The Job, Mary-Kate Olsen

Chapter Two

The door of the elevator opened. We had arrived at the cafeteria. I took a deep breath out of relief. Mary-Kate didn't wait for me to get out that she was already walking down the corridor ahead of me. I run-walked a little bit to get back to her level.

The cafeteria was a really large room. The mere amounts of people there made it look vacant.

The Row was not a large company in terms of headcount. It was simple, as I quickly learned from the paperwork I was handed this morning. The company was divided into two branches: the commercial branch, which handled sales, and the creative and design branch. We, the employees of the latter, didn't really interfere with the people in the commercial branch. And neither did Ashley and Mary-Kate. The creative branch consisted of Ashley and Mary-Kate, the bosses, and a team of 15 designers, including myself. Some members of the team have been working here ever since The Row was founded in 2006.

I looked around me and saw that some of the other employees were already having lunch together. I looked in their direction until a girl from the group made a hand sign telling me to join them. I hastily picked a salad, a cookie, and a Diet Coke from the counter and walked towards them.

"Hey, you're the new girl, aren't you?" 

A man, probably in his mid-thirties, asked me. 

I nodded, "Yes, this my first day." 

"Come, sit with us," hailed the girl who had waved me over initially. I smiled and sat down with them around the table. 

All fifteen employees were there. I was glad they welcomed me and that I didn't have to come on my own. I knew I would have been embarrassed and awkward.

"I'm Niguel, and this annoying chick here is Emily." She laughed and scolded him on his shoulder. 

"I'm Ana." I smiled.

"Well Ana", panned Niguel, pretending to do a little curtsy. "Welcome to The Row." I laughed and we kept on making small talk while until we were done eating. We went outside and they said they were going to have a cigarette.

I never really smoked before but going with them right now would allow me to get to know them better and actually make room for me in their group.

"So Ana, have Mary-Kate already shared with you her bitchy behavior?" Emily questioned with a teasing tone. 

Niguel scolded her. "Don't annoy her Emily, she hasn't even been working here for a day. "

Emily ignored him and looked back at me, waiting for me to reply.

"What do you mean?" I asked trying to avoid the question, not wanting to say something I shouldn't say on my first day. 

Niguel cut Emily off, "Emily can't bear Mary-Kate." He explained. 

"She's a bitch that's all I'm saying." Emily panned and rolled her eyes.

"I don't know, I didn't really talk to her actually, it was Ashley who took me in." I lied, not that I wanted to defend her. She was a bit odd in her behavior, but Ashley had warned me that she was like that around people she didn't know. I kind of hoped she was right. 

"Oh how surprising that she didn't welcome you" Emily muttered. 

I frowned and looked at Niguel, confused. 

"Mary-Kate would never welcome a new employee. She has never done it before, that's all." He sighed. "Now stop Emily before you frighten the new girl." He smiled playfully and I smiled back .

Emily and Niguel kept talking when I started zoning out. 

I observed the flow of people in the streets. It was all very loud with the horns of the taxis and black big cars echoing in my head. But, somehow, it was somehow also quiet at the same time. Everything was so big, with the dazzling building scratching the clouds and the yellowing leaves of the fall of Central Park appearing slightly in the background. People came and went so swiftly in front of me. I loved big cities more than anything. Nothing was about you in big cities, except that somehow, it still was. You could do whatever you wanted, nobody would care.