Office Gossip- (Sample)

7. First Day of Work

Violet

"So, how are you feeling about your first day of work?" Chloe asked Monday morning as we were both getting ready to go into the office.

I let out a sigh. "Honestly? I don't know what to feel. I guess...I guess I'm just relieved that Alex and I managed to work things out so that, hopefully, neither of us will kill each other on company time. He knows how important this job is to me."

"So how was that lunch with him? Did anything else happen that you haven't already told me about?" She raised an eye at me, beaming as if she hadn't already heard everything I told her when we came back to the house after he'd practically dragged me down to the bar so we could try and work everything out.

"It was fine. There's nothing that I haven't told you. I really don't know why you keep pushing it. There really isn't that much to say. We seemed to work everything out. And we're not going to give each other any hell over anything. At least, that's what he made it seem. He did, however, warn me off some of the single guys in the office. Telling me that they are, for the most part, hungry for newbies like me in an attempt to curb whatever interests they may have. Certain attention and what not. I promised him I wouldn't let them get to me if they tried. But...he really doesn't have much control over that, does he? Still, he seemed pretty insistent that I tell him if any of them bother me. And I said I would. There really isn't much to it than that. But, let's be real. How bad can some of them be? You've worked there long enough to know which guys are just slime balls dressed in suits. Have you ever seen anything that might make Alex say such things to me?"

"Oh, I don't think you have anything to worry about. You know Alex. He's very protective. Hell, I bet, if something happened to you, he'd send his own version of the Avengers in to come and rescue you. SWAT teams and all. I mean, if he's warning off all the guys he knows would be a problem for you, it wouldn't surprise me at all if he did something to that level."

"Okay...you really need to lay off so many superhero movies."

"It's not so much the movies...as it is these fan fiction TikTok videos of said superheroes that I've found a weird obsession with lately."

"Really? Out of everything you could possibly obsess over...that's what you fixate on? I guess I should count myself lucky that I never go on TikTok."

"No. Because you like to watch Outlander on the weekends and anything else that you find interesting on television. Any excuse to stay in and avoid going out because the last thing you want is to go somewhere and run into he who shall not be named. When, at the end of the day, you know that you won't be able to avoid him forever. After all...if the two of you are going to be working here, it's best that you try and get along."

"Yeah, that's a lot easier said than done. I mean, come on. You and I both know that man will do anything and everything to make sure that, at least, something will happen that will embarrass me enough to the point where I don't want to work here anymore. And I'm not going to budge."

"Nobody is saying you have to, Vi. Besides, I'm going to be right beside you the whole time. Not to mention, Alex won't have time to make your work day a living hell."

"Yeah? You say that now. But, trust me, the second he decides that he wants to 'help me out' I can see a thousand and one things going wrong. It's almost as if he wants to torture me."

"Okay, now you're just being silly. Alex is a grown man. Not some five year old waiting to find a girl to make miserable because, secretly, he likes her. And I know you're not thrilled about him being here. But, honestly? What did you expect? Because this was his job first. Long before you decided that you wanted to come into this field of work. If it really bothers you so much...then you just have to tell yourself that it's not worth it. Because the minute he does anything even remotely small to annoy you...I know you're going to take it a step farther. And, if things really get out of hand...HR will get involved. Probably issue you a warning. The next thing you know, if the two of you can't get along, you'll be forced into something like couple's therapy because you can't get along. And that might be the only thing for the two of you to work out your issues. And if that doesn't work...well I suppose that you might be out of a job regardless."