Alternate Endings: AWOL

Work starts at nine in the morning; I arrived, as I always did, a full hour before that. Mostly because I had nothing better to do at home. I was not locally of Baguio, so all I had in my apartment were clothes and a bed. On the weekends, I get to go home to La Union and get reacquainted with my books, friends, and porn stash. Another reason is because I needed time to prepare my desk before people started milling in. My table was not inside an office (I'm a receptionist, did I mention?), so at the end of every shift, I had to clear out my desk of important things and store them in a locker. It took me about a half-hour to arrange everything as they had been the day before. This way, by the time my boss entered, I was all set, to remind her of everything she needed to know for the day.

Another reason was Thomas.

He worked at Procurement and was also an early-arriver. He liked to get ahead on his day's task, or sometimes he just liked the fact that his office was empty for a few minutes. His office was deep inside the building, and besides his immediate co-workers, no one would see him for the entire day. Which was why I wanted to be there before he came in; I get to be the very first (and probably the only) person to see him that day.

Thomas Rodriguez (I mean, the very fact that he shared his name with an actor/model should give you a pretty good idea on why I go through the trouble) was a dream to look at. He didn't really look like his showbiz namesake, but he was good looking in his own right. Prominent cheekbones, almond eyes, and a trim physique. Good head of hair, good brain too. He stood at 5'4", but you can't have everything.

Being one of the few early birds, he would talk with me every now and then. And as far as our morning banter has gone, I could tell he was kind, and smart and sometimes funny (he's cracked a few puns at me and maybe only half of them were terrible).

I just wasn't sure if he was into me, though. Maybe he was kind and awkwardly funny to everyone, who knew? I've rarely seen him interact with other people; I don't have many reasons to drop by the Procurement office.

Today, though, I decide to take a chance. Not a full-on confession; I wasn't an idiot. I would just invite him to do something this weekend. I had a movie in mind, or if he wasn't in the mood for it, a new restaurant that I hadn't tried yet. I'd gathered that he liked movies (just last month, he'd asked me: "Hey, you seen that Independence Day sequel yet? Pretty scary if you think about aliens taking over, huh?"), and that he liked eating out ("Did you hear this fast food originally from Manila just opened here?").

Now I just had to wait for him to arrive.

I set up my station extra quick today, due to nervousness and the need to be prepared when he walks in. The notepads, pen dispenser, planner and stapler to my right; calendar, written notes, and clock to my left; with my laptop in between these things. I know that the computer has all of these installed, but I found myself more efficient with their physical counterparts.

At thirty minutes past eight, I began glancing up at the entrance, expecting him to burst in. The security guard raised his brow at my bird-like head bobs.

"There a problem?" he said, swaggering towards my desk.

"Ah, no," I said curtly. Sure, be respectful to any and all employees but Mr. Pelaez makes it really hard. He was rude to everyone except the managers (and the pretty employees). Just last night he'd asked me to open my bag and rifle through all the paper I had with me "to make sure none of it is company property". I had to admit to him (before a growing queue of shift-enders) that it was fan fiction I was reading during my down time.

I could tell he was trying hard not to roll his eyes at me before stepping away. He must be bored; besides employees resisting to have their bags inspected, nothing much really happens during his shift. Maybe he fantasizes every now and then that the company gets broken into by gangsters, or that we are caught in the middle of an alien invasion, or the end of the world.