Drunken Dreams • •

[juno lux carradine]

Juno was still getting used to her new position at Haart Toys. It might have only been for the next ten months, but she had a feeling it might take her that long to get accustomed to seeing her name on the door, and the new signature in her e-mails. She had always been hard-working and ambitious, but she never expected that she would ever be head of any department, let alone PR which was known for being an intense place when the media swarmed. Thankfully, it was rarely anything negative, but there was still triple checking of the wording given out in press releases and constant editing and changes as familiar words were twisted and associated with not-so-good things. Juno still felt like this was some kind of dream, that her alarm would go off and she’d realise she was just an admin assistant again, working in the open pen with everyone else. That was the best thing about having her own office; she wasn’t subjected to the office gossip and small crowds gathering at the vending machine that was right by her desk. It was distracting and Juno had never been comfortable talking about people behind their backs, be it good or bad.

She had a feeling that a large number of people were doing it about her though. Yes, Alison had recommended her for the interim position, but there had been others who were more qualified and who were in higher positions than Juno. Alison’s assistant, Brent, was very bitter about being passed over for the promotion. He had walked around acting like he was entitled to the job. If this was Mean Girls, Brent was Regina George, but with black hair and more of a clique. Juno had never been part of it since she had done the work he had neglected or slacked off on. Now, that clique were easily spotted whispering or glaring when she handed out assignments and passed along messages that had come from the morning meetings the bosses had. She was doing her best not to let it get to her, but there were times when Juno could have used the help from the man who was now – officially – her assistant. She knew he was trying to push her, to make her crack, but Juno wouldn’t let it come to that. She had been with the company since college; she wasn’t some fish out of water.

It probably wasn’t making things easier when she ate in her office. Anyone who didn’t know her might think she was being distant or felt too good for the employee break room. In truth, Juno had never liked the break room. She couldn’t relax in there. She preferred having some time to herself, be it with a book outside or headphones in while she read the news. It kept her anxiety under control to have that hour between e-mails and phone calls to just retreat into herself. Alas, her new office still didn’t give her water. She had to go to the breakroom to make a cup of tea or refill her water bottle. She crossed the hall and went inside while checking her phone, replying to a message from her brother about mom’s upcoming birthday gifts. Juno hadn’t heard any voices, so she hadn’t raised her head immediately to politely greet anyone who might be enjoying an early break themselves. She just really needed a bottle of water to get through the day and a cup of green tea to start it.

It was only when she reached the counter top that she glanced across at where the coffee machine was – unusually quiet for any time of the day - and realised the familiar figure standing there was Victor Haartman, the owner of the company, and the man she had occasionally seen in her dreams ever since she walked by him in the foyer all those months ago. She had never really had any reason to speak to him, or to even be in the same room as him, so he had always just been this intimidatingly handsome man who she admired over the frames of her glasses when he crossed through their department floor. Now she didn’t know if she should say something to be polite, fake a phone call, or just scurry out of the room before he noticed her. Before she had a chance to decide, her mouth decided to take control of the situation. “Wassup?” And in the second that immediately followed, Juno wished that aliens would beam her up.

• • •

TAGGED! Victor James Haartman
WORDS! 751!
LYRICS! When I Watch The World Burn All I Think About Is You - - - Bastille
NOTES! <3

[Victor James Haartman]

Vic wouldn't lie, he wasn't the first to know what was going around the office. Gossip moved through the mill faster than the elevator rose through the building. He usually relied on Fitz to tell him what was going on in the office world; except when she was the subject of the rumour mill's current gossip. No, that he'd heard riding the elevator up with a couple of women who hadn't recognised the man standing behind them as their boss. He'd immediately called a meeting with HR and the company lawyers and drafted a whole new policy on zero tolerance. People were so afraid of losing their jobs, it didn't take the full morning before the lot of them stopped talking on the property. What they said outside of work, sadly, wasn't their business. The parties he was aware of were written up and after that, not a sound had been made to Vic' knowledge. He hated seeing anyone upset, it infuriated him when it was someone he cared about. Vic would be the first to admit that Fitz was his best friend. She put up with his eccentric ways and knew what he needed even before he knew what he needed. He was the CEO but she was the one who really ran the business and he was well aware of it. Without her, he didn't know where he would be and he loved her dearly. Best friend, sister, confidante, she was everything except lover. She told him on the regular that she deserved better than his workaholic ass. And she did. In fact, he thought most women deserved better which was why he hardly dated anymore.

Dating seemed to be as foreign to him as office décor and everything else in the world. Truth was, Vic would have preferred being in R&D, playing around with what they were developing instead of in meetings, running over the numbers and everything else involved. They were a strong and steady company, the amount of work he put into getting their name out there was truly pointless but board members liked it, his family liked it so he did it. And most of them cared about what the halls looked like as much as Vic did. Fitz didn't exactly talk him into doing it over so much as she said it felt like a funeral home and that had to change. She'd been saying that for as long as she'd worked for the company but there had always been something to come up that couldn't be moved; until now. She had walked into his office Friday afternoon and told him that she'd put him in a temporary one down on the PR floor as it had been the only one available. Everyone that was on Vic's floor had been scattered throughout the offices and floors. At least he could work knowing that it wouldn't take more than the week and he'd be back upstairs and he wouldn't be taking up space that probably belonged to someone else.

