Donna's new ideas

She was carrying a pine bonsai tree. I didn't know they were a thing, they look pretty neat.

Floria: "Donna, why did you want us to all be here?"

Donna: "Well, two reasons. First of all, thus far you three simply had to deal with what we writers decided. I thought it would be fair to let you know earlier and maybe get input from people with a very different perspective on what to write about. Not give you full input, but also trying to prevent the worst things for you from making it onto your desk before you have to ask us to change it later anyway. Second of all..." She put a golden star on the little pine tree and pulled some tinsel out of her pocket to decorate the tree. "I wanted to have a little Christmas party. Next week we'll all have the 25th and 26th off, and some of you take paid time off, too." She rummaged through her handbag again. "I made some cookies too, just to get us into the mood a bit."

Christine grabbed a cookie. "Thanks, Donna."

I grabbed one, too. Certainly not great. It was just a cookie. I could tell it was self-made, but it also just tasted okay. Baking is difficult though, I can't really blame her for that.

Donna: "First, let's get to business, then we can chat. We'll start with Amber's article."

Amber wrote a good article, which surprised me given what she went through. Helen took issue with its length, as it made the formatting a bit difficult, but Amber could fix that issue soon. She had always been the type to write a bit too much.

Christine's article wasn't great. It was clear she had other things on her mind this week. Donna asked her to revise it in the half week before Christmas.

Donna: "I know it's probably awkward, but I need to hear feedback on my article too. Please be honest with me."

Well I was, and there was little to criticize with Donna's article. Gloria suggested a different way of wording one passage, since she feared people could easily misread it and argue about it, and Donna quickly made some edits.

We took our time with the freelancers' articles. Some were decent, some were good, some were awful. Floria commented on some of them, how some would be easy to adapt to eye-catching social media posts while others could not escape the clutches of feed algorithms.

Lastly, there was my article.

Amber: "James, I feel like this is an improvement on the last article. I think you did a good job here."

Donna: "Yeah, looking at what people wrote about the last article, this really seems to be the kind of stuff they want. And you do write good articles, I can't blame them."

Christine: "It's a very thorough analysis and discussion, I like that. And the fact that you focused on head wear means that you can actually arrive at a different conclusion than last time. I think the average reader will like that, even though they read the same analysis. It feels like reading it wasn't pointless."

James: "Th-Thanks. I hope this article can live up to the success of the last one."

Helen: "Oh I'm sure it will. I've heard a lot of people chat about your article online. They're gonna eat this up."

Gloria: "James, would you mind helping me on Monday again? There's a solid potential your article could reach even more people now, so I want to be prepared."

Floria: "Gloria, I wanted to be in the office on Monday..."

Gloria: "I'm sorry, but I can't do more overtime work..."

Floria: "Ugh, okay." I don't think she has really warmed up to me that much. I mean, she doesn't see me as a younger version of my father anymore, but I don't think we'd get along well anyway. I mean she seems to be a sporty type, and besides sex I had no exercise. Maybe I should think about that.

Donna: "Well then, that settles it. We still have an hour until our lunch break, so I suggest we sit together and talk with one another."

The following are conversations that happen throughout the hour between all employees.

Donna: "And? How was your week with James?"

Amber: "It was awesome, honestly. I don't want to talk about it here but... If you like this sort of stuff I'd recommend it. He was very nice about everything."

Donna: "Maybe it's the boss in me speaking, but I'm glad none of this impacted your article."

Amber: "Well believe me, I was distracted. But I got used to it. In a way, being so happy and excited all the time helped me too."

Donna: "When are you planning to move?"

Amber: "Oh, I haven't told him yet that I take the next two weeks off, fuck. Thanks for reminding me. It'll probably be in the next two weeks, maybe next week."

Donna: "I'd prefer that, since I don't have time off. I need to be here. I only have New Years off, I hope I can move then. Do we need to keep this a secret?"

Amber: "For now, yes. You know James. He'll go after everyone here, but he'll be gentle about it."

Donna: "Haha yeah but... I don't know, do you really want to live with all of your colleagues?"

Amber: "If we suck his... together sure, why not?"

Donna: "Haha, and I thought I was the naughty one."

...

Gloria: "Sorry for roping you in again, James, you've just been really helpful recently."

James: "Don't worry about it. Truth is, I'm not fully sure how to continue my series. Maybe getting my mind off of writing will help me."

Gloria: "Well in that case, I can always use some help."

James: "I'm not sure that Floria would appreciate that."

Gloria: "Sigh, yeah. I guess you're right about that. I wonder what she has against you."

James: "I don't really know either. She told me once that she feels like the people that aren't the writers get a lot more credit, and then I arrived and got people to really like my article. Maybe I... made it worse in her eyes?"

