ONE: Vanilla on My Hands

15: The Sensitive Tissue of Its Organs and Its Sturdy Bones

"Not at all, sir." Derek smiled, "We're just making plans."

"Oh, well carry on, I can wait." Gerard smiled, putting his hands in his pockets as Derek looked at Bob again.

"Are the guys all coming as well?" Derek asked before he looked at Frank, "And you, new kid?"

"Me, what?" Frank stiffened up, looking at Derek when he realized he was now the main focus, his eyes going around the room, "What?"

"We're all going out to Gibsons now after work for a drink, d'you wanna come?" Derek asked as he put his bag on his shoulder and walked to the door of his office, standing there as Frank got up.

"Well, I..." He frowned as he followed them out of the office and into the hallway. He saw the rest of the employees all standing at the door to leave, all looking at the exchange between current employee and new meat. Sudden indecision hit Frank as he looked at Derek, and Bob and then back at Gerard, who was standing stoic behind him, looking expectant.

"Yeah? You coming or what, spazmod?" Bob asked and Frank let out a small whimper, looking at Gerard and at his coworkers, his moral compass wobbling as though he were a giant magnet, spinning around between his two major choices.

"Frank...?" Gerard asked out carefully. That was what swayed him, that voice was what tilted him.

He turned on his heel and looked at Gerard, letting out a sigh, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm coming." He turned to look at Derek, biting nervously on his lip, "N-Next time, I promised I would work overtime tonight."

"Fine," Derek shrugged as everyone began filing out, "Your loss, new kid. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah..." Frank muttered, frowning as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Frank," Gerard called from his office, making the latter yelp and rush in, realizing he had been standing on the spot for ages.

"Yes." He breathed out, "I'm here." He opened the door and slid into the room, trying not to stare while he walked. The inside of the office stood out from the rest of the place that Frank had seen so far. Wowed by it, Frank's eyes darted around, taking in everything he could as quickly as possible while still trying to walk in a straight line towards the desk.

He didn't want to look like he was gawking or come across as completely professional because Frank was amazed by the office. The floors were white; completely different to the rest of the floors in the office, making it stand out even more. The other thing that stood out was a bright orange rug that he would never have expected. Maybe he has a thing for orange, Frank thought, knowing not to question even though he did wonder. A long expanse of window stretched out to his left, showing what looked like a patio area, dotted with one or two potted plants. The walls were white too. It felt far too clean for Franks's liking. Ryan probably would have been in heaven if he could have seen just how pristine the walls were. The wall on the far side from Frank wasn't white though. Instead, a large mahogany bookcase filled the wall. The wood a deep red-brown russet color, completely in contrast to the rest of the room which felt so clinical and appeared so bright. The shelves were filled with an array of things, ranging from books which seemed like the obvious thing to store, going on to ornaments and trinkets, going onto the large painting that was right in the middle of the whole unit. Frank glanced at it. Clearly it was abstract, just like the other paintings that he had seen dotted around the office. This one was different though. A dark canvas with what looked like a smear of ablaze in the middle of it. Oranges from dark to light, lining a bright yellow center, with white in the middle of it all. The center which Frank focussed on for a split second before he looked at the one thing he was heading towards.

The oversized desk that matched the bookshelf in color. Such furniture Frank didn't even want to consider the price tag that had been attached to the desk once. All he took notice of was the fact that it was modern like the bookshelf too. There were a few things dotted on it, lamp, laptop, paperwork, the empty coffee cup which had probably been the first drink of the day. But that wasn't Frank's main focus now. No, he peeled his eyes away from looking around the office in a second, finally bringing his attention onto the one thing in the room that made him feel like his stomach was really doing some sort of acrobatic display inside of him.