Staccato Heart

Miyo hasn’t been able to be herself for about a year now. She thought about this frequently. She thought about how much her office job had been stressing her out- sucking all the creativity out of her system over the months, stealing her thoughts, and somehow also the reason she could eat. But was her shitty apartment and microwavable dinners really worth her self expression? But her, what some called pathetic way of living, wasn’t the only thing she so desperately clinged on to. She showed up to her boring day job for her band. What little energy she had at the end of the week, she put into her musical career. She loved it. It was her calling to create- stick it to the man, (and anyone else who called her life- her living, breathing dream, a hobby.) Some days, her music was her only source of motivation.

Today was one of those days. She stared at her reflection in the mirror hung on the bathroom wall and spit the minty toothpaste that had been in her mouth down the sink.

Fuck, I’m a mess. How is anyone supposed to take me seriously when I look like this?

But there wasn’t even time to conceal her eye bags that looked as if they were growing darker and darker every day, let alone stress before she had even got to work. She threw her short back hair into a messy ponytail as she grabbed her phone and purse, heading out the door into the bustling, hectic city. She border-line jogged to the bus station, barely making it on time.

Everyday it was the same time, same seat, same people-

Same people…

Miyo’s tired eyes fixated on someone- a woman, (she only looked a few years older than Miyo herself,) sitting across from her, a few seats down. She stood out like a sore thumb. She had a vibrant, green shag- straight out of a 2000s magazine. Her skin was pale- milky, and she was smiling at something on her phone. Sharp teeth. Miyo’s eyes trailed down to what this girl was wearing and to her surprise it looked very similar to what she had on.

There was no way. Had the boss hired someone new? She couldn’t work there- not with the dyed hair.

Right?

Miyo didn’t really think much of it, or entertain the idea of working with a girl like that much, until she spotted a hand waving at her.

That hand belonged to the green-haired girl whose facial expression was questioning- playful, like she was trying to catch Miyo’s attention. She must have been staring at her.

Shit, shit shit. How embarrassing.

Face flushed, she mouthed the word “sorry.” Before the other girl could respond the bus came to a stop and a crowd of people rushed to the exit doors. Miyo followed and lost sight of that damn, green-haired woman.

*

The lights in the office, one of the many things Miyo hated about the place, were absolutely horrendous. Fluorescent and bright, they were in almost every room. They hurt your brain and highlighted every flaw on your face.

The lighting was almost, almost, as terrible as the boss. He was a middle aged man- round and balding- Miyo hated speaking to him. He was one of those people who was always angry- always loud- like someone from his past had left a bad taste on his tongue and now he just treated everyone poorly.

Or maybe, he was just a dick.

He was up her ass, for sure. Was it well deserved, probably. Miyo had been slacking lately- wasn’t getting as much work done as she should have been. She’d been making up various excuses. Sometimes, they worked- the boss almost feeling sorry for her, but Miyo could tell he had been losing his patience.

She was sat at her cubicle, powering on her laptop when she heard a familiar, ear piercing voice echoing from a room nearby.

“Miyo!” the boss spoke loud- projecting his words with much more volume than needed. Miyo turned over her shoulder and faced the man behind her.

“Yes, Mr. Flint?”

“Come here. Step into this room. I have a task I need you to complete.”

Miyo obliged.

Was he trying to make her suffer? She already had so much work to do and so little energy. He could have asked anyone else to complete this task- someone on top of things. Why her? She mentally prepared herself for whatever horrible stack of papers was awaiting for her inside the room, but when she entered…

It was the green haired chick from earlier!

She had a smug look on her face. Miyo knew she recognized her from the bus.

Mr. Fint closed the door to the small space.

“Miyo, are you keeping up with your work?”

“Mhm.” She nodded her head. Lies.

“You look anxious. Are you afraid I’m going to give you more? That you won’t be able to keep up?”

“No, sir.” The tone in his voice- Miyo hated it. He held some kind of power over her, or so, that’s what it felt like at times. That’s what this was- one big power trip! But she had to follow his orders. She needed this job.

“Then you should have no trouble completing this task.”

Before responding, Miyo’s gaze shifted back and forth between the girl and the boss and something suddenly clicked.

He was trying to get her fired! He just needed a better reason- a reason he was carefully trying to create. Any other employee must be able to handle whatever he was about to throw at her- but Miyo, he knew, would struggle. All her work wouldn’t get done and then he would have a real reason to fire her. He was cornering her- trapping her- putting her in a position where she would surely break.

Bastard.

Or maybe it was just for fun, to mess with her- torture her before he let her go.

