At around six in the morning, her phone was buzzing, nearly falling out of her drawer that she had next to her queen-sized bed. Skylar groaned and slapped at the screen, the buzzing stopping.
As she was drifting back to sleep, her phone buzzed again, and her boss's name flashed on the screen. Rubbing her eyes, Skylar answered the phone.
"I'm on vacation, Mr. Neil." She said groggily, laying back down on her bed.
"I know you are, but I need all staff to be here at eight. We have an announcement." He responded, and Skylar sat up, wondering if he'd caught wind of her writing a novel and wanting to publish it with another company.
"About what sir?" she asked warily.
"Never mind that. Just get ready and be here before eight." He said, hanging up on her.
Skylar could feel her stomach tighten in anxiety and dread. Her mind was rushing through everything that she had ever done, and she was off the bed and into the restroom getting ready for the day.
An hour later, she had brushed her hair into a low bun, leaving two strands on either side of her face. She fought with her bangs, trying to make sure all the strands were down, and sighed as she fixed the collar of her dark blue blouse, smoothing out her black dress pants, and slipping on her shiny black flats. She had put on minimal make up, her soft brown eyes popping with the eyeliner she had done, lips shining a tinted pink.
Rushing out of her bedroom door, she petted the sleeping Ollie who was now on her couch and headed back out the door.
It didn't take her long to reach the building. That was another thing about her job-it was only ten minutes away from where she lived.
As the giant office building came into view, with the dark words Writer's Xpress stamped on the front of the building, Skylar parked as close as she could and headed up to the sixth floor.
She still hadn't figured out what the announcement was all about; it was all she could think about as she badged into the building and took the elevator.
Other people came in, some of them her co-workers as they greeted her.
"Do you know what the announcement is about?" Lydia, a woman with bright orange hair, and lime green eyes, asked. She wore a green plaid matching jacket and skirt that reached over her knees with small, heeled shoes.
"I tried to get more information from Mr. Neil, but he hung up before I could ask anything else." Skylar said, Lydia frowning.
As the elevator finally stopped on their floor, the employees scrambled out and into the offices they were placed at.
Skylar followed along and froze.
A banner was place on the wall, saying Good-bye Mr. Neil! in bright cherry pink colors. Skylar looked at it in surprise, and then took a step back, her eyes moving from place to place.
And then she saw Mr. Neil, the portly short man shaking hands with a tall gentleman clad a black suit and tie, sunglasses on his face. As he stepped away, Skylar took her opportunity to run up to him.
"Mr. Neil are you retiring?" she asked, worrying coming of her words.
"Ah, there you are Miss Skylar. Yes, I'm going to be stepping down, and now you'll have a new boss to respond to." Mr. Neil said, as he pointed at a woman who was wearing a button up suit with a knee length skirt. She had jet black hair that went down to her waist, eyes a brilliant green. Something about her was vaguely familiar, but Skylar said naught.
The woman walked up to them both, smiling and showing brilliant, straight white teeth.
"Hi, I'm Reena Ito. I'm the assistant to the boss. You might meet him sometime next week." She said as she shook Skylar's hand.
"Pleasure to meet you." Skylar said, her eyes drifting off to Mr. Neil-who had now scurried off to talk to the other employees.
"I know this seems sudden, but I promise you, the boss is a very fair, and just man." Reena said, and Skylar nodded, swallowing thickly.
Skylar didn't know why she was so bothered that Mr. Neil was leaving. Maybe it was because she thought that in a weird sense, they had become friends since they had worked together for so long.
"The boss is offering to pay for the company meal. Why don't you join us?" Reena asked, and Skylar gave her a stiff smile.
"No, it's okay, I got to get back to some tasks. But thank you and welcome to the new office." Skylar replied, as she smiled and then turned on her heel.
Reena smiled and went off to greet the rest of the workers at the office.
And that's how she ended up here. In the same café as yesterday, sitting wearily in her chair. She was back into her comfy clothes, stopping at her apartment to change and Skylar knew she wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep, so she headed off to Coffee and Just, and here she was.
Sulking.
Skylar took a drink out of her hot tea, the warmth of it soothing her throat. She wasn't sure how she was going to react, but she didn't want to think about what was to come in the upcoming week for work.
"Well, you seem sad. Is it because you're done with the book?" a voice said, causing her to look up from the table.
Skylar blinked, noticing the guy from yesterday, clad head to toe in black. His shirt was long sleeved, and he had the sleeves pushed up, taking off his sunglasses as he plopped down from the seat across from her.
"I don't think you should sit there." Skylar said, ignoring the secret thrill that rushed through her body.
"Why not?" he asked, leaning his head to the side, his eyes probing into hers. "Is this seat taken by your boyfriend?" There was a weird edge to his voice.
"Don't you have a girlfriend that you should be worried about?" Skylar blurted out, covering her mouth with her hand as her face flushed red.
"I don't actually." The guy replied, a smirk on his face. "Don't tell me you were getting jealous of that redhead that was with me the last time we met."
"No, I wasn't, it just…made it look like we were doing something we weren't supposed to do." Skylar admitted, scratching her arm.
"We were just talking about books, tentōchū." He answered, looking at her with an innocent look in his eyes.
"What did you call me?" Skylar asked, looking at him closely.
"Ladybug." He replied, smiling at her again.
"My name's Skylar." She said instead, holding out her hand to him.
He stared at her hand, something coming over his face, before his features smoothed over and he shook her hand.
"I'm Riker. Nice to meet you." He replied, and he held her gaze, making Skylar blush as she pulled away from him.
"Why are you here?" Skylar asked, and Riker lifted his empty coffee cup.
"Not a big fan of Starkruts." He replied, and Skylar nodded.
Now that they didn't have anything else to talk about, they lapsed into an uneasy silence. Skylar wished she'd at least brought a book with her, but she'd been too distracted to grab anything.
"What are you thinking about, Skylar?" Riker asked, making her look up from the table. She pondered how to answer this question.
"I was actually thinking about how I should have brought a book to read." She admitted, and Riker chuckled.
"Am I that boring to you?"
"No, I'm just kind of awkward is all." She assured him.
"But you were doing pretty great when you were talking about that book." He pointed out.
"Well, yeah, I'm always at ease when talking about books."
Riker was quiet and when Skylar looked up, there was a soft smile on his face.
"Are you making fun of me?" Skylar asked, and he shook his head, chuckling all the while.
"Of course not. That would be rude. I am impressed with your hobby. I haven't met any readers around for a while."
"They still exist. You just have to look for them." Skylar pointed out.
"I'm only interested in one bookworm, anyway." Riker said, shrugging.
Skylar didn't want to delve into that any longer, so she sipped from her teacup instead, and Riker's face changed, turning into something akin to amusement.
When the bell rang, announcing the arrival of another customer, Skylar got up, pushing her seat in.
"I forgot I have a thing to do with my cat, so I need to go." She lied, poorly so, before bolting out of the café and into her car.
As she looked back, she could have sworn she saw his shoulders shake, as if he was laughing.