Traffic Jam

the seventeenth

"And then, out of nowhere, the Thanksgiving turkey just flies across the table and before you know it, food is everywhere. And that's the story of the Great Thanksgiving Massacre of 2009."

Grabriel finished his story with a wild flourish of his hands, and this just sends me into another endless peal of laughter. My sides actually hurt from laughing so hard.

From across the dining hall, I can see Kane walking over, holding a tray of food. He had a hard look on his face and I wonder is he's had a rough morning working. He practically slams his tray down on the table across from me. I'm sitting with Grabriel in a corner in the back, and I haven't seen Liz yet. She's probably still helping with food. 

"What's so funny over here?" Kan practically growls as he sits down heavily in his seat.

"Um, Grabriel was just telling the funniest story about..."

"That's nice." Kane cuts in, but it sounds like he thinkgs it's anything but.

"Gabriel, this is Kane," I am about to continue introducing them when Kane narrows his eyes at me and stabs a piece of food with his fork, "We met last night."

What is the matter with him?

"Are you okay?" I ask, cocking my head at him. 

He stares at me for a minute, before scooting his chair back and taking his tray and leaving. He goes and sits down at a totally empty table.

"Wow, what are you in the doghouse for?" Gabriel whistles, breaking apart a piece of bread.

I stare after Kane, watching as he sullenly cuts his food, "I have no idea."

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Gabriel and I finish "work" after lunch, which really just consists of sitting and talking. I get the feeling that he's been working all alone down here for awhile, and that he hasn't really had anyone to talk to.

After his seventh story in a row, he finally decides that our "work day" is over and lets me go. I have an hour before dinner, and I was planning on walking around the buildings a bit so that I won't get lost anytime soon.

"Thanks for spending the day with me, Charlotte," Gabriel says, leaning back in his chair.

I nod, "Yep. I'm sorry that we didn't get more done."

He grins, "I'm not."

A smile etches its way onto my face as I get up from my seat and crack my knuckles. I walk over to the elevator as Gabriel tells me what we're basically doing tomorrow. 

"See you at dinner," He calls as I step onto the elevator, and I wave a hand at him as the doors close.

My first day working was a lot different than I thought it would be, that's for sure. I imagined people yelling as I did things wrong, and too many people being everywhere and having to fetch coffee for my boss.

None of those things happened, and wonder of all wonders, I think I actually had fun today.

I take the elevator all the way up to my floor and get off. I pull my hair over my shoulder as I walk through the halls, trying to figure out what to do.

I could go see if Lizzie is at the room, but she's probably making dinner since it's in an hour. I know that Jill works on another floor, so I wouldn't even begin to know where to find her.

As I walk the halls, I begin to get the feeling that I'm one of the few people that got let out of work early. I don't know when people are supposed to get off, but I would assume from the lack of people in halls, that it isn't before 6:15, and it's only 5 now.