For the Love of Eugene

An auburn-haired woman sits at the head of the table; she gives the table two grave knocks. “Alright, let’s begin.” 

The low murmur settles into a severe hush. 

“Grace, please lead us in our pledge today,” She points cordially to the woman next to her, who nods decisively in response.

“Today,” Grace raises her glass slowly. “Today was a good day. A great day, even. Some may even say it was a revolutionary day. A day to be remembered. A day to be celebrated. So, let’s remember. Let’s celebrate, so that we may think of this day when the days seem pointless, that we may remember this day when the work seems endless, that we may remember this day, for the next days, weeks, and months to come.”

She looks deliberately at the faces around her. She pauses on a particularly fervent pair of eyes and gives him an almost imperceptible nod; his back straightens almost imperceptibly. A deep inhale. 

“To the glory of silk shirts and the man who wears them,” She thrusts her glass into the air. A droplet of purple liquid sloshes over the edge of the glass. “To Eugene Miller!” 

“To Eugene Miller!”

*****

Andrew’s first day at Miller was a nervous one. He was shaking all morning. He was shaking as he poured himself his first cup of coffee, he was shaking as he splashed cold water all over his face, he was shaking as he gave himself a determined look in the mirror, and he was shaking as he walked into the doors of Miller Corp. He’d trembled as he checked his email on February 7th; he’d trembled as he called his mother to tell her he’d been employed.

And now, he was shaking as he waited for the elevator. He glared at his quivering briefcase with nervous contempt. 

Suddenly, the smell of cologne --woody spice-- swept into the air, and just as suddenly, a tan hand was laid over Andrew’s trembling briefcase. His head snapped up and he came face to face with

The most beautiful man. Andrew’s shaking paused; he was frozen. 

The beautiful man smiled. His perfect lips curved upwards perfectly as his perfect eyes curled into the shape of crescent moons. “What’s your name?”

“Andrew.” He replied, dumbly. How could hair rest so perfectly on one’s head? Andrew remembered his own hair that morning, as it was waxed and sprayed mercilessly by his shaking hands. He took a hand up to it absentmindedly and smoothed it down, all the while dumbstruck by this beautiful man. The beautiful man’s eyes brightened. He grabbed Andrew’s shoulder in excitement.

“You’re Andrew!” He exclaimed. Andrew had never seen excitement so beautiful. He was accustomed to the excitement of screeching children at otherwise quiet restaurants or growling boys at football games. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Andrew whispered.

The elevator doors opened. The beautiful man smiled courteously and gestured for Andrew to step in first; so he did. The spicy scent of cologne saturated the air inside the elevator. Andrew wondered if it was possible to get drunk off cologne. 

The beautiful man chuckled and looked down, suddenly bashful. He resurfaced and swept his hair to the side. Andrew gaped. 

“Sorry, I just realized I didn’t introduce myself,” He straightened himself and flashed a bright smile. “I’m Eugene. Eugene Miller.”

The elevator doors opened. The beautiful man placed a hand on Andrew’s shoulder and herded him out the elevator doors. A well-organized office came into view. 

“Everyone, this is Andrew, our new intern!” 

Jasmine peered over her divider at the new intern and Eugene. Eugene was beautiful. She stared at the one strand of hair that hung enticingly over his eyebrow, then shook herself out of her haze. She turned to the intern. He was so pale and still that she might have thought him dead, if not for the sporadic blinking as he stared up at Eugene. She watched the pink flush in his ears, then ducked down and began typing.

*****

Andrew stared blankly at his email. The beautiful man, Eugene, had told him to take an easy day watching the atmosphere of the office. The atmosphere was great. Eugene was great. Eugene was more than great. Eugene was--

A new email blinked into existence. As if in a trance, Andrew clicked. It read:

The third-floor men’s bathroom in five minutes. 

Andrew furrowed his eyebrows at the daunting email. He looked up and scanned the office in hopes of finding the culprit. When no one looked up, he ducked back down and frowned.

Five seats away, Jasmine peered over her divider again.

*****

When Andrew entered the third-floor men’s bathroom, hands shaking again, he was met with three women and one man. A tall woman with dark hair lounged next to the paper towel dispenser as a man with a nose ring pulled a paper towel out and began wiping his hands, staring at Andrew all the while. Two women stood near the far wall. They had their arms crossed over their chests as they squinted at him with stony eyes. One had blue eyeliner. He recognized the auburn one as Jasmine, Eugene’s secretary. Andrew gulped. Jasmine took a couple deliberate steps towards him. 

“So,” she began slowly. “How has your first day been?”

“Good,” Andrew breathed. 

“And what do you think of the office?” The dark-haired woman stepped away from the paper towel dispenser as well and approached Andrew, who began to feel trapped.

“It’s- it’s great.” 

“What’s so great about it?” Nose ring cut in sharply, leaning in so close to Andrew that he felt his breath tickle his nose. 

“Uh, I think,” Andrew swallowed and glanced at the sharp eyes surrounding him. “I think the chairs are really-”

“That’s funny, I don’t think you would have noticed the chairs, with how much you were ogling our boss.” Blue eyeliner interrupted him with a severe look. 

