Page 5 of Game Over

Good morning Paul,

Per the previous email regarding the meeting date and time, you will see a confirmation of that information listed. I have also attached a copy of the responses where the meeting was accepted by you, and marked on your calendar automatically by the system when done. Please make sure you are in attendance.

Have a wonderful day,

Allie Roberts

Manager at Prestige Consultants

Minimizing my email, I set to work reviewing the PowerPoint I had prepared for our new hires and made sure everything was in order. Every time I had to speak in front of a crowd, I still got incredibly anxious, but for some reason, I still loved it. It gave me a sense of accomplishment at the end.

Glancing at the clock, I realized I had thirty minutes left until the meeting started. I gathered up my laptop, planner, and pens, and made my way to the conference room. I wanted to make sure everything was pulled up correctly, ready to go as soon as it was time to start. After setting everything up and then triple-checking it—again—I finally sat down with ten minutes to spare and took a few deep, calming breaths to rein in my nerves.

Thankfully, everyone showed up on time for the meeting, and it went off without a hitch. Our group seemed excited to be here, and so far, no one has had questions. I was thoroughly surprised when Paul and his buddies even sat silently and didn’t make a fuss.

Once we wrapped up, Rachel and I got lunch on time with no disasters, which is always a plus. Luckily, we didn’t have to wait in a huge line either.

Not wanting to be in a large group, we wandered back to our desk and huddled together at hers to eat while we quietly played music and talked until we needed to get back to work.

“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me!” I half-grunted and half-whispered in frustration. After getting back from lunch, I tried logging back into my laptop but kept getting weird error messages. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad this didn’t happen this morning, but why did it have to happen at all?

“What’s wrong?” Rachel asked as she walked over

“This stupid laptop. That’s what’s wrong. It kept messing up yesterday, and now it’s doing it again today.”

“Yeah, it seems to really be putting you through it. Has anyone from IT looked at it at all yet?”

“No, not yet, they were so busy yesterday they didn’t get a chance to come by. I rebooted it and did anything I could think to do, and it was fine for a little bit, but I guess I’m gonna have to have them come look or go down to them.”

“Dang, I’m sorry, girl. I know how annoying that can be. Anything I can do?”

“Ugh, no, it’s just frustrating. I’m gonna go call them real quick to get a ticket started.”

After waiting for twenty minutes, I finally got through to someone with our IT department, who assured me someone would be up shortly to look at the laptop. She apologized for the delay, but they had been understaffed and just hired someone, so they’re trying to catch up now. While I waited, I rolled my chair into Rachel's cubicle, and we sat and watched funny animal videos together.

“Um, excuse me, ladies. Sorry to bother you. I’m looking for Allie Roberts? I was told there seem to be some system issues needing to be looked at.” A warm tenor voice asked from behind us.

“Oh, yes, hi. That would be—” I started to say as I turned around and stood up. Any words I had to say went right out the window as I came face-to-face with the most handsome man I’d ever seen. He was dressed in black slacks that seemed to form to his legs, and a crisp white button-up with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and god, those forearms.

His hair was neatly styled with some of the curls flopping over his forehead and onto his black rimmed glasses. Rachel shoved my leg, and I shook my head to get me out of the daze I was in. He slowly took me in from head to toe, and I watched as Adam's apple bobbed while he swallowed and slowly pushed his glasses up his nose. Why was that so hot? I continued to stare into his ocean blue eyes at a loss for words.

“Uh, I’m gonna go make some copies of this really quick. You needed those copies still, right, Allie? Be right back!” Rachel said as she got up, slightly pushing me forward as she did, and headed toward the break room, definitely not where the printers were. I shot daggers at her back as she walked off. The traitor left me all alone. If looks could kill, she’d be down and out.

He finally broke our stare off, and a river of words started to flow. “Hi, sorry. I’m Spencer. You’re Allie? You need the laptop looked at. What seems to be wrong? Don’t you worry, we’ll get you back up in no time.”

I let out a huff and threw my hands up. “I don’t really know, to be honest. I keep getting error messages, and it won’t stay connected. I tried rebooting it, but it only helped for half a day.” I tried to remain calm so my voice would come out smooth and collected, but on the inside, my stomach was in knots. How did I handle this? I all but openly gawked at this man at the gym, and just now too. Now I find out he works here? Do I bring it up or say nothing? God, I didn’t know what to do.

“Okay, let me um, let me take a look. Do you mind if I take a seat?” He asked while gesturing to my desk.

“Yes, yes, absolutely. Sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me! Here, let me move some of this out of the way.” I started to move my water and notebooks—somehow managing to not drop anything—so he had more room to work. “Okay, there we go! Sorry, I try to stay organized, but sometimes it doesn’t happen. I feel like no matter what, I’m perpetually an organized mess.” I laughed nervously and stepped out of his way. As I moved, I took in a deep breath, accidentally inhaling his cologne as I did, and my god, he smelled absolutely delicious.

“That’s okay, totally understand that. Alright, let me take a look here so we can get you back up and running.”

While he clicked around on the computer, I pulled my phone out and texted Emma. I didn’t know if she would respond since she was in the middle of a shift, but I desperately needed her to.

Allie: You’re never going to believe who’s working on my laptop at work right now

Em: Hmm is it someone famous?