Finding Humanity

Chapter 1

Only a few more hours.

I sipped my extra-creamy, lukewarm coffee at my desk. The workday seemed to be passing by more slowly than usual. Being an intern at J&J Enterprises was boring, to say the least, but it paid better than any of my previous retail jobs. It also required more time on the computer and less human interaction, which was how I liked it.

I'd been working for the company for the last few months while trying to complete my senior year college courses online. It worked for me. It wasn't that I was anti-social, I'd just learned enough from life to know that I'd rather tough it out on my own.

"Hey Emily, can you make sixty copies of this for me? Thanks," Richard, my fellow intern, said as he walked by, leaving another document on my already cluttered desk.

"Sure thing, Dick," I mumbled under my breath. Even though we were both at the same bottom-rung level in the company, Richard seemed to be convinced that I was his assistant.

Sighing, I put down my coffee and reached for the page. I had to partly stand up from my chair to reach the far corner of my desk where it was placed. As I did, I miscalculated where I was putting my coffee down and ended up dropping the half-full mug right in my lap. It immediately soaked my dress pants.

"Shit," I hissed as the mug fell to the carpet, splashing the rest of the coffee on my heels. It just added insult to the injury, but at least my coffee had gone cold.

Yanking open my desk drawer, I grabbed a fist full of napkins and started blotting at my pants. Of course, Richard had to come walking back at that moment.

"Oh. Spilled your coffee? That sucks," he snickered as he passed.

Thanks for the commentary. Dick.

I rolled my eyes and leaned down to pick up my mug. I was honestly a bit disappointed it hadn't broken. It was pink with a kitten on it and text that said "HAVE A PURRRFECT MORNING!" in bold letters. My older sister had given it to me when I'd gotten my internship, thinking it would be funny.

Sighing, I wiped the mug clean and blotted at the tan carpet, hoping the new stain would blend in with the pattern. I threw the wet napkins in the trash bin under my desk and decided to excuse myself to the bathroom.

My floor's office space was large and my walk of shame was past the majority of the cubicle-filled room. I shuffled hastily towards the entrance of the room, feeling the coffee soaked pants sticking to my thighs. Out in the hall, I veered left and practically ran into the ladies' room. I went straight to the sink, soaking some paper towels with water in hopes of getting the coffee out. Luckily, the pants were black, but smelling like stale coffee was not my first choice of how to get through the rest of the day.

I bent down to slip off my heels and my hair slipped in front of my face, sticking to my lip-gloss. Sputtering, I tried blowing the long blond hairs out of my face only to accidentally inhale and end up with a mouth full of strands.

This is not going well.

Normally, I really liked my hair. It was dark blonde and very thick. I liked to keep it long, but it was an absolute pain to take care of and it frequently got in my face.

I moved my hair back over my shoulder and slid off my shoes, wiping them down with more wet paper towels. After they looked clean enough, I slipped them back on and straightened myself up.

My cheeks were flushed and the hair by my waist stood up with static. I glanced down at my powder blue blouse and let out a groan of frustration. A few drops of coffee had settled into the fabric, leaving stains that I knew would never come out.