A Little Tinkering

I just can't seem to take my eyes off my boss right now. One second, she's getting ready to fire me, the next she's out like a light. And all it took was one touch from Luck. I feel like the more I learn about her powers, the more terrified of them I become.

"She's not going to wake up, you know?" Luck informs me. "At least not until I make her. So just relax."

"Is she going to be okay?" I eventually manage to ask.

"Huh... Not the reaction I was expecting. Given how she treats you, I thought you'd be happy seeing her like this," Luck responds.

"Just because she's a jerk doesn't mean I want anything bad to happen to her. I'm not a monster," I explain to her.

"Calm down. She's fine. I just kind of... turned her brain off. Temporarily, of course."

Wow... I don't know how to respond to that. Is that really possible? Can Luck seriously just flip someone's brain on and off like a light switch? Cautiously, I stand up and step around Carmen's desk to investigate her **** body.

"And you can do this to anyone?" I ask.

"That's right! Well... actually, I don't do celebrities, but that's really more of a personal rule than anything," Luck replies.

I wave a hand in front of Carmen's face, but she doesn't react, which makes sense given that her eyes are closed. After a few seconds of that, I hold up a hand and snap my fingers, but she still doesn't show any signs of awareness. Nervously, I inch my hand closer to her, knowing that if she wakes up, I'm a dead man. Then, I hold out a finger and poke her arm, feeling her warm skin against mine. Maybe it's just because she has such an abrasive personality, but I'm actually surprised to discover how soft Carmen's skin feels.

"You know, she won't remember anything you do to her while she's in this state, so if you wanted to have a little fun with her..." Luck says in a seductive voice.

Instantly, I flinch, removing my hand from my sleeping boss.

"What?! No! I'm not going to take advantage of her like that!" I quickly deny the idea.

"Fine, fine. It's your loss. But eventually we're going to have to get you to engage a little or this relationship is never going to work," Luck explains.

"I'm pretty sure you're the only one here that wants this relationship to work," I tell her.

"Hmm... I seriously doubt that, but whatever you say..."

There's an awkward pause as neither of us are sure what to say next. Although, again, I'm not sure if Luck actually feels all that awkward. It's probably just me.

"So... uh... what happens now? She's still going to fire me when you wake her back up," I point out.

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong," Luck smiles widely. "You see, this is where the real fun begins. All I have to do is root around in her pretty little head for a bit, adjust a few things here and there, and bam! Problem solved!"

"Seriously? It's that easy?" I ask.

"It's that easy," Luck confirms.

While I still don't love the idea of Luck messing with the minds of everyone I know, in this case, it's pretty clearly better than the alternative. I take a quick second to see if I can come up with a solution I'm happier with, but nothing solid is able to form.

"Alright, fine. Do what you have to do," I relent. Realizing what I just said, I quickly make a correction. "But don't go adding a bunch of other stuff. Just fix this firing situation. Nothing else."

"Ugh, you're such a spoiler sport. Fine. Just this once, we'll do it the way you want. At least for now," Luck agrees, though there's a bit of a groan to her voice. She approaches Carmen, but pauses and looks at me before she actually does anything. "Uh... do you mind?"

"What?"

"I would rather you didn't watch me while I do this," Luck says.

"Are you for real? You'll expose yourself to a complete stranger and talk about me fucking every person in a three mile radius, including my own parents, but this is where you draw the line?" I ask in disbelief.

"Hey, the way a lady tweaks someone's mind is very personal, thank you very much," Luck defends herself. "Just, like, turn around for a second. I promise it won't take long."

"Fine," I sigh before moving away and turning around.

I don't really understand why she's so bothered by the idea of me watching her, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little curious what that process looks like, but whatever. It's not like I really care enough to argue with her. Besides, I need her to do this, so I'm not really in a position to say no anyway.

I stare at the door to Carmen's office as I wait for Luck to finish whatever it is she's doing behind me. I try my best to listen to see if I can hear anything, but it's deafeningly quiet. What could she possibly be doing? Part of me wants to turn back around just to take a peak, but I resist the urge. I agreed to not look, so I won't. I hate when people go back on their word, so I always try my best not to go back on mine if I don't have to. And I'd rather not have Luck upset at me. Who knows what disaster that could lead to. However, I do eventually start to get antsy.

"Are you almost done back there?" I ask.

"Almost. I'm not used to having someone wait on me while I do this," I hear Luck say behind me. After even more uncomfortable waiting, I finally hear her voice again. "Okay. I'm done."

I turn back around to see that nothing has changed. Carmen is still sitting in her chair with her head slumped down, completely knocked out, while Luck stands to her side with her typical grin.

"So? What did you do?" I ask.

