The Marks That Bind Us

AVA

“Up or down?” I bent in front of the camera so Maisy could see my hair better.

She tapped her pointer finger to her bottom lip and frowned. “I think up looks more professional, but it does look less…you, if you know what I mean.”

I sighed. She was right, of course. She always was. But that just made it harder. Should I go for the professional look or look more like myself?

I pulled the clip out of my hair and put it in my purse. I could put my hair up at the last minute if I changed my mind, but for now, I decided on looking more authentically myself.

I stepped back so I could see my outfit in the mirror. I’d chosen a royal blue silk blouse tucked into a high-waisted pencil skirt, and I’d traded my trusty combat boots for ankle boots with a chunky heel.

“You look great!” I heard Maisy say through my laptop speaker.

I turned to look at myself from the side. “Decent, right? The shoes are okay too?” I bent my knee, kicking my boot up against my butt so she could see.

“Yes! Perfect!” She clapped excitedly.

I smiled at her and sat back down at my desk. “Thanks for being here. I appreciate it.”

Maisy bit her lip. “I wish I could really be there.” We’d been friends since our freshman year of high school, and this was the longest we’d ever been apart.

I looked at the clock. “All right, I’ve got to get going!”

She perked up. “You’ve got this! They’d be fools not to hire you. You go get yourself that new job, girl. And make a lot of money, so you can fly out here to see me!”

I promised to text her, and I hung up. I grabbed my coat and headed out the door.

The closer I got to the Brentstone building, the more nervous I felt. I parked my car on the ground level and walked through the sliding glass doors into the building.

I found myself in a large, bright foyer with white marble floors that seemed to seamlessly turn into white marble walls.

Everything looked impossibly clean and shiny. I wondered if they had round-the-clock cleaners to polish the marble whenever someone touched it.

Across the large open space, I saw what seemed to be a reception desk. I walked toward it, my heels clacking on the floors. The sound echoed obnoxiously, making me want to disappear.

The lady behind the desk greeted me politely and gave me directions to publishing. I turned around and walked toward the elevators she’d pointed me to, cursing my heels in the process.

On the twelfth floor, another woman led me to an office made mostly out of glass overlooking the harbor. It had a slim white desk equipped with a large iMac and lots of workspace.

“I’ll leave you to get settled in. Can I get you something to drink?”

“Water would be great, thank you.” I took a seat opposite the computer, pulled a pocket mirror out of my purse, and quickly checked my face and teeth before putting it away again.

The lady came back just moments later with my water. She looked at me and frowned in confusion.

“Is something wrong?” I said.

“You might want to sit over there?” She pointed to the seat facing the computer.

“Is this not where I’ll be interviewed?”

“Oh, sorry. Not really. This is your office, actually.”

I had to physically refrain myself from letting my jaw drop. “I’m sorry, what?”

The woman looked over her shoulder in the direction of her desk, clearly already over this conversation. “Yeah… I’ll send someone over to get you acquainted with the office and all.”

And out the door she went.

I sat there for what must have been a full minute before I was able to collect myself. What was happening?

Right when I got up to look around the office, a young girl with a pixie cut popped her head around the corner.

“Ava?”

“Eh, yes.” I shook her extended hand.

“My name is Ella. I’m here to show you around.”

“I’m sorry… Are you guys aware I haven’t actually been interviewed yet? Everybody is acting like I already have the job.”

“Oh yeah, that’s because you do have the job. If you want it, that is.”

I blinked as I let the information dawn on me. I did want the job, didn’t I? I mean, yes, I wanted this job. Badly. Why did it feel like cheating though?

“I haven’t signed anything. Also, I haven’t even quit my current job yet!”

Ella grimaced. “Well, you might want to take care of that quickly.

“We have buckets of work, and the holidays are coming up, which means lots of people will be out of office for a while, and I could sure use an extra hand with all the projects we have currently.”

She gestured toward another glass office across the room. “That’s where HR is. They’ll go over your contract with you and take care of all the boring stuff. Tour ends there. But I get to do all the fun bits first!”

Ella was a breath of fresh air with her almost childlike energy and seemingly endless positivity. She showed me all the different departments, all in their own glass offices.

There were also a few conference rooms, as well as a few “think tanks,” as Ella called them. Their glass walls were full of pictures, poster boards, and notes scribbled right onto the glass.

Just walking around got me buzzing with excitement.

Then Ella showed me the “hydration station,” which consisted of an extensive coffee and tea area, a juice bar, and a few dispensers of cooled water with different kinds of fruit in them.

Beside it was a small food court, which had an array of different foods and snacks. I could hardly believe my eyes. I was so used to Porthouse and its single overpriced vending machine.

Across from the food and drinks area was a long, mirrored wall, practically the only one not made of see-through glass.

I appreciated the opportunity to check my outfit as we walked by. Finally, Ella dropped me off at the HR department and ushered me inside.

“Go sign that contract and come help me out! All the other creatives are boys, and I’m in desperate need of another girl to balance out the testosterone!”

I knocked on the glass door Ella had just pushed me through, and before I knew it, I was having a terms-of-employment interview and signing my contract.

I stepped outside afterward and walked back to my office. My office. I still couldn’t believe it.

I was just about to enter when something to my right caught my eye.

It was an exceptionally tall man, dressed impeccably in a dark gray designer suit and a sage-green tie. His slightly tousled hair and dark brows made my breath catch in my throat again.

Cyrus.

He strode across the room and toward the mirrored wall, where he entered an office I hadn’t been shown, or even noticed, during my tour.

I decided to go see him. He had to be the one responsible for getting me this incredible job, right?

Suddenly I felt very anxious. What if I couldn’t live up to the standards here? I’d really only ever had one project published.

I could feel myself starting to spiral out of control, but a faint buzzing in my purse made me snap out of it. It was Maisy, checking in on me.

I put my phone back into my purse sneakily, unsure how these people felt about texting on the job. Before I could talk myself out of it, I made my way over to the office I’d seen Cyrus entering.

I knocked on the door, which was closed—probably the only door I’d seen closed so far, now that I thought about it, and the only one that wasn’t made of glass.

What did this guy do that he needed to be so secluded in such an otherwise open office? “Business,” he’d said, whatever that might mean.

“Yes?” I heard his low voice call out, and I nervously opened the door. Cyrus barely glanced at me before turning back to the papers on his desk. “What can I do for you?”

“I— It’s me.” I felt my cheeks heat up with embarrassment. “I just wanted to thank you for getting me this job.”

“And what job is that?” He sounded bored.

“Eh, in illustrations, I guess?” I realized just then that I hadn’t even asked anyone what my official job title would be.

Cyrus looked up at me. “Will that be all?”

I looked down, feeling incredibly stupid suddenly. “Yes, I suppose. Thank you for your time, and sorry for disturbing you.”

“Close the door on your way out.”

I walked back to my office, but before I could enter, Ella popped up again.

“What were you doing in Mr. Brentstone’s office?” Her voice was full of curiosity and awe.

I whipped my head around to look at her, nearly giving myself whiplash in the process.

“Mr. Brentstone?!”