She said something.

WARNING ~ No sexual material to be found with this piece. If you're in the mood for some sexual arousal look somewhere else.

7:24 am

It’s still raining. Not torrential rain. Just a continuous drizzle of rain. At this point, I wouldn’t mind a down pour. At least that would wake me up. 

The Amtrak trains comes to a halt, as droves of people come pouring out. We all scurry about like busy little ants, following the same monotonous routine we’ve done over and over again for God knows how long.

Enter star bucks. Wait patiently in line. Listen to dry, humorless chatter from those waiting in line. Buy my Mocha frappachino, and walk towards work.

Reaching my office, I take my place within our little cubical farm, and rest. I can feel my phone vibrating against the pocket of my pants, as I recline against my chair. Pulling out my phone, I read the following text:

“Got Pacific Rim. Fun, fun, fun.  ”

Looks like my girlfriend picked our next movie to watch tonight. She probably forgot that I had commented about hating that movie. I text something back, before attempting to tuck away my phone back inside my pocket. I say attempt because a co-worker of mines spots me texting away.

“Talking to your girl?” is blurted out loudly by Matt, another employee here. At least I think it’s Matt. Either Matt or Joseph. I get their names confused. In either case, the guy is a dick. He leans against the outer edges of my small cubicle wall, while sipping on his generic cup of coffee acquired from the break room.

I give him a short reply, hoping that would stifle his attempts at trying to drag me into his coma inducing conversations. It doesn’t work.

“Movies? Bro, you gotta’ watch Looper. I can’t believe you haven’t seen it. Fucking Bruce Willis,” he says, motioning with his free hand, as if to add flare to his description of the movie, I’ve already watched. 

“Bro, watch the trailer for Crave. It’s craaazy.” He whips out his phone, searching for the movie trailer. I look straight ahead at my computer monitor to check for the time.

8:01 a.m.

All around me, the office is engulfed with rings, clicking, and footsteps. We go about performing whatever designated job we are all hired to do, while trying to maintain a polite, cordial relationship with one another. We smile a little more then we should, and laugh a little harder then need be, as we keep up with this believable charade.

“Here it is dude. I can’t wait for this movie.” Matt says, as he shoves his phone directly onto my face.

I can’t wait for my first break.

lol, shhhh don't give away the ending BB. Yeah, something similar to that, minus super assassins and slow motion bullet dodging.  :

I'll see if I have the time for the medieval contest. Again, as stated earlier mines would likely be humorous. Think Monty Python and The Holy Grail.

Thanks for the feed back though BB. Mwuah.  :-*

WARNING ~ No sexual material to be found with this piece. If you're in the mood for some sexual arousal look somewhere else.

4:14 pm

“I’ll be their around 7:30”

That’s what the text my girlfriend just sent reads. I along with my other co-workers, wait to take the elevator down to the lobby floor. I shuffle my umbrella underneath my right arm, while attempting to text my girlfriend back with both hands.

“Hey, look at this picture. A friend of mines just posted this up.” Kevin says. What follows is a loud wail from the other co-workers surrounding him. “Tony Romo chokes again..” Kevin reads aloud. He takes a few steps forward and shows me the picture that caused such an uproar with the others.

I see the Dallas Cowboy’s quarterback Tony Romo being administrated the Heimlich maneuver as he chokes; a reference to his consistent floundering when under pressure.
I feel drained. At this point, my mind is on auto-pilot. Floating along the white washed walls, and blue tiled floors of my workplace. My head bobs up in down in acknowledgement of the picture without even thinking. My lips move as I spew out some words. Whatever I said, I can only assume they found it funny.

The elevator doors finally creak open. We file inside, squeezing against one another like packed cattle. I stare straight ahead, watching the elevator doors slowly close.

“Hold it for me!” is suddenly screeched. My eyes focus on a woman who hastily walks along the hallway, motioning with her right hand in order to catch our attention. I don’t seem to react at first. I simply stare, watching her inch closer and closer to the slowly closing elevator doors.

“Hey. HOLD.” she repeats. I feel the lights within my head flickering on and off before finally being fully restored. My hands shoot out and press against the ’hold’ button. She slides her body in between the nearly shut doors and positions herself within the group.

“Christ, are you people hearing impaired?” she says with an irritated tone. Releasing the hold button, the elevator begins to rumble and shift. We finally begin our descent down towards the lobby.
“Alright, calm down Marie. We got ya’ didn’t we?” Kevin says, nudging her playfully with his arm.

She doesn’t seem all that amused, leering over her shoulder to peak back at Kevin’s flamboyant grin.

She returns her gaze forward.

“A couple of hero’s.” she says with barely a restrained sarcasm. I’ve seen her before. She was introduced a while back in one of our morning huddles. I never really pay any mind during the huddles. We all mostly just clap on cue whenever someone concludes their bullshit speech on things like office etiquette or efficiency. I figure it must’ve been easy to overlook her then. Now however, it’s a whole different story.

When I say she appeared shot up, I mean she appeared shot up. Her eyes looked stabbed and bloodied, like she hadn’t gotten a good nights sleep in ages. She had a short blond pixie haircut, that looked somewhat unkempt with certain strands of her hair veering off in differing directions. Her body was nothing amazing to look at. Slender, and petite, she stood just over  5’7 while wearing her red and white polka dot flat casual shoes. They looked tacky, yet quirky. It seemed to match with her maroon striped skirt and black bow sweater she had on.

