Late Night( Tristeza/Silver)

[Silvereye]

She was so tired right now. It was nearly one in the morning and Jennifer had at least another hour before she could call it a night and leave. But she had to get these papers done. It was important, very important. She'd been promoted to executive to her branch and as such had to make sure to oversee the direction her fellow workers went through, as well as meeting up with bosses, and not to mention the hounds of works she had to do. The blond had two different jobs, the first of which she'd already done. It was a job as a cook at a famous restaurant, but she only took it because she loved cooking and got bored when she finished off her college work and from her other job and had nothing to do. Sure, she was overworking herself, but that was what she'd done her whole life.


..Well not all of her life. Not during her partying years anyways. Which was from thirteen to eighteen, and so she'd only spent the last two years sober. What had caused her partying lifestyle was the death of her older brother, Aeden.
She often woke up sobbing from nightmares about him. The two of them were very close, and he often took her out for rides, to the mall, on her motorcycle, anywhere she wanted. He wasn't ashamed that his little sister followed him everywhere. She in fact was his little weasel and he was her "Zorro." She loved him so much and she misses him a hell of a whole lot.Even though he died 7 years ago it still doesn't make things easier. Often times when she has nightmares or is reminded of him she will go into her room and cry.She does visit his grave and talks to him there. She's learned to live with it and has to be strong for her younger sister now that she's the only one left, but the memory of him is still very hard for her to talk about. She believes in her heart he was killed because he was gay. And the fact that that happened infuriated her to no end.

She had to take care of her younger sister Kate too, being the oldest now. Her parents took care of her, but they often times had to leave her with Jennifer because they had business to attend to, being wealthy and all. Not that Jen minded. She loved her little sister very much, and the two were close.

Jen sighed again,looking up. The sky was completely pitch black from the window in her 5th story office and looked back at the door. Silent. Good. With a shrug she continued to work,her eyes narrowing as she concentrated, drinking the fourth cup of coffee she'd made to keep herself awake.

 

[Tristeza]

Jen wasn't the only one staying late that night. Outside her office, in the mini jungle of cubicles and tables, another woman furiously mashed her keyboard, the screen reflected on her glasses as she peered into the powerpoint. The numbers had changed, the client demanded more things, and who paid the bill? Maria. The 24 year old leaned back into her chair, mindless doing and undoing a small braid with her light brown hair. A frown twisted the freckles on her pale cheeks, mulling over how to rephrase something to make it more appealing to the customer. She rubbed her blue eyes, quickly reddening due to staring for so long at the computer. "Bloody hell... Oh, I'll just..." She tilted her head to the side, a few of her chin long curls falling on her eyes.

Maria hadn't always been dressed up as fancy, all executive with the white shirt, gray skirt and sheer black stockings. She'd been born in a poor family, in Portugal, and moved along with them to England in search of a better life, at the tender age of 4. There wasn't much she remembered from her home country, except the language her parents spoke at home. It was in England that she came to find her true calling, music. Jazz music. Singing was her passion. Her parents disaproved though, and she was always forced to spend a more or less solitary life. While in some places it was accpetable, to her conservative parents Maria would always be some sort of a blight, compared to her brothers. After all, what normal person was like... that? With two genders? And she wanted to be a singer? What if everyone found out? It'd be their disgrace!!

The moment Maria finished college, she was out of there. A flight to the US later, and she was home, baby! No more chastizing her, no more shame, just music! ... Well, it'd have been nice if it was like that. But it'd turn into a year or so, and if the girl had still clinged to her dream, she'd have starved by now. The accountant degree did come in handy, in the end, getting her this job when she arrived. At first it was half heartedly, but a few months later and she'd fully settled in. It wasn't so bad. If only the client didn't change his mind like that. Urgh. And as far as her futa state went... well, it gave her problems some time. With the skirts and all. But at least no one bothered her because of it.

Half an hour later, and Maria was done, sighing happily. She got up, stretching herself as a reward for a job well done, and her baby blue eyes wandered to the door. There was light underneath it. Jennifer was still here? Maria sighed, that girl would work herself to death if this went on. She'd been there for more time than Maria, and had recently climbed up another step of the ladder, but being boss didn't mean a coworker wouldn't care. Something had to change. Crossing the hallways, Maria walked up to her office and knocked on the door softly, opening it a little and peeking in. "Jen?"

