Corrupted Constructs

Chapter 3

Clarke looks in the mirror of the bathroom down the hall as she runs her hands down the front of the clean shirt to smooth out the wrinkles. The shirt was a bit tight on her, but it was a lot better than walking around in her coffee-stained garment. And this shirt smelled so good. A combination of pine and something floral, jasmine maybe.

Where did Ms. Evergreen get this shirt from? There was no way she would have given Clarke, her PA, a person she has only met today, one of her own shirts just because said PA had clumsily spilled on her own shirt. That would be unheard of, right? And yet, there were few other plausible explanations to Ms. Evergreen "finding" a shirt for Clarke to wear just like that.

When Clarke walks back in the direction of the office she shares with Ms. Evergreen, she only barely manages to catch a few of her new boss' words as she walks by the HR office.

"You should have tried harder to tell me," Lexa hisses angrily.

Clarke keeps walking, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping, but she slows down just a bit just in case she manages to overhear any information that may be useful to the case.

"... don't care. She can't stay."

"Ms. Evergreen, as your head of HR, I'd highly advise against..."

"... Legalities. This isn't about that, this is about..."

Clarke stops in her tracks a few steps away from Ms. Evergreen's office, looking over her shoulder and debating, getting closer to the HR office door after all. This could be important for the case and Clarke couldn't hear enough of the conversation to make sense of it. But just as she decides to walk back again with the potential excuse that she forgot something in the bathroom if she gets caught, the door of the HR office swings open and Alexandria steps out, her eyebrows knit together in anger.

The brunette immediately smooths out her facial features and her eyes roam over Clarke's figure.

"How's the shirt?" Lexa asks, her voice even again, not a trace of residual anger audible.

Clarke's cheeks flush. She really needed to work on her poker face. In fact, usually her poker face was impeccable, but something about Alexandria Evergreen made it harder to maintain her composure.

"Yeah, it's good, thank you. And thank you for lending it to me, I'll be sure to wash it and return it to you tomorrow," Clarke manages to utter as both women walk back to their office side by side.

"Don't worry about it, you can keep it, it looks better on you than me anyway," Lexa says as she holds the door open and lets Clarke enter their office first.

--

Lexa sits down in her chair with a straight spine and motions for Clarke to sit across from her again rather than at her own desk.

"Let's talk about my expectations of you for this job and your tasks to make sure we are on the same page."

Clarke nods her head without speaking and takes her laptop out of her purse, ready to take notes.

"I believe Mr. Felts has discussed the major components of the job with you and they were in the job description and your contracts as well, but I'd like for you to hear about them from me as well so you can ask me specific questions in case anything is unclear."

Again, Clarke nods her head, and she quickly adds a "Yes, ma'am," when she feels Lexa looking at her.

"Right. So, firstly, you will be working long days while you are here, which is reflected in your salary, so I am assuming that won't be an issue for you. My schedule starts at 7 AM, which means yours does too. 7 AM, not 7.10 AM, not even 7.03 AM," Lexa says, looking at Clarke pointedly.