He probably seemed like he was trying to be above everyone else, looking down at them all but it was just that he truly didn't want to be in the way. So, he walked out of the elevator, onto the wrong floor with a coffee in his hand and his assistant upstairs with the team she'd hired. As it was, the empty office was easy to find, and no one paid much attention to him as he walked by. He did like to see that they weren't just sitting around gossiping and that they were actually doing the work they'd been hired to do. Vic kept to himself, occasionally texting Fitz to check on the progress or to be reminded that the change would be a good one. At one point, she messaged him to tell him his lunch was going to be a bit late because of an accident. When it still hadn't arrived after an hour, he decided to go to the breakroom and make himself a coffee to hold him over. He had lived on cups of coffee pretty much all through school and most of his adult life, his body was used to it. What he wasn't used to was the so-called coffee machine that required a PhD in astrophysics to use; something he didn't have. "What level of PhD is required to use this alien contraption? What planet is it from?" He asked, glancing over to the woman he hadn't realised had even entered the room. He'd been so consumed. He was an engineer for crying out loud!

♦ ♦ ♦

TAG; juno lux carradine
WORDS; 768
LYRICS; Waitin' on the Wonderful --Aaron Lines
NOTES; <3

[juno lux carradine]

Despite being a hard worker, and someone who had climbed the ranks at Haart Toys, Juno didn’t see herself as one of those Wall Street business types; the ones who made business suits look like they belonged on catwalks at Fashion Week. She bumbled through her morning routine most of the time, and if she made it to lunch without spilling tea on her shirt then she considered it a good morning. Juno wasn’t naturally clumsy, but there were times at work where she felt like the little kid playing grown up, slipping on her mom’s shoes and pretending that she did all the things adults did. Juno prided herself on the small achievements, especially those she accomplished when she was entirely overwhelmed and fighting back tears. Anxiety was a huge part of her life – the reason why she hadn’t completed her degree in Art History. Some days even showing up to work with matching shoes was an accomplishment. The mismatched shoes had only happened once, and Juno had spent almost the entire day at her desk just so no one could see that she had somehow mixed a brogue with a tennis shoe.

Juno didn’t like having to use anxiety as an excuse, but even with medication and therapy, there were still times when she needed to retreat into her own little bubble and look after herself. She didn’t know why Allison thought she’d be good at heading up Public Relations – even temporarily. The truth was, she had never imagined herself in any sort of position of power. Juno had always believed she’d move around, mix and learn from the other departments, but ultimately be sitting at a spot where she could afford to pay her rent and utilities and then save the rest of her earnings for a rainy day. After living too damn close to the poverty line after the untimely death of her father, Juno wasn’t the type to throw her money away. She made things last, patched others up, and generally tried to get a lifetime out of her belongings. She had bought new clothing for work when she received this temporary promotion, only because she figured there would be more meetings and situations in which her “smart” black jeans and simple t-shirts weren’t going to cut it – not even if she paired it with some cute heels.

Juno wasn’t a fashionista in the office by any means. Most of the time she managed to blend into the background, go unseen whenever she moved from her office. She didn’t always intend it to be that way, but she did sort of wish her mouth had remained closed and she had been an unseen spectre in the staff break room. For a long moment – or what felt like one anyway – Juno didn’t respond to Victor Haartman. She just stood there, cradling her cup of tea like it was the most valuable item in the whole world. Finally, she found her voice – and she couldn’t turn it off. “I don’t actually use it. Coffee makes me jittery – which I don’t need – so I stick to tea.” She held up the mug, slipping it onto the counter before she began walking closer as she continued to projectile vomit words onto the man who was her boss. “But I’ve seen some people use this before and you just need to twist this, thump that, and then move this over here annnd….” And the button she pressed last immediately sprayed milky foam over the two of them, causing Juno to let out a short yelp as she tried to block the spray with her hands, only deflecting it higher and into her eyes. “Ohmygod. Ohmygod. I am so sorry. I’m an idiot, I’m not an engineer. I don’t have the required PhD to run this machine – I don’t even have the bachelors for it.” She couldn’t stop talking, but thankfully the coffee machine had stopped spraying them with almost hot milk, though Juno’s face felt like it was burning with the embarrassment.

Had the floor opened up and swallowed her yet?

• • •

TAGGED! Victor James Haartman
WORDS! 687!
LYRICS! When I Watch The World Burn All I Think About Is You - - - Bastille
NOTES! <3

[Victor James Haartman]

After this temporary move, Victor would never take Fitz and her ability to make his coffee for granted ever again. He didn't know if they had a similar machine in their offices but he knew that when he was swamped looking over things, he would ask her to get it for him, or sometimes, it would just appear and he'd shout out his thanks into the hall. He would consider giving her a raise but the last time he'd done that, she'd told him none to kindly where to shove his blood money. It had been after a particularly nasty situation that he felt she'd gone above and beyond the call of duty and was well deserved. But he'd put her in the situation in the first place so she'd been mad at him and he could understand that. They'd moved on from it and whenever it's mentioned now, she just scowls at him and he sends a bit more money to the charitable foundation she created. It was a very good thing they were best friends otherwise, it would be a nightmare work situation!

