Yet to Be Named (21stCenturyCapulet and prodigal failure)

Scintilla

Scintilla

Member
She was running late already and to think it was her very first day at work. Beth took a long deep breath as she ran across a few sidewalks, taking a sip of the coffee she was holding in one hand and glancing at the Google map on her phone in the other. The town was small enough for the locals to know everyone on a first name basis but it was confusing enough for a girl who'd spent only 2 months there. "Oh, lord," she murmured over and over and over again as she felt like she'd been passing by the same donut place for three times now. "I should've taken a cab," she muttered, not being used to looking for places on her own. She downed the last of her coffee and tossed it into a garbage bin.


After a few more seemingly useless turns and detours, Beth finally made it to the office she was looking for. She took a deep breath, smoothed out the creases in her navy blue pencil skirt and stepped into the office. As soon as she got in, she was sure she'd entered hell. Everything inn there was pandemonium. People running around with rolled up posters in their arms, secretaries making phone calls, agents cursing over the latest controversies posed on the internet and live coverages of the polls on every single news channel. "I must be in the right place," she murmured, though no one seemed to notice her.


Taking advantage of the situation, she slipped into the girls' room to take a peek at herself. She yelped as she saw the bird's nest that her hair had become. She took out a brush and started to restore it to its neat curliness. She sighed in relief and redid her lipstick before stepping out of the bathroom. "Okay, time to get serious. No more slacking, Bethy," she murmured to herself. "No more slacking."


After she'd presented herself to one of the ladies behind a desk, she was directed to a desk and was sent straight to work on calling up printing presses to follow up on posters. The only break she got from agitated press managers was when she was asked to go upstairs to photocopy a few documents. She sighed in relief. She needed more coffee to fray her nerves and kill her perpetual fear of talking to strangers and she thought this detour would allow her that. So she took the documents into her hands and went upstairs, praying not to get lost on the way to the photocopier.
 
John sat at his desk amid stacks of papers rubbing his temples. Sometimes he wondered if this was all worth it. The past few months had been hectic. John was running for governor and so far the race had been extremely close. His desk was littered with spreadsheets and polls. His phone had rang so much that he ended up unplugging the thing. Aides and advisors were constantly coming in and out with new information. Today, he had dropped one percent in the polls. That didn't seem too bad, but the media was blowing it out of proportion. John was running on the conservative ticket and conservatives nowadays weren't very popular. He was against abortion, welfare, gay marriage and many other things which were hot topics these days. People called him old fashioned and said that he needed to get with the times. John honestly thought that maybe the world still needed good old fashioned values. Even if it was one state at a time.


"John, we have the press conference in ten minutes!" His campaign manager Zachary said in an urgent tone. He hurried over to John's desk and handed him a manila folder. John took the folder and flipped through the contents. They were just talking points which downplayed his drop in the polls.


John stood up and sighed. "How do I look?" He asked, holding his arms out. Zachary came over and straightened the John's tie and smoothed out his jacket. "It'll do." He replied with a frown.


John grumbled and left his office, as soon as he did though he accidentally ran into a young lady almost knocking her to the ground. "Damn! I'm so sorry." He said placing his hand on her shoulder. "Are you ok?" He asked. She was in a blue skirt and she had black curls. John did not recognize her and figured she must be new.


Zachary took John by the arm and pulled him away before she could say anything. "No time John." He said. John frowned but followed his manager out to the press room. There, dozens of reporters flashed cameras and began asking questions.
 
"Oh, I'm--" Beth stammered, looking up to glance at who she'd just bumped into. Brown hair, blue eyes, it took a while to register into her and by the time she said, "I'm good," he was already whisked away down the hall. She sighed and kept thinking. He was vaguely familiar to her. She sighed. Being new to a town where everyone knew each other was tough.


She trudged into the photocopy room, still a bit fazed by thinking of who he was. She pushed a few buttons on the machine and waited for her copies to finish. Then, as she looked around, trying to look for a hot water dispenser, she almost slapped her forehead, seeing her mystery guy on one of the posters. Of course, how could she not have recognized her boss.


Beth couldn't stop scolding herself on the way back downstairs. She'd gotten herself a cup of coffee on the way back but it was doing little to help her nerves. If she couldn't identify her boss when he just literally ran into her, what else could she do terribly wrong? "Oh, at least the copies are done," she muttered as soon as she'd handed them to the cranky, obviously stressed out secretary who'd make me get them.


A few more hours of being awkward with the phone calls later, most of the employees had gone out to lunch. She was sitting contentedly at her desk, finishing off the lunch she'd brought. One tired looking secretary placed another folder of documents on her desk and said, "Great, someone to do this. Okay, just fix out the clerical errors that they've marked, print it out and go upstairs and hand it over to Mr. Stone's secretary. Got it?"


