Redolent Rose

The Interview

Carmen sighed, still getting used to her formal attire. It was a new experience having to dress like a real professional, in a buttoned-up shirt and a long pencil skirt. The 21 year old even bought new pantyhose, not a run or tear to be seen... god she was a mess. The waiting room smelled sweet, overly so, it had obviously been sprayed with an excessive amount of air freshener. She could deal with the thick air, but the waiting was wearing her thin. It had been almost an hour between her entering the building and letting out that traitorous sigh. Fortunately, only the office receptionist had noticed her. Unfortunately, she saw the woman engaged in petty gossip with the office staff only minutes ago. The reception area was deathly silent, save for the low hum of a vending machine on the other side of the room and a quietly ticking clock.

"Miss Green?" The voice was accompanied by the sound of clacking heels against the acrylic impregnated flooring, a cacophony of clatter in the midst of a deafening silence. Before Carmen could even lift her sullen head to greet the voice's owner, her nostrils were met with a gentle wafting of the woman's odour. It was hard to place, not gaudy and unpleasant like the air freshener it had drowned out, but not sweet and fragrant like the usual puissant woman's perfume. The scent grew closer as another resonant heel click snapped the interviewee from her distant reverie. "Carmen Green?"

"Oh, that's uh, that's me! It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, ma'am." Carmen lifted her head quickly, feeling smothered by the woman's elusive aroma.

"Hmm? Aha, no need to be so old-fashioned honey, you can relax a little bit can't you?" The woman looked amused, pleased. She was wearing a sleeveless white jersey shirt and a thin grey cardigan hanging loosely from her athletic arms, a black denim mini skirt shaped her hips and showed off her long bare legs. Carmen found her eyes dropping down to the source of those sonorous clacks, a pair of glossy black heels which housed her sizeable feet. "Rose Grew, you'll be my little helper if you get chosen. Come now let's have a chat in my office, you're my last interview of the day." The woman's lips curled into a charmless smile, but Carmen was still busy picking up her eyes.

Before she knew it, Carmen found herself shuffling into the corner of a pristine elevator along with her interviewer, Mrs. Grew. Despite the space between them, the air in the small metal box quickly became stuffy and oppressive. It was all Carmen could think about as her nostrils slowly inhaled, her eyes glued to the floor number. Back in the reception area, the woman's peculiar aroma was the most overpowering out of a wide array of scents, but in the elevator ride... it was like being smothered! By the time the doors slid open and the conditioned hallway air wafted inside, Carmen was starting to feel lightheaded.

To call Rose's office spacious would be an understatement, the woman had a personal gym in the leftmost corner and a couch along the backwall. The decor was classy, if a little generic, but Carmen's eyes almost bulged at the shelf of liquor on full display. Just who was Mrs. Grew, the CEO?

"I can see you're in love with my office already, Miss Green. That's very good, you'll be spending a lot of time in here if we give you the internship. May I ask why you enrolled for our intern program? You have credentials to apply for a permanent position, maybe a little light on the experience part." The woman sauntered around her desk and sat back into the rich leather, leaning casually while gesturing her guest to the armchair opposite.

Carmen was a little grateful that Mrs. Grew had retreated behind her desk, the scent weakening with their new distance. The office, however, carried the same smell... it only made sense, given the pungent woman spent most of her time in here day in and day out. She still wasn't sure if she found it to be a distasteful or agreeable odour, it just felt unique. Trying to place it had already distracted her enough, though the nerves were probably more to blame.

"Well I uh, ahem, sorry. I had thought of applying for the vacant position at the reception desk, but to be perfectly candid... I think I work better with people I can get to know, rather than service roles with new faces every day. I can do either, of course, it's just a preference. I figured I would also have a better chance to actually be considered for this opportunity too, because like you mentioned I have less than a year of professional experience." She took a deep breath, noticing that the smell of the room had slowly faded into the background. She was adjusting to the room, but secretly looked forward to the breath of fresh air she would have upon leaving.

Rose nodded, kicking her legs up onto her desk during Carmen's response. She had one ankle resting over the other, dangling the elevated heel from her toes idly. "A very reasonable decision, I like that sort of forward thinking. Would you mind pushing your seat a bit closer, dear?"

