'Kay, guys! Chapter 2's up! Anyways, here's a list of all the employees and their positions, like I promised.
Herozone: Cambridge, MA Branch
Regional Manager: Alfred F. Jones
Assistant to the Regional Manager: Arthur Kirkland
Receptionist: Natalia Arlovskaya
Sales Representatives: (in order of seniority)
Francis Bonnefoy
Ludwig Beilschmidt
Wang Yao
Lovino Vargas
Ivan Braginski
Feliks Łukasiewicz
Antonio Carriedo
Eduard von Bock (also helps with Tech Support—gets a bonus whenever a problem arises with the computers)
Raivis Galante (once a temp worker, now full-time salesman)
Toris Lorinaitis
Accounting: (in order of seniority)
Katyusha Braginskaya
Vash Zwingli
Kiku Honda
Quality Assurance: Elizabeta Hédérvary
Supplier Relations: Im Yong Soo
Customer Relations: Feliciano Vargas (originally in Accounting, but failed, so Alfred switched him to CR)
Human Resources: Matthew Williams
There are also five other branches of Herozone, located in: Albany, New York; Portland, Maine; Newark, New Jersey; Berlington, Vermont; and New Haven, Connecticut. The Albany branch will play a larger role in the story. Corporate is located in New York, New York.
This chapter was such a pain to write. I started it in February, and I barely finished it now. Don't worry! There won't be giant gaps between the chapters! I'm sure of it! It was sooooo much longer than Chapter 1 though. Also, I apologize if this chapter's kinda slow. It kinda turned into a "character introduction" chapter, like I feared. Dx
Chapter 2
"Heeeeeeeey, Lovi!"
Ignore him, Lovino. Just ignore him…
"Lovinoooooooooo!"
Goddammit, Antonio!
"Looooooviiiiiiiiiiiiii!"
Lovino rolled his eyes and continued to work, ignoring the other as much as possible.
"LOVI!"
He whirled around to face the Spaniard from across the aisle, eyes blazing. "What is it you want, you bastard?"
Antonio smirked, obviously used to Lovino's snappiness. "I was just wondering if we're still going out tonight 'cause -"
Lovino put his hand over Antonio's mouth. "Shut up, Antonio!" he hissed, looking around worriedly. "Do you want everyone to find out about us?"
Antonio did nothing, and then slowly nodded.
The Italian's eyes narrowed. "Well, I don't, and I don't plan on telling anyone anytime soon! Got it?"
Antonio rolled his eyes and nodded. He swiveled back to his desk. Lovino glared at him for a few moments and turned back to his. It was quiet in the office for a few moments. And then he heard a chair swivel in his direction.
"So…are we still on or what?"
Lovino jumped, his mug full of pencils and pens falling all over his desk and Ludwig's . Aw, crap, now the potato bastard would be -
"Lovino!" snapped Ludwig. "Would you stop spilling your pencils all over my desk? Mein Gött, you're almost as bad as your brother…"
"S-sorry," he muttered, plopping the writing instruments back into his mug. He looked over his shoulder. Antonio had turned away, his shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.
E5
Feliks continued pressing the button on the vending machine, getting more and more frustrated each time. He had left his package of paluszki back at his apartment, and by the time he noticed it was missing from his bag, it was already too late. Now it was ten-thirty and his craving returned. And now, he had to make due with regular chips.
"Oh, come on, you stupid thing!" he said, slamming his palm on the glass. The damn Doritos wouldn't come out! They were halfway stuck on the ring.
"Geez, what did the vending machine do to you?"
He turned around at the familiar voice. "Hey, Lizzie."
Elizabeta put her coins into the other vending machine, each one clinking as it was inserted. "You're an odd sight over here. What happened to your paluszki?"
"Forgot it."
"Oh." There was an uncomfortable pause between them. Feliks shifted a little, knowing what she would ask about next.
"Sooooooo…did you and that new guy ever go out?" she asked. "You asked him out, didn't you?"
