Em knew something was weird as soon as Quentin smiled at her. He rarely smiled at all, and he definitely didn't look her way at work. Was he ill? Even if he had decided to switch up his persona and start greeting people, he would never single her out like that. Unless he was going around smiling at everyone. That image was upsetting.
It wasn't the smile itself. Actually, his smile was sort of beautiful. Em had always thought that. No, the disturbing part was the effect that smile would have on the male-attracted population of the office. Normally only the boldest people would attempt to make a move on Quentin. Em hated to think what would happen if regular people thought they had a shot. Hell, Em didn't even have a shot, and she got fucked by him regularly. Though, the office sirens could just be looking for a hookup. Would Quentin bite?
She sat down at her desk, trying to bring her thoughts back to her work. Unfortunately, the work she had to do this morning was completely mindless, so she couldn't help but wonder what kind of illness had overtaken Quentin Blake.
Right around eleven-thirty, an hour before she and AJ normally took lunch, she heard a commotion in the hallway. She took her earbud out so she could hear it properly. The clearest voice was Tiffany's, her high-pitched drawl instantly recognizable. Her harpies must have been there too, given the cacophony of high heels. Tiffany had been droning on for a while, but it took Em a minute to tune in.
"...because Dar and I, sorry, Mr. Fields, we were talking about you last week and he mentioned that you weren't feeling well, and then you were out yesterday…"
"I am entitled to my personal time, same as anybody else."
"Oh, of course, Mr. Blake. I just wanted to check in. I was really worried about you. You haven't ever been sick in all the years I've known you. I'm always here for you, you know that, right?"
"I wasn't sick, and even if I was, I have plenty of people to take care of me."
"Of course! I didn't mean to imply…"
"I have things to do, so if you'll excuse me." Em heard Quentin's footsteps coming closer. Oh, fuck, was he coming towards Marketing? They had the proposal meeting later today. Did he want to see it before the meeting? Em could imagine him giving them a list of revisions, and then reaming into them when they couldn't finish it in time. Her coworkers must have heard it too, because they started scrambling.
"Mr. Blake! Good afternoon! How can we help you?"
"...it's eleven thirty."
"...what?"
"You said good afternoon. It's eleven thirty."
"Oh. I'm… sorry?"
"Nevermind." Quentin stood there for a moment, surveying the room. His gaze lingered on Em for just a moment longer than he should have, and it was clear everybody noticed.
"Um…sir? Did you need something?" Quentin jumped, like he'd forgotten Kate was even there.
"I wanted to wish you all good luck on your presentation later. I look forward to seeing what you've come up with." And then, as if that wasn't weird enough, he smiled at them. He turned and walked away after that, and no one said a word. It was only after the elevator chime that AJ finally spoke.
"Am I dreaming?" AJ spun in his chair to face the group. "I have to be dreaming."
"He was… nice." Jenny said. "He is not. Nice."
"What the fuck?" Em said. Jenny narrowed her eyes.
"Yeah, Em. What the fuck?" All three of them looked at her.
"Why are you looking at me?"
"Because he was looking at you. Like, looking, looking." Jenny said. AJ nodded.
"I don't even know what that means."
"Looking at you like he was actually looking at you."
"That makes even less sense." Em said. Jenny rolled her eyes.
"Kate, help me."
"He did seem… unusually attentive towards you, Em." Kate sat back down, still looking at her. "Do you have any idea why?" Em absolutely did, but there was no way in hell she was telling them about it.
"Do I have something on my face?" She knew she didn't. She could see her reflection in the window. AJ leaned over her and hummed.
"No, but you've got some flyaways." He reached a hand out to smooth her hair. Em tilted her head over to let him.
"There's no way he was just looking at her hair." Jenny said. "Obviously, something's up."
"I don't know… He is very serious about proper workplace attire." Kate said. "Maybe he was going to say something but decided against it."
