The Coffee Date

Chapter 11 - Meet The Parents

Hazel wasn't exactly sure what to expect when walking into the office to start their first day of investigating, but it wasn't this.

Eyes flashed left and right, poked out of cubicles and whisked around corners to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be "fresh meat". Hazel wasn't aware that a work environment was literally a "kill-or-be-killed" space. Everything she had read in drama novels or seen in sitcoms turned out to be false. How about that.

Hazel could believe all she wanted that the stares were because she was new, and that was partially true, but the real reason was the mad gossip spreading about her partner. Hilda had ended up staying later the day previous, making a last minute cup of coffee for her boss when she heard the small snippets of argument through blurred, glass-windows. After witnessing Nathan burst from the room and rush away with a smug smirk on his face, the gossip tree at the office immediately began it's bloom.

So, clutching her small folder in her hands, Hazel scurried away towards her partner's office, head lowered, eyes squeezed shut as she bustled away from strangers whom she thought hated her. She felt as if her getup screamed "newbie". She had assumed that black dress pants, a white short-sleeved blouse with fashion stitching done on the chest, and her pink locket looked professional enough. Maybe it was the way her hair was done up in a tiny bun on her head or the way her glasses rested on her nose. But really they were only intrigued in why the boss's son was so interested in with this strange girl.

She quickly slipped into their now-shared office door and rested her forehead against the cool wood, hoping to regain her composure and confidence she thought she had in her bedroom that morning.

"Everything all right there?"

Hazel whisked around her eyes finally catching the confused male sitting at his desk, patting files into order and resting them into a soon-to-be clipped up file folder. Right. For some reason her panic had caused her to forget that there was a boy in here. Waiting for her. That didn't make her nervous at all.

"O-Oh." She mumbled meekly, as if his presence was enough to capture her speechless. "I'm just not sure if people here are fans of me."

Nathan raised an eyebrow, hoping that his hunch of what was happening wasn't factual. "What do you mean?"

She squirmed nervously in her spot. She was going to sound like a pathetic elementary-school girl. "I got a lot of weird looks on the way up here." Yep. She sounded just as silly as she thought she was going to.

Alas, his hunch was correct. The gossip-train had left the station. "Don't worry about them. They aren't used to seeing someone new around the office, that's all." He shrugged, pushing himself to his feet and adjusting the opening of his jacket. "Give it a day or two and they'll get past it."

He turned to continue speaking on the matter, hoping to assure her that his co-workers were more-so gossip vending machines rather than capable workers, until he noticed her eyes stuck to the window watching as figures passed by their door. Clearly, she was bothered by this. He couldn't blame her. He was, after all, the reason why she was being talked about to begin with. Apparently yelling at the "boss man" on one's behalf wasn't a good way to quietly start a career.

"Luckily today we can start the investigation." Maybe changing the subject would work best, to ease the frazzled nerves she clearly seemed to have. He waved the folder he had previously been organizing with a smile. "This is all the casework that's been done so far. Now that you're registered here we can keep these."

Hazel glanced at the folder with a small grin, stepping forwards and taking the folder excitedly in her hands, setting it on top of the one she was already carrying. She flipped it open, skimming over the first page. Nothing but stats and information on her parents. Their medical history, their doctors and dentists. Occupations, children, criminal record checks, community work, references. Everywhere they needed to check to get an idea as to what to do first.