The Promotion Dilemma (Office Romance)

ONE

One thing I have been terrified of is growing up. Moving out of my parents' house and feeling alone. I only recently moved out, two years ago today. I moved from Belleville, Illinois to St. Louis to attend UMSL and major in accounting. In the last semester of my senior year I did an internship with Destiny Electronics in their accounting department. I have now worked for the company going on three years.

Destiny is in competition with Dell and HP in terms of high-speed processors and functional hard drives. I have found my place here and love every aspect of my job. The location was right downtown only a few blocks away from the arch, I could see it from my desk. I live in an apartment across town and when I sat and thought about it, I was extremely lucky.

"Ruby!"

Then there was Nathan.

"Yes?" I asked and spun around in my chair.

"Mr. Conrad would like your numbers in to him by 5 o'clock," he said. Mr. Conrad, older than ninety percent of the dust in this office, is the CEO of our headquarters. I received a promotion only twenty months into working here and now had to report to Nathan, who reports to Mr. Conrad.

"Right, our monthly budget is nearly—"

"I don't care. To Conrad," he repeated and strolled down the hall.

Nathan Dalton was the most arrogant man you'd ever meet. He was thirty-two years old. No wife, girlfriend, or kids and he was messy. His desk used to be in the same cubicle as mine. There'd be burger wrappers, water bottles, coffee mugs, scrap sheets of paper, important papers, everything scattered about in no specific order or place. When I was an intern, he was the one I worked with, but he expected me to know everything since I was in school. He had scruffy brown hair, not light, not dark. He stood six-foot-three and had large pale green eyes with golden flecks... at least... I think.

My computer pinged and I noticed Nathan sent out a mass email.

Subject: 1st of the Month Board Meeting

I sighed and looked at the corner of my computer, June 1st.

I got reports from marketing and IT with new numbers and sighed pulling out my calculator. I glanced up noticing a shadow of someone passing by and Nathan held his mug, steam emitting from it as he entered his office and closed the door. That only gave him a bit of privacy as he always kept his blinds open unless he was in a meeting. He sat at his desk and adjusted his tie before logging onto his computer. Nathan turned toward me, and I looked back down at my calculator.

"Stare much?" I heard as a chair rolled across the aisle toward me. "He's an ass Rubs," my friend Caroline sighed.

"I know he is. I didn't mean to stare," I responded.

"I mean you wouldn't be the first to want him. Over half of the girls in HR find him stunning. He got away with dating one of them, at least I heard. Once they broke up, she resigned."

"You keep up with everything, don't you?" I laughed scratching out a number I had and scribbling down the new one. I am going to have to print a fresh page.

"Office drama is the only thing keeping me going."

"I'll be back," I said, bringing my mug with me. Someone beat me to printing and my document wasn't out yet, so I strolled into the kitchenette and poured myself some coffee. I added some creamer and sugar before returning to the printer where Nathan stood. He wore a light blue button-up with a blue and gray diagonally striped tie.

"Print something?" he asked.

"Yeah," I answered. He "humphed" and nodded as the printer kept going. I decided not to wait and returned to my desk. I calculated the next line on my spreadsheet when I heard something drop in my inbox hanging on the outside of my cubicle. I turned and Nathan leaned against the wall and peeked at me over his shoulder.