"You'll see. Here, sit back down where you were and I'll wake her up," Luck instructs.

"I don't have to be in the exact same position, do I?" I worry as I return to the chair.

"Nah. Her brain will fill in any discrepancies on it's own. But she might get mad if you're standing up after she told you to sit down earlier," Luck explains as she joins me on the other side of the desk.

That does sound like something Carmen would do. I guess when you have the power to alter the human mind like Luck does, you get pretty good at reading people. Anyway, once Luck confirms I'm ready, she reaches over the desk and pokes Carmen on the forehead once more. The Hispanic woman slowly lifts her head back up and shakes herself awake slightly. For a brief moment, she looks a bit out of it, but she quickly snaps back to attention as if nothing ever happened.

"I don't know how you managed to convince this young lady that working for you was a good idea, but as long as you don't expect me to deal with paying her, I don't care what you do with her. Drive yourself into bankruptcy for all I care. Just make sure she doesn't mess anything up around here," Carmen tells me without missing a beat.

I... I can't believe that actually worked. She wasn't exactly nice about it, but still. Her opinion took a complete 180. As much as I hate to admit it, Luck did an incredible job. I glance over to her, where she gives me a smug look that says something along the lines of "I'm pretty amazing, aren't I?" which makes me want to roll my eyes a little, though I resist the urge to actually do so. However, my excitement is quickly cut short as my boss attempts to regain my attention.

"Now. Back to what I originally called you in for," Carmen continues. "First of all, I don't appreciate you being late this morning, Evans. You're already on thin ice, which means you can't afford to slack off. You need to make sure you get to work on time."

"What?! But I did make it on time!" I try to defend myself.

"Don't argue with me! I know you were late, so don't even bother trying to convince me otherwise!"

She's lying! I know she is! I was sure the clock in the lobby said I still had a few minutes. And I know the receptionist downstairs always makes sure that clock is accurate for any potential clients that come it. This is absurd! Can't we go one conversation without her trying to bend the truth to make me look bad?

"Instead of making excuses, just make sure you don't do it again," Carmen orders. "But that's not the main reason I called you in here. Before you came in, Audrey went to grab a file for her meeting today, and according to her, the storage room was a complete mess. She said it took her so long to find what she was looking for that she wasn't sure if she would actually make it on time. I believe she told you to organize that filing cabinet yesterday."

"Wait, what?" I reply, completely taken aback by what I just heard. "But I did organize that cabinet. I stayed late last night finishing it."

"Really? Then why did Audrey have such a hard time finding the client information she was looking for this morning? Or are you trying to tell me that she was lying?" Carmen asks me with more than a little bite in her tone.

"Of course not, but I really did-"

"That's enough! I looked in the storage room after I was told that, and it was a disaster! If you really did spend extra time organizing it last night, you did a piss-poor job! I expect much better work out of my employees. Do you know how much it will cost us if Audrey misses that meeting?" Carmen reprimands, her accent becoming much more noticeably as her voice raises.

I don't understand. How is that possible? I spent so long making sure those files were in the proper order. Sure, I wasn't completely confident that I perfected it, but it definitely wasn't a 'disaster' or anything. I also made sure that file in particular was in the right place. And this isn't the kind of thing Carmen would make up just to yell at me over. So what happened?

"I want you to go back into that storage room and sort through ever last one of those files," Carman demands, cutting off my train of thought. "And you better make sure we don't have this issue again or you're out of here! Do I make myself clear?"

"But I swear I-" I quickly stop myself when I see Carmen's violent glare. "Y-yes, Ma'am."

"Good. I want it done by the end of the day," she says before noticing Luck again. "And take this personal assistant of yours with you. Maybe she can make sure you actually do it correctly this time."

And just like that, Carmen dismisses me from her office and tells me to get to work. I'm still at a loss for what could have happened to those files between last night and now. Luck most have seen how contemplative I was, as she's the first one to break the silence.

"Well, that didn't seem to go great..." she admits. "Sorry about that."

"Hmm? No, no. You did great. Actually, I really should thank you for the save back there," I tell her.

"No problem. I'll make sure to go through everyone else in the office periodically to make sure none of them find my presence weird either," Luck replies. While I'm not a huge fan of Luck continuing to mind control people, I understand that it is somewhat of a necessary evil if she's going to insist on hanging around me. "But for now, let's just worry about those files. Maybe we can even figure out what happened to all that work you did yesterday."

I've gotta admit, for such a giant workload, having an extra pair of hands does sound nice. I doubt this is exactly what Luck had in mind when she said she would help me fix my life, but I do appreciate her willingness to pitch in anyway.

Alright. That's enough standing around. Even with both of us working together, if we want to get those files organized by the end of the day, we better get going now.