Big Corp Inc. (G/T)

Part 6: Hot Coffee

Candy's energy fizzled out around lunchtime. Jogging up and down the keyboard tired out her legs. Carrying those long heavy sticks to type with stretched out and fatigued all the muscles in her arms. And pushing the mouse around with her body made her wish she wasn't so small and weak. She sat down, leaning back against a giant stapler, and ate her peanut butter sandwich. With the crazy workout she got today, she drank most of her water bottle too. She figured she'd be able to refill it in the break room sink if she needed to, although the break room was literally miles away from her desk. She sighed.

Once she got some food inside her and rested her exhausted body for a while, she began to feel reenergized. She had been so focused on her tasks, that she hadn't been paying much attention to the office environment around her. The area near the boss's office, over in the far corner, didn't get much foot traffic, so she assumed most of the workers made an effort to avoid him at all costs. She thought about Bianca and lamented the fact that the Giantess probably wouldn't want to come visit her at her desk if she was right next door to Mr. Hardon.

Then she thought about the other Giant she had met yesterday. She still didn't know his name, but she wouldn't mind seeing him again. His desk was far away too, closer to the break room. She wanted to talk to him, or at least admire him from afar. She wondered, with a slight blush on her cheeks, if he was thinking about her at all, after their chance encounter yesterday. Probably not.

Candy was naturally a social butterfly. She liked to chat and get to know people, and that urge didn't change even if she was surrounded by intimidating Giants. She looked around her desk and noticed for the first time a human-sized ladder that went to the top of the cubicle wall. The placement wasn't accidental. There must be a pathway she could walk along the top. That would make it a lot easier to get around and talk to Giants, if she wasn't down on the floor. She wouldn't have to fear getting squashed underfoot. Plus, she would have a more direct path through the office, rather than having to circumvent Giant desks.

Her curiosity was piqued by the new opportunity provided to her. She wanted to at least check it out before she got back to work. She put her shoes back on, since she didn't want to appear uncivilized walking around the office barefoot, especially with her unsightly swollen feet. She gripped a ladder rung and began to climb. Candy was grateful not to be afraid of heights, because the walls were very, very high up. She made it to the top and peered over. The top of the walls did indeed form a pathway wide enough for her to comfortably walk on.

She pulled herself up onto the partitions and sauntered forward, looking around with wonder. The view was radically different from so high up. The top edges were lined with metal and were a bit more slippery than she anticipated, so she tried her best to be careful. The cubicle adjacent to her own, on the other side of the partition, was unoccupied, so she wandered over to the next set of desks.

A Giant suddenly popped up on her left side, much closer than she thought possible. Candy shrieked with surprise and stumbled back. Her heel got caught in the thin line between the cubicle walls and she toppled over, towards the Giant that made her trip in the first place. He was as surprised as she was. Instead of catching her in his hand, which he held up by reflex, he was holding a coffee mug and she plopped into his coffee with a splash.

Candy flailed in shock and breached the surface, coughing and spitting. Fortunately, the coffee wasn't hot enough to scald her, but it stung where she had skinned her knee and elbow earlier. Candy wasn't terribly fond of coffee, unless it had a lot of cream and sugar to sweeten it. This coffee, to her discomfort, was dark and bitter. She was shocked and mortified by her clumsy mistake. She looked up at the Giant whose coffee she ruined with wide eyes. He returned her gaze with dark eyes that were nearly black, complemented with shiny black hair that was slicked back with a healthy amount of hair gel. His lip curled with mild disgust.