The sun shone in from all angles into the hall. Pouring in from bay windows and skylights, light spilled off white clothed tables and onto light wooden flooring. It was early, but the room was already warm and abuzz with the chatter of many teams spread across the circular tables. Eric was no exception to this, nestled between shoulders of two colleagues he didn't know, the company deciding to interlace team members to promote networking. 'Cross pollination' they called it. Eric was sat with HR. All women, and natural predators for the likes of him from the IT department.
"Must be a change for you, leaving the computer cave to join us on the outside." Said one of the women sat directly opposite, Leena, apparent top dog in this pack of wolves. "That light up there, we call that 'the sun'. It's good for you."
"Fascinating. I assume it needs daily human sacrifice to ensure it rises again?"
"Not just anyone. Virgin sacrifice." She replied.
"Is that why I'm here then?"
She laughed, more than the others on the table. There was a reason Eric was picked for cross pollination. He was more a social butterfly than the grubs in his team, who were already making a poor marketing girl visibly uneasy three tables over. Eric saw she made frequent trips to the coffee stand at the back of the hall, reminding him to get a refreshment himself before the conference got into full swing. Before long it was all in motion, and the department heads were up on stage, including Leena, now absent from her seat as Eric came back to the table.
"So she's that Leena." Eric said quietly to the woman sat next to him.
"There's only one Leena." The woman replied.
"My boss talks a lot about her. Gets a lot of emails."
"Of course he does." She replied snidely.
Eric turned back to the stage. The IT head was standing next to Leena, paying forward the discomfort from the marketing girl. She on the other her hand presented herself well, decked out in a stylish cream headscarf and wearing a flowing button-down dress that while intending to hide her figure, nonetheless didn't, owing to the application of a waist hugging belt. Mark, from IT, looked to be sweating in his jeans and hoodie. Eric continued to watch her as she spoke on stage, paying attention to how her delicate manicured fingers grasped the microphone, how the corner of her mouth curled upwards as she spoke, a mix of nerves and anticipation to speak. Despite being at other ends of the hall, she caught him a few times, their eyes meeting from across the room. She would stumble on her words slightly then, as she inspected his figure from afar. Their introductions and orientations over, the leads departed the stage back to their seats for a short break.
"Nice speech." Eric said, lying.
Leena smiled, knowing full well that if he had been paying attention, it wasn't to what she was saying.
"Oh really? You don't strike me as someone that enjoys quarterly strategy planning and increased interdepartmental alignment."
"Love it, can't get enough. That's why I'm in IT."
"A famously integrated department. Your office doesn't even have windows."
"You use a computer? That's IT. I'm right on your desk. Integrated, see."
She inspected the man again, close up this time. He put himself together well. Snugly fitted shirt that accentuated an inconspicuous athletic frame. Nice shoes. A watch without a calculator on it.
"So why, Eric, did you not volunteer on behalf of your team? You seem more than happy to be centre of attention."
"I'd be doing the team a disservice."
"What, by looking good and speaking well?"
"You're saying I look good?"
Leena blushed, on top of what was already applied as makeup. Eric smiled, his face taking on a disarming look.
"Relax, I just mean I might give the wrong impression is all. Could lead to mismanaged expectations."
"Expectations like eye contact?"
Eric laughed, though knew he shouldn't. No one else was, and the table had seemed to close off from them, content to chitchat amongst themselves than try and accommodate the two egos sizing each other up. They kept at each other all morning, finding quick jabs at the stereotypes their positions held. Eric found it surprisingly easy to get under Leena's skin, though quickly cottoned on that she enjoyed the tease. The conference meandered through the day, a malaise of boredom, accentuated by the restlessness of excessive caffeine consumption. The organisers, of which Leena was one, had got the attendees to engage in a selection of awful team building games within and without their tables. One particular standout to Eric was where each table raced against one another to be the first to untangle themselves from their own human Gordian knot. Naturally, Eric found himself entangled with Leena. Their arms interlaced, desperately trying to keep himself professional in a decidedly unprofessional game. Despite his efforts, he nonetheless found his arms crisscrossing her midline, warm body pressed up against him.
"I thought you'd be good at spatial reasoning tasks." She said, head turning to face him, close enough to his face that the combined fragrances of perfume and coffee were acutely perceived.
"Just full of surprises aren't I? I'm wasted in my department, I should retrain."
Leena looked away and down, deciding to bring her attention to the problem at hand. With a quiet focus, the table worked to untie themselves until they were a circle of hand holding. Though Eric and Leena stopped to chat partway through, the table did in fact finish ahead of the others and were declared winner. There was no prize, save for the opportunity for the kind of physical contact not expected in work. Something at least two people did in fact value.
A few boring presentations later, and the conference was done for the day. Unfortunately for everyone there, it was one of two days, and they were expected back bright and early next morning. Extra unfortunately was that the conference centre was deep in the countryside, and the adjoining hotel did not have capacity enough to host everyone there. Thankfully, Eric booked well ahead, and so had no concerns of driving down darkened country roads in search of a guest house or shoddy B&B. Bidding goodbye to his table, he made his way through the hall to the front desk of the adjacent hotel. It was an older building, a hotel that spread out, rather than up, with aged carpet of deep red, still with the faint smell of cigarette smoke despite countless cleanings. At the front desk was a girl, barely out of her teens if that, and thoroughly uninterested with being there. Eric gave his name and booking number, and the through the reflection in the girl's round glasses he saw her search through their system for his room. He rattled his fingers against what felt like a genuine oak desk, and after a short time was joined by a familiar face.
"Fancy running into you here." Leena said.
"Thought I was finally rid of you. We need to stop meeting like this. People might talk."
"Well this is the last you'll see of me, at least for this evening."
