Annabelle Leigh

"The Office" Fanfiction Piece

By:

Disclaimer: I do not own the Office or any other Dunder-Mifflin employees, etc, etc.

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

-From "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allen Poe

Chapter One

Monday Morning

10:12 A.M

Scranton, Pennsylvania

-Gabe Talking Head-

Gabe Lewis could feel the cheap vinyl of the plastic blinds against his shoulder blade. He shifted and stared straight ahead, and blinked once. "This will end in suffering. Luckily, I still have some say in who will suffer."

He paused, inhaling deeply. "This whole office lacks respect for others, particularly authority." He pretended to cough, and the motion caused his Adam's apple to bob. The camera zoomed in on his bobbing Adam's apple, and followed the movement, shaking the screen.

Gabe furrowed his eyebrows and his expression became perplexed. "Wh-what are you doing?"

The camera continued to follow the movements of his Adam's apple.

"Hello?" His eyes bulged slightly. "Excuse me? What are you doing? Are you filming me? I have important… things to say! Stop doing that! I have been HUMILATED by everyone in this entire (BLEEP BLEEP) office! Listen!"

The camera shakes violently, attempting to capture the rapid movement and bobbing of Gabe's Adam's apple.

"Are you filming me or not?" A shot from behind, through the blinds, shows Gabe raising his sleeve to wipe his eyes. The other employees snicker silently and imitate wiping their eyes.

The screen stopped moving up and down and shook right to left.

One Month Earlier

Monday Morning

Approximately Five Feet from the Dunder-Mifflin Elevator

Gabe curses under his breath and checks his watch. Late, late, late. He tucks his black briefcase deeper into his armpit and rushes quickly towards the elevator. He is aware of a distant clicking behind him, like heels.

"He-y!" A high voice laden with a lilting southern accent calls. Gabe freezes for a mere millisecond, before steeping onto the elevator and glancing behind him.

. A young woman, presumably a bit younger than him, is stepping onto the elevator, and he blinks, as if he's imagining her. His eyes nearly leap out of his skull as they begin to register what they are seeing- which is a lot. His brain automatically forms a list. First off, her heels are too high, her skirt is too short, and her shirt is too tight AND too low.

Gabe's eyes and brain continue to drink in the sight of her with a mixture of horror and fascination. He estimates her height to be around 5'4, to his 6'3, factoring in her heels, and the fact that her blonde hair appeared to have a gallon of hairspray in it. Her skin is pale, but with a slight creamy undertone, like lotion, he decides.

His senses are either hypersensitive or on overload, because his nostrils are overwhelmed with perfume-something flowery- he thinks- and he hears the click of her heels on the tile.

"He-y!" She says again, and he realizes he hasn't looked at her face. Coated in make-up, small, heart-shaped, a high forehead framed by more of that blonde hair, and wide doe-like eyes that are a deep blue, looking straight into his—and Gabe realizes he's been staring blankly at her for more than a minute. She beams, and his eyes are drawn to a wide, overly-white smile.

"Hey-y there!" She says for a third time, and Gabe is finally drawn out of his…observations.

"Oh, um, hi." He stammers, fiddling with his briefcase. He hasn't decided if she's attractive or not. Alright, he concedes, she's attractive, almost too attractive- although, really, she's a little bit too much of everything.

"Soooo! Do you work at-" She pulls a slip of paper from her purse and squints at it. "Dun, er, der-Miffin?"

"Um, yes." He replies. Why is he "umming"? He asked himself. There is nothing to um about! Speak with conviction, Gabe, conviction and authority!

She squeals and- he can hardly believe his eyes- claps her hands together. "Ohhh! My word! D' ya really? Do you enjoy it?"

"YES." He cringes. Too loud, and he sounds like a deaf old man or a Nazi. So much for speaking with conviction and authority…well, a Nazi is authority…he realizes.

She is still beaming at him. "Ohh! Guess what?" She doesn't wait for his reply, before she gushes; "I'm applyin' for a job at Dunder- Miffin!" Gabe can actually hear the exclamation points on the end of her sentences.

Gabe manages a small, awkward tight smile in her direction and she giggles. He feels his smile become a bit more natural, and he realizes it's because of her giggle. She has a…cute giggle.

Gabe mumbles something under his breath, and she giggles again. "What? Sorry, honey, I didn't hear you!"

"What…Oh, I didn't say anything." He says quickly. She's still beaming at him. Why is she still smiling? Does it not hurt, smiling that much?

"So! What's your name?" She asks, overly friendly.

"Gabe." He says.

"Abe? Like the President! Well, come to think of it, you do resemble him quite a bit-"

"Um, G-abe." He uncomfortably corrects her, afraid she'll be upset, but her blue eyes light up. "Ohhh! short for Gabriel? Like the angel Gabriel in the bible?"

"What? Erm, no, not an angel-what, oh uh yes it's short for Gabriel, but not- who is that, anyway, uh, no. No. No." He blinks and shakes his head.

"Ohh! Okie-dokie! Well, I'm Annabelle Leigh Bennett!" Her smile still has not faltered.

"Oh, like the poem, Annabel Lee? By Edgar Allen Poe?" Gabe breathes a sigh of relief, thinking for once he has said something remotely intelligent.

Her dainty eyebrows scrunch up slightly in confusion. "Who? Um, well, not, uh, exactly- it's… I actually go by Annie!" She finishes, beaming at him again.

"Oh okay." He says too quickly. There is a moment of pause, and he says, too quickly again, nervously. "Hi, Annie." He likes her name, and he hopes his nasally voice didn't muck it up.

She giggles and he relishes the sound. "I think we oughta go up, now, don't you think?"

"Uh, what? Oh yes! Ha, wow!" Gabe exclaims, and tries to discreetly check his watch. Ten minutes. They have been standing on the elevator for ten minutes? Impossible.

Gabe reaches out his hand to press the up button and he sees its trembling. How embarrassing.

The two stand in uncomfortable silence as the elevator car rises painstakingly slow.

Ding. The doors slide open, and Gabe starts to exit the elevator, at the same time Annie does.

A moment of awkward shuffling, and Gabe mentally curses himself for not letting her go first as they make their way to the office floor.

Click, click, click. Her shoes tap the tile floor, and Gabe wills himself to not look at her legs. Professional behavior, Gabe, professional work behavior…

He pulls open the glass door for her, winking at the camera.