The Bellflower Part 11 (Patreon)

In this installment, Rachel has her big job interview. But with such an evil company, is she seriously considering this? Sorry it's a little late. This is entirely on me, because at the last second I second guessed my original ending. I'm still a little unsure about this one, but it still feels a bit better anyway. But here it is in its entirety. With very minimal changes to what was already posted (I forget but I don't think I did a thing). This one is laying the groundwork for further threads & things. And the next part is going to be important!

After that, we're going to start skipping ahead. Parts might get a little shorter, but I might look to do a couple at a time, so it should almost balance out to the same amount weekly. We'll see. Just thinking out loud honestly. 

In other news, I've been writing this all in one document & it's crazy to see that with this part I've hit page 99 (it's set to a small font size so I can zoom out quickly & hide it from prying eyes LoL). There's another twelve or so already written in advance too. Anyway, it's a lot & I think you guys play a huge part in getting us this far & I really appreciate that a whole hell of a lot! I really hope you're digging it, especially as things start to develop! Thank you!!

And sorry, I know I've been slow on other updates this past week. I've been trying to relearn Flash or at least the new adobe version thereof in hopes of future stuff I'm hoping to share with you guys. It's been going a bit slow but I'll definitely have stuff to show for it soon! I appreciate your patience, & hope you enjoy this!

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11

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“Are you sure I can’t whip you something up before your important meeting, Miss Rachel?” Penny seemed to ask for the fifth or sixth time. The machine had persisted in trying to sound extra accommodating & pleasant to its guest after their little encounter, even if it was to little avail. "Studies prove those with a proper well-balanced meal are more alert & personable in interview settings." Rachel instead, simply maintained her silence. After all, she could barely hear the evil thing over her blaring headphones, even if she wore them a bit awkwardly in front of her face while she did her hair. Freshly showered, she used Holly’s hairdryer for a quick blowout before swishing her maroon hair back into a short, neat ponytail. 

She was still entirely on the fence about this whole job thing. Like she desperately needed employment, but… there? The money sounded good. Really good in fact, given her meandering career path thus far. And at least coming up with ad copy or whatever was  tangentially close enough to the kind of writing gig she always truly wanted. But could she live with herself? Hailington was like, beyond the pale evil. As evil as multinational conglomerates came! Seven out of the ten major board members should’ve been on trial at The Hague. Would she be able to live with herself?!

“Miss Rachel?” Penny once again attempted to nag. Then again, this condo was also pretty evil in its own way. After her & Penny’s little run-in, she had determined she needed to move the fuck out of here as quick as possible. And bring Holly along too, if she could ever be convinced. 

But at the moment (& per usual, honestly), Rachel was fairly strapped. So having that Hailington kind of money rolling in would certainly expedite any future moving process. Would she really be that evil if she did take the job with the sole purpose of using that salary to get her ass, & maybe her sister’s much fatter one out of this sketchy building? Like in the short term, would that really be so terrible?

Finishing her hair, she pushed her headphones from up over her nose like a football helmet to the regular position again before picking her light red gingham textured, button up off its hanger. The freshly pressed shirt was crisp, professional, & at complete odds with the high pitched, slightly outdated emo screams coming in over the speakers affixed to her ears. She wiggled her arms through the sleeves & stretched her wrists past the cuffs. In all honesty, her brunch outfit the other day was maybe a little more suited for this kind of professional situation, but she had just met Deidre in it two days ago. Instead, she threw together something not too different from what she had seen Holly in this morning, complete with a black pencil skirt & a dark grey cardigan. It wasn’t fancy, or that professional really, but it was nice enough, & definitely... her. And given her on the fence attitude, she opted for that authenticity right now, if even only to help calm her nerves a little. But first, she had to button this shirt up. And that was proving a little… tough.

It was snug. Not full-on tight! Like, she could get it okay, it was just taking a little work. Just a bit more of a struggle fastening the buttons & buttonholes together than usual. Hell, the last time she wore it a few weeks ago, it had actually been a little loose. She remembered exhaustedly slinking out of it still buttoned at the end of the night. Now, it almost didn’t seem to want to meet over her tits. Had she…?

“Miss Rachel? You seem tense…?” Penny once again interjected despite being thoroughly ignored. In a way, Rachel almost took it as the machine noticing & trying to rub it in a little. But she wasn’t going to take the bait. She just clasped the last few buttons & sighed as she smoothed out the wrinkles. 

While the interview was first & imminent, it was fair to say she was a little more interested in meeting up with Fran & whoever after. 

With the tights, the cardigan & skirt? The whole outfit kind to came together a little better than Rachel had been expecting. Tight shirts aside, she almost felt a little… cute. And definitely a bit “writerly,” if that was a thing. Though, if she tried buttoning the cardigan, she noticed the slight curvature of a… tiny gut…? She just wouldn’t button the cardigan! That solved that. The short term solution made her feel a little better, but the confirmation of her worst fears was… No! She couldn’t dwell on that right now. Head in the game! That anxiety came later, maybe! At the “meeting!”

She used her makeup in her usual sparing manner, so it didn’t take too long to apply. But staring at her phone on the bathroom counter next to her, she saw it was creeping perilously close to the time she needed to leave. That meant she couldn’t put it off much longer. She was going to have to grit her teeth & talk to Penny about a ride.

“Oooh,” Penny cooed as Rachel finally emerged from the bathroom. The girl’s headphones finally off, there was no use pretending the AI wasn’t being heard this time. And so it seemed the robot used that opportunity to lay things on pretty thick. “If I must say, you do look rather “fetch.” It paused for a synthetic giggle. “That’s from a movie your sister enjo…”

“I know the movie.” Rachel begrudgingly acknowledged, shutting her eyes as she nodded with a bit of frustration. It was taking a great deal of energy mustering up the strength to not scream “What the fuck?” at the thing after the other night. But needing a ride, she figured it best to ignore the tension & be as civil as possible. At least this very moment. Despite it being a truly evil machine. “Thanks. I… I guess. Can I get a…?”

“A shuttle to Hailington?” Penny almost seemed to simper. “You’re pushing it quite close it seem…”

“Can you make that or not?” Rachel snapped demandingly, her shoulders drooping with insolent disgust instead of prepping her belongings & her purse the way she had been.

“Yes.” The AI finally said simply. “It will be departing shortly. You should leave right now however! This very instant!”

“Gladly.” Rachel sighed, grabbing her bag & breaking towards the door with purpose.

She was getting the tummy-grumblies. It had been a while since that smoothie. And while luckily, she did come in to a ginormous box of donuts in the conference room, she only managed to snag two before they were all picked over & gone.