The interviewee was surprised at her interviewer's casual attitude, especially with such a luxurious office. She watched the dangling high heel with curiosity brewing within, her own posture could not be more different: Sitting straight up in the chair, legs uniform together and feet flat on the ground, hands folded neatly in her lap when she wasn't using them to gesture. "O-of course, just a second." She brought herself closer to the front of Rose's desk, her face a few feet away from the woman's resting feet. Her nose wrinkled; this was starting to get a little uncomfortable.

"Ahh, let's see. You mentioned that you worked best with familiar work relationships, do you understand the nature of this position? You'll be at my beck and call, making me coffee and filing my paperwork. I'll try to keep most cleaning to the janitorial staff, but you may have to pick things up for me and tidy my empty cups too, stuff like that. Sound good?" Rose wasn't even looking at Carmen, her eyes closed as she leaned back into the headrest.

Carmen knew the duties that would be expected of her, it was all in the posting. It was not a glamorous job by any means, but she needed the experience, more than that she needed the money. "Yes, I'd be happy to start as soon as you need me too, and I'm open to overtime if it's ever asked of me." She traced up and down Mrs. Grew's legs with her eyes, seeing the dark shadow of Rose's underwear from the angle of that taut denim skirt.

"Well don't you just sound perfect?" Rose hummed lightly, she had at least a decade on Carmen but acted half her age. "You're the least uptight person I've interviewed all day, save the best for last or something right?"

"Oh, really?" Carmen was not actually surprised at all, most people would have raised an objection by now, even if it was a very politely worded one.

"Mhmm, I think you might be a good match for me, you never even mentioned my natural pheromones."

"Your... uh." Now she really wanted to ask about them, how unfair. She bit her lip to stop her mouth from moving, trying to slow her breathing out of a sudden paranoia. Was she serious? What did that even mean?

Rose began to cackle harshly, her entire body shaking from her laughter. "I'm only joking, dear, you should see your face! I've been told I have a very distinctive smell, but you'll soon get used to it. Be glad your boss doesn't have terrible BO and leave it at that, hm?"

Does that mean she already considered herself Carmen's boss? The young woman was too awash with relief that she stopped focusing on the strangeness of the conversation, or the fact she was closer to her boss's feet than her face.

"Right, well, that was quick. Anything else you want t-oh!" Rose had clumsily let slip her heeled shoe, the glossy black footwear dropping onto the deep crimson rug between them. "Silly me, be a dear and pick that up for me would you? I'll consider it your acceptance into the internship program." Her eyes narrowed, Mrs. Grew wiggling her bare foot from the edge of the desk, the wrinkled skin warm and damp from walking back and forth all morning.

If she were not choosing to focus on the informal job offer she was just given, Carmen would be cringing hard. Instead, she resigned herself to just quickly doing as she was told so that she could clear her head with some fresh outdoor air. Rising from the chair briskly, the newly hired intern bent down and curled her fingers around the discarded heel. When she rose, she must have gotten up too quickly... a sudden headrush almost knocked her off balance, taking a long breath of the heady air at the end of Rose's desk. The intern was too driven and distracted to realise she was indirectly sniffing her new boss's feet, inhaling the air around those arched soles. It was just for a brief moment, but Carmen's head felt foggy, so she placed Mrs. Grew's shoe beside her hovering foot and excused herself politely. Rose was happy to give the young woman all the time she needed, in fact she seemed a little distracted with something. While Carmen was excusing herself, she almost thought that she heard a faint metallic clank from the bottom of Mrs. Grew's desk.

When she returned from the bathroom, Carmen was once again hit with the thick air of Rose's office. Different to the reception's artificial air, this was more natural and potent. A prevailing odour, which the woman's colleagues must be exposed to, subjected to, each and every day.

"We just need to sign some paper and you can be on your way, you'll be starting tomorrow, that won't be an issue will it?" It was spoken like a rhetorical question, likely harkening back to Carmen's earlier claims of flexibility. It was fine, she was happy to start the next day.

