Break of Dawn

10 | big mouthed dutch

THE GRANT LOCHLAN ATHLETIC CENTER was a big glass structure in a sea of red brick. The gigantic five story building stood proud and tall in the middle of campus, its float glass structure surrounded by the stadium and the training camp, alongside endless patches of well-manicured lawn. The center was home of the Huskies Football team.

The first floor at The Grant - as it was called - was filled with training rooms, medical facilities and locker rooms. On the second floor, there were a bunch of conference rooms, lounge areas and the food court. The third and fourth floor were for offices, the ones on the higher floor being reserved for the coaches. The fifth floor housed a hall, where they hosted events in, and a lookout deck that was famous for some killer views of Lake Yoma. Aurora had collected all that information with the guy at the operational office - not Charles Northtrop, thank God - where she had gone to pick up her staff card.

She'd had a meeting with Quincy Clay via FaceTime on Sunday morning, sporting the worst hangover known to human history. The Huskies had won the game on Saturday and she and Madison had went post-tailgating with Ivy until the latest hours of the night.

Quincy had given her the orientation to her first days at the office, since he would be out of state most part of the week. Rory had never heard of anyone starting a job without their boss around, but there was a first time for everything.

He had basically told her she would spend her first few days organizing a bunch of paperwork that had been accumulating since his last assistant dropped out of the job, and if the mess Mr. Clay had on his table on Friday was anything to go by, Rory imagined she was in for some long couple of days.

Her office - although she still couldn't believe she actually had an office - was on the third floor, right next to Mr. Clay's. The room was a smaller version of the one next door, with glass walls that had enclosed blinds and laminated black floor. A black desk sat in the middle of the room, with a chair that had its back to the floor to ceiling window, that provided a view to the parking lot. There was a two place black couch on the right and five filling cabinets on the left.

Rory had never been happier with a 70 square-feet room her entire life.

"Hiya" A voice pulled Rory's attention away from the stack of documents she had been organizing for the last couple of hours.

It was Tuesday afternoon and the stack of papers was looking way less menacing than it was the day before. She looked at the door to see a girl with boxer braids and the Huskies white polo uniform.

"Sorry to interrupt" Her visitor dropped down on the chair across from the table "Heard there was a new girl around and had to see it for myself, the level of testosterone in this building can get a bit suffocating" Rory chuckled, it was the first time she was seeing another girl at The Grant, so that was probably right "I'm Ariella Nazari, PT"

"Rory, PP" She said opening her arms to show the office "How'd you hear there was a new girl?"

"Oh, well, Dutch showed up to PT today announcing 'yo there's a new girl workin' for Quins, hot chick'" She mocked in a deep voice "Beware, you'll have a stream of guys coming around just to check you out"

"I think they already started" Rory admitted. There had been at least a couple guys showing up at the office earlier that day giving her the lamest excuses why they needed help.

"These guys, I swear" Ariella rolled her eyes "Whoever says girls gossip more, has never been in a room with fifty plus of them"

Rory was very aware of that. Both her brother, Alex, and Damien were pro gossipers. Alex was the type who loved hearing everything about everyone, even people he didn't know, he just 'wanted the tea', as he used to say. Damien, on the other hand, was the type to share anything with anyone, he was the biggest blabber mouth and Rory always had to watch what she said around him.

"Well, you know, Gossip Girl was a guy afterall"

"Gosh, I never thought 'bout that, you're a genius" Rory laughed "Don't fret about the guys, though, they are a chill bunch, I mean, as chill as ten dozen guys in their twenties can be"

"Not very then" Rory said without thinking.

"Word" Ariella agreed, picking up a paper bag Rory had just realized she had with her.

"Who's Dutch? I don't remember anyone with that name coming around."

"Mark Burnet, he's a safety" Ariella explained while she looked for something on her phone "That's him" She showed her an instagram picture of the guy, his brown skin and green eyes looking slightly familiar to Rory "everyone calls him Dutch, don't ask me why"

"Yeah, I guess he stopped by yesterday" Rory wasn't sure he was the one who was having problems with his tutor or the one who was complaining about campus housing "You remember everyone on the team?" She asked, impressed "I have the worst memory, don't know how I'mma do to remember all of them"

"Oh trust me, it gets easier with time" Ariella reassured, picking back up the paper bag she had dropped at the table in lieu of grabbing her phone. She fished for a pastry and offered it to Rory "You want some? It's pistachio baklava."

Rory accepted it willingly, she didn't have it in her to refuse food - ever. When she took the first bite, she hummed in appreciation.

"It's amazing right?" Ariella offered after taking a bite of her own "The chef at the cafeteria is Turkish, and sometimes she bakes these pastries and sells them on the dl."

"This is one of the best things I've ever tasted."

Ariella nodded in agreement "About the guys, though, you gonna remember them all, for better or worse" She started "In no time you finna have a hundred new guys following you on 'gram, half of them pestering you about the silliest stuff" Ariella seemed to be speaking from experience, although there was no hint of annoyance in her tone "It's the biggest hit when you trynna flirt with a guy and he sees you have a whole ass roster on your followers list"

"Yikes" Rory snickered "But I mean, you're probably more exposed to that than I am" she said and took another bite "You're with them all the time, they'll only come to me when they need help with something"

"It's cute that you to think they won't be bugging you" Ariella said finishing off her pastry and grabbing a thermos inside her bag "You want some? It's chai, decaf" Rory shook her head and murmured thanks "CJ, the guy who worked here before you, told me some stories of guys who'd come to him asking for help to buy coffeemakers" She stressed while she filled the thermos cup lid "I mean, coffeemakers, dude, just go to Target!" She rolled her eyes and Rory chuckled "Truth is they a bunch of needy grown-ass babies"

"But very chill needy grown-ass babies" Rory deadpanned and Ariella laughed out loud, almost snorting her drink.

"You know, some o' these guys text me asking for help to pick the best outfit for dates"

"Now you're just making it up!"

"Cross my heart" Ariella said "It's like one day I was an only child and next thing I know I had around sixty lil' brothers that I get to watch working out every once in a while and don't feel incestuous doing so"

"You watch them work out?"

"Perks of the job" Ariella shrugged "We have to oversee some weight trainings to make sure none of them are overdoing it and shit. I'm not complaining ya know? It's a nice view"

"And I get to do is sit at this office looking at the computer, not fair"

"I'll take you to weight training sometime" Ariella offered "It'll be good to have someone to objectify male bodies with"

"I'm game" Rory looked back at the pile of documents staring back at her "You mind if I go back to working? You can hang around"

"Yeah sure"

Rory resumed her organizing and Ariella scrolled through her phone while drinking tea.

"What's your insta?"

Rory gave her the handle to her Instagram account and two seconds later her phone lit up on the desk with a notification.

"Look, we have two mutuals" Ariella said absentmindedly while she looked at her phone "You know Damien Hughes and Patrick Ogbonna?"

"Oh yeah, Dame's my cousin and I met Patrick through him"

"You already know like, one percent of the team, you're on the right path"