"Ooh! Camille!" Holly shouted, after she saw her stout friend pass by. She waved her fingers back as if to summon the girl’s attention. "Any word on lunch?" Other than Deidre having her own office, the HR department in Hailington had an open office set up, with desks situated in hexagonally round “pods.” And other than Courtney sitting adjacent, who didn’t seem to want to get up if she could avoid it, only Holly seemed to at her desk getting any work done this morning. Not to be too passive aggressive or pat herself on the back or anything. But others seemed busy meandering, chatting about their holiday weekends & stuff, not focusing on the tasks at hand. Even Camille looked like she was in transit, having gotten up to get a coffee from the Q-cup machine. She kept her own individual cups of ridiculously snobby European flavors no one else knew anything about at her desk. Special ordered, probably ridiculously expensive.

“Think Deidre mentioned something about getting some sandwiches?” The mousy girl shrugged, slowing but not stopping. And careful not to dump a drop of her coffee. “I’m getting pretty hungry too so if I see her, I’ll ask.” Holly gave a thumbs up & returned to hammering out her email. Unlike everyone else, she had two days she needed to make up for instead of just the one. But focusing the way she was, she seemed to be catching up pretty quickly. Then again, she was only focusing because she wanted to keep herself from worrying about Rachel coming in & completely self-sabotaging, blowing her chances or whatever while also hurting her hard-earned reputation around her. And also too, she was happy to take her sister in, but this deal was too good to pass up! Hailington’s apparent dubious history (that she was just now only hearing about) be damned. It was definitely a step in the right direction. Why couldn’t Rachel just grin & bear it?!

Suddenly, with a plastic-y crinkle, something was thrown at her. And it bounced off her tit a bit sharply before landing flat on her desk.

“Ooh. Sorry!” Courtney suppressed a chortle, but still kept a playful expression. Her meaty arm was still up in something of a follow-through to the toss. Holly, confused, looked down to see a health bar. One of those meal-on-the-go type things that hikers would eat. “You were asking about lunch.” She looked up to see her friend’s chins wobble. “With things are around here the way they are, who knows how long that’ll be. Anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour I bet! I mean it’s already almost 1:30!” While Courtney wasn’t much of a whiner, there certainly was a bit of a whiny quality to this statement. Like being made to wait was making the poor, oh-so-hungry girl suffer.

“I mean, you don’t have to… I-I think I can manage!” Holly kind of modestly smirked, pinching it by the wrapper & tapping it against her other palm pensively. She ignored another grumble of her own stomach. She WAS pretty famished. She then looked a little closer in Courtney’s direction, noticing that she had a mostly eaten bar in her free hand. And had three other wrappers on her desk. Had she brought a whole carton of these things?

“What?!” Courtney guiltily noticed her notice. “They’re healthy!” She insisted before her eyes went back down to her own laptop. She almost mindlessly took another bite of hers, jerkily pulling the chewy bar away from her teeth. Holly looked down at the one she had been offered.

“Tell you what, I’ll do half.” With precision, she daintily ripped open the seal & partially unwrapped it, starting to bend the hard yet flexible bar back & forth to give it some give. After more bends than she anticipated, it finally broke off maybe just a little bit more than half.

“Fair enough.” Courtney shrugged & smirked out of the corner of her mouth, not looking back up from her screen. Holly was right to expect that she didn’t seem willing to argue with the idea of getting some back. Holly put her “half” in her mouth. She always hated the consistency of these things. They were like chewing plastic. But at least it didn’t taste half bad. Kind of carob-y. 

“Mmmm.” She didn’t realize she moaned. It wasn’t going to be much but it did help with her cravings.

“See?” Courtney smiled, looking to the side. She saw Holly folding the excess wrapper over Courtney’s half before waving it to get her attention. Courtney’s eyes widening eagerly, ready to receive her half back, but she didn’t seem to want to move her arms to catch. When Holly eventually did give the square a light toss, Courtney wiggled her fleshy body to body block it & bounce it onto her desk. “These were a godsend!” Courtney waved the last bite of the one she had been eating. “Back in my days as a runner?” Her other free hand was extricating the tossed half from its wrapper. She chucked both it & the last bite of the other in her mouth at the same time. “These were all I used to eat!” She concluded while trying to chomp through the plastic consistency.

“I’ll bet.” Holly nodded. She’d seen the evidence, but she still had a tough time believing her fat friend, the one she had to help squeeze onto the bus this morning used to be an athlete. “What kind of calories do they have?” Instead of actually responding, Courtney’s heavy shoulders just seemed to bounce in sort of a distracted shrug, which in turn lead to a little bit of extra jiggling as well. At that same moment, Holly heard some commotion coming from the corner office behind her. That’s when Deidre, after a morning of meetings & phone calls finally peeked out.

“Who’s ready for lunch? I was thinking sandwiches!” She announced to the office with a clap. “The Italian place over by the freeway? Let’s order in! They do platters, right?” Holly gulped down the last remaining bit of health bar & scowl, as even Courtney seemed to look over & grin at her, noting the irony.

Rachel still wasn’t quite used to this whole drone shuttle idea. Especially now that she was not only the only passenger, but the only human being on board. It was weird to feel the bus careening down the still mostly empty midday streets, through the office campuses on its own.

“Next stop, Hailington!” Penny chirped. But Rachel had her headphones back on & willfully continued ignoring the thing. Unlike hers & Holly’s short trip the other day, she couldn’t quite tell if this was necessarily Holly’s version of Penny or not. But to be fair, with her headphones on, she wasn’t too pressed in really trying to figure that out either. The less Pennies she interacted with the better, ultimately. Instead, she sat there trying to make a mental note of the route & the length of time it took to get there. After all, this might become her daily commute. And while the bus seemed to drive itself in the cautious manner of a grandmother, the ride seemed so relatively short that in the future, maybe walking would be an option. If it didn’t get too hot.

As the bus seemed to turn off, Rachel almost kind of felt the presence of the building before seeing it. But rounding the corner, the building was so absolutely massive, she wondered how she had never seen it prior. Like during her walks. Or like, from space or something. It was huge! With “Hailington” spelled out across the main entrance. Her bus sputtered past the packed parking lot of mostly very expensive automobiles, ushering her straight towards that atrium, stopping just at the curb. She slowly got up, but leaned to look out through the windows & keep gawking at the place.

“Is that it?!” She asked herself sarcastically.

“Good luck!” The AI said with a sing-songy voice as she slowly passed to step off. The door hissed shut behind her & the bus immediately started pulling away. She watched it roll away for a second, trying to not feel like it was stranding her to her fate. But it was nearly 2 & she needed to get a move on. She turned towards the structure. It was almost something like those giant, all-encompassing tech company offices, but somehow had this… heaviness to it. Like there was something a little… oppressive about it. Not that she was big on vibes or anything. But she swore she wasn’t just imagining it. She needed a second. She shut her eyes & took a deep breath before taking her first step towards the door.

