Gemini- Chapter 4

There in front of me was one of my old coworkers. Her name was Tracy. She had worked in the customer service devision of Makers LLC. The company that had been bought out and put me in this situation to begin with. 

I touched my chest. The pain throbbed but I was able to get up. I dusted myself off and reached out to help her up. She was wearing a grey topcoat with a pencil skirt. Her brown hair was ruffled and the red framed glasses that I had known her for had ended up crooked, barely hanging onto the side of her face. Around her were some papers that I had quickly tried to collect as she took a bit to get ahold of herself. 

Thinking back on our time at Makers both made me angry and also made reminded me of some of the good times I had had there with some of my coworkers. I had a chance to look at the letter head of the documents as I handed them back to her. Solomon Brooks. Of course she had tried to reach out to get a job there. 

“Neil!” She said reaching out for the papers I had picked up for her. “How are you doing?”

“Good. Things could be better. How about you? I see you now work at Solomon Brooks’ office.”

She looked at me quickly confused but then looked back at her paperwork. 

“Oh, no. This isn’t… I mean no. I don’t work for them. I work down the street here at Bakers Field Cunnings. The law office. I found a job as a paralegal.”

Now it was my turn to look at her funny. She smiled and rearranged some of the papers in her hands. I then noticed her small black purse on the ground and bent down to pick it up. 

“Thank you!” She said reaching out and almost dropping some of her papers, again. 

I reached out and grabbed the papers from her while she situated the purse on her shoulder. It took me a couple seconds to think over what I had to do today but I held onto the papers. 

“Would you like me to walk you to wherever you were going?”

“The coffee shop.”

“To the coffee shop?”

“Well I was going there for lunch.” 

“I don’t have to stay for lunch. I just figured it would be a great way to apologize for knocking you over.”

She thought for a moment and then reached into her purse to check for something. 

“I have a coupon for two half price coffees. Would you like one?”

I thought for a moment and she held out the coupon. I checked my pocket for my wallet and she reached out and put her hand on my arm. I couldn’t help but wince because of the bruising.

“My treat.” She said. 

I thought for a second. 

“Okay. But I get to carry the pile of papers.”

“Deal. It’ll give us a chance to catch up.” 

A smile spread across her face as she led the way down the block. 

“Have you heard from anyone else after Makers was sold?” I asked as we turned the corner. 

“Yes and no. A few others kept in touch but overall we all seemed to go our separate ways. How about you?”

“Not much. Things have been a little rough overall and I just so happened to try and apply to Solomon Brooks’ office yesterday.”

“Did you get the job?” She said a little monotone.

This caught me off guard as it felt like I had touched a small nerve.

“No.” I took a second to think about what I was going to say next but honestly I felt the truth was probaby the better option. “I was hit by a car yesterday and ended up missing my interview timeframe. I was definitely a surprise to the security guard at the front desk though.”

She looked at me trying to determine whether or not I was telling the truth or not. I just shook my head as I laughed a little bit but stopped when my chest started hurting. 

“Oh, my god. OH MY GOD. Are you okay? Did you go to the hospital?”

She became increasingly concerned about my wellbeing. 

“I’m fine. I’m fine… Well I think I’m fine. No I didn’t go to the hospital.”

Her eyes opened wider. 

“What!?”

“I’ve been having trouble finding a job so I haven’t had health insurance or anything. I’m sure it will be fine.”

There was a silence as we stopped and she had to take everything in. There was a deep breath and then a quick exhale. 

“So you’re out of a job?” She finally asked. 

“Yeah. I was actually looking around the block to see if there was anyone urgently hiring so I could possibly do some work for them.”

“Today might be your lucky day and would you like me to hold the papers?”

“Well they are your papers but this was my apology for knocking you down.”

She looked a little concerned but we kept walking to the coffee shop. The store front had an emerald or olive green wooden panel style with a sign that said “The Dragon’s Den”.

“The Dragon’s Den?” I asked.

