The pair waded into the party, slipping among the other attendees with relative ease. The steady drone of conversation filled the air as countless small groups of people mingled and socialized. A softer undercurrent of classical music lay underneath it all to complete the picture.

  Wow. There's a good amount of people here. I guess I didn't realize how big we were as a company...

  To be fair, it was difficult to really grasp such things, given that she worked remote. Still, the scale and expense of the event surprised her more than expected.

  "Want something to drink?" Elliot asked

  Kaitlyn thought for a moment, then nodded. "Sure! That would be nice, actually. Just water if they have it."

  Her companion waved down one of the servers wandering amongst the crowd and plucked two glasses from their tray. She accepted one gratefully, sipping on the cool liquid.

  Awesome. That'll give me something to do with my hands, at least. Though holding it with both will probably make me look a bit more nervous than I'd like…

  "Ah, Kaitlyn!"

  At her name, Kaitlyn scanned the sea of mostly unfamiliar faces until she saw one she recognized. It was a younger man, perhaps in his mid-twenties, with sandy blonde hair and carefree expression that belonged on a surfer rather than a tech executive. The man held a glass of wine in one hand, waving her down with the other.

  "Oh!" Kaitlyn nudged Elliot and pointed. "That's my boss. We should go say hi."

  "Sure. Lead the way."

  In moments, they'd navigated through a few other clustered groups to join the man where he stood with another guest. They were both dressed in the standard tuxedoes required for the event, although her boss's bore a light gray paisley pattern across the lapels. He raised his glass in greeting. "Hey, glad you could make it! I was worried that school would keep you too busy."

  Kaitlyn smiled. "Not at all. I told you it's not a big problem."

  "Right, right. That's what they all say until midterms come around… Though I guess I shouldn't underestimate you, huh?” The man turned to Elliot and shot him a winning smile. "Nice to meet you. I'm Corvin, by the way."

  "Elliot."

  The ginger returned Corvin's firm handshake with one of his own, then turned to the final member of their group—a rather willowy man with dark hair and pinched features.

  "Edison. Most people call me Eddie."

  Corvin put an arm around Edison's stiff shoulders. "That's right, you two probably haven't met each other either, have you? Eddie's with machine learning. Kaitlyn's on my team—she's the one I was telling you about, the prodigy?"

  "Oh. Really?" Eddie looked at her with renewed interest.

  "I'm not a prodigy!" Kaitlyn immediately objected. "Besides, I just started. I've barely even done anything."

  "Riiiight," Corvin rolled his eyes. "If the optimizations you did on that edge bidding protocol are 'barely anything' to you, then I don't wanna think about what you'll have done a year from now. I swear, you set her on a project and a week later, she's got stuff locked down like nothing you've ever seen! It's black magic! I'd bet money they'll be fast-tracking you to tech lead ASAP."

  Kaitlyn sincerely hoped that her makeup was able to hide the blush suffusing her cheeks. That's… I mean, I knew he was happy with my work, but this is way too much. He's totally overblowing things.

  Edison seemed to notice her discomfort and snorted. "Don't mind him. He loves to embarrass people. Used to do it to me all the time when I was still on his team…"

  To her relief, the conversation soon moved on from her own performance to other topics and stories. Mostly ones related to the company's early history, since both Corvin and Eddie had been around for a long time. However, they didn't hesitate to include Kaitlyn and Elliot by talking about personal hobbies and holiday plans as well. Notably, current work matters made only fleeting appearances. The party atmosphere seemed to ward off more serious business and the like.

  Kaitlyn felt herself beginning to relax as the conversation went on. Having another familiar face to talk to worked wonders, and the fact that Elliot seemed comfortable chiming in certainly helped as well. That, coupled with the natural charisma of her boss, made the whole conversation feel seamless.

  Still, it's weird to finally see Corvin in person. Up until now he's just been this… disembodied face on the other side of a screen. It's crazy how much easier it is to talk like this.

  Eventually, both Corvin and Edison bid them farewell, leaving Kaitlyn and Elliot to resume their wandering once again. Kaitlyn exchanged her water glass for a new one, having emptied the last, and began scanning the crowd once again. Hmmm… I wonder who else I recognize? I'm sure most of my team is here, but actually finding them…

  "You're really something, aren't you?"

  Kaitlyn looked over at Elliot. The guy was eying her with a sense of newfound respect, as though she'd done something impressive. She just shook her head regretfully. "I'm really not. You heard Eddie—my boss likes to embarrass people. He's probably just talking me up to make me feel better since I'm so new."

  "Nah.” Elliot nodded over his shoulder. “I can tell when people are just saying things to be nice. He really meant that back there. Seems like you might be selling yourself short again. That, and on track for a promotion sooner than you thought."

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Kaitlyn groaned. "Please no. There's seriously no way I'm qualified, and besides, they already pay me way too much! I don't know what I'd do with more!"

  "Hey, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. You gotta take the opportunities when they present themselves, Kate. First lesson in being successful."

  She gave him a sour look. Yeah, no thanks. That'll just cause more problems. If it would actually lead somewhere, then MAYBE I'd consider it… But luckily, I don't think I have to worry about it this loop.

  Elliot just chuckled at her reaction, emerald eyes sparkling under the light of the chandeliers above. His expression remained as warm as it had since he'd first laid eyes on her this evening. However, now there was something else there, too. He seemed… pleased. Practically proud to be at her side.

  She broke eye contact to scan the rest of the party. I'm overthinking it. It's really not that impressive. Though... maybe it feels a little nice to be recognized for all the work I've put in.

  They continued wandering around, running across more coworkers that Kaitlyn had only seen on the other side of a screen. Each time, they stopped to say hello and chat for a little while before continuing on. Elliot stuck by her side throughout it all. He seemed mostly content to let her lead, which made sense given that it was her event. However, he did chime in to conversations and the like quite often. It was like he had a sense for when she didn't know what to say and did his best to ensure that things never became too awkward.

