While I was working on some paperwork in Sweets' office, I heard a knock, which was weird considering that Sweets didn't tell me that anyone was going to come by.
I opened the door, and standing there was a tall woman with dark curly hair.
"Hi, I'm Angela, do you know where Sweets is?"
"I'm Alex. And Sweets is out getting coffee. I'll tell him that you stopped by."
"Oh, that's fine. I'll just wait here. And you're Alex, Sweets' assistant?"
I bit my lip. I've never been good with small-talk and I was starting to be quite nervous. I pushed the anxiety down. "Yeah, today is my first official day."
She sat down on the couch and smiled reassuringly. "You know, Sweets has said lots about you. And I think you'll really like it here. We're all like one big dysfunctional family."
I laughed. "Yeah, Zack and Brennan told me all about what Sweets said. I actually really like all of the honesty around here, it's nice to know what people really think. And I'm really excited to meet everyone and become integrated in this whole thing."
"You heard?" Angela giggled. "Yeah, Sweets talked about your appearance a bit. That's not all though, he bragged a lot about your credentials and how smart you are. I've heard that you got a full-ride scholarship to Yale?"
I blushed. Oh God. I always get so embarrassed talking about my school life. People would always act so weird around me once they found out. "Um, yeah. I, uh, went to Yale." I laughed nervously.
Angela's eyebrows raised dramatically and her mouth dropped. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you uneasy. Sweets told us you were shy about your school life."
I smiled. "It's alright, it's just that I don't want to sound like I'm bragging. Because I'm not. I don't want to sound pretentious like I'm some sort of genius. Because I'm not, I swear."
Angela laughed loudly. "Not to make you feel uncomfortable, but I'm pretty sure that getting a full-ride to one of the top schools in the nation and having an IQ over 150 makes you eligible to brag. But, I get the whole not wanting to sound pretentious thing, I really do. What other things do you like to do, what are you interested in?"
I thought for a second. "I'd have to say that I'm a pretty big music person. I play piano. I'm not very good at it though. I'd have to say I'm a pretty big geek, I guess. Star Trek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural. Stuff like that. What about you?"
"I'm pretty into art, I was an artist for a while. And there are tons of people here to geek out with you. I'm a pretty big fan of Supernatural myself. Dean, Sam or Cas?"
I smiled really widely. "Sam, all the way. What about you?"
"Dean. Definitely Dean."
Sweets came into the room quickly and placed the coffee on the table.
"I see you've met Angela," he smiled at both of us, "what are you two talking about?" He handed a coffee to me and sat down on the couch in front of us.
Angela adjusted her hair clips. "We were talking about Supernatural," Angela looked at me, "Sweets is on Team Cas."
Sweets rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, don't make it sound like I'm some blubbering fangirl, because I'm not. It's just; he's so cute! With this little trenchcoat, and..." He paused. "Okay, so maybe I'm a little bit of a fangirl."
I giggled. "Well, it's good to know I have stuff in common with all of you."
Angela smiled. "So, have you met the entire team?"
Sweets answered for me, since I wasn't really sure. "Nope, she hasn't met Booth or Hodgins yet."
Angela's mouth dropped. "Well, you'll be pleased to know that Booth is totally hot. Quite a bit older than you, but still super fine. Let's go!" She grabbed my hand and we went to the examination stand where Booth, Brennan, Zack, and Vincent were.
"I see that you're done with the paperwork that Sweets assigned you. You took much less time than I had expected." Brennan smiled politely at me. I knew that social interactions weren't the easiest for her, and so I politely smiled back.
Angela swiped her card and we both went onto the stand. "Actually, I'm just giving her a well-needed break. Is Hodgins in his office?"
Zack shook his head. "Hodgins is out. He finished his work and so he got bored."
Angela rolled her eyes. "Of course," she glanced at me, "hey, Alex, do you want to come out for drinks tonight? You can meet Booth and Hodgins then."
I nodded. "Yeah, that sounds fun. When do we want to meet up?"
A muscular, "manly" looking guy went up to the stand. "What's happening?"
Angela's eyes widened in surprise for a second. "Hey, Booth! Alex, this is Booth. Booth, this is Alex."
Booth grinned. "Wow, Alex, it's nice to see you in person. Sweets didn't exaggerate, wow. Hi there, it's nice to meet you. I'm Booth, FBI guy."
Angela didn't exaggerate. This guy was definitely not bad looking. My pulse started to race, I got nervous at Booth's apparent flirtation. I reached my hand out to shake his. "I'm Alex, it's nice to meet you too. I hear you're pretty badass."
Booth raised his eyebrows. "Well I sure hope I meet your expectations." He winked and my face flushed. I'm not usually the kind of person who people flirt with. This all was definitely new to me.
Angela came in between us. "Okay, so it looks like you two are getting along just fine. Alex, we'll meet up at the bar at eight o'clock, does that work for you?"
"Yeah, that works just fine. I should probably get back to work now, I've got lots to do. Anyway, it was nice meeting all of you and I'm excited to get drinks tonight." I walked away and waved nervously.
Why did I wave? Oh God, that was awkward. Stop waving now. There you go, now go into the safety of Sweets' office...
And I was there. Nervous as ever. Did I do well? Was I friendly enough? Did I smile enough? Oh God, what if I smiled too little. What if they think I'm rude?
I cupped my face in my hands to calm myself. Calm down. Calm down, you've got this.
"Xandra, you alright?" I turned around to see Sweets behind me.
"Yeah, sorry, I just needed a minute, you know?" I forced a smile and hoped it was enough to convince Sweets that I was totally fine. Sweets didn't have any of it, though, being a psychologist trained to detect lies.
He sat me down on the couch and held my hand. "You were awesome. You were charming, you were sweet... Don't worry, you were totally cool."
My eyes widened and I looked up at him. "Really, you think so?"
He reassured me. "I know so. Now do you actually want to go out for drinks tonight, or are you feeling overwhelmed? You don't have to if it makes you anxious."
I smiled. "Actually, I'm pretty excited. It's just that I've never met this many people in a day before. The only time I've met this many people was my first day of college, and then that one time I went to drop Aaina off at the hospital."
"Why'd you have to drop Aaina off at the hospital? Was she alright?"
"Oh! No, that's not what I meant. She works at the hospital."
He looked less worried now. "That's cool, what does she do?"
"She's a surgeon. A really good one, too."
His eyes widened. "Wow, that's pretty impressive."
I smiled. "Yeah, Aaina's amazing. She's kind of like my safety blanket, you know?"
He nodded. "You know, if you want, she could come. You could introduce her to the group. She'd probably like that."
"Yeah, she would. I'll see if she can come."
Sweets and I talked for a while, before we both left to get some rest before tonight.
"It was really nice getting to know you a little more, and I look forward to meeting Aaina. I can pick you guys up, if you want. Just text me your address. I'll come by at like 7:45."
I nodded. "Thanks, yeah, I'd like that. I'll see you later."
...
I looked over what I had written in my journal.
It read:
"Sometimes it's good to get out of your head a little.
Often the people who are holding us back the most are ourselves, and once we get rid of that fear, we uncover a world we never thought we'd be in.
If it weren't for Aaina, I'd have never applied for the job. I definitely wouldn't be here right now, getting ready for a night out on the town with people I just met.
But Aaina's been acting weird lately. She's secretive. It's starting to freak me out.
This is the girl who notifies me when she has to pee. It's weird how she's acting.
She's nervous. She's jumpy.
I just hope she's okay."