Beth nodded quickly in reply and began typing things out. Once she was done, she quickly gathered the files back into the folder and went upstairs. She saw that no one was at the secretary's desk and without much knowledge of what was called for in office protocol there, she went straight to his office and knocked softly on his door.
 
"That's all I have time for today ladies and and gentlemen. Have a pleasant day." John said to the press. He waved to them and then left the room, taking a bottle of water from an aide as he left. He cracked the lid and then quickly downed the cool drink. The press were vultures but he though he handled them fairly well.


He took a b-line to his office before he promptly shut the door. He was tired and wanted to eat lunch in peace. His manager soon interrupted him though. "Good job John." He said with a smile. "I think you kicked ass out there." John nodded and leaned back in his chair. "It's my job." He replied wearily.


After the press conference, the day seemed to quiet down a bit. John sat in his office. Miraculously he was able to clear most of the papers from his desk. His phone, which was sitting on the desk vibrated. He sighed and closed his eyes, hoping to find some sort of inner peace. That was until he heard a knock at his door. "Great. What now." He thought to himself.


"Come in." He said to whomever knocked.
 
The door clicked as softly as it could as it opened and Beth stepped in just as quietly. She eyed the room a bit, trying to size it up: A few frames on the wall, family pictures, an aquarium in the corner, nothing too different.


She gave him a small smile and said, "Um, Mr. Stone, sir, I was supposed to give this to your secretary but I'm guessing she's out for lunch so, I decided it'd be better for me to give it to you directly. I hope I'm not disrupting anything." She rested the folder on his table.


She frowned a bit as she saw how busy he looked and thought for a while. Then, business self aside, she tilted her head to the side and said, "The press must've been ravenous today... I mean, with all those moral issues and all." She continued to talk without thinking. "But you must've done great. You're back on the leading rank as of a few minutes after your press con." She reported what she'd seen from a colleague's computer. "Oh, by the way, those were records of your past important interviews, sir," She said, quickly remembering her place as she gestured to the folder she'd brought him. "They said you might need those for future reference."


She took a long pause and looked at him again. It took her a while before saying, 'I-I should go back downstairs now. That is if you don't need me to do anything more, sir." While she spoke, the scene of him bumping into her kept replaying in her mind
 
John figured that it was probably going to be Zachary, but then again, Zachary didn't ever knock. He was surprised though, to see it was the girl who he had almost knocked over earlier. He watched as she walked up to his desk. She seemed nervous, since she was talking so much. He couldn't help but smile and he waited until she was done talking before he said anything. "What's your name?" He asked. "You are obviously new around here. Have a seat." He waved to a leather bound chair that sat in front of his desk.


John liked her already, as she didn't seem like the typical aide or secretary here. Most were power hungry butt kissers. Some even tried making a move on him. They didn't last too long. John didn't tolerate things like that so it was refreshing to see a new face in the office who seemed genuine.
 
"Oh, um, alright," she said, taking a seat. She smoothed out her skirt a bit and crossed her legs. "Well, um, I'm Elizabeth Walter. But I-I guess I wouldn't mind being called Beth." Her eyes danced from looking at him, to the aquarium in the corner and to her feet. She wasn't usually the shy type but rare occasions like this brought out the quieter side in her.


"Do you want me to do anything, sir?" she asked, just slightly confused by the request for her to sit down. She started to wonder what an intern could have possibly done to take some of her boss's precious time. Then, it hit her that maybe she'd already done something against office protocol. "Did I do something wrong?"
 
"We'll Elizabeth, it's a pleasure to have you on my team." John have her a smile. "You are probably my good luck charm. I was starting to slip in the polls until I bumped into you." He gave her a small laugh. She was quiet and seemed a little nervous. He understood though. He was her boss after all. When she asked if anything was wrong he shook his head "no" and reassured her.


Mason wanted to ask her a few more general questions but before he could speak, his phone began to rang. He picked it up and looked at the screen. It was his wife. "I gotta take this." He frowned. He waited until she left before he answered the phone. "Hey baby." He said into the phone. He and his wife were picture perfect, but behind closed doors, their marriage was rocky. They constantly fought over the smallest things. She was addicted to anti depressants and shopping and she had cheated on him before. But he forgave her because he had loved her. That was years ago. She was still popping pills and spending his money, but there wasn't much he could do about that. Nothing ever worked. Whatever spark they had was snuffed out. Right now she was asking for more money. He was forced to block her from having access to his bank account since she racked up so much debt. Now he kept her on a monthly allowance which she usually blew in the first few days. It cost a fortune to keep all of this under wraps.


"No Lana, I told you already! You are like a f-cking child. No, wait! Our children are more responsible with money than you are." He growled before hanging up. He threw his phone onto the desk and plumped back down into his chair. "Perfect." He mumbled quietly to himself. He should have kept his cool. Now he was going to hear about it later tonight.
 