Gloria: "Huh, I guess that makes sense. I mean, when you see a brand having a social media presence, nobody really cares who does that job, right? I mean, it's not the CEO of course, but who then? I get where she's coming from, although as a moderator, I like my privacy."

James: "That bad? Christ..."

...

Floria: "Christine, is everything alright?"

Christine: "Yeah, why?"

Floria: "You've been acting very... friendly towards James."

Christine: "I... Yeah I have. So what?"

Floria: "You know about his company and his father, right?"

Christine: "Yeah, he told me a bit about it and I read up on it a while ago."

Floria: "Then... why do you act so comfortable around him, for the lack of a better term? I mean sure, he's not his father, but you never act this way around any other man."

Christine: "I..."

Helen: "Floria, you need to relax. Christine doesn't want to talk about it."

Floria: "And what exactly happened? Why would she not want to talk about it and why do you speak for her?"

Helen: "Floria, my god, just shut up. This is supposed to be a Christmas party. Keep the spirits high and friendly, okay?"

Christine: "Helen, it's fine. If Floria won't judge me, I'll... tell her."

Floria: "I... promise. What happened, Christine?"

Christine: "Last Friday, after everyone had left, James was just trying to be nice. Just small talk. But it made me very angry. I... got mad at him because Amber and Donna seem to like him a lot and I felt left alone. I lashed out at him and some of my friends. When he defended them I... I grabbed the nearest sharpest object, some scissors, and wanted to ram them into the front of his neck."

Helen: "And that's where I stopped her, saving James' life in the process."

Christine: "He... didn't call the cops on me. I'm going to therapy now and it really helps me get over the troubles I had in my past with men. Recently, we traveled home together, on the train. He lives a few stations further out from me, in the direction you used to live, Floria. When I told him that I had avoided him before, he... wasn't insulted, he was understanding. Truth is, I feel a bit guilty about how I treated him. I sometimes just attacked him, unprovoked, and he didn't take it to heart all that much, but it still feels wrong."

Floria: "I... see. I'm sorry, I was just worried, Christine."

Christine: "Thanks for your worry. Just because it was unnecessary this time doesn't mean it'll be in vain next time."

Helen: "Floria, can I ask you something? Why are you so suspicious of him?"

Floria: "I... don't wanna answer that."

Christine: "Aw, c'mon Floria. That's not fair."

Helen: "If you don't want to answer, then at least let me tell you this: I don't think you need to doubt him at all."

Floria: "Yeah yeah, we'll see about that."

Helen: "Have I ever been wrong about a guy?"

Floria: "W-Well no, but..."

Christine: "I hope you're right, Helen. James is going to stay here for more than two months still. I hope you're right, for our sake."

...

Helen: "So, a Christmas party?"

Donna: "Yeah, I needed a good excuse for a get-together. I mean, we work for the magazine, why do we separate ourselves like this?"

Gloria: "I mean, we're not writers, we don't fit in all that well. Plus we all need special equipment and software, which is why we are physically separated."

Helen: "Yeah and when we were print-only, that was already the case. I'm sure Beth kept it because she didn't know where else to put us."

Donna: "Huh, interesting. I worked here for longer than most but even I don't remember the pre-digital days here."

Gloria: "Yeah, Beth really flipped this magazine on its head."

Helen: "I'm the only one she kept. I still do the layout of the physical magazine, so my job mostly stayed the same."

Donna: "Well I don't think we should stay separate, should we?"

...

Floria: "I heard... you like James?"

Amber: "Worst kept secret in the universe, huh?"

Floria: "What do you see in him? I mean, he doesn't seem that great to me. Plus all the stuff with his father..."

Amber: "I got to know him in college. We were both excited about becoming journalists and we talked for hours about what we learned, we studied together, it was wonderful. He's the best friend I ever had. And well for the rest... He's a very compassionate guy. Why do you ask?"

Floria: "I... don't know. He just got here and got along well with virtually everyone so quickly and I'm honestly a bit confused what you all see in him."

Amber: "Well, I don't know about the others, but I think his compassionate side shows a lot with Gloria. He's just helping her because she needs the help and because he can provide it. And well, he's worried about the performance of his articles not just for his own job, but also because he realized quickly that more employees are needed here."

Floria: "I see... Still not enough to explain it to me, but I guess I can't exactly understand being in love when I could never even see myself falling for him."

Amber: "Well, if it helps, he's also massive... down there. That tends to get some curious. Or at least to think about him in a very... different way."

Floria: "I'm not going to ask you how you know this..."

Slowly, lunch break approached and everyone dispersed in happy chatter.

James: "I think this was a big success, Donna."

Donna: "You think so?"

James: "Sure. Just think about how everyone was talking at the time. Nobody was isolated and people talked across our two office halves. This is a good start, and the rest is up to us as coworkers. To keep the friendships going."