Her Workplace

Daniel led her back down the hallway. He was walking quickly now, as if being close to Emily was dangerous and he needed to put some distance between them. She followed him leisurely, coffee in hand, visibly amused by his tense demeanor.

“This is your workplace,” he announced when they reached a desk in the corner of the open-plan office.

He pointed to the table, the chair, the monitor, the phone; everything looked like museum pieces. Then he let her glance at his notepad. “That's your user ID and password for your first login. You'll need to change it right away. If anything doesn't work—computer, login, whatever—just call IT. They'll send someone over.”

Emily sat down, smoothed her skirt, and crossed her legs provocatively. “That's it? You're leaving me alone?” she asked, pouting.Daniel cleared his throat and held his notepad tighter. “I have to call in to accounting.”

It was an excuse she saw right through, but he fled so visibly relieved that Emily generously let him go. She remained alone at her desk and typed her username into the keyboard. She hadn't really memorized the password. Instead, she entered a random string of characters and pressed Enter.

The computer acknowledged the attempt with an indignant beep. She tried three more times. Then a message with a red border appeared, saying that the account was locked.

Grinning, she picked up the phone with her manicured fingers and dialed the help desk number she had found on a sticker on the edge of the screen. It rang once, and almost immediately a cheerful male voice answered.

“IT support, Kevin.”

“Hello Kevin,” Emily replied sweetly. “It's my first day here and I'm afraid I'm having some problems. My computer... well, I don't think it likes me yet. Can you help me?”

“Sure,” he said quickly. “I'll be right there.”

A few minutes later, Kevin appeared, a tall young man in a navy blue polo shirt with a lanyard around his neck with an ID card dangling. He approached quickly until he spotted Emily. His eyes widened and darted from her head to her feet and back again with unmistakable curiosity.

Emily leaned back in her chair as he approached to give him an unobstructed view, and her lips curved into a smile. “Wow, that was fast. Do you always come so quickly?”

Kevin laughed briefly. Then he faltered as he understood the ambiguity of her remark. His face darkened.

“What's the problem?” he asked businesslike.