Chapter Text
If it weren’t for her then short-term, now long-term crush on her coworker Mark, she would have tried to call it quits long ago.
She could only sit there and refine for so long, the ever-elusive, dizzying blue numbers on her screen taunting her with less-than-welcome feelings of dread as she sorted them into their proper boxes. “Guys, I’m only at 42% and we’re more than halfway through the quarter..” [Name] said, cheek resting on her left hand as her elbow anchored itself on her desk space, her right index tracing the surface of her trackball.
As Dylan clicked away on his keyboard for a few moments, he chimed in, “Maybe if you spent less time on origami and more time crunching numbers, you’d be getting somewhere.”
“C’mon, my cranes are cute, though,” she said.
“Her cranes are cute,” said Mark. [Name] glanced at the taller figure as he sat at his desk, joining his work friends, and smiled to herself, looking back at Dylan over the screen that separated them. “But really, I think you should focus more on work, [Name]. The end of the quarter’s coming up soon.” Her smile dropped and she refrained from rolling her eyes, and it was Dylan’s turn at the subtle smiling.
“I know, please don’t remind me.”
“No, we will remind you. You won’t get any more work done if you keep up the banter,” said Irving, putting his two cents in. “Go on, then, back to work.”
With a small sigh, [Name] resumed her work in silence, stealing one last glance at her coworkers before bringing her focus back to her computer screen.
~
It was always nerve-wracking to be alone in the same office space as Mark S. once Irving and Dylan clock out. [Name] had already finished a quarter with her new coworkers and was used to the state of things, but the thought of possibly chatting with Mark alone was enough to make her hands feel warm and clammy to the touch. She decided to restock her papers and sticky notes for future origami projects, her feet taking her to the storage room on the assumption that Mark was in the restrooms and she’d be by herself. To her surprise, the man was already there, seemingly for spare paperclips.
“Hi,” she muttered, flashing him a polite smile when their gazes met.
“Hey,” he responded, voice soft as he smiled back, or at least tried to. [Name] promptly left the room after grabbing what she needed, stealing a glance at him before heading out the doorway. He's so cute.