"Good day, Miss Rodriguez."
The pretty receptionist greeted me as I trotted into the building. The narrow heels of my stilettos clicked on the tiled floor and created a rhythmic sound that echoed in the reception floor. I stopped at her table.
"Hello, Becky." She seemed taken aback and if my anxiety level wasn't at its peak, I'd have rolled my eyes. I kinda understood why she was shocked, I never smiled at anybody anyways. Not even Madison. I wasn't rude but then I wasn't exactly friendly either. I decided to shock her a little more. "How was your night?"
She blinked unsurely and I resisted the urge to quirk my brow. "Uh, it w-was good. Thanks." Damn, she even stuttered. Who thought it a good idea to keep her in the reception? I wondered how she dealt with the fuming and mentally unstable people that occasionally breezed in and out of WeCare Inc.
I nodded once. "That's nice." She made a small sound when I turned to leave and shrunk back when I stared at her. "Is there something you want to talk about?"
"Y-you weren't present on Saturday. Everyone was worried."
I scrunched my face in thought. "I wouldn't actually say worried. Curious seems like a better fit. You only worry about people you like and they don't like me. But that's only fair, I don't like them either."
She nodded slowly but I saw the twitching at the edges of her lips. She was probably thinking I was a sadistic clown. "Hope you're okay though?"
I shrugged in response. "I guess you heard a few speculations. Some of them were actually creative to be honest. I was mildly impressed."
A chuckle left her lips before she could stop it and she slapped her hand over her mouth. "I'm so sorry."
I shook my head. "You're apologizing for laughing?" What kind of stories had the people working in the building said to Becky's hearing? I drew closer to her and whispered conspiratorially. "Between both of us, I'm not a tyrant. I'm not even a remotely bad person, I just don't like a lot of people. But you seem like a chill type of person and I fuck with that. Heavy." She nodded and offered me a shy smile. "I also think you need to work on your confidence, honey. No shades, I'm just giving you an advice that might help you. This receptionist post is no joke. You need to be mentally prepared."
The receptionist thanked me profusely and I brushed it off with a single nod. In the elevator, I scowled derisively at the irony of the situation. I was giving Becky tips on how to excel in her job when I wasn't even sure I still had mine. What was that? Selflessness? I got out of the elevator and stood at the doors for a couple seconds. Where was I supposed to go at that point? Normally, I'd have gone straight to my office which was a few steps away but that wasn't an option at the moment. Amber's office should be my first stop, she'd be the one to hand me a termination letter anyways. En route to her office, I passed Madison's office door and paused. Maybe I could make a detour.
"Come on in." A familiar high-pitched voice called out from inside the office after my knuckles left the door. "Oh, Dee. How are you doing? Top of the morning to you."
Her reverberating laugh was an indication that my face had an expression of distaste on it. Madison was from North Carolina and like most people from that part, she had a southern twang. It made her words sound longer than they were supposed to, sound a little stupid too. I'd tried severally to imagine how her clients managed to listen to her during therapy sessions without howling in laughter. I for one, could never take her seriously. What the fuck was top of the morning to you? What happened to a simple good morning?
"Good morning, Madison."
"Please, have a seat." She pointed to the seat before her desk and watched me closely as I lowered myself on the leather seat. "I reckon you're healthy now."
Her words were kind but the tone was full of mockery. "If you have something to say, it's best you say it now."
She shook her head in humor while rummaging through her drawer. "You already know what I have to say." I gave her a wary look that made her snicker. "What did you do over the weekend, Dee?"
"What do you think?"
She gave me a slow once-over. "You look like you had a relaxing weekend. Well, I s'wanee your eye bags have even vanished." I narrowed my eyes at the implication of that statement. "That was a compliment, by the way. You look like you went on a weekend vacation."
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and replied with a blank voice. Vacation? I didn't even remember what the hell that meant anymore. "You caught me. I did take a weekend jaunt to Arizona. Flew there right after work on Friday. I took a dive in the Grand Canyon. You should see the bottom of the stream at noon, it's ethereal. The whole experience was so therapeutic, I'd have to recommend it to all my clients from now. They should do it like once every month."
Madison narrowed her eyes in mock suspicion for a few seconds before she burst out in boisterous laughter. I sighed in exhaustion when a glob of spit flew out of her open mouth and landed on my arm. "You're so damn funny, Dee."
I sniffed the air haughtily as I wiped her oral fluid off my arm. "Sadly, I can't say the same for you."
My statement wiped off the amused expression from her face and replaced it with a scowl. "You're rude. Besides my bubba and mama happen to think otherwise."
"Now that's where you're fucking it all up, sweetheart." Madison quirked her brow and I nodded to support my assertion. "All mothers lie. It's something we all do to make our kids happy. We do it to the point we even start to believe the lies. My mother did it to me, I am doing it to my daughter and she in turn, will do it to her own kids. It's a never ending activity."
A confused blink. "What?!"
I nodded solemnly despite her incredulous expression. "I have first hand experience myself. My mom once told me that everything was possible for me. She even said I could fly, if only I believed. She used that R Kelly song to buttress her point. That was probably when my distrust for mankind started."
"How do you manage to say these things with a straight face?"
I shrugged and glanced around the room in boredom. "Was I supposed to say them with a crooked face? That's going to be hard, since I don't have stroke." I rolled my eyes when she started wheezing in her laugh. "I don't have time for this, Madison. How did the ceremony on Saturday go?"
She took a moment to calm herself down and I drummed my fingers on her desk to stave off my anxiety. "It was good. Terrible for a lot of people though."
"Why?"
The phone on her desk chimed and she huffed in obvious annoyance before putting it off. "It seems like the new CEO takes commitment pretty seriously. There's a general downsizing."
"Ohhhh, really?" Despite my bored tone, my heart sank so deep, I could feel it in my belly. My name was probably first on that list. Amber should had just sent me the letter through my mail over the weekend, instead of letting me drive down here.
Madison nodded. "But you definitely have nothing to worry about. You're the last person they'd lay off, Amber won't even allow that. Besides you're the most committed staff in WeCare Inc."
I eyed her distrustfully. What was she yapping about? "What are you actually trying to say?"
"Well according to the new CEO, who is the sexiest thing alive, the least amount of working time for every staff in WeCare Inc should be 2,250 hours per annum. Anyone short of that was given a termination letter over the weekend and that's probably 60% of the people that worked in this building. How much hours you got?"
"I don't know,maybe 4,500. I'm not so sure."
She blinked several times. "Dee, that's literally double! I barely even scaled through. Mine's 2,306." Her eyes widened like compact disks. "4,500? Good Lord, have mercy. No wonder you keep winning best employee award." Even though my ears got warm, I tried to play down the compliment with a shrug. "No, for real. How do you even do it? And you're a single mom too. How do you juggle work and motherhood? I'm undoubtedly impressed. You gotta tell me your secrets cos I'm trying to impress the new boss."
With the new boost of confidence, I rose to my feet. "Just work till 11pm every single day, you'll do that in no time. I have to meet with Amber right now though, so I'll see you later.