 

[Silvereye]

"Gawd, fuckin' idiot. Put the wrong papers in the wrong folder. Can't believe him." Jen muttered, having to reshuffle the papers she oh so carefully put together. Jen herself was Scottish American, having been born in Scotland but leaving the country when she was six. Her accent was mostly gone now, save when she got really angry or drunk and slurred. Difference was, even though she had adapted to being American for over 16 years, she still wrote certain words such as color as "colour" and disliked the Metric system America had. Made no sense to her really, but she'd learned it and used it in case anyone else couldn't understand. The majority couldn't anyways.

Jen took another swig of her vanilla peppermint flavored coffee and sighed herself,letting out a yawn. At the rate she was at she'd have to work until 5 in the morning. Not that she hadn't before, but it meant no sleep, yay. She was running on just 5 hours,a record for her in a while. The twenty two year old let out an aggravated growl and let out a shuddering yawn, her own cobalt blue eyes red rimmed. She swept her long blond hair out of her face and bit her lip,thinking.

After a few moments she finally finished the whole fiasco with the papers deal and moved on to adding up a few things and writing a report for her bosses. She herself was the boss, and it felt good to be so, but she didn't abuse her power.She'd use it if it was necessary, but Jennifer liked to think herself a fair boss, one that treated her fellow coworkers kindly, and she did. She wasn't about to go corrupt or anything like that. No.

After a while she heard the door open and saw one of her coworkers come in. She smiled tiredly and yawned, rubbing her eyes once again."Oh,hey Maria. Still up huh? I've been doing this since the early morning." She wouldn't say she was tired though her body and facial expressions showed it which she tried to mask. The blond was such a busy workaholic and was so determined to get her work done that she'd often skip eating and forgo sleep just so she could get everything done.

She still didn't feel like everything was done and let out another yawn, nearly knocking her coffee over. "Thank God for caffeine. I'm probably going to be up till near six in the morning writing papers. Yay." That meant she'd be the only one in the building most likely and while she was used to it, sometimes it was really lonely. When people would be coming in for work she'd be leaving at times, heading off to get a good amount of sleep before she went to school and finished up there, and went to her second job. She looked at the other girl, smiled, and looked back down at her work, continuing to write.

 

[Tristeza]

The older woman walked in, brow raised. "I believe anyone would be able to see that... from around the block." Maria had seen other executives on the same scale as Jen, and none of them worked half as much. It was insane! And absolutely unhealthy. A brow perked at the mention of coffee, giving it a brief glance. Coffee. Urgh. There are probably vry few people who could go on till late without coffee, and one of them was Maria. It was 'the drink from hell', as she had once put it. Scratched off her list. Permanently. "And I bet you've drunk so much coffee you have enough energy to power an entire city..." Maria watched the other girl silently as she returned to work, sighing deeply. There really seemed to be no hope... Was she compensating for something? It did seem like it sometimes...

"Well, at least I hope those are really important papers that absolutely can't wait for tomorrow." Maria mused, glancing over to what Jen was writting. If they weren't... Mmmmh... and if they were? Mmmmh... no, she still wouldn't care. Tonight she'd take Jen out, and by force if need be! Not that she'd mind taking Jen by forc- 'Damn, stop it, Maria!' the brunette thought, blushing briefly. Another cause of discord back home was that Maria seemed to be attracted to the 'wrong' side of the table... not that there was a right or wrong with her, her parents thought. In fact, that had been the only reason Maria hadn't been sent to a convent. A nun like her? It would be hell unleashed! Still, it had been a thought Maria had entertained a number of times. If anything, she could at least take Jen out for a drink, right? "... They can... wait for tomorrow, right?"

 

[Silvereye]

"Yeah yeah, I know." She said, looking towards the other woman and smiling softly. She rubbed her eyes. She wasn't big on coffee herself, didn't even like the taste, well except for this peppermint flavored one, which wasn't half bad. No, she only drank it for the caffeine, and if she'd had soda she'd probably be guzzling that down too. Sure, she'd end up having to go to the bathroom a lot, but it'd at least keep her up. Jen stretched and chuckled dryly. "I could probably power the entire country with how much I move around." She said and smirked, her head tilting to the side as she watched the other girl. The girl brushed her long golden hair out of her face again and began writing, crossing out things and mumbling underneath her breath.

