Shethought she caught a slight smile onLiz’sface as she was walking away.Great.That’sall she wanted—to be the office entertainment.
Afterpushing her chair back to the vicinity of her desk, she took a moment to shoot a glare in the direction ofParkerBrockbank’sdesk, even though she couldn’t see it from hers.Thenshe sat down and faced her computer, re-straightening everything. “Canyou take your lunch hour at one tomorrow and join me for a project?”
“Ofcourse!”Valeriasaid. “Whatdo you have in mind?”
Kellistarted typing an email message. “I’mlettingGregknow thatIneed the conference room at one instead of two, so whoever wanted it at two can have it.”
“Andwhat are we doing in there at one?”
“Weare spending the hour blowing up balloons and filling the conference room as full of them as we can.Unless...”Sheturned in her chair to faceValeria. “Doyou thinkParkerhas a phobia?Like, of snakes?Maybewe can fill it with plastic snakes instead.”
“Whateverit is,I’min.”
That’swhat she loved aboutValeria.Shegave her support, even when it meant helping with a prank, and she had fun with every bit of it.
ButKelliwasn’t doing this for fun—she was doing it to get even.
Two
Parker
Parkerhad been runningbehind all day.Hisdays usually consisted of talking to person after person—on his team, in his department, in other parts of the company, and on phone calls outside of the company.Sothe only time he could get any good planning and research in was if he came in at seven, before everyone else got in.
Butthis morning before he left for work, his buddyJosh, who was the marketing director at a business training company, had called.Hesaid that they were looking for a brand marketing manager, and they wanted him.Parkerhadn’t even been looking for another job—especially afterStephaniehad pulled the rug out from under him and made him second guess how capable he was at making valuable contributions.
Brandmarketing manager had been a job he’d had his eyes on since he’d graduated college, though.Theoffer had hit him like a snowstorm blowing in.ZentCubewas a great company to work for, and he’d be crazy to leave.Butthe current brand marketing manager atZentCubewould be crazy to leave, too, so the same job here wasn’t likely to open anytime soon.
Maybenow was a good time for multiple fresh starts.
Assoon as he’d hung up the phone, allParkerhad been able to do was think about the job while wandering around his apartment in a possibilities-fueled daze that had been both exciting and exhausting.Hehad pulled into work more than an hour later than he liked and of course,KelliEllisfromDigitalandPrintMarketinghad already taken his parking spot.
Hesmiled thinking about yesterday, though.Whowould’ve thought that a simple paper cup and aSharpiecould’ve caused such a reaction?Enoughof a reaction that he’d felt a little bad about it for a moment.
Heknew their pranks were a bit childish, but they’d become almost a tradition at work.Theyadded so much life to the day—like a shot of espresso.Theywere a bright spot, especially when he’d been going through hard things.
Ashe was preparing the final mockups for their trade show displays for his two o’clock meeting in the conference room, he thought ofKelliagain.WhenGreghad responded saying that he’d just missed being able to reserve the conference room because someone had requested it a minute earlier, he knew that someone wasKelli.Shehad been the only other person in the office that early.
Andthen it suddenly became available moments after she had discovered the spider cup.Shewas up to something, and he got more and more wary as two o’clock neared.Hefinished packing up his stuff and headed into the conference room five minutes before he was supposed to meet his boss, the product manager, and a couple of people on his team.
Everythingwas fine, though.Hismeeting went great, and they finalized decisions on which mockup to use and what last-minute changes needed to be made.Heleft the room feeling energized and ready to get started on the changes.Hehad been second-guessing the direction he’d gone with this coming year’s event display and worried that it was the wrong choice entirely, but after that brainstorming session, he knew it was going to be the best they’d ever had.
Hewas practically whistling his way back to his desk alongside his coworkers, and then he stopped dead in his tracks when his desk came into view.DarrenandHannahstopped too, and then they burst into laughter.Theywere the first to race forward and check it out.Parkerstayed back a bit, unsure if he wanted to see it closer.Then, curiosity got the better of him, and he walked up to it.
Hisentire cubicle was covered in cat pictures.No—on closer inspection, he saw it was just one cat; the pictures were just taken at all different angles.Therewere poster-sized cat pictures on the walls of his cubicle, one-inch high pictures completely covering all four sides of the outside frame of his monitor, a framed picture of the cat on his desk, and anOdetoMyCatpoem on the wall.
Onone wall, the one most open to everyone’s view, of course, there was a full-length picture ofParkerthat was a good two feet tall, cut out, with a speech bubble that said, “Ilove you,PrincessOlive.”Andof course, there was a speech bubble on a picture of the cat that said, “AndIam willing to share my space with you,Parker.Mostof the time.”Thecat was wearing aSantahat.
Therewere even pictures of the cat—Olive, apparently—covering every inch of his desk, underneath all his papers and office supplies.Andlittle tiny pictures ofOliveon theC, theA, and theTletters on his keyboard.Inone corner sat a stuffed cat whose back legs were seated but whose front legs were standing tall, looking regal and judgmental, with aChristmaswreath around its neck like a necklace.
Hecouldn’t help it—he burst out laughing.Thiswas good.Andso not what he had expected.Heturned toDarren. “Didyou tellKellithatIhave a cat allergy?”
“Itmay have come up in conversation.”
Heshook his head and then pulled his phone out of his pocket when it started buzzing.Seeingit was his mom, he said, “You’llhave to excuse me,” toDarrenandHannahand then answered it as they both walked back to their cubicles.
“Hi,Mom.”
“Hi,Sweetie.Isthis a bad time?Ihate bothering you at work—”
