"We will." Jess replied. "I promise."
"Yeah." Added Xeno, but his mind was racing. How could Ms. Pepper do this?
"By the way, Xeno, what are you going to wear to the work party? It's coming up, you know." Jess stated.
"Our jobs are on the line, and you're worried about what I'm going to wear to the work party? How on Earth is that relevant right now?" Xeno asked, amused.
"I think that it's especially relevant right now, considering everything that's going on." She looked at him almostincredulously, her green eyes squinting with confusion. "Do you ever think about what you're wearing?"
"I was going to wear my-"
"Please don't say your graduation suit, Xeno, I'll seriously punch you."
"If it isn't broken, don't fix it." Xeno shrugged. He liked his red suit, and finding another one in a week would be too much hassle anyway.
"Well, I say that it is broken." Jess stated, smiling subtly. "I think that your clothes are the first impression someone has of you. Didn't some Roman guy say that? The clothes maketh the man?"
"I thought it was Shakespeare." Xeno replied. He hadn't paid much attention in English, anyway. There's no way Shakespeare actually meant everything that teachers extrapolate from his plays, right?
"Whoever said it, it's true." Jess said. "Besides, if we all look well-manicured and put together, maybe Ms. Pepper will think that we actually are. We don't want to be the worst-dressed there, I bet you didn't think of that one."
She had him there, he hadn't thought of that one.
Taking his silence as an opening, she jumped at her opportunity.
"We can go to the town centre this weekend, to get you something new to wear in time for the party next week. How does Saturday at one sound?"
"I'll think about it." Xeno replied, dazed.
She rolled her eyes in annoyance, she knew as well as Xeno that when he said "I'll think about it", what he actually meant was "when hell freezes over".
"Well, you'd better think about it quickly. The offer's there, anyway. I'm getting my stuff ready for.." She trailed off, seemingly rethinking what she was going to say. "Uh, Anyway, I'll see you soon. I've gotta sort out everyone's timetabling for next week." Since she'd gotten promoted to astronomy shift manager, her organisation had gone into overdrive. Despite her being perfect for the job, Xeno couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy whenever he remembered, what with her having joined the museum a couple of years after him.
"Anyway." Jess began, turning on her heel. "I have to go and tell everyone else. I know for a fact that barely anyone checks their inbox in this department. Honestly, I don't know why I bother."
"Good luck." Replied Xeno, grimly. He knew that Dr. Carmazan, the head of astronomy, wouldn't take it well. He didn't want to be anywhere near her office when she found out.
"I think I should leave too." Xeno said, turning to Aruda, who had her fist covering her mouth, staring at the wall. She didn't say anything, just looked up and nodded, clearly deep in thought.
As he walked back to his office, his mind was a blur. So much so, that he hadn't even taken ten paces away from Dr. Aruda's office before the paranoia began to truly set in.
Where would he go if the Astronomy department shut down? It's not like he could work elsewhere at the museum, one of the main draws of Willowheath was that each and every lecturer was at least a university graduate in that field, with many having doctorates, so it wasn't like he could just switch.
It wasn't like he could go back to his dad's bakery? He banished the thought from his mind. That was a road he was never going to go down. Being so engrossed in his thoughts, he didn'thear the trundling of wheels just around the corner from him. However, when he rounded it, he was too late to react, and was hit by a trolley full of.. rocks?
He hit the ground with an audible "thump". Pain shot up from his back and elbows, which he had used to break his fall.
"I'm so sorry! it just got out of control, I thought it'd hit the wall and-" he began in an accent that Xeno couldn't quite place. Somewhere from up north, perhaps? He was talking faster than the trolley had been moving, his words jumbling together almost unintelligibly. While the pain from his arms was quickly fading, he found it was being replaced with stinging embarrassment from not having reacted sooner.
"It's.. fine." Said Xeno, much more rudely than he'd intended.
When he looked up to his assailant, he met eyes with a blonde man, around his height, perhaps a couple inches shorter. He wore a green jumper with cross-stitched dinosaurs on it- he was clearly part of the palaeontology department. For a brief moment, Xeno wondered if he'd created it himself- not that the craftsmanship was bad at all. He had a surprised look on his face, like a dazed hare, and had a hand outstretched for Xeno to get back up.
He didn't take his hand, getting himself back onto his feet. All he could think about was his department getting cut, as well as the tour that he was going to do relatively soon, and he sped off without a word.
"I really am sorry!" The unfamiliar man called at him.
In fact, it wasn't until he was back to the comfort of his office that he realised that he hadn't even apologised to the man, even though the crash was most likely predominantly his fault. He buried his head in his hands, his mind was a blur of red suitblazers, work emails and now, a new embarrassing memory, staying that way for a good five minutes as he re-gathered his thoughts. He really needed that coffee now.