Beth quickly excused herself as he had to answer a call. She stepped out of the office unintentionally taking the folder she'd brought up to him downstairs with her. She'd only noticed once she was already downstairs. She groaned and trudged back upstairs. She heard him mutter and waited until he seemed to be quiet, not wanting to be disturbing anything. She knocked twice and slipped in.


"Um, sorry, sir. I-uh, sort of forgot to leave this," she said, smiling sheepishly as she put the folder down on his table she saw he looked a bit troubled. "Um... Is anything bothering you, sir?" she asked softly, not meaning to pry at all
 
John sat up a bit when Beth entered his office again. Usually if it were any other person, he'd yell for them to get out. But he didn't feel that way with her. Her sheepish smile was just to hard to get mad at. "Just some family issues." He replied when she asked what was wrong. He reached over and grabbed the folder to skim through its contents. Nothing too important. "Thank you Elizabeth." He said with a warm smile. "Why don't you take the rest of the day off? You seem to be working hard." He offered.
 
"On my first day?" she said, smiling a bit at the thought but she quickly shook her head to decline. "I'd rather not. I miss work, really. 6 months of just sitting around my granny's house can't compare to running around an office... or a cupcake shop," she stopped as she noticed herself jabbering. She just hoped he thought her declining the day off was a good gesture and not just butt-kissing.


"I--um, should go back downstairs now."
 
John shrugged when she declined his offer. It just made her stand out even more which he admired. Most would have jumped on the offer. "Well then, the offer stands whenever you need it." He smiled. "'Now get back to work!" He ordered, though he was obviously playing around.


As soon as the day came to an end, John packed his briefcase and grabbed his jacket before heading out for the day. The sun had just began to sink below the horizon. The kids were gone for the summer to Europe for a summer camp vacation and he obviously didn't want to see his wife right now so he decided to head over to the local pub for a drink.


The trip took only a few minutes and when he walked in, he was greeted by several patrons who recognized him. He decided to do some some campaigning of his own and bought everyone a drink. After the cheers were through he found himself drinking alone at the bar. As depressing as it may seem, he would rather be here than home.
 
Beth went straight home after work. But then, after fixing supper for her grandma, her grandma urged her to reward herself for a great first day at work. At first, Beth declined, saying it was too early a celebration but her grandmother insisted and pushed some money into her palms. She sighed and decided it was a good night to go out for a drink and her grandma did look more than excited for her to leave so she and her friends could play bingo in peace.


She slipped out of their house, happy to hear her grandma and her friends go crazy over bingo and walked into a nice cozy little pub just down the block. As she came in, she saw just in the corner of her eye, someone who looked too much like Johnathan Stone. What can he possibly be doing hear looking so lonely? She thought. She bit her lip and ordered a drink quickly before she'd do anything stupid like talk to her boss. Then, she decided on sitting down just a few tables away from him, equally alone.
 
John was on his third drink before he noticed a familiar face sitting at a table behind him. He didn't even notice her walk in. It would probably be frowned upon to drink with a subordinate, but he decided it was better to drink with a partner than be alone. He finished his drink and ordered two more before he headed over to where Beth was sitting. "I didn't expect to see you here." He said while sitting down. He then thought that it might have been a little rude to sit down without her permission. "Sorry...may I sit?" He asked, standing back up. "I have drinks!"
 
Beth smiled shyly at him and nodded. "Go ahead." She smiled a bit more at him, just a little bit and added, "Well, Granny's taking over the whole apartment so she and her friends can play bingo. I thought a cheap drink and some cheesy bar music would be a lot better than hearing old ladies go, B17? WHAT?! I said B17!" Beth laughed at her own impersonation though tried to stop, thinking it was a dumb joke
 
John sat down and and then pushed the drink over to her while taking a sip of his. He smiled and listened to her story and laughed when she finished. The way she mimicked her grandmother and talked was just cute. He felt as though the doom and gloom of the evening had been lifted. "Well there is nothing at home for me right now so here I am." He shrugged.
 
Beth frowned a bit."Well, how about your wife and kids?" she didn't want to sound like she was prying into his private life but she really was concerned about him. "You know, after a long busy day, I always find it nice to be back home with grandma even if she tends to get too loud..." She took a sip of her drink,thinking like she was talking to a friend and not her boss
 
Mason finished his drink and placed the glass on the table. "Well the kids are off at summer camp. The wife..." He paused and looked down at his glass, wishing it were full again. "Who knows what she's up too." He turned to the bar and raised two fingers, signaling the barkeep for two more drinks. "Your granny sounds like a funny lady." He said, trying to change the subject. The bartender soon brought over the two drinks and John thanked him.
 
"She is if she gets enough coffee in the morning. If not, she's a walking nag machine," she laughed as she took another sip of her drink. Hearing about his wife... it made her frown for some reason. She bit her lip before politely asking. "Um, sir, if you don't mind me asking... uhh... what's with the wife?"


(Sorry I took a while to reply. I was out of town a few days)
 
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