Into the Wild...Boyz

Darcie rose early for her first day of work. She decided to take the bus from her little apartment then skateboard the rest of the way to the office. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, it was a beautiful LA morning but once she got to the office, it was definitely locked. She double checked her watch. She was a few minutes early so she sat underneath the little awning waiting for Jeff or anyone else with keys to the office to arrive.

She must’ve dozed off because what felt like minutes but was actually hours had passed and someone was tapping her foot with their own. She looked up to see Jeff’s scruffy face looking down at hers.

“Well aren’t you the overachiever”, he said as he went past her to unlock the door.
Darcie got to her feet and followed him. “What happened to eight o’clock?” she asked.

“Did I say eight? I meant after nine or whenever I get here, whichever comes first.” He opened the door and held it for her. She walked in and he followed even though she didn’t exactly know where she was going yet. “So you have a passport right?”

“Yeah why?”

“Because we’re going to be leaving to film overseas soon that’s why. You sure do ask a lot of questions.” Jeff quickly stepped in front of her, almost as if he was annoyed with her slow speed as he took off down the little hallway. Darcie decided to just follow him since he knew where he was going. She followed him all the way into his office. He took a seat at his desk and started to unload his laptop from his bag. He looked up at her as she stood in the door way. “Well, go find yourself a desk. There’s a few abandoned cubicles around here. Dimitry should be in soon. Tall, Russian guy, can’t miss him or you could talk to Trip instead. Yeah, that’s probably a better idea. You can’t miss him either, he’s tall too.” He gave her a dismissive wave and turned his attention to his laptop. Darcie was about to say something when Jeff’s cell phone rang. He answered it with a grunty “yeah” and waved her off again so she turned around and went back down the hall in search of an abandon cubicle which wasn’t hard to find.

Darcie ended up in an open room much like the little sitting area when she first walked in. The place was a mess. At least there was what looked like an abandoned cubicle in the far corner of the room. She took out a few rolled up drawings from her bag and pinned them to the inside of the cubicle and added a framed picture of her and her best friend. Running out of push pins she tried to open the drawer closest to her. It was stuck for some reason but it was enough space for her to put her hand inside of it. She felt around and immediately recoiled when the drawer started buzzing. She slammed it shut and that just seemed to amplify the buzz.

“Where’s that buzzing sound coming from?” asked a male voice. Darcie stood still, hoping that whoever it was wouldn’t walk over to where she was. The last thing she wanted to do was draw attention to herself on her first day of work, especially over whatever the hell was buzzing in the drawer near her hip.

“I don’t know, dude”, rasped another male voice. “I’m in no shape to hear right now. This hang over is killing me.”

“Well it sounds like it’s coming from the cubicle over there. Let’s investigate.” She heard two pair of feet heading her way and her first thought was to just hide underneath the little desk in the cubicle. It wouldn’t be hard to since she was so short. She could probably fit underneath it and no one would be the wiser. But before she could make a move, a smiling head popped over the wall of the cubicle.

“Hey, I’ve never seen you before. I’m Chris, what’s your name?”

“I’m Darcie.”

“Hey, Darcie. What’s buzzing?” Chris laughed at his own little joke. “Get it? No, seriously though, what’s that noise?”

“Um, it’s whatever’s in the drawer, I guess.”

“Well here, I’ll help.” He stood at the opening of the cubicle. “May I come in?”

“Yeah sure.” Darcie waved him into the little space.

“Must be in the drawer”, he said and gave the handle a tug but it wouldn’t budge at first. Another healthy yank though and it opened effortlessly. Darcie and Chris marveled at what was in the drawer buzzing away. “How many times have I told you to take your toys home with you, Steve-O?” Chris laughed as he picked up the vibrator and threw it out of the cubicle.

“Ew, you asshole! That’s not mine!” rasped the other male that had accompanied Chris into the room.

“Quit being rude. Come over here and meet the new girl.” Darcie peered over the cubicle and saw the guy Chris called Steve-O sitting on the couch. He seemed more interested in lighting the cigarette he held between his lips. “And what did Jeff tell you about smoking in here?”

“I don’t see Jeff around, do you?” Steve-O laughed.

“Actually, he’s in his office”, said Darcie.

Steve-O gave her a cursory glance as he lit his cigarette anyway. “And who are you again?”

“I’m Darcie.”

“Don’t mind Steve-O, Darcie. He’s just hung over and grumpy. He’s really pretty cool once you get to know him”, said Chris. “So are you going to be working with us on WildBoyz?”

“I guess so”, replied Darcie. “No one’s assigned me anything except a desk.”

“And a vibrating one at that. So you must be really special”, Chris laughed.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hours later, Darcie returned to her cubicle and tossed herself into the chair that was there. She sighed heavily. She’d just come from a meeting, the most laid back and strangest meeting she’d ever been in. The only thing she felt that got accomplished was the fact that she met some more of her coworkers and knew that she’d be leaving for…what the hell was the name of that place again? She asked herself as she consulted the pad of paper she took with her. Oh yeah, Patagonia, which was an area of Argentina. It didn’t sound so bad. She was looking forward to it. She started making a list of things to do and pack. The first thing on the list was find her passport. She definitely had one she just didn’t know where exactly it was. While she worked on her list and put some thought on where her passport could be hiding, her phone vibrated in her pocket. Without thinking, she pulled it out and answered it.

“Hello? Well, it’s interesting so far, thanks for asking. Oh shit. No, I totally forgot. I’m sorry. We’ll have to meet up tomorrow maybe? I guess?” Outside of her cubicle she heard someone say “hey, new girl”. She looked up to see Jeff standing on the other side of her cubicle wall.

“A personal call already?” His brow furrowed, he seemed serious.

“Uh, sorry, Jeff.” Darcie turned her attention to her phone call, “I’ll have to call you back, Casey.”

“Casey? Lemme see that.” Jeff took her phone from her. “You’re bothering my PA, this better be good. Lunch? We don’t have time for things like that around here; we’re a very busy production company. And where are those legal docs I needed? The releases for you know what. Oh, I thought I told you. Never mind, forget I said anything then. Oh sure I’ll tell her. Okay, bye.” Jeff ended the call and handed Darcie’s phone back to her. “Your lunch has been moved to dinner, tonight. Some fancy schmancy sushi place on Sunset.”

“Gee, um, thanks? Sorry about the phone call though, Boss.”

“Oh like I really care. Just about everyone around here spends the majority of the day on their phone and just about the whole time it’s not work related. As long as you show up on time and know your job, I’m happy, which you seem to have mastered so far but then again it’s only Day One. Keep up the great job and I might upgrade you to an office sooner rather than later.” He took a step away from her cubicle then came back. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I need to you check with JP, our shady prop guy, about getting a llama suit.”

“A llama suit?”

“It’s better you not ask so many questions, just sayin’.” He casually turned on his heel and walked away, whistling as he went.