Quiet Little French Girl. [h.s.]

Empty Apartments; Mystery Keys.

"Hey Elliot." I smile to my old friend as he strolls into my office and drops his body against the leather chair opposite me, his feet remain on the floor as he heavily restrains himself from spinning like a child in the revolving chair, his body casually rocking back and forth as a substitute, "what can I do for you mate?" My fingers beat excessively against the letters on my keyboard and my eyes flicker up to him in an inquisitive manner, but without any response from him I carry on with my work.

Elliot heaves a sigh and I immediately stop my work and take a minute to speak with him, finally catching on to his hints. "I was wondering if you wanted to go out for lunch?" I welcome his question as always. It's become a regular occurrence now that Elliot and I share the same lunch, we seem to be quite fortunate that both of our hour long lunches run parallel to each other; usually we are able to nip to the coffee shop around the corner and pick up a melted panini or a salad depending on when Elliot's 'gym day' is.

"Yeah mate, sounds good. How is work coming along today?" My cramping fingers attempt to change the pace and I decide to spend a few minutes signing documents to give them a rest from their incessant tapping - I'm pretty sure that I am fluent in typing without even looking at the keyboard or screen at this point - the ball point pen rolls perfectly in my hand and my signature is smoothly traced to the piece of paper. The documents are mainly in regards to the company audit which we have just spent copious hours preparing for, in all honesty I'm actually glad that it's all over; Elliot remains in the chair opposite me and I notice that his fingers have begun to fiddle with the corner of a picture frame that resides on my desk, one of Odette and I, truly a favourite.

He takes a large inhale of breath before releasing it in a huff, my senses already indicate that his work isn't going as he had hoped, or perhaps that isn't what is troubling him. "It's going fine mate, I just feel like there are too many deadlines to meet for just the one person. I mean, I'm appreciative for all of the responsibility, but at the same time I don't feel like there are enough hours in the day to get everything finished. And it's even more frustrating that I cant take any of my work home with me because it's all confidential." Immediately I stop signing and look at him inquisitively, I've never known Elliot stressed in all of the time I've been acquainted with him.

"I didn't know you were that stressed out." He simply nods to me and his fingers begin to fidget, almost as if he's feeling shy for even bringing the topic into conversation. "You know that if you are ever having a problem with anything that you can come to me. I don't want you to think that I'm once of those boss' that refuses everything, if it's an idea and you will benefit from it then I am all ears."

"I don't really like discussing work with you. We're mates, you know. I don't want you to think that I'm taking advantage of you."

"I'd never think that Elliot, let me ring Mr Miller and query your concern." I take the phone off the hook not allowing for protest and dial the extension for Mr Millers PA Katherine, she picks up within seconds and greets me with a high pitched tone and what I assume is a smile behind her distinct voice. "Hello Katherine, is Mr Miller free?"

"He's just come back from lunch Mr Styles, I'll put you through now."

Within moments, I hear my boss' booming voice on the receiver and decide to put it on speaker phone, "Miller."

"Good afternoon Mr Miller, I hope you had a nice lunch. I have Elliot Anderson here, who Malcom is training for the management position in HR, with me and he has informed me that Malcom and himself are struggling with their duties and require assistance." My formal attitude gets the point across and my eyes flicker to Elliot in suspense.

Silence fills the air and both Elliot and I wait eagerly for his response, "good afternoon Mr Anderson. What is your proposal Mr Styles?" He asks in a monotone voice.