Workplace Melodrama

She had made herself the bane of the entire department so it made sense that no one actually liked her. In return, she made it her business to be in and know just about everyone else' business.

"Come on." Lisa peered up even higher, threatening to undo the delicate setting of the demarcation that separated the two of them. "We're all friends here aren't we?" She asked with a smile that made the bottom of Ella's stomach growl.

She just could not help herself. She scoffed instantly as soon as she said the word 'friends' without even meaning to.

"I mean, I think we are." She said narrowing her gaze towards Nat and Ella.

"There is nothing to talk about and I would like to assume that you have a lot of work to do." Ella said, mildly emphasizing each word.

"Okay then." She said as she lightly retreated to her seat.

Ella turned to Nat, giving her a knowing look as she instantly understood what she actually meant by it. Natalie hoisted the stack of files back in her arm and scuttled off to processing. It was a department that was downstairs to them. She knew this because after processing, those files would find their way to her for editing. She was an editor here after all.

If she really thought about it, she was grateful for this job. She had come from New Jersey to find a better life for herself.

The chance of meeting a stranger on the side walk. One that she was so attracted to that she could not focus on the job that she had fought so hard to fin.

Technically, it fell on her lap after months of searching. Joey had given her this opportunity.

She sighed as she peered back to her desktop. She had left her work unattended to for far too long. She needed to start working if she was going to get any work done that day.

Alex threw a towel over her neck as she ran towards the fridge to retrieve the mittens that she had been looking for.

"Fuck!" She cursed out loud as she made a dash for the oven. She had been baking a pie and it was getting toast by the moment. She hated not knowing where anything was in the house. She knew that she had no one to blame but herself for it though. If it was someone else, she would have found a way to blame it on their roommate or something. It was an entirely different case for the both of them. She loved Ella like her own sister. Even if she didn't have any, she felt that sense of kinship that they both shared.

The two of them went way back. It was a matter of how far they would go without trying to make the other happy at this point. Because that was all they tried to do. The amount of sacrifices that they had both made for each other was too many to actually begin to count and the two of them did not think anything into it.

Alex sneezed as she opened the oven to reveal the smoke that it had been housing for a while. It blew out into her face, threatening to choke her as she came in contact with it.

She quickly took out what she had been baking and closed the oven as fast as she could. It was a little too late for the damage control that she was attempting to do. The smoke was already circulating the kitchen. She quickly dropped the pie on the kitchen table, dashing towards the door that separated the living room and the kitchen to close it.

"If I knew there was a fire. I would have called the fire department." Ella said from behind her.

She looked worn out. She was back from work already. Alex sighed as she waved her mitten covered hands in the air to try dissipate the cloud of smoke that was filling the air. She knew that would very little to affect the situation on ground but battle the helplessness that she did not want to feel. That at the very least made her feel like she was doing something about the mess.

"It'll clear out Alex. Don't be such a big baby." Ella said as she came into the kitchen fully.

"When did you come in anyway?" Alex asked her as she tossed the mittens that she had been hold on the kitchen table.

"Not too long ago." Ella replied, sounding as tired as she felt. "How was today for you?" She asked, directing the question back at her.

It was one thing that she never failed to do, Alex thought. No matter how bad her days were, she would always make time to listen to her problems. Every single detail of her day. She said problems mostly because it was what she always seemed to have lately.

How did she plan to tell her that she had been fired from one of her three jobs? It so happened that she was fired from the one that paid the most.

Steve the store manager had always hated her since she refused to go out with him. In her defense, he looked like a toad that swallowed half of its clan and just sat around and did nothing. She could not stand the sight of him and he was always there to make her regret going to work. He was sluggish and he slobbered his way into everything that was going on in the office. She had considered reporting him severally to the regional manager but she didn't know what type pf person her was and a mistake like that could actually cost her the job she had worked so hard to acquire. Little did she know that other things could actually coat her the job. If she did then she would have probably done what she needed to do. Report him and have him fired for the things he did in the workplace. None of them were appropriate, especially to the female employees that worked there.

