Do Not Fall in Love

P.L.S.

Andy was five minutes late for the Managers meeting. Her coffee pit-stop was the culprit, but she would blame a long phone call with a client if anyone asked. She crossed quickly in front of the projector - creating a silhouette of her ponytail-profile on the screen for a second before she slid into her seat at the corner of the conference room table. It was filled with gray-haired men with large watches and heavy black planners.

The VP was talking about the new cost-center for their Division. Every meeting had started this way lately - so the coffee run had definitely been worth it. She slid her heels off under the table. This was going to take awhile.

Ten minutes later, her boss, Larry, elbowed her and slid his planner toward her. He had written in large spiky handwriting across next Tuesday: "How did it go with Jacobs?" Andy glanced at the VP. He was still mid-tirade about timesheets. She slowly pulled the planner in front of her and wrote: "In the bag", then slid it back. Larry grinned and whispered, "Good girl."

It had been a good meeting. Jacobs wanted to hire them to survey four parcels for a future subdivisison, but she knew she was going to have a fight with Larry about the rates later. Their crews were too expensive. Larry was going to have to agree with her this time or they'd lose the client.

Her latte was almost done by the time the VP finally allowed someone else to speak. One of the other guys at the table was listing all of the projects he had completed this month. it was the same list he said he had completed last month.

She noticed someone lurking outside the conference room door. Through the frosted glass, she could see a pair of Vans and yoga pants. It was definitely Jennifer - their department's administrative assistant.

Her phone buzzed. She snatched it off the table and glanced at the screen. it was a text from that very Jennifer herself:

"Heyo! Are you in the managers mtg?"

Obviously.

Andy texted back: "Yep."

JENNIFER: Ok. So Great. Really awesome. I don't want to rush you AT ALL. But there's another meeting that needs that space.

ANDY: Right now?

JENNIFER: No. Just wanted to give you a heads-up. No worries.

ANDY: When?

JENNIFER: It's Alec's group. They need it at 11.

ANDY: That's in an hour.

JENNIFER: Right. So just a heads-up. Thank you so much!!!

ANDY: Done in 7 minutes.

JENNIFER: Awesome!!! Could you just tell Paul?

She wanted Andy to interrupt a meeting to tell the VP that there was another meeting in here in an hour? No way in hell.

Andy typed, "nope", then deleted it. There was no need to antagonize Jennifer any further. She was a manager for crying out loud - she should not engage in small fights with Jennifers.

There was a quiet tap at the door.

If this was Jennifer, Andy was going to lose it. It was almost her turn to give an update and then they would be free.

No one heard the knock. Larry kept talking about grant-boundary adjustments and how no one knew the proper procedure any more. Larry looked over at Andy and said, "you know how to do a grant-boundary adjustment, right?" Before she had the chance to smoothly assure him that that procedure was her very favorite - the door opened. Jennifer stepped in.