Blended Messages

Chapter 1

"Mano, did you close on that deal?" My boss comes in asking with a hand on one hip and in the other carrying a laptop. Looking away from my desktop to the entrance of my, soon-to-be no longer, cubicle locking my eyes on them. "Sure did boss. I am not gonna lose sleep when I'll be in the I.T department soon!" In solace, she leans her shoulder against the entrance staring down at my desk and her eyes wander around my office space, "We're gonna miss you here in the finance department." 

That's when the realization hit me, I've been with this company for five years and a position with the I.T Department is finally available! These past few years I've been studying my butt off so I can be a qualifiable candidate, waiting for the email of a position being open. Waiting to ace my interview and it came and I accomplished it! Then again.... seniority better be bloody worth something... I snap myself out of my la la land, "Don't get sad on me now Sal. Y'all will be sending me tickets and having me come back to check on your devices more times than I'll ever be expecting. So it's not like I'm abandoning y'all anytime soon"

She laughs at my casual exaggeration and says, "That is what i'm talking about. That energy is so going to be missed... Guys can be real stupid... excluding my husband, son, and you." She sighs with a bit of a groan. "Thanks to yooooouuuu as well i have my week packed with back-to-back interviews... and I SWEAR if I get a creep..." She gets cut off by the sound of her ringtone going off. "Oops! Ya gotta get that right?" I ask her.

She looks at her smartwatch and reads the caller's name. "Yup... it's my boss. Probably calling to make sure your transition to the new position has been done. Let me answer it" She answers the call and walks far enough away from being in my earshot. I got myself up to get something from the vending machines in the breakroom when a coworker of mine soon after replaced where Sal once stood. "Nelly, I'm getting something to drink. We can walk and talk if you don't mind?" She shook her head and followed alongside me.

"When do you start your new position?" she orders herself a canned shot of espresso, pops it open, and chugs it. I always find it impressive how she can down all that caffeine, she makes me question my preference in gatorade. After I took a sip of my lime drink, "If it's up to Sal next week. If it's up to Nat, tomorrow. I don't even know."

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A week went by and I walked into work more excited than I have ever felt in such a long time. Sal got her way and had me stay in my cubicle for the rest of the week, but any sales I would have to give up to my coworkers since it wouldn't make sense for me to do them. However today, this week, changes that! The routine that soon got monotonous is finally going to be switched up into something I've been after for so long. Waltzing in and going towards my new workspace, I run into Nelly. 

Her long dark hair tucked in by her navy blue headband, gives me a gentle wave of a hand. "Good morning Mano! Someone's in good spirits today?" she sticks to my side making conversation with me. I couldn't help, but hide my excitement when I responded, "You know it!" I stopped at the nearest available computer to punch myself in for work when Nelly signaled me with her finger that she had something to share with me, whispering "Hey, the newbie starts today too." I roll my eyes to play along as I don't understand why she had to whisper this, so I whisper back "Why are you whispering this to me?"

She shrugs with a sly smile, "I'm your wing woman remember?" My face flushes red, but I break out in a laugh, "You're too much!" She pats my shoulder gently a few times saying "You'll see for yourself if you have to answer one of her tickets." And with that, she walks back to her work area to get ready for the start of the day. "That Nelly sure is something..." I comment to myself as I make my way up to the next floor where the I.T crew habits. 

Sure, I lack little to no romantic experiences. Sure, I never had a girlfriend... Okay if you count the amount of times I've been manipulated then two tops and both I've never met in person, only via video calls. Guess I'm a loser in that regard. Hair doesn't grow on my head either and when I do let it grow the most it becomes is stubble. Far from the puffy ball of fluff, I used to have before I hit 16. I finally walk into what they call the I.T Den with the I.T crew expecting me. Welp! No time for me to dawdle on those thoughts now! 

Some time went by and I already completed a couple of tickets, some easy stuff the I.T Manager thought I should do to warm me into the position. "Oh? Well, looky here. Told her she wouldn't be rid of me." I read the details of the ticket and I pondered on the request, "Sal is talking about one of the computers lost network connection?  Doesn't she know how to troubleshoot that?" I shrugged the thought, "Maybe this is her way to see how I'm doing on my first day working I.T." I excused myself from my new I.T boss, Hal, and made my way back down to the finance floor. 

I find Sal in her office and she greets me with a smile. "Sorry for making you come all the way to me. The ticket isn't for me but for someone else." Not thinking twice about it, I just nod respectively "Oh okay? That's fine." She gets up out of her office and leads the way for me. We found ourselves back in my old office space. "Knock, knock. Let me introduce you two." Sal steps to the side so that I may present myself, "Ari meet Mano. Your predecessor. Mano meet Ari the heir of your old space." 

I scoff at Sals' attempt at dramatics when I walk up to the entrance locking my eyes on the new person. "Hi! So you're having networking issues?" Then hesitation hit me... Usually, I'm pretty proactive. I would kneel or check the connections or request the agent to step away, so that I may take over, but... Her eyes were beautifully wide making the colors of her pupils pop, her hair in side swept style, puff long sleeve white ruffled blouse, and I couldn't see more as she was still tucked into her desk. Oh my Lord, Nelly was right...

I heard her speak, but I missed whatever they said. I violently shook my head, "I'm sorry! What was that again?" Stop behaving like an idiot. She's got to be in a relationship or even married. There's no way in heck she's single and if she was, my rule #1 of working is everyone is off limits at the workplace. At most, we'll be friends, sorry Nelly. "Oh no, I'm sorry as well. I think we wasted your time. I found the ethernet cable was unplugged. It was just sitting there loosely." Ari spoke in a unique accent that didn't make it easy to find out her background or ethnicity. 

"Oh?" I give Sal a side eye. Sal flushed red in embarrassment and held her hands up in surrender, "I'm sorry! I know you gave me a hard time about that whenever I mistakenly knocked myself offline!" Loving that reaction I just take a step back with a wide smile. "Well, it was a pleasure seeing you again anyway Sal." I turn my attention to Ari and with a polite half bow I welcome her, "Welcome to the team Ari! Hope you can grow here!" I leave them to their devices and also take this opportunity to take a deep inhale and exhale.

Get a grip man. You've gone five years strong without ever having your rule broken let alone even at the risk of it being broken. It's almost time for my lunch anyway. I have rice and corn beef with my name written all over it waiting for me! I pump myself up for my soon lunch.