Mind drunk. Sleepy. High. Oh my god, help! Already lucky enough to have a two-days off and here I am still dead sleepy! My senses were still knocked out in bed, dreaming of a week more day-off. I think, I’m still having a hang-over from the Thursday night two glasses drink. I knew I had always been a terrible drinker because I don’t really drink at all.

“Sherri!” called Faye, one of our Human Resource officers, who startled and disturbed my effort to go back to sleep, with my feet on my CPU and handkerchief covering my eyes.

“Faye, I told you many times to stop startling me like that! You made my soul jumped off my body!” I complained, taking off the hanky from my face.

“Why do you look so haggard?” she said laughing in between.

“Exaggeration! Haggard, really? Just so sleepy, then haggard?”

“My gosh, Faye. You can actually say she can’t get over that person she met Friday night,” butted in by Francine, my gay colleague, whose real name is Francisco.

Faye sat beside her on an empty sit before covering my face with handkerchief again wondering if there’ll be a miracle of me being able to sleep with these two together.

“Really?” Faye excitedly reacted.  “Grandma got a love life now? A he or a she?”

“Faye, can you just stop disturbing my life?” I joked.

Francine just laughed, answering her question with her big mouth using that very feminine tone of his, “A very big ‘she’, darling!”

“Seriously?”

“I still have ten minutes before ten and you two are stopping me from getting the sleep I need!” I reacted.

Faye threw me her hanky.

“Faye, even if you’ll throw the computer at her, she won’t say a word more than what I already told you. Who would, when she met a straight one?”

 “Wait, are you a butch now, Sherri?”

I shook my head as an answer. Just an advice to everyone, it will do you no good to have both a gay and a lesbian as friends. Faye’s actually a soft butch, and really, she’s so boyish. Only her long hair’s the feminine part of her.

“Hey, Sherri. It even took me such a long time to get your number and then now, you’re the one courting?”

I took off the hanky and straightened. “Seriously Faye, did you just come hear to annoy me and to get more information about my so boring love life?”

“Oh, shocks! Yes, I totally forgot what I came for.” She moved to the empty chair beside me and continued, “I need your help. Just please say yes.”

“If I can, it’s a yes. If I can’t, for sure, no.”

“Will you marry me?”

“Slap, you want?”

She laughed. This is actually how we talk at each other, and the rest of my colleague here in the office. It’s been five years since my last break-up, but I don’t know why my heart wouldn’t raise despite Faye’s good attributes. She has everything I’d wish for in a partner, but I couldn’t just control my heart.

“Kidding aside, I have one friend. She’s an Accounting Tech graduating student and she needs internship. You think she can do it here?”

“Shocks, Faye! A guy?” Francine asked excitedly, prolonging the word ‘shocks’.

“It’s a she, darling!” Faye mimicked Francine’s way of talking.

“Whatever! If it’s a guy, he’s in instantly!”

“But she has an older brother!”

“Young?” Francine asked excitedly again, with a blinking of her eyes.

“Young enough for you. Handsome. Sexy with yummy abs!”

“Go! She’s in! Now, fast!”

“No, really. I’m serious. She really needs to report about her internship but every company she went to, they’re saying they’re full. She’s even fine without allowance. She just has to start the soonest and of course, for as long as she can learn something.”

Francine pointed at me using her lips.

“Baby Sherri, please?” Faye asked cutely.

“How many are they?”

“Two?”

I nodded. “I’d appreciate it if she can bring more. Looks like we really need couple of pair of hands with brains for our present transactions, especially we have to organize and finalize the reporting from the start of this restaurants’ birth.”

The energy in my body’s draining even more by the thought of it alone.

“Oh shocks, Sherri! Now that you mentioned it, I’m starting to have headache again,” Francine agreed.

“Why? What’s happening?”

“The management of the other restaurant brand were so jealous of us because we can’t just deny we really have the highest sales among all of the group companies. They’re questioning our sales, like, hello, Sherri and I arrived here with these restaurants not having financial statements,” Francine annoyingly explained.

“Oh, that’s big! So, how were they submitting the taxes before?”

Francine and I shrugged.

“When’s the deadline?”

“End of this year,” Francine answered.

“That’s just end of the year! You can actually finish it before the year ends!”

“Faye, we can if you’ll bring in more interns.”

“Still, France. It wouldn’t be that easy. We have to train and teach them. And we can’t just let them handle the tasks immediately, and if we’ll let them do, we must recheck it. We only have less than six months. And we’re talking about three years transactions,” I added.

Francine let out a deep sigh.

“That’s too much pressure on you two, knowing you both are the seniors here. So, what? Can I give my friend a go signal? There are actually five of them. The three are just waiting for feedbacks from other company. I’ll try to encourage them to join here.”

