Charles traveled with a hefty load of binders in the hands, scoffing as he set them down onto his desk. They’d collected enough dust for Charles to assume the storage rooms were rarely cleaned or visited. Well, unlike his bank account which Charles had to reach out a little more than he had anticipated. His expenses had become an overbearing burden on the shoulders, and that’s what he ascribed his back pain to.  

Charles blew off the dust, then grimaced as it stung his nose and brought him into a sneezing fit. He sniffed, turning away from his desk to take his frustration out on something else- the coffee machine. The damned coffee machine that had mood swings every hour or so, where once it worked and the next it sat dead. 

For someone who worked in a mere office inside the software department which had a little square cubicle in the corner, Charles had no right to be suited up in a navy plaid suit and white satin tie. His peculiar choice of fashion always put him out of place, though on the worst days, Charles was mistaken for someone lost on their way to a play or costume party of some sort. 

The man sniffed one last time, irritation laced across the brows when he spotted Derek by the water cooler. He never had learned his name properly, since there always seemed to be some sort of unspoken rivalry between the software and accounting department. Charles never figured out why, they were all nerds and making minimum wage anyways. 

[color=fff200]“The sports, Derek? Only sport I saw was Martha sprinting down the stairs since the elevators stopped working.” [/color]Charles said, not giving his coworker a second glance as he headed to the coffee maker on a shelf a little to the left of the water cooler. [color=fff200]“And the only time I express my athletic prowess is running from the boss when he comes out all red-faced.”[/color]