"Yeah, but he totally turned me down. I dunno." He shook the vending machine again before finally giving up. He sighed, weakly kicking the bottom. "You think he's straight?"
Elizabeta shrugged. "I dunno. I caught him looking over at Natalia a few times."
Feliks gave her a look of disgust. "Ewwwww! No way! Her? But she's totally not Toris' type! She's so, like, weird and creepy! She totally digs Ivan, you know that right—?"
"I'm just telling you what I've seen," she said, putting her hands up. "To be honest, you were kinda…forward with him."
"Really?"
"It was his first day at work, Feliks. He's probably creeped out that one of his co-workers asked him out. Just give him some time."
Now that he thought about it, she did have a point. When Feliks asked him on Tuesday, the expression on Toris' face was one of complete horror. He quickly turned down Feliks, muttering an apology, and went back to selling paper. It had been two days, and there had been an awkward wall between them. Whenever Feliks tried to talk to him, Toris just stuttered and looked away, always answering in short sentences. And whenever Toris tried to talk to him, Feliks stuttered and blushed madly.
"I guess you're right," he said, slumping his shoulders.
Elizabeta picked up her drink and lightly elbowed him in the ribs. "Hey, you know, I think I can help out somehow."
Feliks looked at her, hope blooming on his face. "R-really? How?"
"I can talk to him during lunch—tell him the lowdown on everything going on around here, maybe give him a slight nudge in the right direction, if you get my drift." She winked.
"You'd do that, Lizzie? Wow, thank you so much!" He threw his arms around her. "You're such an awesome friend! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
She giggled and patted his back. "I'd do anything to help my BFF," she said.
When they broke apart, she squealed. "Oh. My. God! You cannot believe who I caught making out in the bushes!"
Feliks gasped. "Oh my God, who, who? I totally want to hear about this!"
"Even better! I caught them on camera!"
Lunch was rather awkward for Toris. Yesterday he just sat at his desk to eat, but then he just felt so isolated from everyone else. So, today he decided to go into the break room to each. Everyone just seemed in their little group on their little tables, chatting happily. He spotted Feliks chatting rapidly with one of the customer relations guys—Feliciano?—and his incredibly bored-looking blonde boyfriend. Eduard and Raivis were at a table with Ivan, Natalia, and a large-breasted accountant named Katyusha. He was heading over to sit with them until he felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Hey, need someone to sit with?"
He turned around. "Oh, umm, hello." It was a pretty brunette woman who he saw talking with Feliks sometimes. What did she do again?...
"Elizabeta, isn't it?"
She nodded. "You can just call me Lizzie." She headed for an empty table in the corner. "Soooo, would you mind sitting with me? Or do you want to sit alone?"
"Oh! Oh, of course I'll sit with you! Sure!"
They sat down. Toris chewed on his sandwich pensively while Elizabeta just stared at him, picking at her salad. He figured that he was supposed to be the one to start the conversation.
"Umm, Elizabeta—"
"Lizzie."
"Lizzie. How long have you been working here?"
"Two years. My boyfriend's been working here longer, but he's over at the Albany branch. He's the assistant regional manager over there. He says the manager over there's a complete moron. I've met him a few times. He's an ass, and Roderich would have gotten him fired a long time ago, but corporate just loooooooovesss him." She viciously stabbed a tomato, its juices running through the lettuce.
Toris flinched. "Oh. That's awful." He took another bite of his sandwich.
"Yeah, but he's over in Albany. As long as he doesn't come to Cambridge, I'm a happy girl. But enough about me. What about you? Where're you from?"
"My family's from Philly, but I moved when I got accepted to college up here. Worked at Staples for a little while, then decided I wanted to sell paper. So, I decided to sign up for an interview here, and here I am."
"Hmm. Interesting. I bet Alfred gave you the tour, right?"
"Yeah, why? Doesn't he do it with everyone?"
"Yes…but I bet he didn't give you the unofficial tour, did he?"
Unofficial tour? "No…what's that?" To be honest, he felt quite a bit frightened. He had been in a frat in college; he knew about hazing.
