Ian: Are you asleep yet?
Elly: I was getting there…
Ian: I just wanted to say goodnight one more time and tell you that I had a lot of fun on our date.
Elly: I had fun too.
Ian: So we’re on for Wednesday?
Elly: Absolutely!
Ian: I didn’t get a chance to finish what I was going to say earlier. My plans are related to the holiday. I hope that’s okay.
Elly: Hmm. I guess I have to be true to my word. I’m not going to turn down a chance to spend time with you.
Ian: Maybe you’ll have fun?
Elly: I’ll tolerate it. :)
Ian: Sleep well. Can I talk to you tomorrow?
Elly: Yes, I’ll let you know when I get done at the office.
Ian: Perfect.
At least he didn’t ask if I was being naughty this time. Not that I would have minded telling him…
Mondays were always busy at Thornton Advertising, so I always tried to get to the office ahead of the chaos. I convinced myself that not going in over the weekend was going to be okay, but I felt frazzled when I parked my car. All of the things that I could have gotten done felt like albatrosses around my neck. I walked into the office and immediately noticed that something was different. There was way more Christmas decorations up than when I left on Friday. The tops of the cubicles had been covered in lights, there was garland hanging everywhere, and when I got to my desk, I found red and green bells that had been made from construction paper taped to the top of my monitor.
Did the Christmas Mafia really come into the office over the weekend just to freaking decorate?
I considered removing the lights from my cubicle and getting rid of the garland but decided against it. The bells on my computer were obviously supposed to be Jingle Bells, and they were a little distracting. I ripped the first one off, and when I reached for the second one—I felt a twinge of guilt. I didn’t know why. It wasn’t like I asked them to violate my personal space and cover it in Christmas decorations. They also didn’t ask permission before they stuck crap to my computer. Still, it was something that they worked hard on, and instead of ripping off another Jingle Bell, I taped the one in my hand back where it was.
There are worse things I could stare at.
I took care of the normal stuff I handled in the mornings and then moved on to the assignments that needed my attention. I really didn’t miss much by not coming in over the weekend. I had worked so hard at the end of the week that I was still ahead of where I needed to be. I did a quick review of the Dillinger’s Department Store ad-copy and then forwarded it to Mr. Thornton. I didn’t feel like I had missed anything when I completed it on Friday—if anything, I saved myself the stress of dwelling on it all weekend because I decided to stay home.
I went for my second cup of coffee as the rest of the employees arrived. Mr. Thornton arrived before I did, so I kept checking my email throughout the day, waiting to hear something about the Dillinger’s Department Store ad-copy. When I finally got an email from him shortly after lunch, I immediately clicked it, but instead of feedback, it was a request for a meeting.
Oh no… A meeting? He rarely meets with anyone directly unless there’s a problem. Did I screw the ad-copy up?
“Elly, I see that you made some changes to your stocking. It looks so much better.” Mary walked past my cubicle and shot me a big smile.
“Huh?” I raised both eyebrows.
I hadn’t even looked at my stocking when I arrived. I was too focused on the lights, garland, and Jingle Bells. I slid my chair to the edge of my cubicle and peeked around the side. She was right—my stocking was different. Someone had traced my drawings and my name in glue then covered the stocking with a mixture of red and green glitter. I had no idea who did it, but it certainly wasn’t me. I might have taken a moment to try and figure out who was responsible if I wasn’t stressing about my meeting with Mr. Thornton.
An hour to go until the meeting. Waiting is going to drive me insane.
I pulled up the Dillinger’s Department Store ad-copy and carefully went over every slide that I sent to Mr. Thornton. Dread began to take over all of the other emotions. I could have spent the weekend looking over it—instead of lounging around my apartment—instead of spending time with Ian. Thinking about Ian calmed me down a little bit, and despite the possibility of getting in trouble at work, I didn’t regret spending time with him. If there was a problem, I was just going to have to face the music—I didn’t have a time machine, and I wasn’t even sure what I could have done differently. The ad-copy appeared to be as close to perfect as I could have gotten it, even if I had spent the entire weekend going over it.
Okay, it’s time for my meeting.
“Hello Jillian, I have a meeting with Mr. Thornton.” I put a smile on my face as I walked up to his secretary’s desk.
“Yep, I have you on the calendar.” She smiled and stood up. “Let me see if he’s ready for you.”
It only took Jillian a couple of seconds to confirm that Mr. Thornton was ready to see me. The sense of dread returned when I took the last few steps towards his office. I hadn’t seen the inside of it much—a handful of times at most. It was where I sat when he offered me my job after I interned at Thornton Advertising, and where I sat a couple of weeks later when he told me what I would be working on. Since then, he had just stopped by my desk when he wanted something that was too important to email.