What else could it possibly be? How long had it been there? When did it first show up? How has no one said anything about this?
These were the most pressing questions that ran through Mark's mind as he sat in his cramped cubicle. In a row of cramped cubicles. On a floor of cramped cubicles. In a building of cramped cubicles. The harsh, bright, humming fluorescent lights of the office were the only thing keeping him awake through their third meeting that day to review the numbers before their one on ones to discuss the numbers so they could prepare for releasing the numbers to the shareholders later that week. It had been made abundantly clear that upper management was very concerned about "the numbers", though they seemed to have a fairly loose grasp on what numbers, or even what the day-to-day even looked like for the company at this point.
While Frank droned on in his tiny square on Mark's screen, all Mark could think about was: What the fuck was behind Frank on the shelf in his home office? The blur effect of his background showed only a vague, fleshy toned monolith that Mark had tried for the entire call to come up with any other solution than the obvious fact that Frank had forgotten to remove the massive dildo behind his head before the conference call.
He'd like to say it was the first call he spent the vast majority of either spaced out or laser focused on something in the background of someone else's screen or something in their teeth, but that would be a flat out lie. In fact, the number was probably close to the opposite, where he could count on one hand the number of meetings he was actively engaged in.
Mark had accepted a full-time position at the same company he had done a summer internship with during his senior year of college with the promise that it was just until he figured out his next step. That was six years prior and he still had little-to-no idea what he wanted to make a career out of. He had always endured school as he was told it was what you were supposed to do after high school and was always more interested in playing any number of sports with his friends or just drinking and hanging out instead of studying.
Since the company was a four-hour drive from his home town and an hour from the college where some of his friends settled after graduating, Mark had quickly discovered that it was more difficult to make friends as an adult living on your own in an unfamiliar area. He had made some casual friendships outside of work, mostly either in the cul-de-sac neighborhood where he lived, or at the small gym he had become a member of to stop falling into the sedentary pattern of sitting and playing video games all night after sitting at his desk at work all day.
When he started to hear the Pavlovian ding of people dropping from the call, he thought, "Finally," and his eyes darted to the clock. Only another hour until he would be heading to the bar for the standing happy hour get together of his group of work friends on Friday. Then more than likely back to his house to settle into the sedentary lifestyle of playing video games all night after sitting at his desk all day.
It was safe to say, in any number of ways, that Mark's life had fallen into a series of comfortable ruts and was not exactly how he had envisioned it. Though not entirely unsatisfying, he often thought that there had to be more to life. He also had to admit to himself that he was not very motivated to do any of the things he knew would be necessary to actually affect any real change to that status quo. He spent the remainder of the day thinking about where it had all gone wrong. His mind drifted back to all the crazy frat and sorority parties in college, then to the high school parties before that; playing truth or dare and spin the bottle in someone's basement instead of in the library or at home studying and really applying himself. Rather than finding any of the clear answers, this only succeeded in Mark worrying if he'd already peaked and was already reflecting on the "good old days".
He wasn't able to dwell too long on that fear though as he was shocked to discover he had successfully killed the entire hour until five o'clock as one of his colleagues loudly stood and stretched before announcing it was officially "beer thirty". Within a minute all the colleagues had packed their belongings and were headed for the doors.
Mark quickly shut down his computer and followed suit with the crowd out to the parking lot. It wasn't until he was sitting in his car and went to put his phone in the cup holder that he realized he had stupidly left it sitting on his desk after almost getting caught scrolling his favorite NSFW subreddits during his pointless video calls throughout the day. Dejectedly, he sauntered back to the door to climb the three flights of stairs back to his desk to retrieve his lifeline to the world.
After a brief pause at the top of the stairs to catch his breath and remind himself to get back into a gym routine, he reached for the handle and strolled into the office. Even Mark had to admit the place had cleared out quickly as there wasn't a single person in any of the cubicles when he turned out of the stairwell toward his south facing quadrant of the cubicle farm, which overlooked the parking lot. He laughed at the traffic jam of cars trying to beat each other to the neighborhood bar and swiveled to see if indeed he was the only person left in the entire office.
He had made it all the way to his desk, retrieved his phone, and started back down the North most row of cubicles to see if he had missed anyone on that side of the building simply out of curiosity. It wasn't until he had nearly reached the stairwell that he heard a noise coming from one of the floor-to-ceiling windowed conference rooms all the way on the far side of the building. Since it was the conference room closest to the office of the new uber douchey boss, Steven, Mark decided he didn't want to investigate any further and tried to duck into the stairwell for a quick getaway.
That was, until he happened to glance up and see not only Steven, but also Rebecca, the new hire, standing in the room alone. Steven was a typical middle-aged manager, trying to make a name for himself by reminding all of his subordinates how great an employee he had been to get to where he was at such a young age compared to his peers. He had developed a reputation for being a huge dick to any male employee and a little too nice and helpful toward the female employees...especially the younger, more attractive ones.
