If it's any consolation, the rest of these chapters are ones I am crazy excited for. Every last one until the end. I can't wait for them, and I hope you have as much fun with the rest as I do!
Thanks kokiricat for the speedy review! Much appreciated! I actually like Taylor, but… kind of needed a silly villain. Sort of perfectly fits the bill. xD
Second update today! Yippee!
Spring is in the Air
A few, loose twigs fell down at Vaughn's feet. He looked up and found a nest of sparrows tucked above the door by the light. They were crammed with a basket full of young hatchlings who were peeping for breakfast. The mother flew off to fill the request, and the beady-eyed father was yapping at Vaughn from the corner.
He pushed the door open and stepped in, dodging a small flock of birds carrying wet rags. In the center of the floor, Terry was pushing his grimy mop around with the help of a wide array of forest animals. Rabbits hopped around collecting dust bunnies, mice and chipmunks were carting his water bucket after him, and a pair of fawns were gracefully fetching things at his command.
"I forgot you become a Disney Princess this time of year," Vaughn nodded to the old man.
Terry had a little known affinity for animals. One he would use when it was high time to clean the office once a year after winter. He shrugged. "Spring is in the air!"
"Yeah, I saw the title up there," Vaughn pointed upwards.
"Using fourth wall breaking jokes as filler isn't funny," Terry said, a squirrel crawling up his back and appearing under his hat to chitter in agreement.
"Good tip," Vaughn saluted and took the elevator up.
Fake, plastic strings of grass coated the entire office floor. As Alice and Rod had their favorite, respective holidays, their Regional Manager had his own. And luckily for them, Easter had quite the most modest, albeit still creepy, costume of the bunch.
"Happy Easter, Vaughn!" Hamilton hopped up, head to toe in a pink bunny suit. He carried a basket of colored eggs, and he promptly handed one to Vaughn who casually accepted it as he did every year.
He wanted to remind him it wasn't even Good Friday, but Vaughn shrugged. "Happy Easter, sir."
Hamilton held up a hand to his face like he was telling a secret. He had obviously cracked since the company's imminent demise. "The eggs are special this year! After I hard-boiled them, I coddled each one and painted them with love. And by love, I mean I didn't have food coloring, so I used my toe nail polish."
Vaughn chucked it as fast as he could, walloping Basil right in the ear. "OW!"
"Thank you, sir," Vaughn said, passing Hamilton by as his boss waved and hopped along to the next person.
Molly bit the head off of a chocolate rabbit, munching on it while she played pinball on her computer.
"Did you get one of Hamilton's eggs?" Vaughn started the conversation, lugging his briefcase onto her counter.
"Chucked it at the ficas," she reported, gnawing on the rabbit without taking her eyes off of the screen. He smirked and went to leave, but Molly quickly threw her feet from her desk and sat up. "Oh! And you need to talk to Denny. He keeps texting me. I think he's going to do something stupid, but he won't tell me what it is."
"Well, if you're so buddy-buddy, why are you asking me?" Vaughn wrinkled his brow.
Molly rolled her eyes. "Could you just text him? Didn't he say anything when you drove him to work this morning?"
"No. It was nice, actually," Vaughn said. He folded his arms atop her desk. "Are you sure you're not dating? He hasn't talked about Lanna in ages. He just keeps saying how great you are."
"Yes! I'm sure! Jeez!" She flipped, taking a massive bite of milk chocolate. Through her full mouth, Molly huffed: "Fine, don't care about your friend! I'm probably worried about nothing as usual."
Vaughn looked her over suspiciously. Her hair was curled today, making it a lot fuller than usual. Molly didn't curl her hair except on special occasions. As far as Vaughn knew. "Are you okay? You're acting… strange."
"I am?" She bounced in her seat, wiping at the corners of her mouth. Molly suddenly glared at him. "No, you're the strange one! Will you stop pestering me about Denny, and call him yourself?! For Pete's sake – you're so nosey!"
Vaughn left with a roll of his eyes. Molly was definitely weird today. He sat down at his desk, immediately getting bombarded by Gill.
He splayed his hands out on his desk, looking secretive. "So? Any plans for Harvest Hobbies?"
"It hasn't even been a week," Vaughn said, booting up his computer.
Gill pursed his lips. "So you're procrastinating? Real nice, Vaughn. How typical of you."
"Well, what are you doing?! What's your brilliant plan? Unless you've got twenty million some dollars up your ass, I don't see you helping out," Vaughn grouched, typing in his login with one finger.
"So that's it?" Gill asked, ignoring his bad attitude. "We have to buy them?"
"It's all I've got… that's legal," Vaughn added as an afterthought. He grumpily looked up and found Gill staring out across the room.
