His hip connects with the side of the desk and a few of her papers fall at your feet. You hand them to her and she smiles widely but she’s not looking at you.
A few hours later he’s inside your office, holding a stack of reports that had just come out of the print, covered in coffee. You hold them to your face, they smell like her latte.
Not a big deal, accidents happen, you say, but you know that he knows that you know it wasn’t an accident. Those don’t exist when it comes to Rose Lalonde.
The next day she is sitting outside on her lunch break, filing her nails. Her hands are covered in ink. She smiles at you as you sit beside her and take out a sandwich.
Had a few problems with the printer today, she tells you. It was my fault; I had severely underestimated the vindictive nature of our employees. Hopefully their immaturity won’t escalate to the point of putting this company at risk.
You think you know why she uses “their” instead of “his” but you don’t say anything. You tell her to stop worrying so much, tell her that the issue will print on time.
A few hours later and the rumors hit you that Alex quit. You’ve never seen Dave’s face so red before.
No problem, Dave says. I don’t need his help; I can pick up the slack. Dave Strider can pick up everyone’s slack. It’ll be like the slack never even fucking hit the ground. It’ll be like the ground doesn’t even exist and the slack is just floating in a vacuum of my pure awesome.
You laugh but he’s too busy staring at Rose to notice.
Her hip connects with the side of the desk and you flush and apologize before picking her up and feeling her legs tangle around your waist. She kisses your neck and you gasp as you try to move your pencils and the horrible cake your dad brought you out of the way. You follow up her attention by unbuttoning her blouse.
She sighs and tells you you should just fire her.
You pause and shake your head. Nope, firing people is boring, you respond.
Firing people is the wisest course of action. Especially when two of your employees have taken their issues with each other and have expanded them to negatively influence each and every corner of this department, she replies.
You don’t think it’s that bad. Besides, it’s only a little sibling rivalry, right?
But you know that she knows that you know that that’s bullshit.
The next day you wait for accidents that don’t come. You’re impressed. The final issue is sent to you on time and once you check it for edits you can print it off and upload it to the website.
You usually stay late for one of two reasons: deadlines and Rose.
It’s not Rose this time but it certainly feels like it when you enter the bathroom and she’s licking Dave’s naked chest. Her lips are bleeding and there are scratch marks down his back. You’re embarrassed. You know that this is a set up; you know that they wanted you to find them here. They stare at you. Rose is still but Dave’s thumb hasn’t stopped rubbing circles on her thigh.
You swallow. I told you, you start, firing people is boring. And you go use the women’s room.
The next day you and Rose are in the kitchen making coffee. Her scarf slips down and you kiss one of the bruises on her neck. Dave is reading aloud early reviews of the issue. They say that between the psychology articles, dense fiction pieces, movie reviews, and ‘eye abusing’ comics that it’s just too eclectic for a wide audience. Dave reads the criticism of the fiction section extra loudly and Rose glares at him over her coffee.
FILL: TEAM BRO<3GRANDPA
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His hip connects with the side of the desk and a few of her papers fall at your feet. You hand them to her and she smiles widely but she’s not looking at you.
A few hours later he’s inside your office, holding a stack of reports that had just come out of the print, covered in coffee. You hold them to your face, they smell like her latte.
Not a big deal, accidents happen, you say, but you know that he knows that you know it wasn’t an accident. Those don’t exist when it comes to Rose Lalonde.
The next day she is sitting outside on her lunch break, filing her nails. Her hands are covered in ink. She smiles at you as you sit beside her and take out a sandwich.
Had a few problems with the printer today, she tells you. It was my fault; I had severely underestimated the vindictive nature of our employees. Hopefully their immaturity won’t escalate to the point of putting this company at risk.
You think you know why she uses “their” instead of “his” but you don’t say anything. You tell her to stop worrying so much, tell her that the issue will print on time.
A few hours later and the rumors hit you that Alex quit. You’ve never seen Dave’s face so red before.
No problem, Dave says. I don’t need his help; I can pick up the slack. Dave Strider can pick up everyone’s slack. It’ll be like the slack never even fucking hit the ground. It’ll be like the ground doesn’t even exist and the slack is just floating in a vacuum of my pure awesome.
You laugh but he’s too busy staring at Rose to notice.
Her hip connects with the side of the desk and you flush and apologize before picking her up and feeling her legs tangle around your waist. She kisses your neck and you gasp as you try to move your pencils and the horrible cake your dad brought you out of the way. You follow up her attention by unbuttoning her blouse.
She sighs and tells you you should just fire her.
You pause and shake your head. Nope, firing people is boring, you respond.
Firing people is the wisest course of action. Especially when two of your employees have taken their issues with each other and have expanded them to negatively influence each and every corner of this department, she replies.
You don’t think it’s that bad. Besides, it’s only a little sibling rivalry, right?
But you know that she knows that you know that that’s bullshit.
The next day you wait for accidents that don’t come. You’re impressed. The final issue is sent to you on time and once you check it for edits you can print it off and upload it to the website.
You usually stay late for one of two reasons: deadlines and Rose.
It’s not Rose this time but it certainly feels like it when you enter the bathroom and she’s licking Dave’s naked chest. Her lips are bleeding and there are scratch marks down his back. You’re embarrassed. You know that this is a set up; you know that they wanted you to find them here. They stare at you. Rose is still but Dave’s thumb hasn’t stopped rubbing circles on her thigh.
You swallow. I told you, you start, firing people is boring. And you go use the women’s room.
The next day you and Rose are in the kitchen making coffee. Her scarf slips down and you kiss one of the bruises on her neck. Dave is reading aloud early reviews of the issue. They say that between the psychology articles, dense fiction pieces, movie reviews, and ‘eye abusing’ comics that it’s just too eclectic for a wide audience. Dave reads the criticism of the fiction section extra loudly and Rose glares at him over her coffee.
You laugh and this time both of them notice.