"Weeeeeeeeeeeell…" Elizabeta looked around the break room. "There are a few things about this office that Alfred doesn't mention in his tour."
"…Like, what…?"
"I'll just say, be lucky that you weren't here for Christmas parties. Alfred likes to buy beer, and lots of it."
"But, isn't that illegal in Massachusetts?"
Elizabeta sighed. "Toris, would Alfred let a little law like that keep him from giving out booze during a Christmas party of all things?"
"Umm…"
"Exactly."
They continued to chew in silence again before Elizabeta pointed to the British man that Alfred had playfully teased on Toris' first day. "You see that guy over there?" she asked.
"Umm, yeah."
"That's Arthur Kirkland. He pretends to be such a prude and stuffy and just so British, but I know his secret."
…This was not going to end well…
"Last Christmas party, I forgot my car keys in the office. I went back up here to get them and…" She erupted in giggles. "…I-I saw h-him and Alfred in Alfred's office and…and Alfred was spanking him."
Toris was staring at her. "…Wait, what?"
"Of course, I told everyone, and Arthur denies that anything happened, but Alfred always avoids the question, so I wonder…"
Toris took a deep breath. Interesting office gossip. Certainly more interesting than Staples.
"Oh! Oh! You know Lovino Vargas?" she asked excitedly.
A day ago at the water cooler, Toris had tripped accidentally and spilled his cup on Lovino's shirt, which brought out probably the longest and loudest exclamation of English and Italian curses that he had heard.
"A little bit."
"Well, he's totally dating Antonio—you know, the Spanish salesman—but the cutest thing is they doesn't know that everyone knows about them. Seriously. They try to keep it all secretive and hidden, and they just make out in the closet and stuff." She suddenly pulled out a camera from her pocket. "You know, I just caught a video of them in the bushes earlier today. Wanna see?"
"Uh, no."
"That's too bad." She shrugged and put the camera away.
"Um, Eliza—Lizzie?"
"Yeah?"
"Why are you telling me all these things?"
She blinked at him before chewing on a lettuce leaf. "Oh, I'm just giving you a rundown of everything that goes on here, just so…you know, you don't freak out if you see something weird."
"Umm, thank you?"
She smiled. "No problem."
Toris let out a sigh. This place was definitely going to be weirder than Staples. Something niggled at the back of his mind, but he decided not to say anything about it.
Or would he…?
"So…do you know anything about…?"
Toris stared at his computer, just looking over the same old boring spreadsheet and waiting until the clock on his computer reached five o'clock.
Or he could just ask Ivan now. It wouldn't be that bad, would it?
"Hey…Ivan?"
Ivan stopped twirling his pencil. "Yes?"
Toris took a deep breath. "Natalia…she's not seeing anyone, is she?"
A look of surprise came upon Ivan's face. "Umm, no. Why are you asking?"
"I was just wondering if it would be alright for me to…go out with her, you know? Maybe go out for dinner a couple of times." He braced, wondering if Ivan would blow up on him. But he was just following what Elizabeta said…
To Toris' shock unmistakable relief flooded Ivan's face.
"You…You want to date my sister?" he asked, starting to stare at Toris as though he were a savior.
"Yes, if you don't mind, of course."
"Oh!" Ivan actually got out of his seat, went over to Toris and hugged him. No, more like squeezed him.
"I'm taking that as a yes…"
"Toris, that would be wonderful!" Ivan exclaimed in complete joy. His voice lowered. "To be honest, Natalia hasn't dated anyone in a very long time. This'll be wonderful."
Toris looked over at reception. Natalia just gave him an icy glare, but he couldn't help but grin at her.
Ivan released him. "Does Friday sound good for you, Toris? I could easily arrange something for you two, da?"
"That would be great. Thanks, Ivan!"
The Russian warmly smiled at him and returned to his desk.
Toris continued to work with that silly grin on his face, blissfully unaware that a blond head had perked up and had listened to their entire conversation.