"Tea is good." He agreed though he would always favour coffee so early in the day. "Tea, a good book and a cosy fire are perfect for a night in." He left tea for nights after long days when the only way to unwind was to grab a book and dig into it for the evening. He tried to take a night at least once a week where he just sat back with a strong cup of tea and whatever book caught his attention. He enjoyed a variety of them, wasn't married to a single genre and so, had an eclectic collection on his shelves. On a plus side, it made gift-giving pretty easy since people could just walk into the book store and grab something random off the shelves and he would read it. He might not enjoy it but he would read it.

As for the coffee machine, it was a lost cause for Victor. He knew so much about several various topics but unless it was an old school percolator coffee maker, he was useless. And, it was impossible to reach Fitz at the moment because she was in a meeting with the decorators upstairs. She had trusted that he would be able to get on with his day while she did the dirty work and so far, he was proving her wrong. He hated to disappoint people, even if they were technically his assistant and employee; though she was also his friend so, it was a strange mix for him. However, he had faith in the talkative woman beside him. He recognised nerves when he saw them so he didn't mind her rambling. In fact, it was a nice change of pace to Fitz's usual telling him how it would be and smiling sweetly as she did it. Few words but meaningful all the same. She got to the point but sometimes a nice ramble suited as well. He was not, however, expecting to be sprayed with hot, foamy milk. Instead of getting mad, he burst out laughing at the whole situation. If it weren't for the fact that the offices needed a huge update, he would have had his coffee already but he wouldn't have met the quirky woman who couldn't seem to stop apologising now. "It's fine. But you're soaking wet. Do you have a change of clothes?" He asked, concerned for her wellbeing as it was, technically, his fault.

♦ ♦ ♦

TAG; juno lux carradine
WORDS; 591
LYRICS; Waitin' on the Wonderful --Aaron Lines
NOTES; <3

[juno lux carradine]

Juno was still adjusting to the fact that she had her own office – albeit temporarily – and the power that came with it. She still felt like the struggling college kid who worked in the mailroom. Compared to a lot of the people who worked for the company, Juno was a certified Veteran of Haart Toys, but she never felt that way. She knew names and extension numbers off the top of her head, but she never let on about it. Juno was hardworking and set out to prove to herself and others that she was capable of more than they believed, but she wasn’t ambitious. She didn’t need a big salary or some fancy title. She made enough to live comfortably without worrying about bills being paid each month, and still sent a decent amount home to help her mom pay off some of the debts that had built up when she had been struggling to raise three kids as a widow.

Juno saw people like her mom as true heroes – her dad, too. They had worked hard, come home to a household of kids, and then did it all again without some fancy salary or the newest car. She had more respect for the people who didn’t grace the covers of glossy magazines and billboards than those who did pose for photoshoots and give interviews. Victor Haartman was one of the few people who fell somewhat into that second category who she didn’t actually scoff at though. Something about him seemed genuine, unlike so many others who found themselves at the head of a global company. To see him struggle with a coffee machine gave him a level of humanity Juno had previously only seen with newcomers to the offices. She smiled, feeling slightly at ease as he revealed his ideal night to her. “Instrumental Soundtracks would finish that off perfectly.” She said softly with a smile to match. Juno rarely discussed her free time in the office; no one was ever interested unless it was drinks and someone else was buying.

Shaking the excess from her arms, Juno stood blinking for a moment, feeling the fabric of her shirt sticking to her skin. “I think it might be time for the break room to get a new coffee machine.” She suggested, blinking milk out of her eyes. “I, uh, no. I don’t go climbing until Thursdays and until this moment I never understood the need to keep spare clothes at the office.” She had seen some of the bosses with freshly cleaned shirts hanging in their offices and never quite seen the need for it. Then again, Juno was the type to hide a tea stain with a cardigan, or a soup spillage with a scarf. Juno let the shock fade away and then immediately made to clean up the mess she had caused. There was always a roll of tissue sitting on the side for anyone to clean up any spills, but she set about using bundles to sop up the dripping milk and then – without thinking – blotted over Victor Haartman’s front with more, as though she would wipe away the mess from him, too. Instead, Juno was greeted with a solid chest and immediately the heat rushed back to her face and she realised she was wiping down her boss like he was the kitchen unit. “I am so sorry…again. Y’know, I should probably just leave now before I give you any more reasons to see me escorted from the premises.” She made towards the door and then realised she needed to backtrack for her cup of tea.

• • •

TAGGED! Victor James Haartman
WORDS! 613!
LYRICS! When I Watch The World Burn All I Think About Is You - - - Bastille
NOTES! <3