“You need a badge,” Parker said just as I reached the door. “Or you’ll be locked in a hallway.”
“Where do I find that?”
He stood up. “I’ll take you.”
“You don’t have to. I’m sure you’re very busy,” I said, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice.
“I don’t want you distracting my employees. We have several important projects going on. I don’t have time to send them home to change if you throw food all over them.”
“That was a one-off occurrence,” I said as I followed him downstairs. One really did need a keycard to go anywhere. The whole building was locked up tight. Parker needed his card to access the main hallway, to get onto the elevator, and to enter a large room filled with a camera and several computers.
“Dylan, she needs a keycard,” Parker said to a young man sitting in front of six monitors stacked on top of each other.
“New employee! Welcome.” Dylan smiled brightly and shook my hand.
At least someone here is friendly.
“For this building?” he asked, typing something into the computer.
“This building and the main building for now. She’s awaiting reassignment,” Parker said, glancing at me then back to Dylan.
“Stand there.”
I stood on the designated mark on the floor and looked at the camera. Dylan clicked a button. A flash went off that was brighter than the beginning of the universe. I made a face as the light burned my eyes.
“Is this okay?” Dylan asked, turning the screen to face me.
The flash had caught me mid-squint; one eye was squeezed tighter than the other. The flash had washed out my features, and I had a double chin from recoiling in surprise.
“Maybe one more?” I asked.
“Sure!” Dylan said. “Ready?”
I was not prepared when the flash went off.
“Better?” Dylan asked while I blinked rapidly.
This picture was even worse. Somehow I looked as if I had leprosy. “Maybe we’ll just use the first one.”
“Sure thing!” Dylan said cheerfully as a machine printed my keycard.
I surreptitiously snuck a glance at Parker’s card as he swiped it to let us onto the elevator. He looked like a model in his picture.
“Restroom is that way,” he said, pointing, as we stepped off the elevator.
I took off down the hall. Since Parker didn’t want me to work, maybe I could hide in a stall for a while. Unfortunately, it seemed Parker had lied when he said the restrooms were in “that” direction. However, I did have a terrible sense of direction, so it might not have been entirely his fault. It didn’t help that all the hallways looked identical and the signs boasted multisyllabic science terms. I wandered around, trying to act as if I knew where I was going, hoping I would magically appear in front of the restrooms.
“Are you lost?” a woman asked.
“Why, yes, I am,” I said, turning around. “Oh. It’s you.”
Kaitlyn of the Parker’s-date variety, who I had probably also dumped food on in my fit of rage last night, was tapping her foot. I snuck a glance at her keycard. She looked great in her photo. I snuck a hand down to turn my card around on its swivel clip at the hem of my blouse.
“Just looking for the ladies’ room.”
Kaitlyn gave me an assessing look. “Follow me.” She led me down a hall and around a corner.
“I need a map,” I joked. “This place is a maze! It’s going to take me a while to learn where everything is.”
