Smart Money

Brooks and Bunker Office Supply was housed in a perfectly normal building at the end of a perfectly normal street. Like clockwork, every morning its parking lot slowly filled with midsized, nondescript sedans. From out of those sedans sober faced, travel coffee cup armed workers dutifully marched up the perfectly regular sidewalk and through the perfectly regular heavy glass doors. 

Beyond the glass doors, laid beige carpet and white walls in a narrow hallway that led past a reception desk and into a large room full of rows of cubicles. Dull prints of seascapes lined the walls. Soon, smooth jazz on a loop would float through the speakers in the ceiling.  

A job at Brooks and Bunker was perfectly regular. Perfectly, and absolutely, boring. 

At precisely ten minutes to nine, Tina Moreno pushed through the front door and marched toward her desk. Pink, sea shell shaped earrings swung at her ears as she walked. Her oversized bag thumped loudly where she dropped it on her desk. 

As the receptionist, Tina enjoyed the closest seat to the water cooler and the prime view of the entire office. In an utterly beige and dull black world, she was the one spot of color. Her eyes swept over her immaculate desk quickly. She straightened her bright purple mouse pad and flicked an invisible speck of dust from her matching stapler. Lined up neatly on the corner of her desk, where only she could see them, were doily shaped post it notes with neatly written names and dates. 

Finding any kind of entertainment in an excruciatingly dull situation is a universal and ancient human experience. Cavemen drew on walls, Tina took bets. 

Her father, Jim Moreno, was a loud man, with large hands. He was also the most prevalent bookmaker in South Boston. Tina had learned at his knee all her childhood. It was only natural for her to turn a little gossip about a budding office romance into a money making opportunity.  

Nancy from accounting and Rose from customer service were the unsuspecting objects of that opportunity for months now and that afternoon was believed to be, by at least three- no four- of their coworkers, the day they would finally take the step past friendship. 

As far as office romances went, theirs was fairly par for the course, in Tina’s opinion. Sure, the same sex aspect was a bit different than what one would see in the movies but it wasn’t 1978 anymore. Only Bob seemed to think it was incredibly unlikely and he was older than the building. 

The pair had been working at the company for a little under a year. Tina was only 30 but had started working for the company as a part time employee in college, so she’d seen dozens of people come and go. Betting on coworkers falling in (or out) of love was an old game for her. People were easy to read, especially when they didn’t realize they were being watched. Rose and Nancy? They were practically magnetized toward each other. 

Tina headed into the kitchen and grabbed a mug. She popped a kcup in the machine and leaned against the counter as it brewed. Mentally, she thought over the situation.

The betting was pool based- one month, pick a day, place your bet. Tina had been considering February purely for the Valentine’s Day factor. But, finding out Nancy’s birthday was on the 16th was what really sealed the deal. It was a simple matter to spread the word that bets were being accepted. 

Mark, who had seen Rose and Nancy sitting a little closer than necessary during their lunch break the week before figured it couldn’t take much longer and was the first to pick the 14th.

The next had been Rebecca. A month before, she had forgotten her phone in her desk drawer at the end of the day. She’d run back in to grab it and found the pair chatting aimlessly in Rose’s cubicle.

 No one stays past 5:15 for fun, she’d reasoned, no one stays past 5 for anything. 

Jim and Dana had picked the date more randomly but they’d been believers for longer than the rest. They had appeared at Tina’s desk as a pair, trying and failing to seem nonchalant.

They walk out to their cars together now. Dana had whispered. Jim had nodded along so vigorously , Tina remembered being worried for his neck. Plus, Jim saw them giggling over something on Rose’s phone. Rose! Giggling! 

Gary, the operations manager, had run more than a handful of meetings during which the women had spent more time glancing at each other and away than listening to a single word he said. He figured there was no way they were holding out much longer. 

People that look at each other that way don’t make it through Valentine’s Day without romance, he’d announced, slapping a 50 on her desk, they just don’t.

Tina took her coffee back to her desk and sat with a sigh. People were trickling in, giving her subdued smiles as they passed her on the way to the kitchen. She fired up her computer and started her daily routine of responding to emails. She was nearly through them all when she glanced up and noticed none other but Rose and Nancy themselves at the water cooler. 

“That top is so nice.” Nancy leaned against the wall. Very nonchalant. Obviously not flirting in any way. “It makes your eyes look so blue.”

Rose leaned forward, widening her eyes and giggling. Another brilliant display of non flirtatious behavior. 

Tim, from accounts receivable, reached around the women to grab a cup of his own. He frowned thoughtfully when they didn’t even seem to notice him. He slid a twenty dollar bill across Tina’s desk as he passed. 

Around noon, the office woke from its elevator induced slumber with a flurry of movement. Lunch bags were retrieved and brought to cubicles. The microwave whirled and beeped.

“We’ll be back in a bit.” 

Tina glanced up from her work and blinked at Rose and Nancy, stood at her desk. “Going for lunch?”

They nodded in unison and went on their way, chatting animatedly as they went.

Tina smiled at her computer. Odds were, love was in the air.