Sullen and Haunted

VI: Tight Space

I woke him up early. He has this look about him when he's tired and walking around. With his hair tousled and his shirt and boxers wrinkled up, the smile I let escape threatened to get bigger.

But soon we were driving after a large, healthy breakfast and each a vigorous shower, and soon we were walking into a large building.

Typing, various clicking noises, the screaming of printers and fax machines met us both.

"Welcome to my job, Connor." I smiled, waving a hand outward.

He surveyed the entire room. He couldn't believe what he saw. With all those people and all those machine, he could've been easily entertained for hours.

"Connor, meet Julie. She's my best friend and co-worker. Julie, meet Connor."

The pretty red head named Julie smiled widely and shook his hand. "Nice you meet you, Connor."

"And you, Julie." He smiled back.

I led him to my boss' office and introduced the two. "Mr. Baker, this is my friend Connor. He isn't familiar with a business setting, and I wanted to keep him with me some days so he could get the feel of it and possibly get employed from his experience with me." I quickly explained.

"Sounds great, Alexa. You're a good enough worker to get your work done no matter who's around you." Then he nodded towards Connor and looked at him with approving eyes. "Maybe we can offer him a job if he proves capable."

I smiled and then showed Connor my cubicle. "This is where I sit when I'm working on my computer."

"This place is overwhelming." He confessed. "The people are nice, though. Your boss likes you."

I laughed lightly. "He likes the female of his species way too much."

He smiled, laughing a little, and sat down in the chair I pulled up for him inside my office.

"After I get logged in and set up, I'll show you how to work the fax machine and the copier, and any other machine we have for everyone to use. When I first got here I didn't know a thing about office work."

"Will it be hard to learn?" He asked, slightly worried.

He probably wants to impress everyone...

"Nah, you'll get some practice under your belt and be a natural. You just have to practice by using the machine and knowing it can work for you, and you not work for it." I smiled.

He nodded and watched me as I logged into my computer and watched as I typed and clicked. Everything I did he was there watching and learning.

In a matter of minutes he was in front of the copy machine listening to my every word and watching my every move. I gave him different types of documents to copy and gave certain instructions on how to copy them. After a few attempts, he was catching on.

"Don't expect to get everything on the first try, Connor. No one expects you to know this stuff. Everyone here learned at some point just as you are."

"Really? So they were in the same place I was?"

I nodded.

"That's good to know. Then I won't feel as bad if I mess up."

But he seemed to have perfectionism in his nature. If it wasn't done right the first time at his hand, he would grow in rage and become angry.

"So I see Alexa is working the newbie to death!" A co-worker came from behind me and laughed with sarcasm draining from his voice. "Always the humanitarian."

"Go back to work, Jake. Your insults are quite past due and, frankly, unimportant right now." I forced my sarcastic smile to match his tone and turned back to Connor.

"All right, I see how you want to be. Just go back to your newbie. Teach him everything you know." He slightly bowed in Connor's direction and sauntered off to his cubicle.

"That was Jake, Connor. As you can see he is a complete ass."

"He seemed to have some unrequited bitterness towards you. Do you two have a past?" He asked genuinely.

"Something like that. At a business party he asked me out for a date. I took him as drunk and turned him down...well, I would've turned him down if he was sober anyway. Well, it turns out he was sober, and has resented me for it everyday."

"Well, he's what you guys consider attractive, which I'm still trying to learn by the way. You guys change tastes to quickly. Is there something about him that just doesn't appeal to you?" He gathered his copied sheets from the dispense tray.

"Well, the fact that he's a womanizer didn't sway my decision." I smirked. He laughed. "He's not someone I could see myself with for a long time."

"Is that what you want? Something that will last?"

I nodded. "Call me a softy. I like relationships to be more than a fling."

"A fling?"

I giggled. "Yes, that's what I call something that doesn't last."

He nodded and smiled. "You and your terms for things. It's crazy!"

We both laughed and continued to the fax machine. We found Jake pounding the machine and cursing quite loudly.

"Trouble in mechanical paradise?" I asked, smiling at his antics.

"Mr. Baker is such a cheap skate, he won't replace this fax machine no matter how many times it messes up." He continued slapping it.

"Let me look at it." Connor volunteered.

Jake stood back. "Be my guest, Newbie. Show us all your mechanical skills."

"My name is Connor, Jake." He bitterly emphasized his name as he opened the machine.

The whirring gears took him by surprise it seemed. But he found something that was stopping them from going around. "Is that supposed to be there?"

Jake and I looked and he was pointing to a piece of paper. It was jammed in the gears.

"Nope," I said, gently taking the paper out.

The machine came alive and completed the job Jake had started.

"See what mechanical skills such as actually opening a machine can do for you, Jake." I taunted, slapping his shoulder.

"Yeah, the good ol' Newbie had something, doesn't he? Maybe he isn't so bad after all."

I didn't believe for a second that he would let up on Connor. He has this thing about him that doesn't forget what he feels towards people.

"Just remember, Jakey-wakey. If something bad happens to him, it's your ass."

"Oh, Alexa is really scary. Woo woo!" He lifted his hands to his face and opened his eyes wide.

He left for his working space once more after taking the completed fax with him.

"You shouldn't let him get to you, ya know." Connor smiled, taking the fax from my hands.

"It's kinda hard when he's always there. But I'll do my best." I smiled, then instructing him on the machine at hand.

Don't trust him, Connor. He's bad news.