Whatever the case, this couldn’t be good.

“This is our new employee, Jade.”

Jade. It suited her, really.

“She’s going to be working in the same department as you, and you’re going to be her mentor.”

Jade looked down at her with a smirk.

Oh, god.

“Sir, I-”

“You, what. You can’t handle it? Too much for you?” Jade had stopped smiling. “I know you’ve been slacking, and I’ve given you so much breathing room. I’ve pushed back deadlines, I’ve let you work late, and you’ve done nothing but fail to satisfy the company’s needs.” Though his voice was low- calm- he spat the words out, venom on his tongue.

“Sir, I’ve been busy! I have things going on!” Miyo huffed, desperately trying to explain.

Jade was just standing there. Unsure of what to say, and through she was visibly uncomfortable, her cool, cocky demeanor never once faltered.

“Miyo,” Mr. Flint continued, voice stern. “If you fail to balance teaching Jade and getting your work done, I have no choice but to fire you.”

There it was.

“I’ve already been so kind and understanding, so I don’t want to hear it. Do what you’re told and there will be no problem.”

Miyo opened her mouth to speak, but stopped herself. What was there to say? She could handle this! All she had to do was teach a few things to this new girl and she could keep her job! The office job itself wasn’t very complicated. This couldn’t be that hard.

Mr. Flint stared at her intently. She still didn’t understand how someone so… vibrant could, or would want to work here- a place so dull. He probably hired her because she was pretty. Gross.

Miyo stood up a little taller. “I’ll get it done,” Her tone was much more confident than before. Jade looked up from the floor. “What do you want me to teach her?”

And though this confidence was fake, merely a coping mechanism, the boss looked surprised.

“Show her around the office and teach her how to use the copy machine.”

Miyo nodded and Mr. Flint showed the two girls to the door. As soon as they stepped out they were met with… eyes. Most of the employees were nosy. Nothing new ever happened. They all took a quick glance at the pair, at the green hair, at Jade, and then went on with what they had been doing before. Miyo sighed and the two began to walk- headed towards the copy machine.

Jade cleared her throat. “So… you’ve been slacking, huh?” Her tone was teasing. She looked down at Miyo expectedly, waiting for some kind of answer to her rhetorical question.

Miyo didn’t give her one. She didn’t want to deal with any more bullshit. She had just got here and already wanted to go home.

When they got to the machine the realization hit Miyo. She didn’t even know much about it herself. How was she going to teach Jade how to use it?

“Uhm…” Miyo stood there staring at the large, beige, confusing, contraption of a box. You could tell it was an older model- she supposed the company couldn’t afford a newer one, or maybe it hadn’t been a priority of theirs.

Jade leaned against the thing, crossing her arms.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know how to work it… is this why you’re getting fired?” She tilted her head, a shit-eating grin plastered across her face.

Adrenaline suddenly began to build up inside Miyo. Her “ignore everyone and everything” plan quickly abandoned.

“I’m not getting fired! And o-of course I know how to work it.”

“Is that why you’re staring at it like you’ve never even seen it before?” Jade giggled at her own remark.

Miyo’s cheeks went hot. She gently bit on the fingernail of her thumb.

“Sh-shut up.” Her voice was just above a whisper. She avoided eye contact.

“You’re so easily flustered!” Jade laughed and her voice dropped a pitch. “Oh, this is gonna be fun.”

“Wh-what do you mean ‘this is gonna be…’”

Jade walked in front of Miyo and towards the intimidating device. She lifted the lid, grabbed a nearby paper and placed it face down on the glass.

Miyo watched carefully as she did so. Every movement she made looked according to a plan- confident and purposeful. It was only now when Miyo could really examine her. She was wearing a form-fitting, navy blue blazer- highlighting her curves, which Miyo couldn’t help but appreciate. Her figure was lean but slightly muscular. She wasn’t significantly taller than Miyo, but there was a slight height difference.

Miyo felt small, as she often did. Being a nineteen year old working in a big city wasn’t exactly easy, but this felt… different.

Jade proudly flipped through the copies she had just printed, then looked up from the papers, and raised an eyebrow at Miyo.

“If you already know what you’re doing, why do you need me?”

“I would’ve pretended like I had no clue if you knew how to teach.”

The audacity!

“C-com on. I still need to show you around the office.”

“Lead the way, boss.”

Jade followed Miyo down a hall, trailing slightly behind the younger woman.

Miyo tried her best to sound professional- maybe it was because she wanted to make up for her lack of knowledge earlier- or maybe it was out of some subconscious desire to impress Jade- she didn’t know. She folded her arms across her chest and pointed to a nearby room.

