I decided that I hated my alarm. On a whim, I'd made the alarm on my phone the chorus from that Korean song Cassie had sent me, and upon waking I realized it was just too damn cheerful for 7 A.M. I briefly considered just throwing on any old dress suit, but then I remembered I'd be meeting Alex right after work today. Great, that meant I'd have to look extra stunning today.
I rolled out of bed in a completely inelegant fashion, and proceeded begin the process of my strict beauty regimen. My face had to glow, my hair had to shine and my eyes had to pop like 100 karat diamonds. My lipstick would be a tasteful shade of red, close to my natural color, and I would just accent my eyes with a bit of mascara and eye-liner. Luckily it didn't take much to accent my features, but it did take a lot of effort to make it look mostly natural.
By the time my heels were clicking down the hallway towards my office, I was fully awake and prepared to seize the day. I decided to play some quiet classical music (it was the only thing the company allowed) in the background as I read through the pile of files for today. String quartets were always my favorite but I'd only been able to go to concerts with Cassie. Alex was not a fan of classy music like this. No more! I thought fervently, pulling a pen out of my desk to take notes. The next man I find will be cultured out the ass! Maybe I should take a vacation to England in the hopes of running into my dream man in one of those romantic comedy scenarios.
I shook my head to clear out those silly thoughts. Right now I needed to focus on work, not men! The files for today were all about continued mapping of the human genome. The human genome may have already been mapped, but there was still a large international effort to understand how human DNA and genes worked that G.M. took a large part in. We were involved largely in predicting traits that would be passed down through families and giving more accurate predictions of the likelihood that something would be passed down to children from their parents.
Around noon I decided to go down to the cafeteria for lunch. If I kept reading my eyes were probably going to start watering and ruin my makeup. It was also time that I get reacquainted with my staff. There were new interns to scare and cafeteria workers I hadn't seen in months. I pressed the button for the third floor, and waited for the elevator.
I was happy to see that the cafeteria had changed little since the last time I'd eaten there. The company made sure to have a top of the line catering company in charge of the cafeteria, and the food served was a thousand times better than any cafeteria found in a public hospital or school. Half of the chefs were former employees of four star restaurants. After obtaining a salad (garden vegetable with a balsamic and strawberry vinaigrette) and a sandwich (at the insistence of one of the chefs, they always thought I was too thin), I began scanning the tables for someone to sit with. I felt like I was back in high school, looking for social acceptance. Luckily Tom was sitting at a table near the back with a few researchers I knew and a few I didn't.
“Hey Tom,” I said walking up tray in hand, feeling more and more like a high school student. “This seat taken?” He looked up from his soup.
“I'm sorry Stella, we're saving these seats for some people.” I must have let my shock show on my face because he laughed at my reaction. “I'm just kidding!” He pointed at the seat across from him, next to a someone I hadn't met. “Sit your butt down.”
I smiled and took the seat he indicated. Some kind of tension broke with the rest of the table and conversation resumed. They were of course, discussing their various branches of research. It seemed like everyone at the table was from a different department, which was helpful for me. I still had so much to catch up on, I felt like I'd missed a month of class and my final exam was the next day. The conversation would also split off into unrelated tangents like sports, politics and random reality television. I wasn't particularly well versed in any of those subjects, but I made contributions where I could so as to not feel left out or come off as snobbish.
“So our fabulous C.E.O. is finally rubbing elbows with the commoners again,” someone next to me said.
I'd been spacing from the general conversation, and hadn't even noticed him sit down next to me. Turning, I was startled by how handsome he was. I certainly didn't remember ever being introduced to the man, but something about him was familiar.
“Judging from the blank look on your face, you don't remember me,” the handsome stranger said. At that point Tom took over.
“This is Robert, he was a couple years behind us in school. He joined G.M. last year. He's already become my second in command managing the labs.” Robert smiled, seeming genuinely please by Tom's praise.
“I'm sorry, Robert,” I said fighting my urge to blush like a school girl. “I've been a horrible boss lately. I look forward to working with you in the future.” Oh god, Stella, resist the urge to flirt. You are a strong independent woman, you don't need a man! Luckily, the clock saved me. It was nearly one o'clock.
“I'm sorry boys, but I must get back to my office. So much to do, so little time! I'll see you at the meeting tomorrow, call or e-mail me if you need anything.” Although I meant to say most of that to Tom, I couldn't help by look at Robert as I said it. Did he look disappointed? No, I mentally slapped myself. The sooner I got to my office the better.
The rest of my afternoon at work went by in a flash. The closer it got to three thirty, the time I would leave the office, the more nervous I became. What if Penelope was there? What if Alex had thrown out or given away all my stuff out of spite? What if I totally lost it ad bawled my eyes out right in front of him, or even worse, Penelope? My mascara was run-proof, so I would still look fabulous during and after, but I would still feel like a fool. In any case, I was out of time. All too soon I was in my Audi driving, hopefully for the last time, to Luna Avenue.
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