More Than Fine. (Complete)

2- MTF Fate

     "No worries. It will be good for him. He hasn't been a mentor in ages. I'll show you your desk first, then we'll go by and speak to him."

     Heart beating rapidly, Gia hoped that her face was not giving away her true feelings. The thought of working directly with Nick pleased her, but scared her at the same time. The attraction she felt towards him, was easy to ignore when he was just a random man that she may never see again, but this...was she ready to try again with a relationship? Reeling in her thoughts Gia reminded herself that she didn't even know him; he could be a jerk for all she knew. And regardless, now that he was a coworker, or actually her superior, didn't that mean they couldn't date? She needed to look more closely at the policy manual she had been given.

     Gia's desk was towards the back of a sea of low cubicle stations; connected as pods, but divided with sound dampening partitions that were low enough for the workers to see and talk with one another at each pod. The area was humming with people typing away while studying the tickers on their dual computer screens, chatting into their headsets, or discussing things with their coworkers.

     Sitting down, Gia smiled at the man sitting at a desk directly in front of her. He stopped typing and reached out to shake hands. "Welcome! Gia, right?" She nodded, and he continued. "I'm Steven. Great to have you. I look forward to working with you."

     His friendly smile put Gia at ease, and she smiled back and greeted him.

     The woman sitting to her right said goodbye to someone through her headset, then stood up and extended her hand to Gia. "Allison Lee. So nice to meet you."

     "Great to meet you too!" Gia was looking forward to getting to know her coworkers, and these two seemed close to her age, so she hoped they would become friends as well. It would be nice to have some confidants who knew the ropes both in the business and the city.

     "You should join us for lunch." Allison gestured towards Steven. "We take our break at 11:30. We'll have more time to talk then."

     "Sounds perfect." Gia grinned.

     "I'll show you to our collaborative work lounge and we can talk without disturbing others." Mrs. Ivanov led her to the opposite end of the space and they entered a room with several seating areas made up of sectionals, lounge chairs, and low tables. She also noticed that each seating area was close to a wall with a marker board. "This is where teams can come to work and brainstorm together in a more relaxed environment than our conference rooms. You're welcome to use it if you just want to get away from your desk also."

     Gia nodded and smiled, taking it all in.

     "Now I do need to warn you. You said you don't really know Nick. Well...he can be a bit cold and sharp with his words sometimes. Don't let that scare you. He's just very focused and he does have high expectations, but once you get to know him, you'll see that he's fair and thoughtful underneath it all. But fair warning: do your work and be attentive to what he has to say. If he senses that you're trying to take the easy way out, or aren't fully engaged when he's speaking to you, that is a sure way to set him off."

     Gia stared at Mrs. Ivanov wide eyed, and remembered some of the intense looks he had given her that night at the restaurant. "Good to know."

     Minutes later they were standing outside Nick's door. Gia noticed the nameplate on it: Nicholas Bellanti. It looked like an Italian name. Thinking back to the handsome, dark haired man, she decided he did, indeed, look Italian. She smiled, there was Italian on her mother's side, but you would never know it from her blond hair and blue eyes or last name.