First day jitters

My place of employment wasn't anything flash. It was an older building in the centre of town that had seen a little remodelling to make it seem a little more alive than it probably was. I was kind of anxious as I walked inside; I had met my boss only briefly, for the interview and then it was mostly an exchange of emails so I wasn't sure what sort of a welcome I was going to get.

I was greeted at the reception by a mousy young woman who watched me with a friendly, yet cautious eye as I approached.

"Hi," she said with a thin smile, "how can I help you?"

"I'm Ben Taylor," I shifted uncomfortably, "uh, I'm the new guy here?"

Her eyes lit up in recognition. "Oh, Mr Taylor that's right, I'd completely forgotten that you were starting today," she looked down at her desk and checked a post-it, "Mrs Higston should be in her office," she pointed to a single door at the end of a hall, "just go right on in, she's expecting you."

I gave her a smile and went down the hall. Round the corner I could gleam an bullpen office of sorts, but I turned my eyes directly to the door in front of me. Feeling my guts churned, I paused and knocked on the door. I heard a quiet "Enter".

Mary Higston, Editor-In-Chief and owner of the Lewdington Times, my new boss, was quite frankly an attractive woman. She was perhaps fifty, but looked about a decade younger with her hair absent even the suggestion of grey hair, high cheek bones, pert nose, smooth complexation, inviting lips, soft demure eyes and even under her smart clothes I could tell she still had an impressive figure with heavy breasts.

"Mr Taylor," she rose from her desk and shook my hand, "how are you this morning?"

"I'm well, Ms Higston,"

"Oh, just call me Mary," she flashed me a smile, before gesturing to a seat which I took. "You know, you're actually a little early, I don't think everyone's in yet," her lips curled as she appraised me silently for a moment that seemed to stretch a little too long. "how have you been settling in with the move?"

"Still getting my bearings," I replied, "but it's a beautiful little town and so far the family loves it here."

Mary hummed in agreement settling back into her chair. "Lewdington is a great town for families. Mine have been here pretty much since its founding and it's been kind to us," she gestured around, "which is why I took over the paper, so that I could help give something back. This is a great town full of life and with a rich history that we can help bring attention to," her eyes suddenly pierced right through me, "it's also why I hired you. Your stuff is good, and I know you're hungry enough that you'll actually put in effort."

I made to speak but she silenced me with a single raised hand. "What I'm trying to say is, I genuinely believe in this paper and by extension I believe in you, so if you ever need anything just ask. Really, anything at all and I'll do whatever I can."

Anything? That brought to mind a dozen images, most of them involving my dick. I suppressed the thought and let a mask of professionalism slip on.

"Mary," I said after taking a second to gather my thoughts, "I'm honestly just happy to be living here in a family friendly town, working for a dedicated person like yourself. You really don't have to go out of your way on my account."

I saw approval shine through her eyes and, perhaps something less than wholesome behind her smile. Was she checking me out? No, probably not, right? That was surely just my own sexual frustration playing tricks on me.

"Well, lets not stand on ceremony, how abut I show you around?"

She rose her to her feet and so did I. She was tall, only slightly shorter than me and she moved with confidence down the hall into the little bullpen, like a queen walking through her castle. The bullpen itself was small, really just four desks-cubical hybrid set ups, only two of which were occupied.

Mary stopped by one of them where a young woman was currently typing away at her laptop, mouth scrunched up in deep thought as she squinted at the screen.

"Sarah?"

She startled awake from her thoughts so violently that I thought she was going to fall off her seat. "Boss," she blinked, settled herself, "I'm almost done with that article on the bridge f-" her gaze zoomed in on me and her eyes grew wide, a blush spreading across her face. "Um," she turned back to Mary, "what can I do for you?"

Mary smirked playfully, enjoying the younger woman's shyness. "Sarah, this is Ben, our new writer, we're getting him settled in, introducing him to everyone."