"Maybe," Em agreed, hoping for the conversation to end quickly. Unfortunately, as soon as marketing had all sat down, Tiffany and the harpies appeared at the door. This was exactly why Em didn't want them to interact at work. People asked too many goddamn questions, especially his crazed fangirls. Had they been watching through the window? Freaks. Em looked at the clique and took comfort in the knowledge that she would kick every one of their asses in a fight.
"What was Quentin doing in here?" Tiffany planted herself in the middle of the room, forcing everyone to turn to face her. She didn't waste time, apparently. There was a moment of silence, when Em was afraid that they were all expecting her to answer, but then Kate spoke.
"Mr.Blake does not allow employees to call him by his first name." She was clearly putting on her boss-face. Kate knew exactly what kind of person Tiffany was, and she wasn't one to take bullshit. Technically, they were both management, but Tiffany had all her 'connections' and always treated Kate like she was less-than.
"I'm not just any employee. I've known Quentin for years, you know. We've been friends since college. Which is why I find it so strange that he's suddenly taking an interest in the Marketing department. He's come in here a couple times in the past week, hasn't he? Have you all been so incompetent that he had to personally intervene?"
"He has been overseeing the proposal for the marketing campaign on NovaTech's next drop. He increased his involvement to ensure that all the departments would be satisfied with the outcome."
"I don't know why they bother paying you people." Said harpy #1. "An AI could make these kinds of things in minutes."
"Well, I guess they have to have some work for the diversity hires to do. At least that means they don't let the charity case near anything important." Tiffany turned to Em and smiled. "I bet even being in a building this nice is exciting for you. It's a big jump up from whatever shithole you came from."
"Ms. McClain, did you have something you needed from us? Because if not, we really do need to get back to work." Kate was outright frowning now, something she almost never did. Em appreciated that Kate was trying to stand up for her, in her own way. Nobody could tell Tiffany to fuck off directly, but Kate had enough patience to find a polite way to do it.
"I just wanted to have a talk with you all, especially our dear Em here." Tiffany put one of her manicured hands on Em's shoulder.
"What do we have to talk about?" Em tried her best to sound casual. It didn't work.
"I just wanted to make sure that all four of you remember your place at this company. This department is only one mistake away from being shut down entirely. Darius and Quentin value my opinions, and they always back me up, since we're all such close friends. You all are only here because I allow you to be. Just do your jobs and don't make a scene, and we won't have any problems. But if you all keep screwing up and wasting Quentin's time with your bullshit, I will personally ensure that he never has to deal with you guys again." Tiffany hadn't taken her hand off of Em's shoulder. In fact, she seemed to slowly be squeezing it tighter. It was starting to hurt.
"We will keep that in mind." Kate said.
"And you." Tiffany looked down at Em, her blue eyes piercing, almost deadly. This time she didn't hesitate to dig her claws into Em's shoulder. She leaned down until she was right in Em's face. She smelled like blush powder and perfume, an artificial but not unpleasant scent. "I don't know who the fuck you're trying to impress, walking around here like you're hot shit and dressing like a little slut, but there is no way in hell Quentin is going to pay you any attention. We keep it quiet at the company, but we're basically together." In that case, he's been cheating on you for months. "If you don't stop trying to distract him, I won't just stop at getting you fired. I'll make sure you can't work anywhere. You can run back to the ghetto and work corners again, or you can get your shit together and keep working here."
The only pride Em could have in this moment was not letting her reaction show on her face. It felt like Tiffany had drawn blood, metaphorically and literally. This was the first good job she'd ever had, and her only chance to change her situation, and she might lose it because she fucked around with the wrong guy. Also, this crazy bitch was putting holes in the back of her best work shirt. All she could do was nod, and hope Tiffany would walk away.
She squeezed even harder, and for a moment Em thought she was actually done for. She was going to lose her life in a glass skyscraper on the Upper East Side dressed like the female lead at the beginning of a Christmas movie, and then the corporate monkeys would hide her body and Marco and Benny would never know what happened to her. At least she would see her family again.
And then Tiffany stood up like nothing had happened and walked away.