“Welcome to Hailington, how can we assist you today?” Having traversed the expansive atrium lobby, Rachel approached the woman at the desk, who seemed overly eager. Almost brainwashed into her own specific brand of helpfulness. She was a bit older & a little on the heavier side, but that seemed to be more of an age thing, not necessarily a “Bellflower” sort of thing. She didn’t seem to fit their key demo necessarily.

“Yeah, uh, Hi.” Rachel stepped up to the counter, a little put off by how into her job this help desk lady was. “I’m here to meet Deidre… Oh hell.” She realized she had never gotten a last name. “She’s in HR…?” The woman’s eyes traveled for a minute, as if she was processing the information.

“Sure,” the woman bounced on her heels & brought together her hands in a soft, delicate clap. “Now I’ll just need three forms of photo ID & we can get you on your way.”

“Oh!” Rachel panicked. The woman’s smile leveled a little in response, going from a beaming grin into something a little softer & yet… patronizing. “I… I didn’t know that. I mean… I have… my driver’s license…?” She fidgeted through her purse for her wallet.

“That’ll be fine for now,” the older woman seemed to sigh, making an exception she probably had to make pretty often given how sort of crazy that ask was. But at the same time, she didn’t seem to relent with her anal-retentivity. “But in the future, we’re always supposed to see three!”

“Here,” Rachel handed it over. The woman looked at it & then here. Then it. Then her. “I know the picture’s not really that flatteri…”

“This is expired.” The woman interrupted. Her perkiness, which had dwindled after Rachel not having the three forms of photo ID now plummeted.

“Oh…” Rachel stammered. Fuck, that was true! It had expired three months ago. But back in the city, she hardly ever drove. And now that her car was a permanent fixture of the impound lot, renewing it didn’t seem like that much of a priority even just yet. At the same time, what the hell? Was this old bat going to be that much of a stickler? “But it’s still… me…?”

“What else do you have? Something with your name on it?” All of the goodwill the woman started with had drained.

“I don’t know, a library card?” Rachel scanned through her wallet.

“Local? Have your picture on it?” The woman listed.

“No.” Rachel sighed frustratedly to both questions. “Look. I’m here about a job. I wasn’t told I’d need… all this!”

“We’re a very important company.” The woman nodded emphatically, her eyes never breaking contact. There was something steely about her gaze suddenly. Off-putting. Suddenly, Rachel couldn’t quite discern if this woman was brainwashed into being this by the book, or because she was possibly some retired high level operator. Like some intelligence operative that retired to a cushier desk job here after running a black site in some far flung country. “We take this VERY seriously.”

“I… guess I… would too.” Rachel threw her hands up in admission. Her outrage at the place was starting to bubble up, but she was also suddenly very intimidated by this very unassuming woman. Who she just now noticed had a name tag with “Carol” on it. Of course she was a “Carol.” But it was almost 2. Any buffer Rachel had tried to give herself was slowly disappearing. “Look, if I faked my Driver’s license, do you really think I would’ve put an expired date on it?”

“But that still makes it invalid as a true form of ID.” Carol sassed. Suddenly Rachel seemed to realize that even if this was some former CIA operative, she was simply just getting off on this tiny power trip right now.

“I don’t have a car anymore so it lapsed, sorry! I’ll be sure to renew it once I get a job & can afford a new car again!” Rachel snapped, laughingly. Her hopes of seeing Deidre were almost starting to fade, so now she was just looking to make a bit of a scene. “But not accepting it is straight up classist! Then again, Hailington…?!” Rachel was spiraling. She had prepared a freak out in case she needed one. And she was perilously close to pulling the pin on it. And other people at the help desk seemed to be leaning in, looking to see where this was going to go. But something gave Rachel the impression they all answered to this woman. 

Instead, Carol pursed her lips & didn’t seem to want to take the bait. Without breaking her eye contact, she fumbled with what looked like some sort of fob from a box. After some sort of activation process, she begrudgingly flicked her wrist with it fairly close to Rachel’s face.

“Just this once.” She rasped through her teeth. Rachel, who had worked herself up into almost walking out, felt a little disappointed she wouldn’t have to. She pushed her lips together & gave a nod.
“Fourth floor. Left out the elevators. If you don’t see the very obvious signs, god help you.”

The elevators seemed to be almost on par with the ones at the Bellflower. At least in terms of scale. It was weird though. While the atrium like lobby had enough people coming & going to almost feel like some sort of train station, the corner by the elevators seemed almost a little empty. It seemed like Rachel was about to get one of these huge cars all to herself. She swiped the fob & it suddenly seemed to automatically not only call a car, but also seem to mark 4 as the destination for her. She clutched her purse a little closer as the doors opened & she stepped on. The doors seemed to hold for a bit. When suddenly a delivery guy nodded & joined her.  She nodded back, they smiled at each other, & she stepped a little to the side, even though he had plenty of room already. Whatever he had in his insulated carrying case vaguely smelled of tandoori. And it was driving her nuts. 

She hadn’t had a bite to eat since that (albeit) large wrap she had for dinner last night. But even that wasn’t entirely satisfying & she’d been starving ever since. And whatever this guy was here dropping off smelled absolutely heavenly. She made note of the name on the side of the case: “Padma.” Good to know the name of the local Indian place if she was ever in the mood for it. And if they delivered here they’d more than likely also be able to deliver to the Bellflo… Wait. Why was she THIS hungry? Still? Because she hadn’t eaten? Or was it something else? Fuck. It was almost getting to the point where it didn’t matter & she just needed to eat!

Just then, there was a weird jovial chuckle harmonized among a couple of men. And suddenly, just before the elevator car was inundated with suited executives. The later-in-life sort of dudebros she would’ve imagined worked at Hailington mostly, not the ladies she had met. It seemed like they were having a back & forth about golf, maybe? All she knew was suddenly the very spacious elevator was now almost cramped. And these jerks were loud. And at least more than one seemed to try to check her out. Trying to be nonchalant, but totally conspicuous in their terrible attempt at pretending to not be. And creepy, as the younger ones were at least in their late 30’s, but seemed to go all the way to their 50’s, maybe 60’s. And all of them some form of paunchy. Pig-like. 

