Em knew this situation could be… misinterpreted easily. She was on her knees in a locked bathroom in front of a devastatingly handsome man. Unfortunately, there was nothing untoward happening. Dominic and her had decided it would take too long to remove his shirt for this, and would be faster if she just used the pen while he wore it. Em had wet the area with a shitty brown paper towel, and now was carefully trying to remove the stain without causing damage to the silk. It was a difficult job with something as delicate as this.
"I'm sure it's fine now." Dominic said. He was clearly aware of how this situation looked
"Just another minute. I'm almost done." Em appreciated his concern, but she hated to see good clothes go to waste."
"Thank you for this. It would have been embarrassing to walk into the office with a stain, even if it shouldn't be." He sounded a little bit sad when he said that.
"I totally agree. We shouldn't shit on other people for their circumstances, especially things out of our control, but that doesn't stop people from being judgemental. Especially all the corporate drones."
"They're the worst. I don't know what it is about office culture that lends itself to all these vultures. And I say that knowing I am absolutely a corporate drone."
"Oh, same. I assume it's only a matter of time before I become one of them." Dominic laughed again. Em stood up. "Your shirt is good to go."
"Thanks." Dominic nodded. They both stood there for a moment, just looking at each other.
"We should probably leave this bathroom." Em said.
"Right." Dominic blushed and made his way to the door, Em walking just behind him. "I guess you have to get back to work?" Em groaned.
"Ugh, yeah." She walked up to AJ and leaned over his shoulder. "Find anything?"
"Nothing is available. We might have to reschedule."
"If we push it back we won't have the data in time and Ops is going to kick our ass."
"Fucking Ops." AJ muttered.
"Are you all looking for an event venue?" Dominic asked.
"Yeah, we had planned this big market research event for the new product and invited, like, five hundred people and then at the last minute we got told we can't use the in-house conference hall so now we have to figure out a place to host all those people in one week." Em said.
"Six days, actually."
"Are you specifically looking for an outdoor venue?" AJ turned to him.
"No, not at all. Anywhere that has the space would work. Do you know a place?" Em looked at Dominic again.
"Well, actually, the guy who manages the event schedule of the Pavilion is a friend of mine. I think he could get you in the Hawke ballroom, if that would work." Dominic shrugged. "I can send him a text right now." AJ spit out his coffee.
"I'm sorry, the Pavillion? Like, downtown in the business district Pavillion? The Pavillion where ambassadors stay when they're in Hum City?"
"That's the one." Dominic chuckled. "Is that too much?" Em could barely believe her ears. The Pavillion was one of those buildings she thought she might get kicked out of for looking too poor. She couldn't believe they might be hosting an event there.
"The Hawke ballroom is supposed to be huge, but they have regular conference rooms in there, right? What would the cost be to rent one? Probably way out of our budget, but we might be able to convince finance to sponsor it if we emphasize the optics of it." AJ had the Pavillion website open on his laptop and was already looking through the options.
"He's a pretty good natured guy. I'm sure you all could work something out." Dominic was already on his phone, sending a message. Em had met a lot of people in her life who offered this kind of aid, flexed their connections and said they could help you out. They never followed through. The kind of people who had connections never wanted to share their connections. Except for this man, who started helping mere moments after he said he would. Dominic's phone chimed with a message.
"Is that him?" Em hated how desperate she sounded. She'd been trying to keep her cool, but maybe this whole situation had her more stressed out than she realized.
"He said he can reserve one of the large conference halls on the first floor for you guys on that day. He asked for your contact so you can work out the details. Would you mind me sending him your emails? Or phone numbers if you prefer." AJ and Em looked at each other, clearly flabbergasted.
"Um, yeah." AJ said. "It's…"
"You can just text him, actually." Dominic handed AJ his phone, and turned to Em. "Should I send both your emails? Or do you usually establish one point of contact? Whichever works better for you, honestly."
"Oh my god. We can just give him one email, to make it less confusing for him. Thank you. And thanks to your friend, too. Or I guess we can thank him when we see him. If we see him. Obviously he doesn't necessarily have to meet with us himself, I'm sure he's really busy. And I'm sure you're busy too, actually, and we've already taken up so much of your time." Em was rambling. Em never rambled.
"It's no problem at all. You helped me out too, even though you didn't have to. Think of it as me returning the favor."
"Those two things are not on the same level at all. I used a tide pen on you. You may have just saved our jobs."
"I mean, I'm sure they wouldn't fire you over something like losing the venue. That would be ridiculous. You have no control over that." Dominic looked at the two of them. "Right?" Em and AJ both rolled their eyes.
"Those assholes threaten to fire us over the littlest shit." Em immediately realized she'd started talking normally in a professional conversation. "Pardon my language."
"Oh, I don't give a fuck." Dominic laughed. "Besides, every office worker should have a space where they can cuss out their bosses. It's a human right."
"Amen!" AJ cheered, though his eyes were locked on his screen. Em decided, if she was complaining, she was going all the way.
"That's not even half of it though. Our original venue was the company's conference room. Upper management cancelled the venue and then blamed us for not having a venue."
"Seriously? That's ridiculous!"
"Right! They wouldn't treat anyone else that way, but the whole fucking company has beef with Marketing for no reason."
"Why? Marketing is important." Dominic said. "It doesn't matter how good your products are if no one knows they exist."
"Right!!!" Em was grinning from ear to ear. "Finally, someone reasonable. So it's really just our company, huh? I wish I could work somewhere normal."
"Why can't you? If you don't mind me asking" Em sighed.
"It's complicated. Maybe in a couple years I could work somewhere else, but I really need to be able to put this experience on my resume." Dominic nodded.
"Makes sense." AJ stood up and grabbed Em's shoulder. He was nearly bouncing with excitement.
"He wants us to meet him at the Pavillion at two to go over the details."
"Holy shit." Em said.
"Holy shit! We're going to the Pavillion!" He turned to Dominic. "Thank you so much, man. You really saved our asses."
"Of course! No problem at all. I'll let you both get ready to head out then, but let me know if you need anything else." He pulled out two business cards and handed one to AJ, and another to Em. "I'd love to talk again."
"Yeah, of course." Em smiled at him. "Oh, but I don't have a business card."
"You can just save your number in my phone, then. I'll send you a text."
"Okay, sure!" He handed Em his phone and she put her number in.
"Alright, I've really gotta get going now. I'll text you." Dominic waved at them again, and then walked out of the cafe. Em stood there, stunned for a minute, trying to process what had just happened. She was broken out of her stupor by her phone chiming.
(501)934-3432: Hey. This is Dominic 🙂
Em: Hi! That was fast.
Dominic: Didn't want to forget. Have fun at the Pavillion!
Em smiled and tucked her phone away, and she turned back to AJ.