The last stretch of the interview almost felt like a dull dream, Carmen distant and watching from afar as two office ladies conducted their inane duties. When she finally felt the wind on her face, the young intern took a deep inhale and slowly breathed out. That was what air should smell like, she reminded herself bleakly. Half-way through her commute home, sitting in an empty subway car, Carmen felt a string of intrusive thoughts creep into her open mind.

1. It really wasn't such a bad scent, after all.

2. The fresh air she had looked forward to return to... was oddly disappointing.

3. She was tentatively excited to return to the office for her first day of work.

* * *

Day One - Acclimation

Carmen rose out of bed with a tuft of messy hair draped over sleepy, half-lidded eyes. Her phone's alarm had been put on snooze several times in a drowsy attempt to delay the call to action of starting a new job. Or at least, a promising new internship. When she finally managed to pry herself from the warm comfort of her bedsheets, Carmen cursed under her breath at the time. It looked like her morning routine of hitting the gym first thing in the morning had been put on hold for today, she would be lucky enough to not be late for her first day as is. Freshly ironed clothes were thrown on without time for care or grace, her collar uneven and a button on her blouse left undone. An innocent granola bar was sacrificed to the impatient breakfast ritual as Carmen finished getting herself ready, assessing the hallway mirror and fixing the rushed errors before slamming the apartment door shut behind her.

She finally took a breath on the subway, her journey now at the mercy of the rails. The internship was both exciting and nerve-wracking to her, the first day would surely be the hardest. Working as Rose's personal assistant meant being close to her through most of the day, every day. She hoped that she would not feel so lightheaded today, figuring that the two things were likely unrelated anyway, she had skipped lunch the day prior and was probably just a little malnourished. At least, that makes more sense than the alternative narrative, that Mrs. Grew's strange scent was making her dizzy.

Public transport had not let Carmen down on her first day and she made it into the building a few minutes before she was slated to start work. The receptionist handed her a card with her name on, used to access the offices and identify her. She furrowed her brow at the picture on the card, her expression was so out of it she looked like a major dork... when was that even taken? Did they take one after the interview? All she remembered was wanting to get outside after leaving Rose's office, the rest was a blur. Carmen's photo was so embarrassing, she looked high in it... huge pupils, flared nostrils and rosy cheeks. She looked vulnerable and lost.

Deciding to stop looking at the horrible ID card, Carmen stepped into the elevator and rode it up to her new boss's office. It was a much easier elevator ride than the one from the day before, though she did notice that Mrs. Grew's scent faintly lingered, she must have taken it recently...

The office was empty. Carmen was already remembering that unplaceable, redolent odour that permeated throughout the office like a bioengineered distraction. It was sabotaging every thought Carmen strung together, the attention seeking smell wanting to be the one thing on her mind. And it was, as much as she hated it, as much as her nose crinkled at the harsh change in atmosphere. She knew she couldn't just ignore it. Her eyes flicked over to the private gym and she sighed, ashamed of herself for missing her daily workout. She knew as much as anyone that missing the odd one can tear down the entire program, so made a note to be hard on herself later. Curiously, it looked like the personal gym equipment had been recently used. In fact, the unmistakable scent of Rose Grew was coming in strong from that corner of the room.

She could hear the sound of a shower from the door on the right side of the woman's office, remembering that Rose even had an ensuite bathroom. At this point, she remarked that her boss could live comfortably in this office and never leave, should she want.

As if on cue, the shower stopped and Rose's voice called out from the other side of the door. "Is that you, Carmen? I'm afraid it's a slow one today, so we can ease you in stress free. I'm stuck in meetings for the next couple hours so you're off the hook making me a morning coffee."

Carmen was grateful that she could adjust to the office without Rose around, but wondered what she was supposed to do with herself if her boss was going to be absent all morning. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Rose showed her the morning's task once she had emerged from the shower. The intern noticed that Rose's trademark scent was weaker than the day before, did the shower have something to do with that? She was a little envious of the woman's turnaround, getting ready for work in half the time it took Carmen while being twice as presentable.

"Shredding."

"Um, shredding?"