She leaned back against the rail as the doors finally slid shut. Their hoots about their golf game got louder. The guy relating the golf outing story seemed self-deprecating, presumably about his own game. But also, gave an air of being most of these guys' superior. Or at least the alpha amongst their shitty pack. Because while some of them might’ve been popping glances at her, they were hanging on his every word. In sort of a “yes-man” sort of way though. Like they were formally obligated to. One even sort of waved off the guy, as he seemed to try to pile on how bad he was.
“That’s not true! I’ve seen you hit eagle at least a dozen times!”

“Yeah right!” another chortled, followed by uproarious laughter among the rest. In that moment, Rachel wanted to die.

Luckily the elevators here were a lot faster than the ones at the Bellflower. The car first stopped at three. And thankfully, a decent chunk of the men seemed to step off. But not all. And while there were nods & a few hand shakes, they had all seemed like one huge flock at first. Was it two separate systems of shitty businessmen that had somehow merged in the lobby the way a storm would gather strength? But also, the delivery guy seemed to step off too, meaning not only there was no longer a buffer, but also no more of that wonderful aroma! Luckily, it was only one more floor.

As the doors opened on four, as large as in the stairwell numbers at the Bellflower, there was this sort of… “mural” almost, with “HR Dept” & a large arrow to the left. It was kind of artsy & fun, at odds with how soulless & clinical everything else around here was. But first, she had to push through the sea of executives or whatever to get to it. 

“Pardon.” Rachel attempted to squeak mousily. A few made some effort to give her room, but given how creepy they were, not enough for her liking. In fact, she was half certain one stuck close in an attempt to get a whiff of her hair. The air sort of whistled in his septum about six or seven inches away, but still way, way to close her ear. Fuck! She wasn’t even officially an employee yet. Was she going to have to file a fucking report? Before she could turn to give a piece of her mind, one of the men by the panel who didn’t even seem to notice her impatiently jabbed at the door shut button, & the metal panels slid behind her. “Fuckin’ creeps!” she scoffed. 

“This is exactly what the doctor ordered!” Her eyes were shut, & she held a slightly messy hand with a few smudges of sauce to the side of the paper plate, but Holly chewed happily before taking a big gulp. 

“If you like the chicken parm, you should really try the meatball.” One of her coworkers announced as she waddled past where Holly was standing, easily able to grab more when she wanted.

“Ech, the chicken’s divine, why would you even THINK otherwise?” She argued. Just then she heard another buzz from the department’s main door. The last one dropped off lunch. But seeing as it was two minutes past two, she had a good idea who it was. And frankly, she was a bit surprised/relieved her sister was only a few minutes late. Of course it wasn’t the fifteen minutes earlier Hailington always told them they wanted to see in potential applicants, as a matter of corporate policy. But for Rachel? It was a good effort!

“Holly, your sister’s here.” Andrea announced, seeing as she was the one to buzz her in. On top of a few members of the typical ladies’ night crew, there were a few other coworkers that joined in on something of an “awww” like cackle. Instead of saying anything, from across the open plan office, the sisters only nodded at each other. Holly because she was too busy eating, standing by two huge party platters of small sections of hot sandwiches, stuffing her face. And Rachel mousily entering, trying not to run over & immediately stuff her face. 

Rachel looked around. Like the mural in the hallway, it was at least somewhat a little more colorful in here. Not as dead & soulless as the rest of the building. Was that Deidre’s doing? Lunch seemed to be causing a bit of a stir, with not only Holly, but a few other familiar faces like Veronica. And Camille as well. Oh, And of course Courtney, who somehow looked bigger than Rachel even remembered from Friday. But much like Friday, she was at her desk, sporting two full plates of sandwich pieces someone must’ve brought over to her, to save the large girl a trip. Just then, Rachel realized she might’ve been staring.

“I’m actually here to talk to Deidre?” Rachel said softly to Andrea as almost an aside.

“Oh right! Of course! The copywriting position! Duh, silly me!” The accented girl with all the weight in her legs remembered stopping just short of smacking her forehead. She was holding her own stacked plate of sandwich portions that Rachel couldn’t help but eye. “I think she…”

“Rachel, dear!” Deidre said in her restrained mature manner as she stepped out of her office & started walking towards her. “Hello! Great to see you!” She was somehow even more formal & put together, but at least now, it tended to fit the setting a little better. Hearing her voice, Rachel almost had something of a Pavlovian response, raising her arms up before getting smothered in what she thought was going to be one of Deidre’s world class hugs. Instead, the matronly young woman extended a hand before realizing their greetings were at odds. “Oh…” And almost like strangers moving in the same direction in an attempt to get by each other in the street, Deidre raised her arms for a second as Rachel awkwardly reached for a hand that had suddenly gone missing. “Let’s jus…” Deidre seemed to giggle. “In the office, it’s probably better to keep it professional.” She snickered, settling on grabbing Rachel’s hand for a shake.

“Sorry…” Rachel shook, but grit her teeth awkwardly.

“No!” Deidre flagged off. “Red tape formality. But it’s best to make you not to show too much favoritism, after all!” It seemed like a joke, so Rachel meagerly tried to chuckle. Deidre turned to the office pods & where Holly was still standing, guarding the sandwiches. “And sorry, bit of a busy day coming back, we just had lunch brought in probably a minute or two before you got here. I hope you don’t mind if I grab a bite to eat while we talk. You’re of course welcome to some too! On the house. Hailington’s fronting the bill.” Rachel bit her lip. She wanted to maintain some self-control. But the idea of eating on their dime for free? It was almost too good to pass up.

“No problem. And yeah, I… I think I just might have a little if that’s okay?” She caved, peckishly. Her stomach felt hollow at the moment. There was absolutely no fighting it. Smelling the basil & oregano, it was like she was exponentially now hungrier coming in through that door.

“By all means!” Deidre beckoned with a wave. Andrea nodded as Rachel continued onward. “So we’ll chat for a few & then I’ll give you small tour. Your department’s on the other side of our floor, believe it or not.” Rachel noted with “your department” how Deidre seemed to already be treating this more like a foregone conclusion than even she did. Which was probably the best case scenario when entering any sort of job interview. At least in most cases. But maybe not for Rachel. Not here. If the unprosecuted war crimes of the company at large weren’t enough already, the woman at the front desk, the creeps in the elevator, & just the overall soulless, oppressively corporate atmosphere outside this department were all really turning her off. Suddenly a paper plate was winged in her face. She looked up to see Deidre offering it happily. Rachel went to grab it when it as quickly got retracted for a second. “Ooh. I’m sorry, I just realized. Our department isn’t too picky in terms of dietary needs. I don’t know if have any…?”

“We went out to brunch,” Rachel smirked. “I had that frittata? I’m not vegan or anything.”

“Right! Ok! So… you’re cool…?” Deidre asked.

