The Design by R.S. Grey

Peter was someone I could trust. Also, I just really wanted to tell someone about my incident with Alan.
    “I’ve actually kind of met Alan before. The other day, before my interview, Alan bumped into me down on the sidewalk and I fell and ripped my tights. I had to crawl around to pick up all of my stuff, all while he yelled at me for being in the way. But I don’t even think he recognized me this morning.”
    Peter didn’t seem surprised by my confession.
    “When I started here last year, Mark wouldn’t talk to me and Alan made me nearly cry every day.” He paused and lowered his voice for the next part. “A lot of us think he killed a temp once.”
    “What?! Are you serious?” I asked.
    “Well, not exactly. I think the guy just found permanent work elsewhere. He sent me a LinkedIn request last week. The point is, at the time it seemed equally plausible that Alan could have offed him.
    “So did it get better?” I asked, just as the machine finished sputtering out the last of my coffee.
    “I hate to say it, but not really,” Peter said with a sad smile. “The work is great, but Mark still rarely speaks. I’m pretty sure he has some kind of social anxiety disorder or something. And Alan is, well… it’s no mistake that his name is so close to “anal”. He’s meticulous and rude, so I just keep my head down and do my work.”
    I nodded. “Well, now I’m here, so you don’t have to keep your head down,” I said with a smile. Peter wasn’t the type of person I usually found myself around. His beard was awesome, but probably warned most people away from him. He was tall and had the build of a rugby player, but as I followed him back to our desks, I found myself relieved to have him at my desk cluster on my first day.
    However, as soon as we arrived back at our seats, my optimism was squashed.
    “First rule, Candy,” Alan began, “when you get up and make yourself a cup of coffee, you bring me back a cup as well.”
    Peter coughed under his breath and I tried to fight back the urge to dump my coffee out onto Alan’s hideous green shirt.
    Dump it on him. Do it. Do it.
    I sighed and shoved down my inner devil. There’d be plenty of time to dump coffee on Alan.
    “Right. Okay. I’ll get right on that.”
    And I did. I made him a cup of coffee with grounds I found in the trash, spit in it, and then gave it back to him with the sweetest smile I could muster. I might have to endure him for the next few months, but I would not take his bullshit lying down.
    …
                 
    Alan kept me busy with mundane tasks until lunchtime arrived, at which point he shoved back from his desk and announced he’d be back in twenty minutes. We were expected to be back at our desks when he returned.
    “I guess that rules out going somewhere for lunch,” I said, glancing toward Peter.
    He frowned. “Ah, yeah. I’ve learned to just bring my lunch. I guess you’ll know for tomorrow. Do you want to share mine?”
    I smiled and shook my head. “Nah, you go eat. I’m going to try and find my friend.”
    I tried to find Hannah to see if she needed something to eat as well, but she’d headed out with the rest of her table-mates. Apparently, their senior associate liked to get to know his new team members by treating everyone to lunch on the first day. How was that for fair?
    Cursing my luck, I ran down to the bottom floor of the building, trying to recall whether or not there was a cafe. When I arrived, I found a room full of vending machines. Awesome . I unzipped my coin purse and retrieved enough change to purchase a bag of Cheez-Its and a Nature Valley bar. That’d keep me full for all of… thirty minutes .
    By the time I made it back up to the office, my lunch break was already half way over. I was prepared to just eat at my desk, but then I noticed that for the first time all day, Grayson’s door was open.
    I paused a few feet from my desk and leaned back to peer through the slim opening. Grayson