  Over time, Kaitlyn found herself drawing confidence from Elliot's presence. It became even easier to open up a little bit, even to these relative strangers. Some part of his bearing felt like it was finally rubbing off on her.

  Eventually, the sound of silverware against a crystal glass rang through the room. Kaitlyn glanced around reflexively, finding the source standing atop small platform to one side of the room—John Avenue's CEO.

  ”Can I get everyone's attention for one moment?” The buzz of conversation died down as people turned their attention to the man. "Excellent. First of all, thank you all for coming out. I know that free food and booze are powerful motivators," he paused as his comment drew a few chuckles, "But it really is a pleasure to see everyone in person like this. I wanted to say a few things before they let us loose for dinner…"

  The man continued on in a brief speech—about the business, goals for the future, and other platitudes vague enough to be morale-boosting without truly delving into serious work topics. Despite that, it somehow manged to come off as surprisingly genuine.

  Guess there's a reason why he's CEO. And I thought Corvin was charismatic...

  “Now, I wanted to quickly highlight the newest members of our team. I'm sure many of you are already familiar with them, but it never hurts to be sure. After all, you won't have a better chance to say hello.”

  Kaitlyn tensed up. A sudden fear that she'd be asked to make some speech in front of everyone coursed through her like live electricity. But luckily, nothing of the sort happened. The man merely pointed out each person where they sat. After calling out a few others, the CEO's gaze finally came to rest on her. "And last but not least, we have Kaitlyn, who joined our quant team very recently."

  She gave a brief wave as all the eyes in the room turned toward her. The CEO smiled. "Fun fact, she's the youngest person we've ever hired, by a pretty good margin—she's just started college over at Hartland University! So no sneaking her any drinks, you hear?"

  The assembled partygoers chuckled at the joke, and Kaitlyn caught more than a few interested glances in her direction as the man continued speaking. No worries about that. I'd DEFINITELY embarrass myself if I tried to drink here.

  After a few more introductions, they gave a round of applause for all of the new hires and she let out a sigh as most of the attention dispersed. With that, the partygoers began meandering towards the freshly-unveiled tables of food. She felt a brief twinge of disappointment that dinner appeared to be buffet style rather than served in courses. However, it was probably too much to expect, especially for such a large crowd.

  Oh, well. That doesn't mean I regret getting Elliot's help, though. It was still one hundred percent worth it.

  The pair joined the lines for the food, filling their plates with an assortment of meats, cheeses, and veggies. At least, she did. Elliot, true to his nature, loaded himself up with primarily bread and pasta. The ginger then led them to a pair of empty seats, setting his plate down before pulling a chair out for her.

  Kaitlyn chuckled. “You don't have to do that, you know.”

  “Yes I do. What, do you want me to look like some sort of uncultured swine? A rude sluggard?”

  “No. But it doesn't seem like things are nearly as formal as I thought they would be. I mean,” she gestured to the room around them. “Yeah, it looks fancy and all, but it doesn't feel nearly as bad as I thought. Not like some of those restaurants.”

  Elliot shrugged, pushing in her chair after she sat down. “You're not wrong. Still, there's way better places to compromise on than being nice to my date.”

  Kaitlyn's eyebrows rose. “So I'm your date, am I?”

  “What do you mean? You literally are.” She saw a playful glint in his eyes. “Unless you don't want to be? I can always head out.”

  “No you can't. I drove us here.”

  “Eh. I could probably walk back to campus.”

  Kaitlyn shook her head in disbelief, then took a bite of the cheesy garlic bread, careful to not get any crumbs on her dress. Her eyes widened slightly at the taste. Swallowing, she tried the fish fillet as well. Wow. That's... way better than I expected. This is actual quality. Whatever place they got to cater really knows their stuff.

  “Hey! Is that you, Kaitlyn?”

  She swallowed her food, looking over to see another new face slide into the seat beside her. A brunette woman in a lacy black cocktail dress was looking at her expectantly, her cheeks a little ruddy with drink. Kaitlyn sifted through her memories for the woman's face, but came up empty. "That's me. And you're…?"

  "Michelle, from sales! Remember me?"

  At the name, Kaitlyn's eyes widened. "Oh! Michelle! Sorry, I didn't even recognize you!"

  The woman chuckled, setting a glass of wine on the table near her plate. "More like you'd just never seen me. I hate turning my camera on for meetings. Means I'd have to clean my office. But it's nice to see you in the flesh! You look nice!"

  "Thanks. You do, too."

  If only I could pull off lace like that. Then maybe I wouldn't hate the stuff so much.

  Michelle took a swig of her wine before her gaze swept over to Kaitlyn's companion. "Oh, and who's this with you?"

  “Oh! This is Elliot. We both work in the same lab over at Hartland.”

  "Really? So you're a software guy, too?"

  Elliot shook his head, giving the brunette a polite smile. "Different kind of lab. A bio one. Nice to meet you, Michelle.”

  "You work in a bio lab, too?!" Michelle shook her head in disbelief. "Honestly, Kaitlyn… nice to meet you, too, Elliot. Although…" Her brow furrowed in thought as she seemed to consider something. "That name… it sounds kind of familiar. You wouldn't happen to have any relation to Glen Ambrose, would you?"

  Elliot stiffened almost imperceptibly, then gave a reluctant nod. "Actually, yes. He's my father."

  Michelle's eyes widened, her gaze sharpening at the confirmation. Her expression seemed to shift slightly. No longer was it the polite face of someone speaking to a coworker. It was the look of a prospector that had just spotted a glint of gold.

  Uh-oh.