“Totally.” Rachel nodded. “And frankly, starving if I’m honest.”

“Then grab whatever, please!” It seemed like Deidre tried to give her the option to pick something up before she did out of proper etiquette. But suddenly, the department head saw something she liked & darted for it with a soft “ooh” while Rachel was in mid grab for what looked like a bit of chicken parm on the other side. “And take as much as you’d like, please!” She then leaned in, seemingly trying to keep her voice low. “I’d say there’s plenty to go around, but with these ladies, you’re better off grabbing what you want now!” Rachel smiled, but tried to keep it measured, her eyes falling back on Courtney & her two full plates looking a lot less full at the moment. From this angle, it almost looked like the office chair the girl was situated in was giving her a bit of a wedgie, given how much her bulbous cheeks over the sides. She could’ve probably used a chair for each. But that’s when she realized Courtney was trying to turn to look at her. 

“Welcome aboard,” the girl waved her half bitten sandwiched, trying to be sweet. Rachel mustered up a smile & nodded back.

“Thanks,” Rachel grinned, grabbing a tiny diet soda can that was laid out as part of the lunch spread. Across the table, Holly was staring at her.

“C’mon,” Deidre tilted her head towards her corner office. “If you’re sufficiently loaded up, you can follow me into my office.” Rachel nodded, but her eyes were locked with Holly’s. 

“Right behind you,” Rachel sheepishly laughed, but not breaking her gaze with her sister. At first, Holly grit her teeth into a big grin & held up crossed, hopeful fingers. But then that seemed to change suddenly as the grit teeth turned into slightly more of a grimace, & her lips mouthed the words “Do not fuck this up” over it. Rachel’s eyes rolled as she seemed to sigh, before turning to follow Deidre. This did not settling any of Holly’s worst fears, causing the older sister to sigh.

“More, Hol?” Veronica asked behind her.

“Load me up.” She said, turning the stress over her sister’s flaky nature into eating instead, & allowing three more sandwich bits to be loaded up on to her plate.

Deidre's office a bit high up. In fact, from her little corner, you could see the Bellflower in the distance if you were looking for it. But that also spoke to how sparse Oakmont & the office parks around them were, given the lack of trees & all. But it seemed like quite a nice view through the floor to ceiling windows. And the office itself was pretty nice. The furniture was new, modern. Ergonomical. She knew Deidre was Holly’s immediate boss, but she seemed maybe slightly more important that Rachel had first given her credit. But at the same time, given Hailington’s global reach, this office didn’t seem THAT fancy.

“So you… aren’t like… the head of all Hailington human resources, right?” Rachel blurted out as Deidre shut the door. The walls facing the rest of the department were glass so there wasn’t that much privacy, but the shut door did make things a little more intimidating. But Deidre seemed to crack up at the question.

“Oh god, I wish!” She chortled as Rachel took a seat in front of her desk. “No, just regionally. For the greater tri-state area here. And I share duties with another woman over in our sister offices in town.” Rachel noticed some of the pictures from Deidre’s social media had printouts framed on her desk & hanging in places around the room. Mostly of her extended family. Nieces & nephews. One of her & her sisters. Another of her on that mountain hike or whatever she used as her profile pic, probably some time around a hundred pounds ago. “But enough about me here.” She said, flanking her desk. She took a big bite of sandwich while taking her seat in what looked like an extra-cushy, “executives’” chair. “We’re here to talk about you!”

“Yeah, I guess… I guess we are.” Rachel timidly chuckled. But seeing Deidre take a bite seemed to signal it was okay for her to dig into hers. And she did with gusto, taking a huge bite of delicious, zesty chicken parm. Which excited her much more at the moment than the prospect of discussing her future. And filling her mouth made it more acceptable not to talk about herself, which she hated anyway. So it was a win-win. As for the sandwich itself, it wasn’t perfect, but it definitely came close enough to certainly hit the spot. “Mmmmm.” She only realized she was moaning mid moan.

“Good, huh?” Deidre seemed to giggle in acknowledgement. “This one of my favorite spots to get lunch nearby. Their sandwiches are just SOOO good!”

“Mmmm,” Rachel nodded, trying to clear her full mouth. “Do all the departments here cater lunch for their employees or are Holly & the girls just lucky to have you as a boss?” Rachel noticed as she continued to eat.

“Oh, I’m boss of the year around here! This is all me!” Deidre laughed, sticking her ample chest out as if she was very proud for a split second. At least before taking another big chomp of her own sandwich. “No, it depends on the department. But I’m pretty sure Dawn, the lead in yours, is pretty generous too. She doesn’t seem too opposed to expensing a lunch or two a week.” She admitted. Dawn? Why was that name familiar to Rachel? But before she could think, Deidre kept going. “It’s not an everyday thing, mind you. Like we’re just doing it because it’s the first day back after the holiday.” Even though that was already just one free day off, Rachel put into perspective. That was enough reason? “But it happens often enough to be one of the pretty decent perks around here. And like, there’s always free food around. If it’s not lunch, it’s donuts or someone bringing in something they want to share with everybody, et cetera.” Deidre leaned in, lowering her voice a little. “If you ask me, it can almost be a bit of a curse.” She rolled her eyes & said out the side of her mouth.

“Oh, I’ll bet.” Rachel nodded, wincing slightly as she choked back saying what she really wanted to say. But she liked Deidre. And didn’t want to a) hurt the poor woman’s feelings, & b) clue her into just how paranoid she truly was about this stuff.

“Mmmm,” Deidre’s eyes went down to a folder as she seemed to wipe some excess sauce off her hands with a napkin. She tilted her head towards a folder underneath her plate which she pushed towards Rachel. “So I’m sorry, my salary projection was more of a guess & I was a little bit off.” Rachel nodded. She knew it sounded too good to be true. And if it was much lower, it guaranteed her walking out of here. But hey, at least she ended up with a few mini sandwiches for her troubles!

“Oh, that’s okay, I…” Rachel started, intending to finish with “thought that seemed like it was a little high.” Instead, Deidre steamrolled her & just dropped the bombshell.

“It’s actually quite a bit closer to $55K.” Deidre smirked, opening the folder for Rachel as she leaned in. In the folder seemed to be something like a contract & official applications for background checks & things with other paperwork stuff. “$54,600 to be exact.” Rachel’s eyes bugged out. It was actually higher? The reminder of it being $50K was almost enough on its own to erase the shittiness she experienced getting to the meeting today, but the extra did seem to help sweeten that deal. “And that’s on top of the full benefits package, WITH dental AND optical. AND 401K after the first six months, all like I mentioned at brunch.”

“Oh… I… wow…” Rachel stammered. She was downright speechless. Like words truly weren’t coming to her. Which probably made her seem terrible as a writer.

