll have plenty to learn from Nicole here.”
A shiver ran up and down my spine at that. Why was a shiver running up and down my spine? I’m sure she meant that in a purely professional capacity. Thinking there was any sort of double meaning to what she said was just so much wishful thinking on my part. Wishful thinking that was going to get me in trouble if I did wind up supervising her. That was still very much up in the air. I expected Christine to lay down the law and make it clear that this new Erica girl was going to do whatever she said. That was just like the old Christine.
So color me surprised when her shoulders sagged and all the fight seemed to go out of her. The smile was still there on her face, but it didn’t seem as intense as before. Almost as though the work of keeping that smile plastered on her face for so long instead of her usual scowl was too much for her. It was obviously draining her.
“Well then, I suppose Nicole will have to do. For now.”
I blinked. Did that really just happen? Did she really just let the new intern pick what she wanted to do? Again, the pod people theory came to mind and I found myself actually looking around Christine to see if there were any tentacles or something sticking out somewhere, but nothing. She turned to glare at me, oh yes the old Christine was definitely there, barely under the surface, looking for something to get angry at. But for some reason she didn’t seem to want to get angry here.
She was going to take that out on someone this morning, though. I’d have to make sure and get the warning out. As soon as Christine was clicking her way out of my cubicle and across the floor I found myself letting out a huge relieved breath.
“Well that wasn’t so bad,” Erica said, looking at me as though she was waiting for some sort of reaction. As though that big sigh wasn’t enough.
“Yeah? Well I don’t know who that woman is or what she did with Christine, but something’s going on there.”
Erica tapped her lip and followed the sound of Christine clicking over to her office. I could hear the glass door opening and then it slammed shut with enough force that the entire glass cube that contained her personal domain rattled. Oh yes, she was definitely very annoyed.
“So is she like that a lot?”
“The smiles or the rattling glass?”
“Either or?”
“Let’s just say that’s the first time I’ve seen her smiling without malice since I started here.”
I clapped my hands together and did my best to smile. It wasn’t that difficult to smile around this girl, though. She was just so captivating. I didn’t find myself thinking about girls like that very often, but there was just something about her.
And I realized that even though I was relieved that I was going to get to work with her directly I was also slightly terrified. I was definitely going to have to work to keep it under control. I’m sure the last thing this girl wanted during her internship was her supervisor hitting on her. I was going to have to work hard to keep things professional, as much as it disappointed me that I was going to have to maintain that detachment.
“Right, so let’s get you set up with a chair and see about getting you a computer or a laptop or something,” I said. “We don’t have any spare cubicles right now, so we’ll have to double up and be a little cramped for awhile, but don’t worry. I’m sure Christine will fire someone soon enough and we can move you.”
I was only half joking about that, but she seemed to take me seriously enough. She arched an eyebrow again and her lips parted ever so slightly and I found myself wondering what it would feel like to have those lips brushing against mine, but I chased those tho
ughts away as quickly as they appeared in my traitorous imagination.
“Oh don’t worry,” Erica said. “I’m sure I won’t mind working close with you.”
I stood there dumbfounded for a moment. Had she really just said that? That couldn’t possibly just be my imagination. Then I took hold of myself and headed to the supply closet with Erica in tow, and the entire way I couldn’t shake the feeling I was being watched.
I liked that feeling, dangerous as it was.
4: Blowing Off Steam
This internship was going to be pure torture. I felt my heart jumping into my throat when it turned out this Nicole girl I was going to be working under for the next couple of months was none other than the very same girl I’d seen when I was getting onto the elevator with the Pervatron 5000 yesterday. This definitely made this whole internship thing a hell of a lot more interesting than I thought it was going to be.
And it seemed like there was so much going on here. So much under the surface that I was just beginning to understand. I still had no idea what the hell was going on with this Christine lady. Nicole seemed terrified of her, but then she blows in with smiles treating me like I’m a long lost best friend or something.
It was almost enough to make me think she knew who I was, but of course that was impossible. Dad had presumably gone to great lengths to make sure not even a hint of a rumor that his daughter was somewhere in the building would get out. What was the point of sending me out to anonymously survey his domain if he didn’t pull something like that? And yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a leak somewhere.
“So if you look at the column there, we just have to make sure it matches the numbers in this column over here. Otherwise it means someone from up on ten is trying to pull a fast one by massaging their numbers, and that’s the sort of stuff that gets people investigated by the feds for fraud.”