He moves his hand closer to me as if that makes them more enticing, and I shake my head. Some of our coworkers keepcandy on their desks, and Wes, the social butterfly, bops from desk to desk to get the sugar rush needed to make it through the end of the work day.
“I don’t understand how you still have teeth with your continuous consumption of sugar.”
He shrugs and tosses a jellybean up, catching it in his mouth with ease. Right as I give him a shove, the voices in the meeting room begin to hush.
“Good afternoon! Let’s quiet down.” Tara, our regional manager, demands attention as she walks in with someone who is eerily familiar. I stare at this man trying to place him. He looks like he’s in his mid-forties, but there’s nothing remarkable about him. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen him, but where would that have been?
He is an outside hire, so I can’t know him from a past ERI conference. Closing my eyes, I try to picture him, and for some reason, the smell of coffee sticks out in my mind.
No.
Tara continues, “I hope you can all give a warm welcome to the Virginia office’s new manager.” The realization hits me hard, and my stomach drops to the floor. “I would like to introduce you all to Gregory Fleming. He has been onboarding all week, but Gregory will start officially on Monday. ”
I close my eyes tight and open them back up, hoping that I am hallucinating, but I’m not.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
“Hello, everyone. I am so glad to be here. You all can call me Greg.” He waves to the group of us, and it reveals the moisture under his armpits.
There is no fucking way that this is happening right now.
He attempts a welcoming smile, but all I can see is the creep from this morning leaning too close to Ellie.
Droning on, he says, “I am very excited to be working with you all. I have been inspired by the company ever since I heard of all the hard work they have been doing. I would like to share some of my ideas and plans with—”
The ringing in my ears gets so loud that it distracts me from what he is saying. I zone out for what feels like a few minutes, but I’m not really sure.
Wes nudges me, and I come back to reality. “Right?”
“W-what?” Blinking, I try to get my bearings, but I can’t think.
He is still watching Greg and hasn’t noticed my reaction, which is a good thing. I don’t need Wes going all investigator on me.
“Don’t you think it’s kinda stupid?”
“Do I think what is kinda stupid?” I take a deep breath and try to pull myself together.
“Dude, were you not listening at all? Gregory… ‘Greg’ was talking about how he thinks ‘community’ is the most important part of having a productive workplace, and he wants all of us who work in the office to be ‘a family’ or whatever.” Wes provides some well-placed air quotes to convey his feelings for Greg’s plans, and I’m still not quite following.
I stare at him like this is the first time I’m hearing this information because honestly, it is.
When I don’t react, he continues, “That’s not what I think is stupid though. That part makes sense. I don’t understandwhy we have to start participating in community-building social events outside of the work day.”
My world comes back into focus. “Yeah, that actually sounds really dumb.”
“Well, I guess it’s not all that bad. It’s cool that the company will be paying for it, and he wants us to invite ourloved ones.” Wes emphasizes the words mocking Greg, and I’m grateful that his voice doesn’t carry. “Oh! Maybe I can start bringing my first dates to these things that way I don’t have to cover the bill.”
“Sounds like one of your worst ideas, which is saying a lot since you have bad ideas on a regular basis. Don't you remember the twins?" I roll my eyes. "You really thought you could get away with dating both of them even though they lived together.”
He smirks, taking some time trying to calculate how bad his plan is before answering me. “Fair point, boss. I should probably keep it chill for a while, especially with the new boss around.”
Greg has moved to one-on-one conversations with the people who are interested in getting themselves known by the new boss, which offers me a chance to escape unnoticed. Maybe if I didn’t already get a chance to see Greg’s true colors already, I might try to get on his good side, but that desire is long gone.
Seeing my opportunity, I take it. Wes gets up to leave, and I stand on the other side of him to sneak out. Keeping my eyes towards the ground, I begin walking with a purpose. The purpose being to get the fuck out of here and hope Greg isn’t good with faces.
“Hey, you!” There is a voice yelling in our direction. “I remember you from this morning! Come over here.”
If I ignore him, it will look bad on me and my team, so I glance in his direction. As we make eye contact, it’s obvious Greg is talking to me, and there is no getting away. I want to run, but that’s impossible to do now. Standing up straighter, I walk over to him.