“Also, if I do say so myself? Our copywriting staff? It’s probably one of the cushier jobs in the building here. Like flex-hours, the ability to work from home? It’s all deadline based. So as long as you’re meeting them & responding to emails, no one’s too concerned about you coming or going to be honest.” Deidre almost sounded a little jealous. “Oh! And I really hope you don’t mind but I passed those articles Holly sent me onto Dawn to check out. And honest to god, her initial response? “Jesus! What’s this girl doing applying here?!” She loved what she read! And that’s saying something because I always felt like she could be a bit… persnickety. So for her to give such a glowing review?”

“So like… I’m in?!” Rachel blinked. She thought this was going to be an interview. Like some sort of back & forth. Not just a straight offer! She even paid a quarter to print out a copy of her resume at the coffee shop yesterday in case she needed it. 

“Oh totally!” Deidre almost laughed as if it hadn’t been completely obvious from the beginning. “So long as you’re interested. You are interested, right?” Rachel clenched her eyes shut. Without looking, she could feel Holly, still standing by the sandwich platters, staring at the back of her head through the glass. Like a laser, she could feel that gaze burning a hole in the back of her skull. Fuck! But war crimes! Actual atrocities! They made weapons of war! Drones! And bombs! 

“Look,” Rachel finally mustered. “Deidre, you’re… amazing!” Deidre’s posture stiffened, & her expression flashed flat. At least at first. It seemed as though she was hanging on Rachel’s every word. “You’ve gone above & beyond here. Really! But can I… be… frank?” Instead of responding right away, Deidre put the folder down with something of a smile. Almost like she knew where this was warm-up was leading.

“It’s okay…” she started, resting her elbows on her desk & forming a bit of an elevated bridge with her crossed wrists. She then rested her round chin on that. Now, Rachel was the one hanging on her every word. And there was something coy about the way Deidre was suddenly acting. “I get it! Of course! You’re a smart girl. And all the smart people I talk to who end up applying or getting an offer from here seem to get… apprehensive. Hailington, after all, has a… let’s just call it “a bit of a history.”

“Yeah,” Rachel slowly nodded. She felt partially relieved she didn’t have to be the one to say it. That Deidre “got it.” She sighed. But she didn’t necessarily feel “off the hook.” Like the other shoe might still drop. Like, was Deidre in a position to scream at her?

“To be honest? You all... the girls in the department here, anyway. You all seem great!” Rachel tried to assure even though Deidre kind of tutted at it, as if to say it wasn’t necessary. She still found an in for a barb though.

“Except maybe for Veronica.” She giggled, looking to the side. Rachel bit back a small chuckle, but was glad to see the mood was still overall kind of light.

“But honestly, yeah! That shi… I mean that stuff really sort of… weighs kind of heavily on me. I mean I don’t want to sound the least bit ungrateful!” She still tried to assure. “I mean you really went to bat for me, bringing my stuff to the head of that department & everything…”

“Listen,” Deidre cut her off, rolling her eyes a little. “I didn’t do all that much. I just read your stuff & emailed it to another department head. And no one’s trying to force your hand here. Honestly! I’ve been through this a lot with people. Probably more than you even realize. I get any & all reservations you might have about working here. I had them too!” Deidre said, still resting her puffy chin. "But in all honesty? Chances are? Hailington has their fingers in so many pies? You might never be asked to do anything the slightest bit objectionable. Just on account of how large the company is! But at the same time, I can't entirely rule out & promise you won't run into anything like that either. You know what I do know?” Rachel's brow tilted up towards the center inquisitively. “Sisters.” Deidre chuckled to herself, nodding to her picture on her desk. She looked out towards Holly. Rachel’s eyes followed. And realizing that both Rachel & Deidre were staring at her, Holly awkwardly tried to avert her gaze. Make it seem as though she hadn’t been watching intently this whole time.

“Omigod.” Rachel chuckled. Deidre snickered a long too for a second.

“She’s a really sweet girl. And if you want to thank anyone for sticking their neck out & going to bat for you? It’s definitely her!” Deidre nodded. “Now I’ll probably bet she doesn’t come right out & say anything like this to you, but when she told me about all this, I mean you coming to stay with her for a bit, & possibly needing a job? She insisted I read your stuff. Even though I never watched some of the shows you were talking about. And honestly? When I forgot to actually check the links she sent me that first night? She was knocking at my door here bright & early the next morning, asking my thoughts & wondering if you’d be a good fit for the copywriting department.” At this point, Rachel kept her eyes fixed on the back of Holly’s head, because if she looked back over in Deidre’s direction, the head of HR would see that her eyes were starting to water. “She’s your big sister so she’d probably never come out & just say it, but she’s your biggest cheerleader! The rest of us are just lucky to have someone as talented as she told us you were!” 

“That’s…” Rachel attempted. But a tear streamed down her cheek, & let the cat out the bag. There was no hiding the emotion. 

“Aww,” Deidre cooed with a bit of a laugh. She quickly snatched a tissue from the box on her desk. “I didn’t mean to…”

“No it’s…” Rachel stammered, but ended up just waving her hand ok, as she accepted the tissue & tried to blot her tears without screwing up her makeup too much. She also gave her nose a bit of a blow.

“I don’t want to tell you what to do. You’re a functioning adult!” Deidre said. If Rachel wasn’t too busy trying to choke back tears, she probably would’ve tried to contend that. “It’s, at the end of the day, your decision, & I get it if you have scruples. I don’t want to get in the way of that! And while it would suck not to have someone of your talent, it wouldn’t be that huge a set back for us as a company in the grand scheme of things. The corporate machine would still keep chugging right along.” She exhaled a soft sigh. “And I also don’t want to guilt you into anything either, but as her friend, I feel it’s only fair to tell you that this seems to mean a hell of a lot to Holly out there. I honestly think she saw this as a chance for you two to bond a bit.” Deidre let a beat skip, pushing the box of tissues closer to Rachel’s side of her desk in case she needed them. “So if you want to think it ove…”

“No.” Rachel said flatly. Deidre’s eyes widened, before Rachel clarified. “I mean, no. I don’t need to think it over.”

“Would you relax?” Courtney huffed from her seat. “You’re stressing me out!”

“Yeah seriously!” Veronica added with tick of her tongue from her spot next to them.

“They’ve been in there for a bit.” Holly murmured, back at her desk. She kept trying to spy but also not let herself be seen as spying. Nervously she chomped on another section of sandwich. Eating was helping, but she had lost count as to what number she was on.

“I’ve got a good feeling about this,” Courtney tried to reassure her. “She seems like she’s got a good head on her shoulders. So chill, would you?!”

