Generation 02, Chapter 02: So, what's your boss like?

THE NEXT WEEK

"How is dinner?"  I ask Farran.  He smiles and nods, his mouth tense as he checks his phone.  I take the opportunity to check mine as well (Oh, and if you're wondering, I did, in fact, attend my birthday party.  Unlike last year, I actually remembered to attend it this time).

"It's been good," he murmurs.  "Listen, I have to take this call... it might be a while."

I perk up.  "Oh!  No problem.  I'll just wait here."

Farran walks out of the hallway, and I can hear excitement in his voice as he chats to whoever is on the phone.  After about twenty minutes by myself, I finally hear his voice disappear and the sound of the elevator shaft fills my eardrums.  He left me.  Did he forget where he was?

Suddenly, my phone rings.  I hit speaker and Farran's voice fills the small apartment.  "I'm so sorry for leaving like that.  My job... they gave me an offer in Starlight Shores.  I couldn't not take it.  They said I had to leave right away and I didn't have a chance to say goodbye."

Goodbye?  Wait, what's happening?

"Farran?"

"I'm sorry Calla, things won't work out with us."

Why am I not surprised? I think.  I stand up and begin to clear up the plates as he continues to speak.

"I'm going to have to break us up.  I'm really sorry.  Please forgive me."

"No, it's fine.  I understand," I say like a broken robot.  My voice is steady and monotone.

"Thank Calla, you know you mean the world to me."

I don't say anything.  I realize that I wasn't really interested in him.  And the only thing that we had in common was our love of work, which is obviously not something that should connect to people.  Oh well, I suppose he was pretty decent, for a first boyfriend.

"So, um, I'll see you," I finally say.

"Yeah, see you.  And I'm sorry."

I mumble something like, "Yeah, it's okay."

Then we hang up.  I brush my teeth, throw on some sweats, and crawl into bed.  Tomorrow is my first day at work.  I hope it's better than today was.

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I wake up at 5:30, eat breakfast, brush my teeth, slip on my new black suit, tie my hair up, and walk out the door.  It's my first day at Gainsboro and I don't want to start out my career by being late.  I've always been known for my punctuality and I'm not going to ruin that.

The Gainsboro building is tall.  And extremely intimidating.  But I'm excited as adrenaline and excitement rushes through my veins.

I make my way up to the floor as directed by the receptionist.  It's white.  And black.  Just like my apartment.  People are walking around in suits.  A woman sits at a desk.  I squint my eyes and see that her name is Griselda Gris.  Well, that's an unfortunate name.

"Calla Cohen?"

I turn my head to the left and see a man in a bright blue jacket greet me.

"I'm Rusty Turkessa.  And you must be Mrs. Cohen. Nice to meet you, and welcome to Gainsboro.  You're our new associate, correct?"

"Yes," I say confidently.

"Good!  I'll show you around and then you can get straight to work."

"Yay," I exclaim, genuinely enthused.

I get home that night at 10.  It has been an exhausting day at work, yet I loved it.  It was almost better than law school.  I met a ton of new people, as well as my freaky boss, a woman named Krystal Kar (she was the downside of today).  I swear, she must be related to some evil person....

I was just sitting in the breakout room, taking a break (of course), when she yelled at me for wasting money.  She went into this lengthy explanation that here at Gainsboro, everyone's lives are segmented into six-minute intervals.  Every interval is worth money so if I were to waste six minutes staring out a window or doing some other menial task, I'd lose the company about §50, twelve minutes would lose §100, and so on.

Her scary nose was practically poking me by the time the conversation was over so after that I made sure that I was occupied at all times, especially when I knew I was in her line of view.  Anyway, after that talk, she dumped a bunch of files for me to begin working on.  Griselda, a woman who I've made friends with, told me that all of the senior partners, like Kar (as everyone calls her) and Rusty do it.  With my work ethic, I know I will get it done.  And hopefully before she expects it.  That will surely prove to her that I am no wimpy new girl.  And I will force myself to get used to measuring my time by sixes.  I don't want to have that talk again.

On the plus side, I met the most handsome man on the planet.  His name is Blake Nero and I've never had a crush harder than this one.  In fact, it makes me happy that Farran broke up with me.  I can still remember his grey eyes staring back at me.  I just hope that he hadn't seen me blush.  From what I've gathered from our brief conversation, he's intelligent and kind.  Not to mention, gorgeous.  He just transferred to Gainsboro as a partner from another firm so not only is he perfect, he's also of high status at the firm.

If I hated work (which I don't), he'd be the only reason for me to come back.

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NOTE

Happy Holidays!  

Seriously, I hope that you guys aren't reading this today.  I hope you're spending time (forced or voluntary) with your families, significant others, hobos... anyway *clears throat* I hope you guys have a Merry Christmas or whatever holiday you are or have been celebrating.  

And if you're spending the holidays alone (and I really hope you're not), just remember that I love you.  ^_^  See you guys in 2013 if I don't post before then!

Also, I hope you like my new banner.  I finally found time to work on it!