Andrew felt his breath halt in his chest. How did they know? And what now? He couldn’t very well deny it, he knew how awkward he’d been next to that beautiful man. How would he-

“But that’s okay,” A gentle hand on his shoulder pulled him out of his whirling thoughts. He looked up to meet the eyes of the dark-haired woman. “We do too.” 

“Yes,” Nose ring smiled serenely. “Eugene is undoubtedly the most attractive man in this building. Perhaps even the city. Perhaps even the state. Perhaps even the country! Perhaps even-”

“The point is,” Jasmine took Andrew’s hand into her own benignly. “That we all find Eugene attractive. We’re not blind.” 

“We’re also not ungrateful,” The woman with blue eyeliner continued. 

“That means that when we realized we were gifted with such beauty, we recognized that we must appreciate this beauty to the best of our capabilities.” 

Dark hair nodded. “Tell us what you think about Eugene’s hair today.”

It was as if a dam had broken within him. “He looks like a Greek god but also like he belongs in a 1980’s movie. The one strand that hangs over his eyebrow and the way he keeps sweeping it to the side is, is-”

“Tantalizing,” Nose ring breathed.

And Andrew realized he’d found his people.

*****

“He’s wearing my favorite pants today. And that blue silk shirt. And his hair is doing that thing where it’s messy but not messy like he just got out of bed. If he shows up wearing those earrings tomorrow, I’m buying a lottery ticket.” Noah took a resolute sip from his coffee and licked at his lip ring. The noise of the cafe hummed around them. 

Andrew leaned back against his chair and sighed. “He looks so good.”

“Yes, he does,” Jasmine furrowed her eyebrows. “So why are you sighing?”

Andrew was silent for a moment as he watched her perch on a stool. He looked down forlornly and muttered, “I think Eugene might have a girlfriend.”

“No!” Grace gasped as she whipped around to face Andrew. She started rubbing anxiously at her eyes and green smudged down to her cheekbones. 

“Why do you say that?” Allison twisted her dark hair anxiously. They all wore similar expressions of despair as they faced Andrew.

Andrew looked around at their pitiful eyes and sighed again. “I saw a ring. On his fourth finger.”

“No,” Noah groaned in a tone similar to that of a child in a tantrum. “No, God, why? Why do you do this? Why?” 

“A ring, huh?” Jasmine murmured thoughtfully. She was playing with a silver chain around her neck. 

“Where’s the point in coming to work now?” Grace bemoaned. 

“There goes the last bit of happiness from my life!” Allison threw her hands up in outrage.

Andrew only sighed again. He wondered at what a pitiful group of people they were. Then he wondered who the lucky girlfriend was. 

“That’s enough,” Jasmine’s adamant voice yanked them out of their woeful stupor. She looked around at the miserable group with hard eyes. “We didn’t form this group in hopes of dating Eugene. We formed it to appreciate him!” 

The sorry eyes brightened minutely. What Jasmine said was true; the group’s enthusiasm sprouted from pure amazement at the beauty they encountered every day. 

“And him having a girlfriend will do nothing to interfere with us marveling at Eugene. If anything, we should be happy for him and hope that his girlfriend is appreciating him as much as we do,” Jasmine continued in a comforting voice, tugging at her chain all the while. Her auburn hair twisted prettily down her neck.

The group remained silent in thoughtful consideration. Their president was right. A mutual consensus seemed to be forming until Grace jumped up and sprinted out of the cafe with a sob. The rest of them watched her run with a sense of camaraderie. 

*****

Jasmine stretched her arms over her head leisurely, gazing at the sprawling cityscape in front of her. She sighed in contentment as she leaned towards the window to catch more of the glinting lights. As she leaned, her chain fell out of the front of her collar and into the air. A silvery ring glinted as it hung lazily. A pair of arms and the smell of cologne --woody spice-- enveloped her. She giggled and leaned into his embrace.

“How was your day today?” 

“Good,” she turned to face him. She studied his face with adoring eyes and tucked a stray hair behind his ear. “And yours?”

“Great,” He grinned back. 

“I’m glad.” She smoothed a thumb over the blue silk that hugged his shoulders.

He chuckled. “You really like this shirt, huh?”

“How could I not? You look so good in it.” She tucked a finger in one of his belt loops.

“All thanks to you,” He leaned in mischievously. “I wouldn’t know how to dress if it weren’t for you.”

“Don’t worry, I like dressing you up. You’re beautiful. Tomorrow, you’re going to wear those nice earrings.”

At this, he buried his head into her shoulder and laughed. He breathed into the crook of her neck, then rose again to face her. He smiled tenderly. “I love you, Jasmine.”

“I love you too, Eugene.” 

Jasmine breathed in the smell of his cologne again as she tucked her face into his chest. Smiling sweetly, she wondered what outfit she would dress him in tomorrow to match the earrings. She was excited to see whether Noah actually bought the lottery ticket or not. She so enjoyed seeing the group’s reaction to Eugene’s outfits. It brought her a sense of pride and gratification; her boyfriend’s beauty deserved to be recognized.