“It’s a themed coffee shop. You better not make fun of it.”

“Is judging it in my head allowed?”

“No! It’s wonderful and there’s nothing better.”

“Coffee is better.”

“THIS coffee is better.” She said with a smile. “Just wait till you try some.” 

The moment we opened the door, the sound of steamers and crowds of people inside were talking and laughing. There were different color banners on the wall with a lion, badger, snake and raven. The tables and benches were an old style wooden look with a very comfy looking fake fireplace lighting the room. 

“Go find a place to sit down.” She said with a stern but happy look.

“But I haven’t had a chance to look at the menu, yet.”

“I already know what I’m going to get you as a good start to trying the coffee here and you shouldn’t even be on your feet. Sit down, and I’ll bring the drinks.” She commanded.

Even though she had a smile on her face, I could see the demon behind her eyes and I followed her directions and found my way to a table. It was hard to maneuver past some of the already filled tables but I found one close to the fireplace next to the red lion banner. It looked familiar to me from somewhere but I couldn’t put my finger on where I had seen it before. 

This gave me a chance to take a look around the room at some of the patrons. They were all laughing and having exciting conversations. One woman sat in the corner with a macbook in front of her typing away as she drank her coffee and had a half eaten croisant on a white napkin next to her. 

The fireplace was actually putting out a small amount of heat regardless of it being fake and what I had assumed, just for show. There were signed autographed photos along the mantel of actors and other famous people who had come and eaten here. 

“Is this seat taken?” a man asked as he walked by. 

“I’m sorry, yes. I’m waiting for my friend to come back with our drinks.”

“Damn.” 

He went looking around for another chair but his predicament became obvious. There was a group of five people that had taken one of the largest tables but they were one chair short. One of the baristas saw his plight and grabbed a bar stool for him to sit. 

This really was a nice and comfortable place. There was the traditional darkened post beams at the ceiling to give it an old tavern feel and I finally had a chance to read some of the menu items even though most of the menu had been blocked by a beam. 

Reading some of them I saw what looked like “Health Potion”, “Witches Brew”, “Slime of a Toad”. Tracy was next in line and she was wiggling with excitement as she ordered the drinks. Then she looked over at me and waved before pointing out the table I was sitting at to the barrista. She then walked over to a place against the wall and grabbed a few napkins before heading to the table. 

“They’ll be out with our stuff, soon.” 

“They deliver it?” 

“Yeah! Isn’t this place great?”

I looked around at the room again.

“Judging it a little less now, I have to admit.”

“You better not be judging it.”

“I’m not!” I teased. “I actually kind of like it.”

“I found this place when I initially started to work at Bakers Field. Well, actually it was our first company outing to get to know eachother. The owners are huge nerds and get together every friday to play boardgames after work. I’ve liked coming here for my lunch break because the ambience just seems to add a different level of relaxation from the normal hustle and bustle.”

“Yeah, you said you were a paralegal. Did you get certified after Makers booted us?”

“No. I was already certified and couldn’t find a job at the time, but you know our market. You find what you can get to make things work.”

I felt the slight tinge of pain in my ribs again as I shifted. I completely understood the feeling. She continued her story. 

“Well, when Makers closed it just happened to be a blessing because Bakers Field just happened to put up a job posting. I was interviewing for the position the next week and started working there the week after that.”

I looked down at the letterhead of the papers I had in front of me. 

“So what’s with the Solomon Brooks stuff.”

“We’re in the process of sending them over a court request. They’re being investigated for fraud and holding onto employee paychecks after they have quit or left. Kind of why I had asked if you had gotten the job there. He’s been embezzling the vacation pay of employees for years by refusing to pay it out to them upon their separation. He also puts their employees through forced overtime but then refuses to actually give them overtime pay. It’s a whole thing. We have had a couple complaints from previous employees and we’re trying to get them compensation.”

“Oh, well I guess this turns into one of those situations where not getting it really worked out for me.” 

“You bet.”