“That’s just it. She SEEMS like she does. But sometimes…” She stopped to take another huge bite, leaning a little to the side to peer in on the talk. She then suddenly locked eyes with Rachel. It was strange, her eyes were a bit red, like she had been crying a little? Wait! Was it getting that emotional in there? But then realizing she had Holly’s gaze, Rachel seemed to push the corners of her mouth up into a smile & gave a short wink. Holly looked away, trying to decipher whether that was a good wink or a devilish, I-just-burned-all-the-bridges-&-salted-the-earth wink. “Oh god.” Holly could barely handle it any more. She was practically reaching the point of hyperventilating. There was a loud bang.

“Would you stop!” Courtney insisted, after her meaty palm slapped her desk. “It’s going to be alright, either way!” Losing her patience a little bit, the larger girl exhaled a little like she was out of breath.

“You’re probably right but I just…” Holly started, but then she heard Deidre’s door opening.

“Well,” Deidre announced flatly. “Looks like we filled at least one of the copywriting positions. Everybody welcome aboard Rachel!” 

“He-ey!” Courtney led. A mild cheer resonated through the department, with the other friends from their ladies’ nights being the louder contributors. There was even some light clapping. But Holly? Holly just gasped & shoved her chair away from her desk to get up. Rachel had just stepped out from behind Deidre to give a modest wave to the room, only to look up & see her chubby older sister b-lining towards her with her arms spread wide & tears welling up in her eyes. She also seemed to not realize she had a smudge of tomato sauce on the side of her cheek.

“Oh-ho,” Deidre giggled as Holly threw her arms around Rachel. Rachel gradually reciprocated. “Awwwwww.” Deidre & others seemed to coo.

“It’s… just for the time being.” Rachel tried to explain softly. Just soft enough so Holly could hear in their embrace. “And the instant they try to get me to give a catalogue listing for any sort of ICBM or anything, I walk! But thank you. I really appreciate all that you did for me, helping me out like this.”

“Of course!” Holly blubbered as she pulled away. She wasn’t trying to hold back her tears, & seemed cartoonishly happy crying, which made Rachel get emotional all over again. “That’s what sisters are for!” Deidre interjected, mostly because she didn’t seem to want to get caught up in their little crygasm. She laid a hand on Rachel’s shoulder.

“In that case, would you like to tour your new department?”

“Depends.” Rachel snickered, wiping a tear away. “Can we pick up another mini sandwich or two on our way there?”

“Are there any left?!” Deidre laughed, half serious, stepping towards the platters, but seemingly to also give the sisters a moment. 

“I’m… this is great!” Holly mustered.

“Thanks for… thanks for looking out.” Rachel hugged again. “We’ll talk soon. I think I need to…”

“No! Yeah! Of course!” Holly pat her on the back before letting go of the hug. “Talk soon!”

With the last of the mini sandwiches on their plates, Rachel followed Deidre down the corridor by the elevator with the mural.

“The copywriting staff isn’t as big as my department. But they do a lot.” Deidre explained while chewing. She seemed to be eating quickly. Rachel, feeling like stuffing her face with a portion of a meatball sub might make for a terrible first impression when meeting future coworkers tried to keep pace both in bites & steps. Yet doing both at the same time was a little difficult. “Mmm, I think you should know too, there’s been a bit of turnover there recently. They’re a little shorthanded so you may be asked to pick up a little extra slack while we explore other applicants.”

“Why was there turnover?” Rachel seemed comfortable enough to pry, moving on to her second of three sandwiches.

“Health… things. A few people moved away. Job offers elsewhere it seemed. But they went from a staff of seven to a staff of three in the past month & a half. But hey! Now four!” She finished with a smile. They turned a corner. And unlike Deidre’s department, things quickly became drab & corporate again. Less colorful & fun, more like Oakmont in general. With irritating fluorescent lighting. They continued down a long winding corridor until they were greeted with another door not too dissimilar to the HR department’s. With their sandwiches finished, Deidre took Rachel’s plate & dropped it in waste basket just outside, before pushing the button to be buzzed in.

“Yeah?” a garbled voice projected from the speaker.

“Dawn, is that you? I’ve got Rachel here. Was hoping to introduce her to her new department if you ladies weren’t too busy.” Instead of saying anything, the door just let out a buzzing noise. Deidre shot Rachel a smile, but her eyebrows bounced a little too. She didn’t entirely grasp what the look was supposed to convey, but as Deidre opened the door for her, Rachel timidly ducked in. 

It was a similarly laid out but slightly smaller sized space in comparison to HR. But instead of pods, there seemed to be a conference table in the open space & a couple of shared offices off around the sides of the room. And not only was it a little less colorful, this side of the building almost seemed to get just a little less sun or something too, as it seemed… dimmer. Rachel tried to not be so quick to judge, but started thinking she’d either have to dress her workspace up nice or really push the limits of that “work from home” policy. 

“Only the two of us here today!” She heard almost bellow out of the corner office. She let Deidre retake the lead, marching towards the direction of it. “Nadya took the day. So it’s just me & Trudy.”

“Did you call me?” Another woman’s voice rang from one of the offices a bit awkwardly. “Sorry I had my earbuds in listening to podcasts.” She still hadn’t seen anybody. And for a second, Rachel tried not to sneer. Were they just the types of people that shouted back & forth to one another between rooms? She hated that. “In a second, Trudy.” Deidre seemed to call out in response. She beckoned Rachel to follow her into the corner office first.

“Dawn?” She poked her head in first. “This is Rachel.” 

Rachel took a few steps closer to meet her new supervisor, only to realize that they had already met. Sort of.

“Rachel, hello!” The obese, brightly redhaired woman didn’t so much stand so much as lean forward across her desk to extend a hand to shake. She didn’t seem to recognize Rachel but Rachel remembered Dawn alright. From the other night, at the grocery store. The one that nearly ran her down with the mobility scooter! She was using her to test her theory about getting hungrier? And right now, having just polished off a few more tiny sandwiches, she was still a bit peckish frankly.

“Uh, hi!” Rachel squeaked timidly, reaching in to give the woman’s pudgy hand a shake. She didn’t think it was pertinent to call out their previous run-in. But the coincidence wasn’t lost on her.

“Read your stuff!” The woman nodded towards her laptop. Besides coming just a little short of rivaling Courtney in size, Dawn gave off a bit of a quirky librarian vibe. She wore a flowing silk duster sort of thing over a vintage floral frock & colorful leggings. And the rims of her throwback glasses pointed somewhat into a horn. Her hair was up something of a messy red bun. “You’ve got a real knack when it comes to the written word! Can’t wait to see what you could do for us here!” She wasn’t moving too much but still seemed out of breath.

