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The whole room reacted with laughter, and everyone relaxed by a fraction. Eric was really good at that, which was why I considered him a very vital part of my team.
“On behalf of myself, the board, and of course, Ben—” Eric gestured to me and I raised my hand in greeting “—I want to congratulate everyone for improving the quality of stories these last weeks. And we want to specifically congratulate Olivia Taylor, who just broke our all-time record for most viewed story.” Everyone clapped and cheered, some looking in Olivia’s direction as she smiled shyly, a hint of pink in her cheeks.
“Congratulations, Olivia!” Janet remarked, patting her on the back.
“You did so well!” Lucy exclaimed. “The all-time record in just under a month of work? Phenomenal.”
I felt my lips tug up to a smile, but I quickly averted my gaze when I realized I was staring at her for a bit too long.
It was rare to see my people in such high spirits. I was aware that they were a bit weirded out by how I became a lot more hands on during this campaign season, therefore tensing up the room even more every single time I walked through the newsroom doors. I was just happy that we were finally showing results.
“I wanted to thank everyone for working really hard for the past few weeks,” I interjected, standing up from my seat and walking towards the center, looking around and trying to connect with every single employee in the room. “The news industry has become a lot stricter and more scrutinized in recent years. Everything we do will be placed under a magnifying glass, and I’m elated to witness how we all are adjusting to this new era.”
Admittedly, it was also out of character for me to be doing this, but I could see in everyone’s eyes that they appreciated me showing gratitude as they clapped once more. My eyes kept darting towards Olivia, who seemed to have a fire in her eyes.
“Thank you, Ben. With that being said, the campaign season is approaching its peak, and if we keep up this momentum, we will shine right through election day.” Eric was the newsroom hype man. But his words elicited another wave of cheers.
“Let’s keep it up, everyone,” I added. “And now, as a very small token of appreciation, we’d like to offer everyone lunch. We know you’ve been working hard, so we thought a little comfort food was in order.”
The caterers walked in at that moment, setting up trays of pizza, a warming station with burgers, buffalo wings, and fries. A second table had a variety of soda and an ice cream sundae bar was being assembled.
Everyone cheered again and grabbed plates. The room was bursting with conversation as everyone took some time to socialize with their colleagues.
It was out of character for me to be eating and hanging out with my employees, but, I have to admit, it was nice. We all still had a battle ahead with this election season, so the break was welcome.
More than once, my gaze landed on Olivia. Her head was thrown back in laughter at something either Lucy or Janet said. She had a buffalo wing poised in front of her mouth and I couldn’t help realizing just how beautiful and full of life she was. The turtleneck she wore also teased me, reminding me of why she was probably wearing it and how I had marked her.
Her laugh had fallen into a bright smile as her eyes caught mine.
I felt flustered. Inevergot flustered.
But Olivia didn’t seem to notice my fast heartbeat and shallow breaths. She merely lifted her buffalo wing toward me in greeting with a small smile. I responded by lifting my plastic cup of root beer. It had been a long time since I’d had root beer. Or used a plastic cup. But again, it was nice.
Eric interrupted my train of thought with a friendly pat on the back as he sat down next to me.
“Thanks for doing this, man. And thanks for sticking around and not hiding in your office.”
Ah, yes. My office. A sudden flashback of what Olivia and I did in my office was floating through my head before I could stop it.
“Well, sometimes change is good,” I said nonchalantly, taking a bite from my burger.
Another senior staffer sat with us and she and Eric started talking, but I wasn’t paying attention. Just smiling and nodding when it seemed appropriate.
I looked at Olivia once more, and the feeling that was looming over me earlier that I couldn’t determine… I think I understood it then, though honestly, I was a bit scared of it.
But I had never achieved all of my success by being scared of what I was feeling, whether it was business-related aspects or something personal.
And this was definitely personal.
An idea started to form in my head. It was probably a terrible idea, but I was going to go for it. Eric and I were on our own again.
“Have you sent out the new story assignments yet?” I asked quietly to Eric, who had a mouthful of fries in his mouth.
He swallowed quickly. “I will right after this. Why? Do you wanna reassign something?”
I shook my head, looking at Olivia one last time, then putting all my attention on Eric.
“Have my assistant get the jet ready,” I asked him, taking a sip from my root beer.
