Chapter 2

A couple weeks had passed by with Finn introducing a new concept to the company once every other day. Raven and Octavia, who were very strong headed and wanted the company to remain the same, challenged Finn every step of the way. Despite their opposition, new product pricing and extensions to our sales pitch were added. But the moment Finn started to question the vision and mission statement was the true moment of emotion peak that caused Octavia to call an impromptu meeting with ourselves and Indra, our lovely secretary.

"This guy has got to go," Octavia said sternly while pacing back and forth in the tiny meeting room.

The rest of us were just sitting down as Raven closed the blinds to the windows. But we knew Finn wouldn't be around much, so the fear of having him catch the beginning of this rebellion was more out of precaution. Now, I want to take a second to add my true opinion to this meeting. I did agree with Octavia in the fact that Finn didn't have the background to run our company, but I don't think he had the background to run majority of the companies he worked for previously. And other than the most recent disastrous investment of working with Grounders Co. (Lincoln and I had left that company by that point), he usually left his companies better than when he started. Regardless of his success, Bellamy was a pretty smart guy who poured hours of calculated thought into both the company's mission and vision statements. So, for Finn to come in and suggest they might need to be upgraded seems to be in poor taste. Which, at that time, did set off a little red flag in my mind. But per usual, I ignored it.

"I think we need to get Bellamy back," Raven said, looking from us to Octavia as she took her seat, "Finn wants to take out one of the core things in our mission statement, which is to protect free speech and privacy. With that changing, ultimately he'd be able to amend our terms of service contract. And that's something that would completely alter how and who we do business with. Jaha is a very important client of ours. He's really the reason we're on the radar period," she slicked back her hair, resting her hands near the base of her ponytail.

"Yeah, but Jaha is also one of our most controversial clients. So, perhaps losing his business isn't such a bad thing," Lincoln shrugged.

He also plays the devil's advocate in these situations. Even though his point is valid. It was due to Jaha that our name got out there. But now that we have more publically popular clientele, losing Jaha wouldn't hurt our figures as much as it would have a year or two ago. On the other hand, Raven's point is still more concerning because the potential change in our terms of service allows for a lot more wiggle room to take advantage of the privacy of our clients. And that would probably cause a lot of irreversible damage.

Raven and Lincoln continued to challenge one another's view, and it wasn't until Octavia sharply looked at Indra did they stop. Her eyes narrowed on Indra's, "Weren't you still working for Grounder Co. when Finn was there?"

"Yes. I was," Indra said calmly.

"What was he like?" Octavia pursued.

"He was about the same as he is now. Came in and started proposing a lot of changes. I never trusted him," Indra narrowed her eyes and leaned forward, "I don't trust Clarke either. Just like the company before, he brought in someone with him who manipulated the coworkers into changing the culture to favor him when he proposed new ideas. His ideas were what lead to the failure of Grounders Co."

Like a circuit judge making up her mind in court, she turned to me and said, "Lexa. You use to be an interrogator for Groudners Co., why don't you infiltrate this Clarke Griffin girl to figure out what she knows and then eventually get to know Finn better. Once we know what he's really up to we'll use it against him to get him to sell his shares to us and put the company back in order."

I loved my old job at Grounders Co. Psychoanalyzing people was a specialty of mine. But in that same moment I remembered the reason I quit. I shook my head and quickly agreed to do my best because Octavia was an important person to me. And everyone in the room knew the second Octavia put a target on someone's back, there was no stopping her from getting the information she wanted.

A couple days after the meeting I was sitting at my desk when I saw Clarke walking up to Lincoln. They were out of eyeshot, but from their lip movement and hand gestures they were exchanging pleasantries. Someone brought up getting lunch together and off they went. Shortly after Raven pulled up a chair to plop down next to me, "what do you think that's about?"

I shrugged, anticipating the next question, "What do you think Octavia will think of Lincoln going off with Clarke?" Raven continued.

And just like that, soft footsteps sped towards us, "Um. Can someone explain to me why Lincoln and Clarke just left together?" Octavia's question was less inquisitive as it was sharp and judgmental.

Again, I shrugged. Raven looked up at her and blandly said "I bet they're going off to have an office affair."

The comment, obviously a jest, still rose some red pigments from Octavia's face. Her quick inhale and clenched fists were the consequence of her office romance for Lincoln. Due to her brother's disapproval, she kept everything on the low. Meeting with Lincoln occasionally on Sundays, but if you looked at her snapchat top friend, Instagram DMs, and who's constantly the first text message recipient you would know things were more serious. I guess she was still in denial of their attraction, even after Bellamy is long gone. Mentally shrugging, I swiveled back to my computer to get back to work on the newest clientele's information.

About fifty-two minutes later Clarke and Lincoln came back up the stairs laughing and in a clearly more intimate relationship. Maybe Raven wasn't too far off the mark. Regardless, I swiveled my chair to look back towards Octavia's desk and I knew that she was so engrossed in her work to distract herself from the unlikely reality that Clarke might have stolen her unrealized true love.

"Told you. She's not to be trusted," Indra muttered as she passed my desk to drop off some papers at Raven's desk.

My eyes tracked Indra to Raven, where I read her lips saying the same thing. Moving from Indra back to Lincoln and Clarke, who were now parting ways so Lincoln could get back to work, my eyes followed Clarke's walk towards her small office room. It was actually the only office with a door. We're all very close, and Bellamy wanted us to communicate more openly, so no one occupied that office. But when she joined our team Finn insisted she got her own room, so we cleared out that office for her. Lost in thought, I guess I stared at her the whole way there because she eventually noticed my gaze. At first she slowed down, almost as though to speak to me. But it appears she changed her mind and just smiled and waved before she disappeared into her room. That smile.

Before I even realized, I was leaning against the door frame of Clarke's office. Her desk was facing the only window which would normally leave her back to the door. But she was curled up in her work chair hunched over a notebook. Out of her peripherals, she noticed me and turned up to look at me, "Oh. Hey. Lexa? Right?"

A nod.

"What's up? Do you need something?" She asked slowly but not hesitantly.

It was almost as though she knew I was going to walk up to her door. See, here's the thing: my old job, and a lot of the job I still hold today requires me to be three to four steps ahead of other people. Very rarely do I feel like an action of mine is what someone else expected or planned to happen. So, to have the feeling of Clarke Griffin anticipating me to do something that I was not even fully aware that I was doing rubbed me in all the wrong directions. As taught to me in my previous trainings, if you're not comfortable about situation—you leave. But not before I noticed how blue her eyes were today. I turned around and went back to my desk half-focused on work, half-confused about what just happened.

Author Note: Well, the juice is still flowing. But Imma be 100% honest, this is coming off the top of my head as I type. It's almost like playing DDR when the notes become visible halfway down the screen and you have to react very quickly too it... My point = there might be some things that contradict themselves or weren't mentioned earlier. Regardless, hope you enjoyed. Review it to let me know.