I sat at my desk as I usually did on a Friday afternoon. My pen swerved with every stroke as I wrote countless reports about my small miscellaneous cases that no one else wanted to take. I was the inferior to all the rest. I was me, Riley Evans, amateur private eye. Or so that's what I've been for the past five years now, I've always dreamed of getting promoted, but it never seems to happen. At least not to me.

I sighed and leaned my head against my free arm and stared down at my report.

Lost kitten found under sofa.

My eyes fell dreary and I awaited the moments I could return home.

"Evans!" A loud screechy voice that I know all too well called out, snapping me back to reality. "In my office now!"

All eyes stared at me as the boss lady walked back into her office and awaited my arrival. I sighed softly and stood up, placing my pen back in its holder and the papers back into their folder. I stepped behind my chair and quietly slid it forward towards my desk. Everything must be neat and tidy.

I then approached the Beast's Lair. Behind me I could hear the voices of my coworkers, whispering rumours of me being fired or worse, demoted.

My hand shook as I reached for the handle, gripping the iron ball gently and turning it slowly. It creaked as it turned and then I pushed the door open.

I stepped into the office with my heart beating quickly, I turned to the door and closed it gently before walking over to her desk and taking a seat in front of the Beast, my boss.

I looked at her and she stared daggers at me. In my lap, my hands fiddled with each other. I was probably going to be fired. She didn't need me here anyways. She probably just kept me for the entertainment of my suffering.

There was a moment of silence before she opened her mouth and began to speak.

"Do you know why you're here?" The question hit me like a bullet, although I wouldn't know the feeling as I have never been shot at before - with actual bullets that is.

"N-no, ma'am." My voice shook as I spoke. Was I supposed to know? Is this a trick question? I'm probably getting fired.

She just stared at me. Her elbows pressed against her desk with her perfectly pointed chin resting perfectly upon her fists. Her ginger curled hair lay behind her arms, save for a single strand that strayed from the pack out in front of her beady emerald eyes. Even her freckles terrified me, for rumours suggested that they were her tiny minions that would leap off her face at a moments notice and demolish her enemies.

I gulped. I hope I wasn't her enemy.

"I brought you in here because..." she paused to lift her head off of its perch and lay her arms down in front of her. She then straightened her back - and I could hear her bones cracking as she did - before speaking again. "Because you've been working too hard."

"I have?" I gasped unintentionally. "I mean... y-you've noticed?" I quickly corrected my speech, honestly unsure of how I should have replied anyways.

"Don't interrupt, Evans." She shot another pair of daggers at me before returning to what she was saying before the interruption. "I have noticed, yes. And so, I think you should treat yourself tonight." She opened a drawer of her desk and reached in to grab something. My curious mind made me sit up straighter and try to extend my neck to catch a glimpse of what she was reaching for.

But as soon as she glanced back at me, I shrunk back down to where I was before. Her unamused expression softened a bit as she pulled out two fairly large, thin, rectangular pieces of paper from her desk. She waved them out in front of her before placing them onto her desk in front of me and then she closed the desk drawer. Upon closer inspection, I realized that they were concert tickets.

"Take these tickets and go to the concert. And then when it's over, I want to you write a fifty page essay on it. Include every single detail about it. Leave nothing out." She leaned her left cheek into her left arm as her right hand slid the tickets closer to me, prompting me to pick them up. So I did. "I want it on my desk by 8AM Monday morning. If I like it, I may think about promoting you."

"Really?" My eyes lit up at the sound of a promotion.

"I said I Might think about it." She raised her voice at the word might and I shrunk back down, my eyes dimming again. "And don't black out this time. I don't need a gap in the essay and then find out something amazing happened then." She warned me, wagging her finger out in front of her.

"I understand, ma'am." I gulped. I did have a tendency to black out, but it's not like I can control when it happens. "Um, may I ask why there are two tickets?" My voice shook some more as I asked my question.

"You may." She said bluntly before sighing and then continuing. "My husband and I cannot attend this concert because I have a prior engagement to attend to, so why don't you take that girl at the coffee shop that you keep daydreaming about." She said sternly, the mention of Susan startled me and my face flushed red. I was going to deny it, but how did she know about it? I never told anyone about my secret crush. "And before you ask, everyone can read it on your face. That and you also wrote I love Susan all over one of your reports. It was so gross I almost puked." She makes a disgusted face as mine turns more red with embarrassment. "Now get out of my office. You have to get ready, the concert starts in three hours." She hissed, probably not wanting me to stay there any longer than I had to.

I didn't think she liked me, but in some parts of our conversation, she actually seemed nice. Weird right?

I stood up from the seat and thanked her for the tickets before leaving her office. I returned to my desk and began packing up. The looks people gave me as I did so - when they thought I couldn't see them - made me think that they all thought that I was fired. And I would too if I saw me walk out of the office and start packing up at three in the afternoon.

I slung my messenger bag over my shoulder and left the office. The tickets sat in my pocket as I left for home. Too chicken to go ask Susan out. So I went to the concert alone.

What a loser.

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1178 words for this chapter.

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