No fraternizing at Work

The trouble about
Being strong in life is that people
Often times forget that you
To can get weak.
It's this long road to walk
Along and nobody tells you
No matter how equipped you
Think you are one day it
Won't be enough.

On paper
Caroline was the perfect girl
Mentally well rounded physically rounded
A high school graduate. She'd followed everything her grandmother had said to her.
"Don't be a fast tale girl. Stay in your books".
But now as a 25 yr old women she felt so out of the loop. Not that she necessarily wanted to be one with the in crowd, she wanted to be her and be seen for the most authentic her.
Good girl, soprano choir singer, all those
Labels you could think of hadn't helped her with love. You see Caroline was raised by her grandmother Marcy Grey since she was an infant due to her mothers drug addiction. Caroline spent much of her time being coddled by her grandmother. It made Marcy clings to Caroline so much that she wasn't into the street life or into what the hype of the world was. But Caroline was just a young women.
She'd never seen a positive relationship between a man and a woman. Often times Marcy would tell Caroline stories of the abuse she'd suffered from Caroline's grandfather Thomas Grey. She even tell her how God had brought her through and how much she'd prayed.
The thought of the suffering the one super hero she'd known __had endured made Caroline a skeptic when it came to men. It didn't help that she had never known her father either.
All of the years leading up to this Tuesday June 8th day Caroline had never looked at men with the possibility of anything good. She'd barely dated through out high school. When ever she had she'd see a split view of what Marcy said "men had to offer" and she'd leave the relationship. Caroline's friends Carmen and Fran would say she was searching for the perfect man. But Caroline would say, " I'm living and if a morally right man exist and comes along my path then so be it".

It was the age of social media, likes, and follows.
Girls with figures like Frans were the topic of discussion. Fran was an Atlanta born Caribbean and black Latina who at twenty one made a stop in Miami to get plastic surgery on her booty and breast. She was feisty but ditzy.
Carmen on the other hand was dark skinned and really skinny with short black hair so she'd wear weave a lot. Her cool demeanor attracted a lot of attention. If not that it would have to be her never ending closet full of the latest NYC gear.
Caroline however was a brown skin small towned VA girl at heart. She wasn't concerned about trends she wore what she wanted and enjoyed vintage looks and thrifting.
"Let me guess you went thrifting again? Asked Fran.

"How'd you know? Said Caroline.

"Cus it's you Care", said Carmen.

The girls laughed in agreement on the FaceTime call. As Caroline made her way into the small warehouse to begin work. Her head phones were placed in both ears while her two best friends voices echoed from speaker to speaker. Caroline worked in the HR department of a small aircraft parts warehouse outside of Cleveland O.H.
She was walking to the time clock when she smacked into a white shirt. She looked up from her phone to see Troy eyeing down at her with this intensity in his eyes. She hated being around Troy because she couldn't read him and it would often lead her to feeling awkward. Troy was west African but born in NYC. He didn't need to tell you it was evident in his style and his choice of words. Troy was dark skin and about 6'3. He had eyes the color of fresh almonds and a light that glowed like the sun peaking through after a long rainy day.
Troy was a breath of fresh air at the job. Every girl wanted to talk to him or be around him. Often times they'd even bring him food.
It had been as such for 9 months. Girls would even rant to Caroline about how good he smelled or looked. Caroline was hell bent on keeping the work place professional. But it was weird this electric energy between the two. Like if they were in a room there eyes would automatically meet.
Weird but Electric
Electric but weird.
But maybe that's how he was with every girl? Caroline thought.