The look on my face has to show how well I “get it.”
“My back refuses to touch anyone’s back other than Gabriel’s,” I announce before watching my traitorous lover drop down and smoosh his back against Matthew’s. I gape at his willingness to touch another man while I watch.
“Work with Jesse,” Gabriel urges. “Or Donna doesn’t have a partner yet.”
I eye Donna and quickly turn to Jesse. “We will win, do you understand?”
“I… I don’t think it’s a competition to win,” Jesse says as he sits down and I sit with my back to his.
“This back is so tiny I’m uncertain whether it’s Jesse or a child,” I comment.
He sighs loudly. “I’m already in misery.”
Alana hears Jesse’s declaration and pauses as she hands me a clipboard. “Today is about having fun and learning about your coworkers. So relax and enjoy it.”
“Ma’am. My partner is bullying me. I think I should be permitted to work alone,” I say.
She frowns, and I realize I’ve broken her happy-go-lucky smile. If I’d known it would be this easy, I would have done it before this.
“He’s not being bullied. He’s a party pooper and doesn’t want to play, so he’s, uh… joking with you. Please ignore anything and everything he says,” Gabriel tells her as I see Michaels rushing over.
“That’s the one I warned you about,” Michaels says.
My eyebrow lifts at this statement. “Oh? Why do I feel delighted that you spoke of me? What did you tell her? That I was magical? Thank you, Sgt. Michaels, but I’m taken,” I say as I stare at the clipboard I’ve been given. The only thing on it is a blank piece of paper with a pen attached.
Alana decides she wants no part of this and turns to address the room. “So when I hand a picture to partner one, partner two should not turn around and look at it. Partner one will have a picture and partner two will have a blank piece of paper. Partner one will describe what they are seeing on their picture without saying what it is. Then partner two will draw what they think it is. You need to be able to rely on your coworkers and show your listening and comprehension skills. You’ll only have two minutes. Any questions?”
No one has any, which is surprising with Chris’s comprehension skills, so she tells us to begin.
Jesse wastes no time. “Okay, so it’s really long and tall.”
“Okay,” I say as I start to sketch it out. I should get a gold star for immediately participating… and a nap.
“At the top there’s like a lip where people can stand and observe.”
“Got it.”
“At the base you have some landscaping that wraps around it with only a path for people to walk through to enter the… place?—”
“You have ten seconds,” Alana announces.
“Okay, uhhh… there are a lot of windows. I feel like I’m making this too easy. Is this too easy? Am I giving away more than I’m supposed to?”
“The moment you told me it was long, I already knew what it was.”
“Of course you did,” Jesse says as she calls the time.
“Now turn around and show your partner what image you were looking at before the other partner shows their artwork. If your partner was extremely far off, think about whether it was a lack of communication or a lack of listening.”
“Definitely not a lack of listening.” I turn around to face Jesse, who shows me a skyscraper with an outlook at the top. “I think I got it spot on,” I say as I display my art to him.
Jesse bites back a noise that makes Gabriel and Matthew look over at us. “I think this wasdefinitelya lack of listening.”
“What the hell did he draw?” Gabriel asks.
“I don’t know, he actually did quite well,” Jesse says as he flashes them his skyscraper before I show them my artwork.
Gabriel’s expression alone pleases me greatly. “Oh my god, Liam! Why? We’re at work!”
