Meeting a Colleague

Lyla pushed "B1" on the elevator panel.

The elevator began moving. When the metal doors slid together, she couldn't help but notice herself in the reflection of the polished aluminum. She looked a whole lot different than she did in college. Who could have ever imagined her wearing a business skirt, and with such a sophisticated outfit on? She straightened out her white button up shirt as much as she could, despite it being perfectly pressed already. She was hoping that not too much of her skin was showing. After all, she didn't want to seem like a slut or anything like that...

She tried her best to look respectable as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. She was still playing with her shirt when they opened and in front of her was a man.

"Hey, you could show off just a little more." the man said.

Before she looked up, Lyla started "I'm sorry, but, I'm not that kinda gal." she glanced at the man as soon as she finished fixing her shirt. It was one of her colleagues she graduated with last year. She exclaimed with joy, "JACK REITER!?"

"The one and only." Jack gave a little chuckle as he came in for a hug.

They embraced for a second before they let go of each other. She looked him up and down as he did the same with her. Even though the last time they saw each other was only a year ago, it felt like it had been an eternity since then. He wore a white button-up shirt and a brown tie, looking very prim and proper in it, definitely unlike his college days.

"Wow! You look...great." Lyla said after admiring his clothing. "I didn't know you worked here!"

Jack shook his head with a smile on his face, "I'm surprised you didn't know that already." He took her by the arm and started walking down the connection towards R&D. "You know, I'm the one who made sure your application didn't just get overlooked. I saw that name, 'Lyla Winslow' and thought that it wouldn't be so bad to work with an old colleague."

Lyla thought for a moment. "But I thought it was a department head that did that...Wait, you don't mean..."

Jack winked at her, "You know it babe. I'm the department head for R&D!" Jack laughed as he looked back to her shocked expression. He joked, "It's gonna be weird being your superior given all the times you helped me in all those damn Comm classes."

She laughed nervously as they came to a forked intersection. He let go of her arm and pointed out two doors. The one to the left was marked 'R&D - GENERAL' while the one to the right was 'R&D - GENETIC'.

"You and I will be working together in R&D - GENERAL. We'll be developing ideas for the company for products and services, more business side stuff. R&D - GENETIC is all about, well, farm stuff. We will never go over to that side. There has been talk forever to combine the two departments, but it's never been a priority."

The two began walking on the left forked path and came to a door. Jack unlocked it and held the door for her as they walked inside and up some stairs. Upon them there It was, a beautiful and open lab. The white walls of the facility were clean as could be, they contrasted Lyla's chocolate skin. Various scientific equipment was placed around the room, as well as test tubes and other chemicals that looked to be for analyzing substances.

"Whoa... this is beautiful." She said with her mouth wide open. She had never seen anything like it.

"Not as beautiful as you." Jack joked before he went over to a table. "Here, I knew you'd be starting in my department first, so I figured you'd need to look the part."

He threw her a lab coat. It was her size.

"How'd you remember my size?" Lyla asked.

"How could I forget? Your size is my type." He gave a playful wink.

Lyla shook her head with a smile. Jack always knew how to make her feel good. She looked forward to the next few weeks working here.