There was a mumble that might have been "hi," but otherwise the young woman kept eyes downward. I glanced down at her hands as they fiddled with various knickknacks, damn, this girl was really stressing out. I wasn't that scary was I? I couldn't let that go on; I was going to have to work with this woman after all.

I smiled softly, tried to seem as unthreatening as I could and held out a hand. "It's nice to meet you Sarah,"

Nope, not even a glance in my direction. Wow.

The awkwardness went on for a medium sized eternity before Mary let out a sigh and urged me on to the next desk.

"Please don't take that personally," Mary told me quietly, "Sarah's a great writer but she's got some problems at home right now. She's not great with men and things can get...awkward."

I nodded sympathetically, but otherwise kept my mouth shut. I wasn't about to delve into other people's shit.

We came to the next desk where a lone woman was sitting, reading ...what appeared to be an encyclopaedia? Ok that's ...odd. She had pale skin and an expressionless face. It was a pretty face, but even in how attractive it looked there was something off about it. She seemed more like a marble carving of a woman than something of flesh and blood.

Perhaps noticing our approach, the woman lifted her head and mechanically turned to regard us.

"Meagan," Mary gestured to the woman and then gestured back to me, "meet Ben, he's the new hire I was telling you about."

Those eyes, similar to that of a doll's fell on me. "Hello,"

Her tone was neither welcoming or begrudging, but strangely flat. As if she were reciting a technical term.

"Hi Meagan," I gave her a smile, "I'm looking forward to working with you."

"Yes," she replied in that automaton tone, "I wish for our work together to be productive."

Meagan stared at me for a moment; then as if losing interest, turned her attention back to the heavy tome in her hands.

.....what the fuck was that? I'm not really sure I could get a read on what was going on with this woman. But still, I was determined to at least have one other employee in the office who I could make the barest of social interactions with.

"Um....what are you reading?"

Meagan answered by holding it up and showing me the cover. An encyclopaedia alright, but one dealing with the cosmos. Huh, was this a work thing? Did Lewdington have an observatory or something that she was preparing a piece on?

"Is it any good?"

There was a twitch of something as her facial muscles worked to something that might have been an embryo of an expression.

"It is interesting. Human beings have been dabbling with increasing ferocity in astronavigation for several decades, and yet they have barely scratched the surface. One would think that with how quickly technology has progressed on this planet that the species might have already colonised the semi-hospitable world of Mars by now, yet even that seems to be some ways off. Likewise, several of their theories and conclusions on the andromeda galaxy and it's contents lie in the realm of childish naïveté."

Wow, not just a full sentence but a whole monologue. And I think there was even a hint of emotion in her tone. So she was a science chick? Well, more power to her then. At least now I knew that if wanted to engage with her I just had to bring up space.

Before I could respond, Mary interjected and gently ushered me on to the next desk, which was decorated with a few funko pops of superheroes and other miscellaneous crap. It's occupant, however, was absent.

"Dana's not in yet," Mary informed, "but she's also been feeling unwell lately so you might not see her today. But she's great, I'm sure you'll get along."

Finally we came to an empty desk which I assumed would be mine. Like the other desks it wasn't huge or anything pretty, but it was a little corner I could call my own and toil away in.

"Now," Mary said as I went about setting up, " You've got a few options today. The local museum is getting ready for a new exhibit and the curator has agreed to an interview. Dana was going to cover that but she's not here, so if you want I'm willing to let you have it. "

"I've always liked history,"

Mary hummed at that. "Alternatively, we had an accident last week with a small fire breaking out near a pretty old historical building. Sarah's covering that but...." she sighed, "well, she might need someone there to do interviews and the like."

I glanced over at Sarah, watching the girl type away furiously.

"And if neither of those float your boat, well Meagan has a stack of stuff she hasn't gotten to yet, so you could always take one of those." Mary smiled at me like a benign parent, "so, what'll it be?"