She usually worked as a shop attendant in one of the biggest malls in that part of the city and she did her job really well. Well, she didn't exactly have a choice, she told herself each time she got the 'Employee of the month' award. It was just what came with doing her job really well.

To her, she saw this as a way for ends to meet without having to be picky about it. She didn't know how she was going to begin to tell her that she had let Steve the slob as most of the females called him. She didn't know how to tell Ella that she had let that mud ball fire her. He had asked her to dinner several times to which she declined politely. She assumed that was a normal thing that he did to everyone and it was. Why he decide to pick on her fot refusing to go out with him was beyond her. She dint understand why he let it get to him. She understood that he picked on everyone. He just usually found a way to make sure that he overdid it when it came to her case. She wondered what she had said that was so beyond ordinary that he could not let go. It was frankly infuriating.

He still stayed with his grandmother and that alone was enough to be a huge turn off for most women. Usually, that would be a deal breaker but there was more. He never properly showered and he made sure to always make contact when he wanted to talk to you.

He would always sweat to his palms which made Alex want to vomit or at the very least, instantly retreat. Was that why he hated her so much? Surely that was not enough, she told herself. She assumed that he revolted a lot of people but maybe she was the only one that was not that much of a good actor. She probably showed it too much, she thought to herself. That had to be it.

She tried not to sigh. She already knew that she sucked when it came to pretending that things were fine so she was frankly on thin ice. All that she had going for her right now was the job as a waitress in the diner that was a little bit away from them. As a show of support, Ella came in there to eat most of the time. She did this so that she would be able to take her home. She made sure that she appeared on days that she was on.

What was she going to do about this? She had tried to keep that job. Heck, she even put up with Steve the slob for this long. How dare he fire her?

She had gotten to work that early and noticed that everyone was all huddled up in a corner.

Alex walked up to them, brandishing her most favorite weapon; her smile. The whispers stopped as soon as she made her way closer to them.

"What're you guys talking about," she asked them, her smile still in place.

Thy all stared at her for a couple pf seconds and quickly averted their gazes as they scattered into different directions. She felt that something was off so she went after one of them. She knew Grace more than she knew the others. She would at the very least tell her what is going on.

"Hey Gracie." She began, putting her bag on the countertop close to her. "You know what's going on?" She asked again, this time turning around to see if anyone was within ear shot and like she guessed, they were.

"Nothing." Grace replied as she tried not to meet her eyes.

"Everyone else is acting weird but I want to believe you wouldn't do that to me too now would you?" She said, backing her against a corner.

Alex could see that it was working. She had succeeded in backing into a hard place. It was a mental choke hold in action.

Grace sighed as she finally turned her up and took a long single glance at her.

"Look," she started, slicing her head both ways to be sure she could talk freely. "Steve says he doesn't want you working here anymore." She said. "He cooked up some thing about you, trying to seduce him or something like that but we both know that will not happen. Not for a thousand years." She said, easing up a little bit. "Not even on this earth."

"Fuck!" Alex said, without being able to stop herself from doing so. "That pig!" she said, throwing her fists against a nearby shelf.

"Hey, hey." Grace said. "Easy. You don't want to get a property damage charge soon as he just fired you now do you?" She asked, knowing it was rhetorical. "We're not supposed to tell you anything so you didn't hear this from me."

Grace knew that Alex was furious. Anyone would be if they found out something this annoying on the first day of the week. Actually, it didn't matter what day of the week it turned out to be, it had a way of instantly ruining your day, she thought.

"Alex?" She heard Ella say.

She had been lost in her thoughts the entire time and she didn't know it. She could feel the rage boiling inside of her as she struggled to keep it down. She did not want to give off any strange expressions to Ella. She was too smart not to pick up on the fact that something was wrong somewhere.

"Yeah? I lost you there for a second." Alex said. "What did you say?"

"A second?" Ella said, laughing. "It felt like you had retreated into your own world back there. I thought that was my thing," she asked.

"Sorry." Alex said, trying to play it off. "It still is. I just have to find out my own thing then." She said, causing the two of them to laugh.

"Your day?" Ella asked again.