Chapter 6

                                    

                                          
HANNAH
Hannah walked by the glass windows to the conference room and opened the clear door. There was an empty seat between Jules and Mark. 
"Hey guys," She whispered as she sat down. 
There were already a few people in the room by the time she had gotten there. Enough that almost every seat had been occupied. More employees continued to creep in quietly. Most people had concerned, worried looks on their faces. Their eyes darting around the room, not wanting to make eye contact with people and searching for any clues in the room that could explain what the meeting was about. 
Hannah turned to Mark. "How's HR treating you?" God that sounded cheesy and more importantly, not genuine. Small talk was never her strong suit. But even Mark's body seemed tense. She felt the need to fill the silence with just about anything. 
He turned to her and shrugged, "same shit, different day."  Mark, a man of few words. How he even got into human resources was beyond her. 
People started lining up in the back of the room due to a lack of chairs.
The buzz of chatter in the room was almost creepy. Any other time there had been a meeting, everyone would be talking, and it would be so loud it would be too hard to even hear yourself think. 
Hannah checked her watch, three o'clock on the dot and Jules started clicking her pen at an annoyingly intense pace. 
Click. Click. Click.
Hannah found herself even more on edge from the sound, her knee began bouncing.
Click. Click. Click. 
She let her continue the clicking for a few seconds until she couldn't handle it any longer. 
Hannah placed a gentle hand on her forearm to stop her. Jules jumped at the touch. The pen flew and flipped in the air, then rolled under the table. Hannah smiled before she bent over to retrieve it. 
Just as she bent forward in her chair, leaning under the edge of the table, there were footsteps coming through the door. She saw two sets of shiny Oxford's and a pair of black heels. 
Damn, these are some well-dressed folks. This must be important. And, dammit this pen went far. Shit. 
Hannah outstretched her arm uncomfortably for the pen and noticed how every pair of feet under the table seemed to readjust as the rest of their bodies fixed their postures. It had rolled almost clear to the other side. She should have asked someone to kick it. When her fingertips finally rolled it closer, a man was greeting the room. 
"Hello everyone, I'm glad to finally be able to meet fact-to-face. My name is Tim Langhans, this is Larry Kern, and I would like to introduce you all to Carmen Mills." 
Hannah had the pen fully in her grasp when the cautious applause ended. 
"Thank you everybody. It's wonderful to finally meet everyone, although, I would assume that I might have met a handful of you over the weekend at the reception. I was shocked to find so many of you were there. Granted, I hadn't been informed of who any of you were until this morning."
That voice. Wait. That voice sounded familiar. So familiar in fact, that it sent a shiver down Hannah's spine.
Oh god. 
Hannah scrambled back to her seat. Or she at least tried to hurry back to it given the tight space.
"So, it's great to meet in a more professional setting." 
She shuffled too quickly. It was hard to move gracefully with how her body was angled.
Her head bounced off the edge of the table. She missed the clearing only by about an inch. 
It was perfect comedic timing, Hannah had to admit. 'A more professional setting'. Not so professional now that the silence in the room was broken by the thud of her head connecting with the thick tabletop.
The sound was loud. There was no mistaking it. Everyone heard the crack. Heard her head bounce off the table. She rattled the entire thing. And, it was a heavy table, one that always made her question if they had had to build it in this room, because she couldn't imagine anybody carrying the thing in.
Even people in the back of the room heard it. People she had never laid eyes on before today.
"Ow!" She hissed and raised her hand to rub her head. 
Jules whispered, "Are you okay?" 
She nodded and handed her the pen.
"You should have just left it under there." 
Hannah grunted in agreement, then looked to the front of the room. Her hand was still rubbing the sore spot that would one hundred percent turn into a lumpy painful bruise by the end of the day. She was sure of it.
And there, at the front of the room, stood Carmen. In all her glorious beauty, her long dark hair cascaded over her shoulders in wonderful waves, Carmen stared at her as she stood with impeccable posture. 
Hannah wasn't sure if she had stopped breathing, but the sight of Carmen greeting the room made her feel lightheaded. As if all her blood rushed elsewhere. 
Neither could tear their eyes off the other. 
To see Carmen in the full light of day was something more magnificent than the dim lights of the night they had shared together. The memory of Carmen, whimpering, begging for more, washed over Hannah in every facet of her thoughts. 
It was as if the entire room had emptied and all that was left was her, staring back at Hannah. She knew the same memories were plaguing her, because there was a slight flush to her face. 
She tried to peel her eyes off the woman standing before them, but she couldn't. It was like she had fallen into a trance. Her lips parted slightly, mouth going dry as warmth pulsed through her body. 
Carmen cleared her throat and shook her head slightly before continuing her speech, breaking the reverie.