"I guess that's really it then," he mumbled, crossing his arms. "This spring is our last."
"Well, that was cryptic as hell," Allen said, standing at the corner. Gill quickly marched off for the break room without another word. Allen focused on Vaughn. "What is he talking about?"
"You know, the usual," Vaughn shrugged. It wasn't that Allen was too dumb to not be included in the knowing group, but it was the less the merrier. They didn't need the whole office panicking or in a slew of depression.
"Uh-huh," Allen replied, totally unconvinced. "And you two have always been chummy-chums, chumming it up in Chumville."
"Aw, give him a break," Alice walked up, pushing back the things on Gill's desk and sitting on the edge. "It's probably cabin fever. We've been cooped up in winter too long."
"And speaking of breaks," Allen picked up the topic, leaning on Vaughn's cubicle wall. "If it was my decision, spring break would be the universal holiday this time of year."
"Spring break~!" Alice sighed. "Mm, I'd love to go back on a spring break trip. Anywhere tropical. Where everything's warm, and the drinks are cold."
Allen chuckled. "I'm sure you were the wet T-shirt contest type."
"Actually, I was the senator's daughter type, which meant I had a bodyguard everywhere I went until I was twenty-one," Alice admitted with frustration.
"Oh, poor, little rich girl," Vaughn muttered, the only one actually working.
She scowled. "Well, what were you—? Mm…"
Allen stared in comical confusion as Alice slowly released her anger in a humming noise until her bright smile returned. "What the hell was that? Vaughn, you are on her good side."
"Well, you're still not, so watch it, four-eyes," Alice sniffed, crossing her legs and primping her pigtails.
"What's the secret? You pay her off or something?" Allen persisted, poking Vaughn in the head.
"Why don't you go reminisce your spring breaks past with someone who actually went on them?" Vaughn asked testily. He chanced a glance at Molly and saw she was frantically texting someone. Probably Denny again.
"You've never been on spring break?!" Allen gasped in horror.
"Not even a vacation," Vaughn sighed, flatly glaring at his monitor.
"No wonder you're a grouch…" Alice muttered, getting her two cents in.
"That's the ticket!" Allen pointed to the heavens triumphantly. "My good buddy Vaughn here just needs to get laid!"
"Stuff it," Vaughn said.
"It's spring! The time for love!" Allen announced, waving his arms around the room. "Anyone in here know someone we can ship with Vaughn?"
"No! NO MORE SHIPPING," Rod sprung from his computer at the dreaded word.
"Come on, let's Noah's Ark it up!" Allen teased.
Vaughn grit his teeth. "I'd be more than happy to give you a swirly."
"Do remember you still owe me one," Allen smugly reminded him.
"Ooo, I kinda ship it…" Alice whispered, looking between them.
"Vaughn!" Molly shouted. She waved for him to come over, she was pointing at her phone with a scared expression.
"Aha, a contender!" Allen smirked. Vaughn smacked him in the back of the head, hard enough that he had to catch his glasses. He waved as he went to meet Molly. "Sure thing! Hit the guy with glasses. Don't worry – he doesn't have feelings!"
"You keep insinuating…" Alice said, looking at him thoughtfully.
"Yes, dear?" Allen asked, rubbing his glasses lens on his tie.
She tilted her head to the side. "Well, do you really think it'd work out? Vaughn and Molly together?"
Allen flicked out his frames, setting them back on his nose. "Darling, you know as well as I do that seedier things have happened in this office. Much seedier things."
Alice watched him turn on his heel and walk back to his desk. She couldn't shake the feeling even when Hamilton bounced up offering her an Easter egg. That feeling of… unease.
After hours, the floor swished as the last person took the elevator down. The grass flooring Hamilton laid out would last another week before someone would get sick of it and pick it up themselves. Since there was no way Terry or his animal friends would be helping out.
Alice pushed open the door of the conference room, letting out an exasperated sigh at leaving their hiding spot. "I told you we were going to get caught eventually!"
"You worry too much," Gill stepped out behind her, buttoning up his shirt.
"He basically just blatantly told me, 'hey, I know you're totally sexing it up with Gill,'" she imitated a masculine low tone as she freed her pigtails and shook out her hair to put them up again. She gathered her hair behind her head and settled on a low ponytail instead. "I'm telling you – Allen knows. Did you say anything?"
"Of course not…" he rolled his eyes.
"Are you sure~?" She asked, her voice rising in pitch. She smirked and poked him in the chest. "I bet you did. You said something when you were drunk off your rocker, and Allen totally picked it up."
Gill was looking around for his tie, unable to remember where it happened to land. "I was not 'drunk off my rocker,' for goodness' sake!"
