Belly Literary Universe (part 1)

Jackie's Duty Part 3: Buds

Jacki passed by the colossal bronze scientists on her way out of the research center. Outside the front door she took a sharp turn and hid behind a grand pillar. After a quick glance to make sure she was out of sight, she pulled out her phone from her suit's breast pocket and dialed Marvin's number.

"Talk." Marvin answered. The loud clack of a mechanical keyboard pierced through the phone.

"Hello to you too. I didn't get the job I interviewed for, but I got an IT position for the same floor there." She reported.

"Damnit." Marvin stopped typing. "That complicates things. I wanted you in there as a peer."

"Well... One, too late for that. And two, this might actually might be better. I'll be able to move around without suspicion. I'll be able to poke around a bit. I won't be tied to a cubical."

"And do what? Just declare yourself friends with the targets? People don't care about the IT guy. They just want you to do your business and get out of the way."

Jackie sighed. "Maybe if you're an asshole. I'm rough around the edges, sure, but I'm confident I can make friends."

"Hah. Hah. You're a comedian. Maybe you should head down south to the comedy club. But I was talking about trust. Getting them to talk about the bread they baked or little Timmy's dance recital is one thing. Getting them to spill the beans on the secret social engineer they're involved with? That takes a stronger bond than that which exists between an IT guy and their client. Building a friendship to the point we need is going to be time consuming."

"And that's the only thing we got. I can't exactly have my mom call and berate Kelri for not hiring me." Jackie quipped.

Marvin groaned. "Well. If that's all we have for the moment then your job is the same. We'll have to make due. Get to know these people and find out what you can. Maybe you're a better friend than me. I'll handle Kelri. We've spoken before and I plan to talk to her again. Soon. Focus on the others. Maybe just one of them. Whichever is more receptive. Don't need to waste resources on both of them if one doesn't like your cheery disposition."

"Will do."

***

The next Monday Jackie headed in to her first day in IT for the department of Data Aggregation and Storage. The lax dress code for the position made her uncomfortable before she even left her apartment. With as frilly as she felt in her navy blue skirt and black shirt, she still felt over dressed walking into her office. The typical dress of her coworkers reminded her of the tech labs back at college.

Three hours of signing paperwork left her eager to do anything else. Before work, she was dreading meeting her supervisor, but after signing 50 different documents the prospects seemed like it would be a joyous occasion.

The man met Jackie's handshake with friendly grip. "Howard Dilwarth, pleasure to meet you!" He was not a beautiful man. His high cheekbones, sunken cheeks, and his naturally awkward smile gave him the subtle appearance of a scary clown. While his thick lensed, bridged navy style glasses helped ease the clown like hints, they didn't do anything to make him more attractive. His welcome was a warm one however.

"Glad to be on board. I'm hoping the more hands on, front line IT duty will be a nice change of pace from network administration for the finance office."

"Oh well, There is certainly more computers to maintain in these parts. None of it is too hard - especially not for someone of your background - but we definitely have gluts where everything breaks at once. You'll do fine though. So as I tell all my employees, I have an open door policy. I don't have a door on my cubicle, but if I did it would be open." He chuckled to himself.

"I don't expect you'll have many problems from me." Jackie assured Howard.

"Greeeat. So why don't I give you the quick tour and put you to work. Sound good? I think the first thing I'll have you do, retrieve some terminals. We had a couple employees finish their last day yesterday so we need to bring their computers in to be wiped and ghosted."

***

On the way back from wheeling the two computers back to the IT office using a rolling chair, she got an Email from Howard. "Heeey Jackie - Valerie Russell in cube 277 spilled hot chocolate onto her keyboard. Can you grab a new one from the equipment lockup and bring it to her? Consider it a test of your navigation skills. LOL good luck."

Jackie laughed at the informality of the message. "I'd be happy to do that. Will be good to meet some people on the floor too."

"That's the way to do it. Feel free to clock out to lunch afterwards."

***

Stepping into Valerie's cubicle was like walking into a gothic dance club during the day. Goth magazine clippings and dark concert photos wallpapered the cubicle walls. The black light Christmas lights made white portions of pinned up band logos glow somewhat even in the sterile office light. Jackie's mind had trouble reconciling Valerie in the photos and the Valerie wiping chocolate from her white blouse.

"Hey Valerie Russel? I'm Jackie Martin. I'm new to IT. I heard you were having a keyboard and chocolate issue?" She joked to try and make a good impression. Her eyes darted up and down judging her and searing her appearance into her mind. Long straight black hair, muted facial expressions. Long skirt and blouse - different style from picture of free time. Body? B cup breasts? Somewhat flat butt. Round stomach fitting in with the belly obsession. Based on her height? Hard to say with her proportions. 170 pounds give or take 10 pounds? She's fatter than in her pictures posted up. Has gained quite a bit of weight. Hot chocolate instead of coffee? Dislike of caffeine or hot chocolate has more calories? She committed what details she could to memory. Wait... Are those candy canes? She Thought to herself

Valerie stood up and pushed her chair aside to give Jackie room. "Nice to meet you. Even more glad you're here with a new keyboard." Valerie traced Jackie's gaze to the mug filled with candy canes. She gave her a slight smirk. "There were on clearance. Want one? I've got plenty."

Jackie shrugged. Not wanting to be rude, she took the candy cane and hooked it on the neckline of her T -Shirt. She climbed down onto her hands and knees to access the computer tower. "So what do you think of the office?" She asked from under the desk.

"It's good work. Steady work. Mostly drama free."

Jackie fed the new keyboard cord into the back of the computer and crawled back out. She laughed as she stood. "I heard something about that. I actually heard something about your boss being fired over an ice cream. What was that about?"

Valerie looked down at the chocolate stain on her tight blouse and smiled. She looked back up. "It was just a fun little thing and Hugo lost his shit over it. That's the jist of the story really."

"Over ice cream?" Jackie cocked her head.

"More or less, yes. It was all very silly. He upset a lot of people." Valerie ran her hands down her sides to straighten her blouse.

"You'll have to tell me some of the details another time. That sounds like the story of office legends."

"Hah. Maybe if you stick around you'll hear it."

"Well... I know I'm new here, but I'm quite skilled with computers. Probably overqualified. Here is my number, feel free to call me if you need any computer stuff. Or if you have any office gossip to share." She gave Valerie a warm and welcoming smile.

"Thanks. I will. It will be nice to have more female faces on the IT team. I'll see you around." Valerie sat down and pulled back up to her desk.

Jackie left to return to her desk. She'd be cute if it weren't for that belly. Even still she's not that bad looking. She's damn hard to read though. I'll have to keep on it and learn her tells. She thought as she opened up a candy cane.