“In a hurry to meet a boyfriend?” asks Mark, one of the other guys in the elevator.

There is a notable moment of silence that lingers in the air before Marie finally answers.

“I just want to get home.” she replies with an exhausted halfhearted smile. I didn’t know whether it was the work that had drained her or the people here, but I couldn’t help but feel some level of camaraderie.

Kevin suddenly taps me against the shoulder, pointing down at his phone.

“Murray was beastin’ for the first half. And then the Cowboys stopped the run game for the second half. No logic.” he concludes. I breath in deep, annoyed at having been bothered from my observation of Marie.

“You look like a sports girl Marie. I bet you’re a Pats fan.” Kevin says with a cackling, debilitating laugh.

Marie looks over her shoulders, eying him with increasing contempt.

Kevin, sensing the growing enmity between them adds “Hey, I’m teasing ya’. Like I always do.”

“Yes.” Marie suddenly cuts in. “Like you always do.”

“Charming, right?” Kevin asks, with a cocky smirk.

“Charming?” she says with a pause. “Oh I get it, like adorable and pleasant but different….” she concludes snidely.

I snort loudly, trying to hold back the lump of laughter that had arisen from her snarky remark. I pretend to cough, as she looks over at me before returning her eyes back to the front.

The expression on Kevin’s face is priceless. He seems flustered, unable to think of anything else to say other then respond with an embarrassed
“ What?”

The elevator doors suddenly fly open, as another person attempts to hop on. Without a moments hesitation, Marie wiggles herself out from the Elevator.

“I’ll just get out here, and take the stairs to get down…” she says looking back. “A girls gotta exercise.” she says chirpily before walking away.

The elevator once more shifts and sways, carrying us down to the lobby.

“What a fucking bitch. It’s no wonder hardly anyone speaks to her. Next time, let the doors close.” Kevin says, with flaring nostrils.

Hell, next time I owe her a cup of coffee.

7:06 am

Silently I stand watching the T.V while eating my rye toast with eggs. In the background you can hear the weather man discussing today’s forecast along with traffic.

“Showers, with scattered thunder storms is expected today. Traffic report…there are delays on the New Jersey Turnpike 1-95 express lanes northbound from exit 71..”

I debate whether I should take the car or train. For most people, the thought of slogging through traffic is comparable to being filleted alive. The honking, the slow inch by inch progression, and assholes cutting you off are enough to make most humans wonder whether they’ve inadvertently entered a new ring of hell. Yet for me, driving along in traffic has a sort of calm, blissful mind numbing feel to it. I more or less accept the situation as is. Nothing can be done. Instead of fighting it, I simply allow myself to be sedated; to ride the turnpike, along with the other souls who drift nowhere inside Dante’s inferno.

I pray traffic is as bad as they say it is.

7:25 am

Reaching a corner along some street, I notice the same man who usually tries to sell passer byers the morning news paper. I search my pockets for loose change. It’s beginning to rain pretty bad, and I simply feel guilty he’s out there and I’m in my car driving.

“Paper?” the man asks. He tightly secures a collection of news papers, that shuffles underneath his raincoat. I look up and I’m immediately struck by how particularly haggard his face looks today. New wrinkles cut across his face like etched markings atop an old used desk.

“The light is about to change.” he alerts, looking straight ahead.  I blink my eyes, and apologize for the delay. I can’t find a single spare cent anywhere. Finally, I give up and simply hand him five dollars. He looks at me, and turns away the cash.

“Here, take it. It’s not like these things are worth a damn now, what with those fancy phones.” he coughs, handing me the paper. I reach over and take my free issue, my face cracking an uncertain smile.
“Yea. Way of the future now. Out with the old, in with the new, right?” he says leering down. I didn’t say anything back. I just kept staring into his hallow, black eyes.

“Light is green.” he informs me. The car behind me beeps, and I finally feel myself return back to earth. I shake my head in agreement and toss the paper onto the passengers seat. Giving my thanks, I promise him I’ll pay him back.

The guy just smiles, and waves as I drive away.

8:11 am

Sitting inside my car, within the parking deck I look down at my phone. It flashes me an alert about another text from my girlfriend who questions me about the traffic. I begin to type something back before stopping. Seconds pass until I decide on leaving my telephone behind in the glove compartment. I could use a break from all the constant messaging. I look over at the passengers seat and see the lightly dampened newspaper given to me by the old man. It’s been awhile since reading a newspaper. The dry, dirty feel of the newspaper has an odd alien sensation to it, as it rubs against my fingertips. I turn through the pages, reading certain headlines, while noting some of the typos within the rag: likely a product of reduced staff and diminished pay. I really didn’t have any intention of reading the damn thing when waving down the guy. Hell, I was gonna just chuck it in the garbage. Whatever my intentions were initially, something inside me felt obligated now to take it with me. Suddenly from the corner of my eye, I see a familiar face. It’s that woman Marie from yesterday. She’s making her way towards the parking deck’s stairs with a coffee in hand. My eyes slowly trail her, before she finally disappears behind a line of parked cars.