Alice handed him his tie. He bashfully took it and slung it back around his neck. "Besides… it's not like he's going to report us or something. Good luck getting any proof."
"Yeah, tell me about it," she snidely remarked. Frustrated he wasn't putting his tie on quick enough, she slapped his hands away and did it for him. "So what's this about Harvest Hobbies? Are we going to be jobless at the end of the year?"
"Precisely," Gill stared at the ceiling as she tightened the knot and pulled down his collar. "So there's really no risk anyways…"
Alice frowned. She huffed at her bangs. "Maybe I'll just quit before that happens then."
"What? You're leaving?" He looked down at her in worry.
"Pfft. Surprised you care," she rolled her eyes and quickly stepped through the plastic strings to get to her desk.
"Alice…" Gill used his scolding voice.
"Oh, don't you dare!" She threatened, throwing all her essentials into her bag. As he approached, she slowed and stopped, staring down at her open purse. "I don't know how much longer I can do this…"
Gill waited a moment before challenging her logic. "Why should I get so involved if you're still harboring this thing with Vaughn, which you still think is a big secret from me?"
"You are involved!" She snapped, totally aghast. Alice took up her purse over her shoulder and turned on him. "And fine! Yeah! It was totally reasonable for me to have a 'thing' with Vaughn because at least he gave a shit! He wouldn't be the sneaky, conniving kind without the balls to man up and give me the time of day during office hours."
"Is that what you think?!" Gill followed as she rushed to fetch her coat off the rack. "Need I remind you our relationship is against every office policy in the book? We'll both be fired on the spot! It was your idea to keep things unfriendly between us in the first place!"
Alice jammed her arms into her coat. "Ha! Fired! You said yourself it won't matter. We're going to be out of here anyways, Gill! You're delusional if you think I'd be totally okay with no friends just benefits forever."
"Then what did you want me to do?" Gill asked, taking up his own coat. He went back for his briefcase waiting on his desk as Alice stomped for the elevator. "Walk up to Hamilton like 'what up, I'm banging the editor?!'"
She glared up at him when he stood next to her for the elevator. It reminded her of Christmas and a stick of mistletoe where all of their problems began. Arms crossed, Alice visibly softened as the doors opened. "Yeah, well… it wouldn't hurt."
Alice entered the elevator, and the doors started to close. She crossly stopped them with her foot, waiting for Gill to get in.
He shook his head and sighed in defeat. "No… go on ahead."
"Fine," she said, letting the doors go. They closed, and Alice went down alone.
Having left the office back at lunch, Vaughn walked down the hall of the professional building. He eyed the gun strapped to an officer walking by, smartly dressed in full uniform. He spotted a secretary who nodded at him from his desk.
Vaughn walked up to the bars and glowered.
"Hey!" Denny greeted from the enclosure. He stood up from the bench and stretched. "Thought you'd never get here! I gave my one call to Molly since I knew you never answer your phone, so—"
"The hell, man?" Vaughn cut him off. "You were arrested!"
"Yeah. Thought that was pretty clear," Denny looked around awkwardly.
Vaughn rubbed his eyes. "On breaking and entering? What would possess you to break into Lanna's apartment?!"
Denny jabbed a thumb to his shoulder. "Got the bird back."
Popper trilled merrily, shuffling his feet to be closer to Denny's head.
Vaughn hit his head against the bars.
"Sir?" The secretary motioned for him to come over. Vaughn left Denny in his cage and leaned against the desk. "You're bailing him out?"
"Depends," Vaughn said, getting a miffed retort from his friend behind him.
"Well, these were the things collected from his person at the scene of arrest," the man pushed a plastic basket to him. In it was just a pen, a lock pick, his aqua work hat, and his cell phone. Vaughn rolled his eyes, taking the stuff to deliver to his friend.
At being touched, the phone's touch screen lit up with a message. Vaughn couldn't believe this was happening all over again as he saw it was from sender 'Mile High Legs.' "He didn't say a thing! I told you curling my hair wouldn't work. You're the worst advice giver ever. :P"
Vaughn could have easily attributed it to someone else Denny might give such a stupid nickname to, but no one was coming to mind. It was Molly. And she was… trying to get his attention?
The female officer he passed earlier approached him. She beckoned to Denny. "He yours?"
Denny grinned like a puppy about to be adopted from the pound. Vaughn shook his head, ignoring the cell phone drama for now and sighed. "Yeah."
"You can sign for the bail up front," she smiled. She pulled a key from her pocket and unlocked the cell. It rumbled open with a bang. Addressing Denny she said: "You're good to go!"
"Awesome! Thanks, Laney. See you Friday?" He winked at her. She just giggled.
Vaughn just facepalmed, not surprised at all.