I wake up the next morning with a knot in the pit of my stomach. The nerves of starting my very first job start flying every which way as I get dressed. I stand in front of the mirror and inspect my business casual wear.
My black skirt and white blouse is conservative since Colleen bought it for me, but it still does a pretty good job of accentuating my curves—probably because they’re impossible to hide even in the most modest of clothes, and this outfit has a professional, trimmed cut that shows off a little more than the church clothes I usually wear out. Upon approval and several deep breathes, I leave the house.
I pull into the parking lot of an extremely large building in downtown Albuquerque. It’s covered floor to ceiling in windows, giving off a vibe of high importance. After sitting with the car idling for a moment, I gather my courage and walk into the building, navigating my way through a maze of hallways and elevators. I feel that my first task of the day was finding the darn place, and I’m impressed that I figured it out.
I walk up to one of the two front desks and meet the eyes of the female receptionist. A male receptionist sits behind the other desk and so I feel more comfortable approaching this one.
She smiles warmly at me. “Hiya, I’m Erin. You must be one of the new assistants. Can I help you?”
“Hi,” I say, looking around. Several conference rooms catch my eye with men and women dressed to the nines. I suddenly feel dangerously underdressed. I make a note to step it up tomorrow. “I’m Grace.”
“Oh, Grace!” she says, coming around the front of the desk and giving me a hug.
I freeze, mostly out of shock, but also because I’m a shy person and wasn’t expecting it. Then I immediately say, “Oh, hi,” and hug her back kind of awkwardly, because I don’t want to be rude.
“Erin, you’ve gone and scared one of the new girls,” says the guy behind the other desk, with a slight lisp that’s pretty adorable. “Now she’ll not want to work here with us.”
“Oh, stop,” she says, smiling at him. “But seriously, did I scare you?” she asks me.
“No,” I insist, shaking my head, but she starts laughing, and so do I.
I feel I have an instant connection here at my new job, and one that I wasn’t expecting. I relax, letting my shoulders fall down a bit.
“I did,” she says. “Claude’s right. I scared you. I’m sorry. I’m a little too friendly sometimes. I was just really excited to meet you.”
“Ask her why,” the other receptionist—Claude, apparently—says.
“Why?” I ask, dumbly.
“I get a little nosy sometimes,” she confesses, while Claude butts in to say, “You? Never.”
“Shut up,” she tells him, before turning back to me. “And I was looking at your resume that was up here on the front desk, and I noticed you and I had a lot of the same extracurricular activities. Bible Club in high school. Bible Quizzes and youth group at church. Volunteering at the mission.”
I smile, nervously. I really did do those things, although the “Bible club” was really just Colleen and me, after my regular schoolwork. She had named my homeschool School of the Messiah, and gave me a diploma with my name on it, which you’re allowed to do in the state of New Mexico, but still sounds a little deceptive to me. I’m hoping Erin doesn’t ask more about what school I went to—most people say things like, “Oh I haven’t heard of that, where is it?”, and then I get embarrassed having to answer awkward questions like “Well, why were you homeschooled?”—but Erin seems to be focused more on the similarities between us than the differences.
“It’s just so cool to meet someone like me,” she says. “Or, like the old me, any way.”
I look at her blankly and then Claude says, “Yeah, before you started shagging your boss,” and laughs.
I try not to look too shocked, wondering if he’s kidding. But one look at the grin on Erin’s face tells me it’s true.
“Okay, so I might have hooked up with my boss, but whatever, that turned out great. My parents were mad as hell though. They’re really religious. We were in church all the time.”
“Mine too,” I tell her. “Well, my foster parents anyway.”
“Oh, okay,” she says, smiling, but obviously looking a little awkward, as if she isn’t sure what to say about that. No one ever knows how to respond to that and I can’t blame them. In fact, I feel silly for bringing it up, but I didn’t want her to think I meant “regular” parents. I’m not a “regular” person and I like to break the news to people early on so they’re not shocked later.
“Yeah,” I say, trying to ease the tension by talking, a bad habit of mine which is why I usually try not to start talking in the first place, lest I ramble on incoherently to fill awkward silences in the conversation. “I volunteered at the program the mission has that helps foster children. I served food and tried to do some tutoring, although…well, I just did whatever I could to help out.”
I was going to say, “although I could have used some tutoring myself,” but I don’t want to reveal how much of an education—or lack thereof—I barely scraped by with. Also, I don’t want to sound sorry for myself. I really wish I had known about the mission earlier, as it would have saved me a lot of hardships, but once I found out about it and they pointed me in the direction of St. Benedict’s services and Pastor John and Andrew and Colleen, I was eternally grateful. I did everything I could to try to pay back the kindness and pass it forward to other foster children. So the last thing I am is sorry for myself, even though it’s always hard to explain, given the rest of my unfortunate circumstances that had lead me there.
“Well, welcome to the firm of Marks, Sanchez, Reed and Mack…and, well, whatever it is now or is going to be,” Erin says, smiling. I must look confused—which I am—because she adds, “We’re going through some growth and transition. And I just can’t keep up!”
“Come on Erin, get with the program,” Claude teases. “And it’s nice to meet you, Grace,” he adds.
“Nice to meet you too,” I say, smiling at them. I’m sincerely glad my first impression of anyone here at my new job was positive.
“I have to return a couple of phone calls, or else I’d love to stay chatting about our scintillating shared experience growing up as church girls,” Erin says. I smile at her and nod, even though I hardly grew up as one. “But someone will be right with you to show you around. You can take a seat.”
She gestures behind me towards several cushioned chairs. The lobby is beautifully decorated and the furniture is lovely, but it still has the feel of a doctor’s office waiting room, with just as much anxiety flooding the air, including my own. I suppose all law firms are probably high stress environments where this kind of energy is palpable, but I’m hoping I can cut it in this new corporate world.
I sit down, and cross and uncross my legs several times, unsure of how to come off as someone who’s calm, which I’m generally not. This being the first job that I’ve had, I’m not sure how to act. Although, I don’t think the nerves can escape even a veteran worker.
I’m uncrossing my legs for the fourth or fifth time, when an extremely handsome man suddenly appears out of nowhere. I can’t even believe it, but I swear it’s the guy from the car beside me yesterday, on the way home from church. The guy I freaking masturbated to when I got home.
I start to think I must be imagining things. Maybe I’m just thinking this is the same guy, because he’s just as handsome. His dark hair and impressive stature take me completely off guard.
Having spent the last few years surrounded by church-goers and voices in my head telling me to avoid sinful thoughts, I can’t help but think what Pastor John would think of the situation. Actually, I know exactly what he would think and I know what he would say; not to mention what Andrew would say. However, the lust I’m suddenly feeling doesn’t go away. Whether this is the same guy or not, my pussy is dripping wet for him.
Well, crap.
What an awkward way to start my new job, all around. As he lifts an eyebrow at me, I can’t help but think, it can only get better from here, right?