“Okay… so, over here’s the boss’s office. I’ve never been in there, and I don’t want to ever… go in there. And over here’s the break room. We get a thirty minute’s for lunch and-”

Jade leaned in close towards Miyo, her chin hovering just above her shoulder- green hair tickling her neck. “Is the coffee here any good?” The words were spoken directly into Miyo’s ear.

She jumped a little- face flushing.

“I- Uh, yeah. It’s just regular coffee.”

Jade backed up a bit, trailing behind like before.

“Well, I’m gonna need a lot of it to survive this place. Having you here as my little tour guide really helps though. I can’t imagine what I’d do without you,” Jade teased in a fake tone of admiration.

“I’m just doing my job.” The two stopped for a moment. “Also, the boss is really strict on dress codes. No visible tattoos or…” She stared up at Jade’s neon green hair. “Well, I don’t know how you got away with that.”

“What, you don’t like my signature green hair? If I looked like everyone else here you wouldn’t have been staring at me on the bus this morning!”

Miyo was now blushing furiously. “I was not staring at you! I was merely zoning out in your direction.”

“Whatever you say, love.”

Love?!

Miyo began moving down the hall once again- jaw clenched and extremely flustered. She continued pointing out different rooms and their purpose, but Jade wasn’t looking at any of them. Her gaze was solely fixated on Miyo.

“This is fun,” Miyo heard Jade say from behind her.

“How is this fun?”

“I donno. This place is entertaining. I like it.”

“Why… How come… How come you’re so relaxed?”

The two had stopped walking once again. They turned a corner at the end of the hall. Jade had backed Miyo against the wall- her back pressed against the hard surface- the two dangerously close.

Her voice was low and teasing. “Relaxed? What, are you stressed? Do you need to blow off some steam?”

“I- Can you take this seriously…?” Miyo’s voice had gone weak as well as her knees and her heart was beating way too fast.

Jade snorted. “You’re beet red.”

“...”

Miyo looked up at jade, whose forearm was now resting above her head.

Jade was towering over her- like fully!

Holy fuck.

Jade turned her head away from Miyo to face the door to a room across from where they were standing.

“What’s this room?”

“Supply closet…”

“Supply closet? Hm. Noted.”

Pervert.

Jade slowly reverted back to where she had been standing before and urged Miyo to continue the tour like nothing had happened.

“Um…” Miyo was at a loss of words.

Honestly, could this day get any weirder?

“Th-thats it. We should… head back. Do you know where your cubicle is?”

“Yes,” Jade answered, a bit too quickly.

Miyo and Jade re-entered the main room. Miyo walked over to her desk to find papers- loads of them- more work she had to complete. The boss must have put them there. With more work and less time to complete it, Miyo began to stress.

What day was it again?

It was Thursday! She had time. Any work that she hadn’t finished she could complete over the weekend.

What was this weekend? Didn’t she have…

She had a show this weekend!

Her band was playing at some club downtown. She wouldn’t have time too-

“You good?” Jade snapped Miyo out of her thoughts.

“Yeah… yeah. Just… a lot of work, you know?”

“Does Mr. Lint hate you or something?”

“Yes, I’m pretty sure Mr. Flint does hate me, but it’s fine. I can do this.”

“Mhm.” Jade looked at the papers, then at Miyo.

“So, what did you have planned for me tomorrow?” Jade sat down at the desk in the cubicle next to hers. Miyo glanced over at the name tag there.

“Jade”

Great.

“I don’t know. I don’t have a ‘plan’”

“Well, I, personally, think you did such a good job for me today- showing me around, answering my questions- so much so that I don’t need a mentor anymore.”

“Wha- I mean, okay. If the boss is cool with that.” Miyo’s heart fluttered at Jade’s words. The way they rolled off her tongue, the way every sentence sounded rehearsed in the best way- all of it- it all made her lose her composer.

She couldn’t help but think about her on the ride back home. Luckily, Jade wasn’t on the bus with her. She mentioned something about needing to stop by the bank after work.

As soon as she arrived back at her apartment she collapsed on her sofa. She exhaled loudly and looked to her left. Her cat, Kiki, was staring at her with an intense glare. Its green eyes reminded her of Jade… They were almost the same color as her-

What was she doing?! Why was she still thinking about her?! It’s not like she was in love with her! It was just one of those things… Just another task she had to complete- another obstacle- something there to distract her from her goals.

It was the universe testing her.

that's all it was,

right?