Mrs. Grew smiled, placing the brand-new shredder down onto her desk along with a huge pile of old paperwork. "That's right, Miss Green. Easy and dull, I'm sorry to say your first task isn't exactly going to thrill you, but I do find some satisfaction in watching the little shreds of paper curl into kindling before my eyes. Just try not to put your fingers in it, or get your hair caught!"

Well... the job was easy enough, though Carmen wondered if it was common practice to dispose of such large quantities of paperwork. While it did seem more than a little shady, she decided to play the good intern and held back the questions in the back of her throat.

"Good, well, just get through what you can, I find it surprisingly time consuming. I'll be back in no time, no doubt ready for a cuppa when I return. Have fun."

With that, she was gone. The woman had a dry sense of humour, Carmen thought. Now she was alone in the office, she took to Rose's desk and let the shredding begin. It as a slow, monotonous task that she could run through on autopilot. Her body moved by itself, while her thoughts began to wander. She wondered when her boss arrived to work today, how long she had been sat on that exercise bike before taking her shower. The woman was definitely fitter than Carmen, she thought, so she probably took her workouts more seriously. Carmen swallowed drily and realised how thirsty she had gotten, lowering a sheet of paper into the shredder before sluggishly getting out of the chair and heading to the water cooler.

Ice cold water poured into her plastic cup, but all Carmen could think about was, once again, her boss's heady aroma. She was closer to the corner now, that private gym which carried Rose's strong scent. What did that mean? It's strongest where she just worked out and weakest after a shower, so does that mean... is it a natural smell? Carmen practically watched her boss get ready after her shower, but curiously enough never saw the woman apply any sort of aftershave or perfume. She had considered the possibility of it being an incense of some sort, but a quick glance around the office instantly dismissed the theory. So was it natural?

Carmen had not noticed herself drift closer to the private gym, to the freshly used exercise bike. She looked a lot more like the girl on her ID card now, staring at the shiny bike seat like it held all the answers to the questions that only grew. Grew. Grew's scent had a sway over her, like a chemical weapon designed to confuse her, mystify her. The woman had made an offhand joke about pheromones during their interview, the word just kept growing in Carmen's mind, the puzzled intern unable to shake it. Like a strong scent, it just stuck.

She told herself that this was just a silly delusion, a childish distraction meant to give her a break from the mind-numbing monotony of her morning task, but still, Carmen drew closer to the exercise bike. With one hand, Carmen took a much-needed sip of the cool water she had just poured, while the other tentatively traced over the bike seat. Warm.

Closer and closer she drew, like the seat was a trap and she its ensnared prey. Every inch closer gave her thicker breaths of Rose. It became less harsh the more she breathed in, her nose no longer scrunched at the strength of each inhale. She knew what she was doing was weird, wrong, intrusive... but the curiosity of what she would find at the base of that seat had her on rails. She was at the mercy of those rails, of where they chose to take her. Her nose was going to touch the shiny material and Carmen was powerless to stop it, what came after was impossible to know. Unimportant at this time.

A loud knock sounded against the door behind her and Carmen instantly snapped out of her tunnel visioned state, jumping up from her hunched posture and spilling the cup of water down her blouse and skirt. "Shit... uh, I mean. Come in?"

Mrs. Grew entered her office, heels clacking against the hardwood flooring as they demanded Carmen's attention. The intern stood up straight and stepped away from the gym awkwardly, tracing her eyes back up her boss's legs accidentally before guiltily making eye contact.

"Carmen, how have you been getting on?" Rose smiled effortlessly, pretending not to notice anything strange about her subordinate's location or state. Carmen was grateful, ice-cold water dripping down the front of her clothes and her cheeks burning with embarrassment. What had gotten into her? Was she trying to lose this job on the first day?

"I ah..." The intern took a breath, cleared her throat and then continued. "I'm um, I'm doing well. Did you forget something, ma'am?"

Rose laughed, walking past Carmen and around her desk, wafting that familiar scent that had distracted Carmen once again. "Again with that? No need for such formalities, silly, I'm your boss not your commanding officer."

Carmen nodded submissively, her boss was right. Since when was she so fixated on honorifics anyway? She had common courtesy but was never usually this decorous.