The Office is the property of NBC, and all I get out of this is some extra time with its characters. It’s enough.
Assistant to the Foreman
She climbed out of her truck like she did every morning, almost forgetting that this morning was slightly different. She grabbed her big silver lunch box, heavier than usual with the special lunch she had packed, grabbed her thermos of coffee, lifted a hand to wave at Lonnie as he pulled in beside her, and walked in the warehouse door.
She stashed her stuff in her locker, poured herself a cup of coffee in the thermos’ plastic top, and sauntered into the office to read over the day’s load. She liked to have a plan in place before Darryl got here, and he was never late, so she slid around behind the desk to grab up the work orders.
“Madge? You got the first load—Madge?” Roy stood at the door of the office, staring at her with his mouth hanging open. “Are you wearing…makeup?”
She felt the heat rush to her face, and instead of coming out swinging at Roy like she usually would, she looked away. Roy didn’t seem to notice.
“Guys!” Roy called over his shoulder. “Madge is wearing makeup! I think she’s got a hot date!”
And of course, the rest of the idiots came running, to stare at her because she put a little bit of blush and little bit of lip-gloss on. And maybe some eye shadow and mascara. The cat calls and mockery rolled at her from every direction, and she tried to put a brave face on because she knew that they were only teasing her, not trying to be mean.
“Hey, Darryl!” Her head jerked up at the mention of Darryl’s name, then she quickly looked down again, her face blazing. “Check it out—Madge is wearing makeup! Maybe we shouldn’t let her load today, man; she might break a nail!”
The other guys hooted at this, but Darryl only smiled and rolled his eyes. She watched him as he walked closer to the office—to her. He dropped his jacket on the chair just inside the door and headed to his desk. She scooted over to make room for him, not meeting his eyes as he settled into his seat.
“You look nice today, Madge,” he said, and she suddenly let out the breath she didn’t know she had been holding. “What’s up first?”
The other guys stood in the doorway, waiting expectantly for Darryl to say more to Madge, but she ignored them. “Five hundred reams to the industrial park and five hundred to the school district. But,” she moved around some papers, “if we do the industrial park after lunch, we can get these three hundred to the hospital on the same run and take these…” she shuffled some more, “…smaller ones on the first run. Save trips.”
Darryl’s eyes flickered down to the papers, then over to the hovering men. “You heard the lady. That paper ain’t going to load itself.”
She stood while they both read through the day’s paperwork. This was one of her favorite things, just standing here next to him while they both prepared for the day ahead.
Her private moment was interrupted by the ringing of the phone. He snatched it up without taking his eyes off one of the order sheets. “Warehouse. This is Darryl.”
She watched as his whole face, his whole posture, changed. He smiled and leaned back in his desk chair. “Hey, baby. How you doin’?”
Madge froze, her stomach twisting violently as she stared. She couldn’t believe that girl would call down here this early, while she and Darryl had such important work to do.
“Nah, it’s all right,” he said into the phone, giving that low chuckle that Madge would give anything to have directed at her. “I don’t need much sleep, anyway.”
Madge was finally able to look away, and she grabbed blindly at the stack of work orders between them. Darryl glanced up and saw her with the work orders in her hand and nodded.
She had to get out of here. But she wasn’t fast enough, because the last thing she heard as she practically ran out of the office was Darryl murmuring, “Why don’t I take you some place special for lunch? Can you get away?”
Madge thought of the lunch she had spent half the night preparing, foolishly thinking that he might share it with her. She flung the work orders at Roy and dashed into the women’s room…where she knew she’d be alone, since she was the only woman who worked down here.
She looked at herself, not so young any more, mascara streaking down her face. With a noise of disgust she twisted the taps until water sprayed out, then splashed it on her face again and again.
It didn’t matter if she wore makeup or not. She had her heart set on a man ten years younger, who was dating the kind of pretty, feminine, helpless girl she herself would never be. Darryl respected her as a worker, maybe even a friend, and that would have to be enough.
But she couldn’t help thinking, when she came out of the restroom and saw Darryl still on the phone with Kelly, you can’t have him. He was mine first.
THE END
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© 2006-2023 More Than That | Skin created by Kali