A rom-commers guide to a Rom-com

Colleagues.

Ellie

Walking into the office usually held conflicting emotions in me.

I liked that our office, built right next to a pet store and bakery, was very easy to get to (as easy as getting off at two stops to reach my destination that is) but working at a customer care service agency meant that there were usually a lot of people occupied with their work. So walking into the lobby of our building was usually noisy with the sounds of phones ringing and people talking, with situations like these it was a bit awkward to not have anyone answer your questions or say hello to you when you walked in.

I liked that no one felt the need to bother with unnecessary conversations, which meant I didn't have the chance to start a one sided conversation with someone who didn't reciprocate my cherry hello's, which always ended up in my embarrassment.

But then it would've also been nice to have someone to talk with at the lobby for once.

After scanning my Id at the front desk, I head towards the elevator to go up to where I worked; at the third floor. The last floor of our building. Away from the rest of the departments.

The more strict departments. As some of my coworkers liked to joke about occasionally. The elevator doors pinged as it opened to reveal our not so spacious office. As the last floor of the building the directors hadn't thought much on the space of our office because we were a small department, therefore giving us a room that had six cubicles facing each other, a medium sized swiss cheese plant at the far right corner and a desk no one ever used except for goofing off and for taking naps during lunch if needed. Our office may be smaller than the rest of the other departments but nothing can beat my favorite part of the place. The big glass windows facing out into the beautiful New York city. it was a lovely site to behold which made working here almost bearable. Almost.

And to make it even better my desk was directly in front of the glass windows. it was awesome. I loved my seating area.

I always tried not to think about what would happen should someone (hopefully not me) fall. But thoughts like those won't do anything but spike up your blood pressure levels.

I breathe in, enjoying the quiet of the office and peaceful atmosphere.

"I knew you'd be here!"

Damn, that didn't last long.

I open my eyes to stare right into the bright grey eyes of one of my coworkers and best friends, Allan.

"I was just enjoying the peace and quiet, you know" I tell him as he grins at me, placing his elbows on my desk, his two hands holding up his chin, leaning so close I can make out the beginnings of a mustache below his nose.

"Well, who needs peace and quiet when you have a friend like me?" He says, flicking my nose and making his way towards his desk right in the middle of the three cubicles across from mine.

I roll my eyes, not bothering to wipe the smile from my face. With a friend like Allan, the words 'peace and quiet ' shouldn't be found in the same sentence. I've known Allan since I joined the company, we were both two wide eyed fresh out of college graduates and didn't know what the heck we were doing in the company. But somehow, we both got picked for the same internship program. We hit it off almost instantly and we've been inseparable ever since.

Allan looks around the room, no doubt looking for the rest of our colleagues. "When do you think the rest will get here?"

I shrug, bringing out my folder and laptop from my bag, "I don't know, they usually come in when they fill like it these days" I say, referring to the rest of our colleagues, specifically the ones who take up the remaining cubicles beside me. Meera, the one who sits next to me usually doesn't come in until later in the day. Then there's Marshall who gets in after me and is probably picking up his breakfast from the bakery next door.

As for the rest of our team, the ones who take up residence across my space, don't get into work until sometime before lunch. Except Tricia who comes in whenever she feels like it.

"I wish I could be as nonchalant as them" Allan says with a very big, very dramatic sigh.

I giggle, "You know you're too responsible for that" I say.

He places his hand on his forehead, "I know right!" he says laughing.

The door opens and in walks Marshall, holding his signature black coffee and what I assume to be a donut in a white paper bag with the bakery's name displayed on it. His typical breakfast for the day. He nods towards me and Allan and quietly makes his way to his corner of the room.

Allan and I share a look of silent laughter with our eyes, before we both go back to pretending like we're getting any work done. Marshall is a quiet man in his early forties and prefers to be quiet and give one worded replies or none at all. Allan says he's a grump, but I like to say he's a very private man who doesn't feel the need to have unnecessary conversations unless needed.

A few more minutes later, the door opens to reveal the cheery face of a woman with bright blonde hair and large hoop earrings. Tricia. "The fun has arrived!" she sings as she walks into the room. She makes her way towards her cubicle, smacking the gum in her mouth loudly as she pulls her chair out and plops down on it, simultaneously earning a glare from Marshall, no doubt annoyed with all the noise Tricia makes.

"Hey Ellie girl!" She says, waving at me from her corner of the room.

A fond smile crosses my face, "Hey Tricia"

"How're you doing today?!" She shouts even though she's less than a few feet away from me.

I roll my eyes, "You don't have to yell Tricia I can hear you just fine, I'm not that old" A similar smirk forms on her face, resembling the one I have on mine. She shrugs, flipping her hair to one side of her shoulder, taking a glance at the scowl already forming on Marshall's face.

I shake my head, the smile still not leaving from my face. Tricia has a thing for getting under Marshall's skin. I guess she does it because she wants him to come out of his shell.

Or she just does it for fun. Either way it puts her in a good mood to see him riled up.

Finally a sigh is heard from the side of the room. "Can you please keep it down? this is an office not a lounge" Marshall says, adjusting his framed glasses on his nose with his index finger.

Allan scoffs, "It basically is a lounge with how little we actually do in here" He says, rolling his eyes and going back to typing something on his computer.

I agree with a nod, so does Tricia. even Marshall goes quiet with Allan's very true statement.

Why our department is smaller than the other departments is because we're the people who handle the things the others don't want to deal with. We're the ones in charge of resolving complaints and addressing concerns of our customers.

That's what it says on paper atleast. We don't actually do anything in our department because the other departments handle the more critical stuff while we barely get calls up here. The customers always call their lines and because they're so 'great' at their job, we barely get a chance to do ours. we're basically the assistants of the higher departments. And that's if the phone's ring. and they don't. barely anyway.