Her Sweet Flavour

a ride home

POV: Adeline

I'm bored, and tired, and stressed. Nothing unusual, but I do wish it would stop sometimes.

Every single person that works around me dumps their work on me without even asking. They just place it on my desk and whenever I don't do their work, I somehow get in trouble and not them. I'm too much of a coward to snitch on them or ask them to stop, so I've just gotten stuck with more and more work dumped on me and it's all so repetitive.

Since I have so much work, I have to get in early to start my own before everyone dumps theirs on me and extends my work hours even further. I get in to work before the sun has risen and leave after it's down. I'm rarely out with the sun anymore, especially since I work through what are meant to be my breaks so that I don't have to work until midnight.

Today is no different, and me getting no sleep last night didn't help. My neighbours were in another screaming match all night before having extremely loud sex the rest of the night. They were silent for about an hour before I had to get up to get ready - and an hour isn't long enough to get a good night's sleep.

I'm tired, yet I'm not even halfway through my pile yet. Thing is, I can't stay too late tonight since I have....something to tend to tonight that can't be put off. I've put it off enough already and they're going to hate me even more if I delay it even by a few hours.

Knowing what I have to do tonight has just stressed me out and distracted me from all the work I still have. It's distracted me so much that I didn't even notice my boss peering into my cubicle and that she's been watching me for the past few minutes.

She's always scared me.

She's pale with dark hair, always wearing black or deep reds. She's tall and her clothes definitely hide how strong and muscular she actually is. Her eyes are a dark brown that just look like dark pits that'll stare through you and find out your every secret. Even though she only looks to be around her mid-twenties, maybe thirty at a stretch, something about her has always made me see her as much older.

A small squeak escapes me as I finally notice her, shrinking under her gaze.

Why are you staring at me so intently?

She always looks at me weird and it always makes me self-conscious. Is it what I'm wearing? Is there something in my teeth? Is my hair a mess? What's bothering you so much that you keep staring at me like this? Do you just hate me?

"Is there something wrong, Miss Nyman? You seem distracted," she slyly asks, her voice smooth and deep as she stares me down, knowing full well how much anxiety she gives me.

My heart feels like it's about to break out of its cage and my mind is rushing too much to properly comprehend what she's asking me.

"No, ma'am," I mutter, not able to look anywhere near her eyes. They scare me too much.

"Please, Miss Sinclaire is fine," she insists.

She always gets odd when I call her 'ma'am' but I don't know why. Everyone else calls her that but she only has an issue with me. Does she really hate me?

I nod, fiddling with my fingers under my desk and picking at my nails.

"Use your words please, Adeline."

Why is she using my name? People in this office only ever use last names, especially to refer to anyone above or below them. She's everyone's boss so she shouldn't really use our first names. No one uses her first name since it's so informal, though I know it.