Rebecca fit squarely into both of these categories, as she was a recent college graduate at only 22, and despite only starting a month prior, was already garnering the attention of both her male and female colleagues; the guys all wanted her and the girls either were jealous of the attention she got instead of them or were angry because she sometimes came off as a little too flirty for their liking. Her short, 5'0" frame and petite build were contrasted by her wide hips and large, bouncy butt, which she typically kept fairly well hidden under knee-length skirts or professional pants.
She generally wore sweaters over her tops, which was fitting considering it was late September when she started and it would soon transition from cool Fall weather into a full blown Mid-Western winter. This of course, did not stop the males in the office from imagining and talking at length about what glorious surprises Spring would bring when things thawed out and sweaters were replaced with blouses and camisoles. Answers ranged somewhere from a full B cup to a hopeful DD, but this wall all just the more pig-headed and/or desperate guys in the office who had all but started a pool on the subject.
Steven stood over Rebecca, who was seated at the small conference table with her eyeline dropped down to the floor. Mark couldn't believe his eyes, as Steven reached out and caressed Rebecca's shoulder, then hooked his finger under her chin and tilted her head up to meet his gaze. The two seemed to continue to speak to one another, though Steven seemed to be doing most of that talking, then Rebecca slowly nodded and stood up.
Mark was overtaken with the sudden impulse to do what everyone seemed to do in modern society when something too surreal to comprehend started happening before their eyes. He hit record on his phone's camera just as Steven and Rebecca's mouths met. Rebecca stood perfectly still as Steven passionately kissed her and his hands roamed from cradling her face down the front of her sweater and massaged her chest.
From his vantage point, it was unlikely Mark would be seen as he documented the scene unfolding in the conference room, but he also didn't want to take any chances, as if he was the one doing something wrong in the situation. He inched over to the stairwell door, keeping his eyes on his phone to ensure he kept the two in frame. As he reached down blindly for the handle, Mark couldn't help but notice the uncanny similarity of his and Steven's hand path.
The two found their targets simultaneously as Steven's hand rubbed the front of Rebecca's pants and Mark gently turned the handle and pushed on the door. Rebecca seemed easier to move than the door as she pressed her hips back against the conference room table while the door didn't budge. Neither Mark nor Steven seemed deterred by the uncomplying nature of their subjects though as both pressed forward; Steven inching his body closer to Rebecca, and Mark giving a sharp shove into the door.
What Mark didn't suspect was the loud sound the door made as it dragged along the carpeted stairwell. He quickly decided the possible ramifications if he were discovered weren't worth the tiny, if any, benefits if he weren't. He jumped into the stairwell and was already on the ground floor before he heard the door click shut again above him. He paused to see if the door would open again to indicate someone coming to investigate the noise, but after a full two minutes of silence from above, he jogged out of the building and didn't look back up until he did so from the reflection of it in his rear-view mirror and breathed a sigh of relief as he couldn't see anyone in the windows overlooking the parking lot.
His car idled in the back parking lot of the bar as Mark sat and replayed the video evidence of the entire encounter several times and thought about what he would do with it. You could clearly see both Steven and Rebecca in it before the two embraced and started making out. While in the moment, it seemed like Rebecca was coerced into the act and was staring down at the conference table in embarrassment, upon rewatching the video though, Rebecca's eyesight was actually locked in on her hand which was outstretched and rubbing Steven's crotch.
Mark was leaned forward to inspect the video for a fourth time when the sudden loud cackling of one of his officemates caught his attention and he dropped the phone in his haste to hide the evidence of him perving out in his car from any prying eyes (which of course was a figment of his imagination until he slammed the horn of the car with his head as he clumsily reached for his phone).
Most of the office had already cleared out by the time Mark walked into the dimly lit back area of the narrow bar they all frequented, but there were still several of his closer colleagues sitting around one of the high tops in the back corner. He waived at one of them as he made his way over and they indicated toward one of the last remaining stools next to them. Mark held up a finger as he stopped at the bar to order his first round before he joined them.
He tried to play it off as though he hadn't just witnessed something that could potentially ruin his boss' marriage let alone job as well as tarnish the reputation of one of the newest, and by all indications, sweetest and well-intentioned individuals in the office. Either Mark was playing it off perfectly, or more likely his fellow officemates were too distracted by their beers and ongoing office drama talk to notice his distraught face. When the bartender came to check on the table, Mark downed the rest of his first beer and indicated he needed another round. Two of the other three guys followed suit with Ted bowing out which was met with jeers from both Nate and Craig who were both visibly more intoxicated than Ted.
Once he had closed out his bill, Ted apologized for needing to go home and put his kids to bed and wished Mark luck babysitting the other two "children" at the table. He was quickly pelted with balled up napkins as he made his way to the door. The entire bar suddenly filled with light as the heavy door swung open for Ted to exit which made Mark squint as he was now the only one not sitting with his back to the doorway. Glancing around the bar, Mark noticed there were only seven people total in the bar: the bartender, two regulars who one would have to assume simply lived there, Mark and his tablemates, and now the shadowy figure who had entered at the same time Ted left.