"I need to speak to Keith about his complacency. It's really going to cost him his job if he keeps this up. We've got a deadline due in a few weeks, I can't have slackers on the team." She muttered to herself and checked the clock. One-ten. Goodie, four more hours to go. "No no, these HAVE to get done tonight. If I don't, I'll end up working on something else and forgetting about them. And I've never forgotten anything before. I gotta keep going, even if it kills me. Didn't get this job for nothing." She put in,leaning back and sighing. God, what she'd do for a drink right now..no. She'd sworn herself off the alcohol after her sister got hurt, and she wasn't about to change that for anything. Well, a little drink wouldn't be bad would it? "Stop it Jen.." She muttered out loud with a heaving sigh,scratching more words on those papers.

 

[Tristeza]

"I agree love, you most certainly didn't get the job out of the blue, but I've been one of the last to leave lately, and you are ALWAYS staying behind, until Lord knows when! Believe me, it won't be for leaving before midnight that anyone will think less of you, and it's..." Her eyes glanced at her own watch, sighing lightly at the time. "... already one hour or so past that deadline." In a quite bold move, Maria's pale hand moved to snatch the pen out of Jen's grasp, taking a post-it along the way. "Here, I'll make sure you don't forget about this little stack." The scribble read roughly 'Don't forget these!!!' and an arrow pointing down to the papers as soon as Maria stuck it on the computer screen. "There. And now you're going to get off that chair, get your stuff, and tell me where you'd like to go to relax a little. Sound good?" For once, the one with the boss posture was the employee, arms crossed, leaning against the desk, with the face of someone who wouldn't take a no for an answer.

 

[Silvereye]

"I have to get these done, they NEED to be done." The blond yawned heavily once again and stretched, letting out a short whine of protest as her pen was taken away."Hey, I was using that." She grumbled, leaning back and yawning. The other didn't understand. She HAD to work. If she didn't work, she grew stir crazy and bored. "So what if I miss a few hours of sleep? I have to get everything done because the idiots here can't seem to work right. And we have a big project that needs to get done in a few weeks, and I have a meeting that I have to go to, and I have to present to my boss..ughh." She let her head hit the door and cocked up an eyebrow at the other. "I don't want to relax. I want to work. As soon as I can get everything done, then I can relax and go to sleep for a few hours, then go to school, and then to my second job." She shrugged her shoulders and grabbed another pen from her pocket,again beginning to write a few things down."You should be going home yourself Maria. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

 

[Tristeza]

Maria sighed deeply, very very deeply. Jen was more than a handful, and it sure seemed impossible to stirr her from her workaholic resolution. It seemed like she was hellbent on doing everything the others didn't do herself - which was just crazy. And impossible. She moved behind the other girl, softly placing her hands on Jen's shoulders, slowly rubbing them. It was the least she could do, really. Even if she said no afterwards, it'd always give her a little more energy to carry on. "At least let me help you then. It's not like I have anyone to return to at home, and two heads work faster than one. And then we can go for a drink, yes?" She said the last part half joking, not really expecting Jen to accept it.

 

[Silvereye]

Jennifer closed her eyes and let out a little groan,relaxing underneath the other's touch. She opened her blue eyes again and looked up."Okay.If you want to.Just so you know the work I have to do is really frustrating." She put in and began scratching some things out, letting out a low growl. "I don't usually drink anymore because I get stupid drunk, but I suppose I could have one beer." She put in softly and shrugged her shoulders then rubbed her eyes. "So tired..." She put in and yawned."This has to get done though; I have to do this.No one else on the damn team ever bothers to check over their material and I have to do it.Sick of babying them." She grumbled,pulling out her cell and checking the messages.

 

[Tristeza]

Part of the girl just wanted to squee right then and there. Not only could she help, Jen had accept to go out too! There wasn't anything else Maria could ask for that moment. "That's the spirit!" Maria grinned to her boss, scurrying out brieflly to get a chair, setting it by the blonde's side. "You shouldn't have to put up with it, it's part of everyone's job to make sure everything's straightened out." When she came back, Maria noticed the younger girl checking her cellphone. "Anything new?" Maria asked casually as she grabbed part of the stack for herself, the pen she'd previously snatched from Jennifer in her hand, ready to leave her mark.

 

[Silvereye]

"Yeah but I have to. I think Keith is going to be pink slipped soon. I'm so sick of his damned carelessness." She growled and yawned widely,rubbing her eyes and then her face. "Ugh, shouldn't have had all those coffees, my stomach is paying for it." "No, it's just my boyfriend. He's so worrisome and neurotic.." Jen sighed and leaned back, biting her lip. Will loves messaging me every day, all day, it's aggravating, you know?" She put in softly and leaned back."Here, fill out these papers, that'd be a big help to me." She put in absentmindedly,smiling a little.