A Strange Arrangement

I slammed my hand down on the obnoxious clock as it continued to go off. I lifted my head to look at the time.

“8:45 am.”

I had exactly one hour and fifteen minutes to get to the Philadelphia Inquirer's office. I rolled over onto my back and stared at the ceiling reflecting on the previous night's events. The dinner with Kris' teammates had been a total disaster but our solo meal together had been wonderful. We sat in the restaurant for another two hours after we'd finished our food catching up and reminiscing. I hadn't been so comfortable in a person's presence in such a long time. Unfortunately, an amazing conversation over too many drinks had made for a rude awakening for me this morning.

I rolled out of bed and headed to the bathroom to freshen myself up so I wouldn't look completely awful if Kris hadn't left for his morning skate yet.

After a quick shower and brush of my teeth, I got dressed and proceeded cautiously into the living room area.

“Kris...?” I called out. No answer.

I walked into the kitchen and saw a note on the counter.

“Hey Lex,
I wanted to be able to wish you luck on your first day in person, but I have to go to practice. I know you'll do well. Don't be nervous. I'm taking you out to celebrate when you get home so be prepared!
-K”

A massive grinned spread across my face. I folded the note and put it on the inside of a notebook which I placed in my messenger bag. I was far too excited about the coming day to even think about trying to eat breakfast. I went back into my bathroom and finished getting ready.

About twenty minutes later, I pulled up to a giant skyscraper building. I paid the taxi driver and stepped out of the car, staring up at my new place of employment. I made my way through the revolving door and examined the lobby. It was filled with frantic people on cell phones and bluetooths talking about meetings they were late for or deadlines they were going to miss.

I approached one of the three receptionists I saw behind a desk.

“Hi.” I said getting her attention.

“Hello. How can I help you?” she said bubbly.

“I'm Alexandria King. Today's my first day as a features writer. I was told to check in at the front desk.”

“Yes. Ms. King. Welcome. You're going to take the elevator around the corner here to the 20th floor. Ms. Dunkel is anticipating your arrival,” she said.

“Thank you so much,” I replied with a courteous smile.

I made my way around the side of a marble wall where I spied the elevator. Stepping into it, I pressed the 20th floor button. I kept my eyes on the increasing floor numbers while I could sense the men in the lift kept their eyes on me.

“Creepy middle aged men, look away please.”

The doors opened to the twelfth floor and four men stepped out. The doors closed again and our journey upwards continued once more. I didn't know if it was excitement caused by my new job or anxiety caused by the men more than likely undressing me with their eyes in the elevator but I wanted to get out of this enclosed space immediately.

“Jesus. Eight more floors. Come on...”

The doors finally opened to the 20th floor and I hurried off. I walked over to yet another secretary.

“Hi, I'm Alexandria King, the new features writer. I was told Ms. Dunkel was expecting me.” I explained.

“Well naturally I'm expecting you. It's your first day,” said a voice behind me.

I turned to see a woman in a sleeveless, black, v-neck dress with graying blonde hair staring at me with a slight smirk on her face. She reached her hand out to me.

“Ellen Dunkel. Entertainment editor. Glad to have you here.”

I quickly took her hand.

“Alexandria King. Features writer. Glad to be here.” I smiled.

She quickly sized me up with a glance and said “Follow me.”

She seemed like a nice but strict woman. Her heels were high which made me think perhaps she had a Napoleon Complex. Definitely not Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada” but she would put you in your place if you crossed her. I had no intentions of doing so.

“This is your office,” she explained gesturing to the fully furnished room, “If there's anything you don't like feel free to change it on your own dime. All offices and cubicles come with a computer but most people these days have their own laptops, so if you want to do away with it you can. Just let one of our IT guys know. Come along.”

She led me past a giant conference room where a meeting was taking place. I glanced in and saw a few people look up. We turned a corner and were confronted by two large doors. She pushed them open quite dramatically, like I was sure she had done so many times before.

“Take a seat. Do you want a drink?” she asked.
“No, I'm fine. Thank you.”
“A word of advice: Always take the drink. You don't have to drink it. You just have to accept the gesture.”
“Oh, okay. Sorry.”
“Anyway,” she said situating herself at her desk, putting her sleek, black reading glasses on, and fumbling through a file, “You specialize in music, correct?”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“But if I needed you to cover other events involving movies or fashion or what not, you said you were also capable of doing that, right?”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“Good, because I have a film festival I want you to cover tonight.” she pressed the button on her intercom, “Julia, can you tell Sara to come in, please?”

“Yes, Ellen,” said a voice I assumed belonged to a woman named Julia.

We sat there in an awkward silence for two minutes until a knock came at the door.

“Come in!” Ellen called.

The door opened and a girl about my age walked in.

“You wanted to see me, Ellen?” she said.

“Yes, Sara, come here. You know that film festival you're covering tonight? Well here's your partner for it. Sara Smith, Alexandria King. Alexandria King, Sara Smith.” she gestured back and forth introducing us.

We smiled at each other and shook hands.

“So, the two of you go grab lunch. Get to know each other. Whatever. Just make sure you check in at the event by 4.” she instructed us, “If you have any questions about anything, Sara will help you, Alexandria. Okay? Off you go.” she said shooing us away.

I walked out of the office with Sara.

“I just need to go grab my bag, okay? Be right back. Go grab the elevator, please.” Sara told me.

I walked over and pressed the button to the elevator waiting for Sara to rejoin me. About a minute later she came rushing around the corner.

“Yeah, I didn't think it'd be here yet. This elevator takes forever.” she smiled and I smiled back in return. “So this is your first assignment for us. Are you excited?”

The elevator doors opened and we stepped in.

“Yeah, a little nervous, but mainly excited.” I answered honestly.

“It'll be great. We're going to have a lot of fun.” she told me as the doors began to close.

“I certainly hope so,” I thought.