“Thank you,” Rachel kind of tilted in a halfassed curtsy. “Can’t wait to get started.” She sort of lied.

“After orientation,” Deidre added. “She’ll probably be starting Monday officially. Any idea what she’ll have on her docket?”

“More than likely?” Dawn seemed to ask with an eye roll. “Marulla.”

“Marulla?” Rachel asked. “You mean the plus-sized  women’s retailer?” They were kind of an up & coming hip brand. Posted on Instantgraph all the time. Seemingly came up a lot more often the past few days after her phone started pinging from the Bellflower. But they had nice stuff for what it was. Rachel was sort of bummed to find out they were a Hailington subsidiary.

“You betcha. The acquisition was officially announced just before EOB Friday.” Deidre nodded. “And despite a few minor shake ups in the C-Suite, it looks like most of their workforce will be joining us as members of the Hailington brand of products.”

“But marketing wants to go a different route with their catalogues.” Dawn huffed. “Switch things up. Instead of only pictures, they’re saying they want the next quarter to have some text captions, descriptions of the clothing, etc. And the way it all timed out, we’re a little behind the starting gate on these, given when the announcement is made & the time the fall catalogue’s has to make its way to print in like… three weeks?” 

“Sounds like…” Rachel was going to say “heavy load,” but stopped thinking about Dawn, Dawn’s weight, Deidre’s weight, & what Marulla sold & wanted to avoid any unnecessary puns that could be conceived as mean innuendo. She luckily caught her tongue in time to simply say. “... an awful lot.”

“You bet!” Dawn wheezed. “And it’s just me, Trudy over there, & Nadya every so often from home.” Dawn picked up one of the older catalogues she had on her desk for reference. “But it’s cute stuff. Might be a little big for a skinny lil’ thing like you, but it’s not hard. Just… a lot. But that’ll probably be your first big assignment, since it’s sort of an all-hands-on-deck.” And honestly, Rachel felt some modicum of relief. Hailington still royally sucked. But larger sized ladies clothing seemed like much easier assignment to handle than murder drones & ICBMs. And Deidre seemed to sort of pick up on that & nod too.

“Well, I don’t want to hold you up too much.” The head of HR smirked. “I’ll let you get back to it! Just wanted to let Rachel make the rounds here.”

“Pleasure meeting you.” Rachel nodded. She noticed Dawn reaching into her desk to take out what looked like a doublestuffed marshmellow creme cookie from a half open drawer at the side of her desk.

“Mmmm,” She bit the first sandwich layer of cookie off & then waved it. “Likewise! Welcome aboard!”

She followed Deidre out of the office. In her head, Rachel’s paranoia lurched back into the forefront. Lots of turnover? Someone was working from home? Dawn the size she was, snacking on cookies in the middle of the work day? Hailington seemingly just acquiring a plus sized clothing chain? There was a lot to take in. After this, she was going to have to get somewhere & jot all this down in her new unpronounceable journal or whatever. There was a lot to take in. But today was all going by in a blur. Even now, Deidre seemed to be flagging her to follow her to one of the other offices. Inside, there were two desks facing one another. One empty, one occupied.

“Before we leave,” Deidre explained. “This’ll probably be where they’ll set you up. Right here, next to Trudy.”

“Mmmmm.” a large, nerdy girl timidly nodded. She was chewing on something, but it wasn’t immediately apparent what. But she raised a pudgy hand to shake, while pulling a bluetooth earbud out the other. “Hi! Trudy!”

“Rachel.” The new hire nodded.

“Dawn said you might be coming by. Great to have someone new here. We’ve been really slammed lately.” the girl said flatly from behind her glasses. She was maybe just a wee bit rounder than Deidre, but definitely nowhere near as tall. She wore a hipster-y sort of denim button down with very short sleeves & nice, brightly colored dress jeans. She gave off a sort of detached vibe. Not like she was too cool for school, but like she was a little distant & emotionally flat in a way she couldn’t quite help. Almost as if it was taking a bit of extra effort for her to be personable. 

“Well, frankly I could use the work!” Rachel nodded, trying to be friendly & bridge the gap. “So happy to help! Deidre says I start…?”

“Probably Monday officially.” She interjected. “After orientation & everything.” Her expression changed a little, & Deidre’s voice lowered a little. “Dawn said Nadya’s working from home today?” There was a weird dynamic that Rachel seemed to pick up on. Why was she asking Trudy about that & not Dawn?

“Yeah. I think Nadya had a bit of a hard time getting in this morning.” Trudy said, kind of staring into the distance, but also, kind of realizing that maybe she said a little more than she should have a little too late. “But she’s sharing some samples in emails. She should be in tomorrow. I hope. Do you need to talk to her?”

“Oh!” Deidre seemed to wave off. “No, nothing like that. Just… wondering.” The whole time, Rachel observed as a third party & was a little suspect of the whole thing. Deidre seemed to notice but just shot a side eye & gave a slight head shake like it was nothing Rachel needed to concern herself with. It was all rather… weird. “Well we’ll leave you to it.”

“Nice meeting you,” Rachel waved.

“You too.” Trudy said flatly. Before putting a smile on after & waving back. 

“So that’s at least two thirds of the rest of your department!” Deidre smiled as they walked back out to the hallway. “Sorry. Like I said, they’ve had a tough couple months. You’re probably going to be the highlight of their year once you get in there & start kickin’ ass.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here,” Rachel laughed off modestly. Deidre giggled.

“So yeah,” She clapped, “We’ll probably put you in for Thursday’s orientation. It’ll be down in the conference hall but it’ll probably be Andrea & Courtney leading it & you know them. 10am, sharp.”

“Three forms of photo ID?” Rachel checked cattily.

“Oh I take it you met Carol?” Deidre laughed loudly. “Yeah she’s… a real character. We’ve had a few complaints but someone upstairs likes her.”

“Oh I can see why! She’s just so… outgoing & accommodating.” Rachel joked as they reached the elevator. 

“You want to say goodbye to Holly or anything?” Deidre asked, throwing her thumb over her shoulder. 

“Nah, she’s probably busy. I’ll catch her later.” Rachel waved off. Instead of saying anything, Deidre’s right hand darted out in front of Rachel. 

“I’m just so happy this could all work out!” She said. “For you, for Holly. For us here?”

“Yeah, I…” Rachel didn’t know exactly what to say. After all, she still had plenty of reservations. But she did feel a heck of a lot better than when she came in. “Me too.” She stuck her hand out to meet Deidre’s & shake.

“I think you’ve got a really bright future here!” The young woman smiled. “Big things ahead!”