I had been dreading my alarm this morning, it would shout to the world I was starting a new job in an alien environment.
"Morning sunshine." Dad was already by the dining room table when I entered with sleep in my eyes and bed hair. Grumbling a reply I picked my mug up, which Dad had already filled with my steaming coffee.
"Are you ready for your first day sweetie? And don't worry about your old man, the nurse will be here giving me some physio between eleven and one, then George and Peter will be stopping by to play some cards until you get home" he filled his mouth with some cereal and cast his eyes down at the newspaper beside his bowl.
"I think I'm ready Dad, I just hate leaving you, in case you need anything." I absent-mindlessly played with the handle on my mug, my mind drifting to all the scenarios that could happen, including seeing Chase for the first time in ten days.
Upon arriving at Crawford Industries, I paused before walking through the glass door. This building still inspired me. Its presence was majestic, sleek, modern, and powerful. I quickly made it through to the elevators and held my breath as Chase appeared beside me, out of nowhere.
"Good morning, Elena, have a productive day." I followed him into the elevator, and it quickly filled with people, getting ready to start their own workdays. I clicked the button for floor eight and stood in the corner, away from Chase. I could feel his eyes on me, I kept my head facing forward, focusing on the speaker inset into the wall of metal that surrounded us. I held my breath for what felt like an eternity until the sound chimed our arrival at my floor. Chase stayed in the corner as I approached the doors and headed for the reception area. Not daring to glance behind me, although I could feel his eyes watching my every movement.
The accounting department was laid out before me, the reception desk at the front with the desks behind. Offices flanked the main area on three sides. Each set of desks was arranged in sets of four, each a corner shape facing a point. Whilst I was waiting for the young lady at the desk to finish her phone call, I counted twenty squares behind her, everyone busy starting up their computers and doing any last-minute touches to makeup.
"May I help you?" my concentration pulled from the business behind her to almond shaped brown eyes sat in front of me.
"Good morning, my name is Elena Maclaren, I due to start this morning" the lady stood up and put out her hand.
"Welcome Miss Maclaren, I'm Lucy, your go to for everything, including gossip" she winked at me as we shook hands. She walked around the desk, disconnecting her headset from her station.
"Follow me please and I'll show you to your desk" I watched as she walked confidently down the three steps flanking her desk and followed her to the end of the room.
"I'll let you all introduce yourselves, this is your desk Miss Maclaren, make yourself at home" she beamed at me.
"Please call me Elena, its lovely to meet you" she waved her reply and began walking away back to the front desk. I sat down and adjusted my chair to fit my height then turned on my computer. Beside the keyboard were some papers, including my logon details and how to change my temporary password.
"So, newbie, welcome to the best quad in the room" I looked up to see three faces peaking over the divides.
"I'm Colin, to my left is Patricia and to my right is Jackson" Jackson and Patricia both chimed a hello then sat back down.
"Don't believe what Lucy says, us three are the only sources of reliable gossip you should listen to" he winked before also disappearing behind his desk.
Beside my desk was a three-drawer filling cabinet, labelled with italic names denoting what goes in each drawer.
The top was for new accounts to be opened, the second was for current accounts that needed updating and the last was for accounts that required closing. I stood and opened the top drawer to find fifteen accounts to open.
We had to computerize everything unless it needed updating or printing off for meetings with clients. I was glad this was the system, I hated having a cluttered desk. When I was studying at home, it all went into my laptop or on a post-it walls behind my bedroom desk. When I pulled out the first two files from the cabinet, I was glad to begin working, even though data entry wasn't exactly exciting, it was always a means to an end. Every person here had started where I was, at the bottom of the ladder. The only was to progress was to bring in new clients or perform exceptionally. Since I wasn't able to meet new potential business, I fell into the latter category. It was ten o'clock when I felt a tap on my shoulder to see Colin standing behind me.
"Let me show you the break room, the coffee here is simply divine" I stood eagerly, happy to get my java fix.
"You had me at coffee Colin" I followed him up three steps and to the right of the room. The break room was all high tech, four coffee machines were laid out on sparkling pale grey marble counter tops. The fridge was fully stocked with water, soft drinks, and snacks.
"Take anything you want, all the drinks and food are free, they are meant to keep us happy and productive, I look at it as an excellent time to gossip" he went first and made a tall cup of coffee in a Stanley travel cup. I mimicked his movements and made my own steaming cup of coffee. He tossed me a packet of custard cream biscuits and he took an apple before we sat down on the plush orange sofa in the corner of the room.
"This is my people watching place. I like to think of myself as body language genius, for example, yours is saying you feel overwhelmed by a love interest but you're happy to be at work, how am I doing" he was practically jumping in his seat, he was full of energy and correct. I quickly took a drink of my coffee to hide my face and smile.
"I knew it! So, what's his name? Tell Uncle Colin all about it!" he nudged me with his elbow, and I almost split my drink over myself.
"Look Colin, I'm quite sure you don't want to hear my drama, it's quite tragic. Tell me some more about the team though" I offered him a way to turn on his gossip head, he then spent the next ten minutes of our break informing me about Patricia's silver spoon and Jacksons escapades.
"He is definitely one to watch, he has slept with more women than a gigolo" I laughed at the mental image of Jackson in a long trench coat flashing ladies when he turns up at their room. I had never known anyone like Colin, his enthusiasm was infectious, he lit up a room and I hoped we would become friends quickly. I needed an ally here, I was just hoping Chase would stay clear of this floor, I didn't need him distracting me anymore than he already did.
***
We finished our breaks and refilled our cups, walking back to our quad I noticed the rest of the rooms surrounding ours.
The assistant CFO was in the middle of the back wall, in the middle of the left wall was the meeting room, currently occupied by the senior accountants.
The rest of the day flew by, I paused to have lunch with my new coworkers, we went to a little deli two blocks away, I was glad to get out of the building unnoticed. The afternoon was uneventful, and I was beginning to relax.
Jackson and Colin had some playful banter between them, Patricia kept to herself mainly, only stopping to observe any handsome men that walked by her desk or to reapply her lipstick. I picked up another file from my cabinet and began to input the data onto the spreadsheet I had made this morning.
Something was nagging at the back of my mind, but I couldn't put my finger on it, MR marketing was only a small account, and they hadn't invoiced any business as yet. I typed out all the information and put the file in my tray to be taken to the shredder at the end of the day. The uneasy feeling continued until I closed my computer down at the end of the day. I took out my phone from my desk drawer and I hadn't noticed I had a message on there. It was from Benjamin; he had invited me to dinner on Friday.
I typed back a quick reply with a stupid grin on my face, which caught the attention of Jackson.
"I know that look, I've put that smile on a few women's faces" he winked, I could only groan and sigh at him, shaking my head I packed everything up and followed my new colleagues to the elevators ready to go home.
Upon entering the elevator, I checked my phone and read the reply from Benjamin, he was picking me up at 7pm, he had reservations at Critque, a fancy restaurant in the posh part of Chicago's food district. I hadn't been to many executive restaurants before, but I knew this was a chance to get over Chase, to move on from him for good.