Neither of us had spoken since the cafe. Now I was pulling up outside the studio, my stomach flipping inside of me, and the tension was high.
I couldn't wait to get out of the car, though I knew Katrina would be stuck in my office with me before long. The thought of another enclosed space with Katrina, but this time lasting a lot longer than just a couple of minutes, was horrifying.
Katrina followed me silently up to the door, which was unlocked. We walked inside and I saw that she was going to marvel at everything we passed before we were even up the stairs. She stared at the brick walls like they were special in some way, and she brushed her fingers over the metal railing no one used like it would break under her fingertips.
We reached the top of the stone steps, and Katrina gasped. The sound caused Blue Hair Girl and Watercolour Girl to look up in surprise, but they looked a little disappointed when they saw it was us. And then they frowned at the sight of the newcomer.
Jax, sitting in the corner, was distracted by his work whilst Lewis marvelled openly at Katrina next to me. I wanted to roll my eyes. So I did and started for the door to the spiral staircase.
Katrina didn't follow.
My office was untouched when I arrived, the promise of the outside world disappearing as I settled into my comfortable chair and opened my laptop. I still had plenty of designs to digitally complete, not to mention the very few new ideas I had in my sketchbook that needed sorting.
I realised, halfway through a digital design, that I technically had a job now: I was planning to come here often and do what the others in the building did, but better, in my opinion. And I had the backing of five other employees, all of which too scared of me to say no to anything.
As I finished a design — I only had six left — there was a light knock on my door. My eyes flicked up for barely a second to see Katrina standing just inside my office, Jax hovering over her shoulder in the hallway. I looked back to my work as Katrina walked in and sat on the slightly-dusty couch. I wasn't a perfect cleaner.
Jax stepped inside too. "Ms. Woods?" he asked hesitantly.
I didn't look at him.
"I don't want to do this, but I think you need to have a word with Blair."
I had to think for a moment to figure out who she was — Broken Chair Girl.
"She hasn't come in for a couple of days."
"So?" I snapped under my breath.
"She left after someone visited her. Some guy in black, I didn't get much else from my desk. We think she's got another job and she isn't coming back."
I looked up at Jax, then, wondering about Blair. I didn't really know any of the employees, and for good reason — I didn't care — but hearing that she had left stung a little bit. Didn't she have a good work environment when I wasn't there? Music and laughter was always disturbing me from upstairs. And I left them to it. I let them do what they wanted, as long as they produced something.
"How am I supposed to talk to her if she isn't fucking here?" I growled, feeling for the first time the responsibility of being a manager. They had been so easy on me until now.
Jax shrugged nervously. "You should have her contact details and everything." His head inclined towards one of the millions of drawers on my desk. "But we can work without her, if she's gone. She didn't produce much anyway and kept to herself."
"If she isn't gone," I said slowly, "she will be. She's fired."
Jax straightened and nodded. He walked out of my office without a word, pulling my door shut behind him to give Katrina and I some privacy to talk. I wondered who he thought she was to me, or if she had spent the last hour or two explaining to him that we were sort of friends. I doubted he thought I even had friends — I sort of didn't, so he'd be right.
Katrina waited a few beats after he was gone to look at me. "You're really going to fire Blair?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Bothering me with her shit. Unless she has a good reason, which I doubt, I don't see a reason to keep her around. Jax made it clear she does jackshit anyway."
Katrina frowned at me. "This is someone's job, though. Their livelihood."
"So she should be here to fucking earn that livelihood. If she isn't here, I'm hardly going to pay her, now am I?"
Katrina went silent.
"Is there another reason you're down here? I was doing better alone." My voice was harsh.
"I wanted to see your office," Katrina admitted as she looked around. "It's nice."
I scoffed. "You can sit and be quiet or leave. I'm working."
She did neither. "You know, I used to have the same hair as Helen. I kind of miss it, the blue. It's weird to have these colours now."
I was ignoring her.
"I was blonde for a while, too, but I don't think I looked right with it." She paused. "Did you know my natural hair is really dark brown like yours?"
"Katrina!" I exclaimed. "Are you trying to piss me off?! I'm busy here."
Katrina sounded shy as she looked down at her lap and linked her fingers together. "I'm not trying to. Sorry, I'll stop talking."
She did, for a while. I got through another design while she sat on the couch on her phone. For once, the almost-silence was comfortable between us, though filled with a little tension from my annoyance. And the distant sound of music eased me through the process of ignoring the gentle taps I could hear sometimes when she pressed her phone too hard.
Then she looked up at me. "I'm going upstairs."
And she did, leaving me alone in my office. I liked it and I hated it.