“Yes, please Faye. Do your best. They can start immediately,” Francine pleaded.

“You’re serious, right?”

They both looked at me.

“Yeah, push. But not today. Tomorrow would be better. I still have to ask for an approval and I’ll try to ask for allowance, too. I’ll just give you a feedback before the end of the day to finalize their contract.”

“Yes! Yes! That’s why I love working with you both.”

Faye’s very happy, she couldn’t stop herself kissing me on my cheek.

“Eeeeew!” Francine exaggeratedly reacted.

I just smiled at how lucky I am to have them both. The three of us will be turning celebrating our second year in the company soon. So, the kissing on the cheek and joking around were just normal for us.

Faye’s phone rang and in just a minute she announced that the interns were here.

“That fast?” Francine and I both reacted.

“I told you they needed it, right? And I know how you two works, so I already informed them to come over because I knew this would happen. Babe, please talk to them and just inform them to come back tomorrow. Please?” Faye loves to call me with any endearment. That’s just how she’s to me.

“France, I just have to go to toilet before they’ll see me in this look. I surely don’t want to give them a bad impression. And mother might arrive. I’m sure as hell he’ll feed me to crocodiles if he’ll see me,” referring to our General Manager who’s also a gay. This company indeed loves LGBT. 

Washing my face’s my daily skin care, nothing more, nothing less. Not a fan of make-up either. If I’m in the mood, I’d take time to add lipstick and mascara. But now as I’m in the mission of getting Gabby’s attention, I applied little powder, too. I’m quiet a fan of Anastasia so, for an office look, Kathryn’s the shade.

Looking at myself in the mirror didn’t look anything better than before because of these beautiful eyebags. I sighed realizing I’m letting these Korean movies get into my system. I had to blame them for this but then I’d be crazy if I won’t include myself in. It’s as much as I made my own problem in starting this mission with Gabby.

After retying my hair, I couldn’t find anything else more to do to face today’s war.

“Hi, Brenda!” one of our colleague, who’s handling both receivables and payables and sitting next to me.

“Hi, Sherri. Wait. You look different. What’s with the gloomy face?”

“Oh, Brenda, don’t mention it. It’s your fault.”

“What? How’s it my fault?”

“That Korean movie you suggested was the cause of my zombie mode and look for today.”

She laughed and was about to respond when Francine cried for help.

“Girls, help! My system’s crashing again. I don’t know if I pressed something or what,” she pleaded using her feminine and cute way of talking, I mean, that’s Francine’s normal way of talking, by the way. He’s gay right?

“I already tried to help France. But my powers can’t handle it,” Liezel spoke, our finance officer who’s sitting next to Francine.

“Okay. Let’s trade places. Let me try, if not, we have to call the IT,” I offered.

Because our office’s under renovation, we’re temporarily sitting on a four half-body cubicle table, two tables facing each other. I’m sitting opposite to Francine, who’s facing the wall, while Brenda are facing the door.

With Francine crying out for his system was understandable. Aside from having lots of works to be done, we couldn’t handle losing all our works and data.

While I’m pouring out my mind to his system, he just screamed, but a good electrifying scream and squeak, as if something bit him. A tasty bite though, from a handsome monster. Nothing will make Francine dance on his chair except for that. But for now, I couldn’t take any chances of losing my focus because nothing’s more than important than a two-year system of work.  

“So, this is temporarily the office of the accounting department as we are still undergoing a renovation,” I heard Faye’s voice.

Now, that explains. I’m sure Francine’s just excited to talk about the brother of one of the trainees. Oh, right! The trainees! Gosh, Sherri. Trainees and the system at the same time. Focus.

Despite trying to focus entirely on the system, my ears can’t stop catching Faye introducing my colleagues one by one. But when it’s my turn to be introduced, Francine took her chance.

“And this is our General Accountant, Sherri,” with both hands wide open pointing at me. I raised an eyebrow at him before turning my head towards Faye and the interns.

But it was as though I was splashed with chilling water. Now, I know why Francine reacted that way. Everyone was looking at me, especially Brenda and Liezel, and of course, Francine, of course, hoping I won’t freak out. In this office, secrets were safe and part of that is my sexual preference. So, now that I’m facing the interns, I’m facing karma at the tip of my fingers, too. I should have known but no one could have.

“H-hi,” my simple greeting with my eyes glued at no one else but Gabby.

You got it right. Gabby. Of the all people in this god damn universe, there’s Gabby. My heart’s going explode!

           So, what’s with you not caring about what you just said because anyhow you won’t meet each other anyway?

Oh, god, I could definitely use some help right now!