Unless someone was hunting for a new job, of course. That’s when Samiah usually found herself engaged in a casual conversation with a fellow building-mate. It would start out innocent enough, but would eventually meander into a discussion about possible job openings with the company that occupied the building’s top two floors. Trendsetters’ forest-green-and-white badges were the envy of the building.

She was blessed to have joined the firm just before its newest iteration of WiMax integration software hit big, making them the industry leader in providing Wi-Fi hotspot payment systems in developing countries. Numerous hotels, fast-food chains, and coffeehouses around the globe utilized Trendsetters’ products to pay for the “free” Wi-Fi they offered their customers. And their client list continued to grow. Everyone wanted to work here. Samiah wouldn’t give up her position for anything or anyone.

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t use a day off every once in a while. Like today. She’d have loved to play hooky today.

With stops on nearly every floor, it took a full eight minutes to finally arrive at the twenty-second. The elevator doors opened directly into Trendsetters’ very trendy lobby. Its focal point, the Water Wall, took up the entire space behind the receptionist’s semicircular desk. It featured a waterfall that changed colors throughout the day and cascaded down a steel wall speckled with embossed quotes from tech giants. Her favorite was the one from Steve Jobs: I want to put a ding in the universe. She’d made it her motto the moment she first read it.

On either side of the Water Wall stood twin glass-and-chrome curving staircases that led to the twenty-third floor, where Engineering and Security were housed. Even more eye-catching than the water feature was the row of brick-red benches on either side of the lobby. Each seat was held up by a strong, transparent acrylic rod that extended from the wall, making it appear as though the benches were suspended in midair.

“Good morning.” Jamie Claiborne, Trendsetters’ receptionist, greeted her with a bright smile.

Samiah braced herself for the onslaught of questions she knew awaited her. “Good morning,” she replied.

She waited.

And waited.

When Jamie returned her attention to her computer monitor without mentioning what happened Saturday night, Samiah breathed her first easy breath of the morning. Maybe today wouldn’t be awkward after all.

But the moment she stepped behind the Water Wall and into the main work area, an eruption of applause broke out. Heat suffused her face; her ears felt as if they were on fire.

She was all for being applauded at work, but not for something like this.

Get it together. Be cool. Be charming. Don’t let them see you sweat.

Holding her hands up, she summoned a smile from some part of her being that hadn’t shriveled up and died over the weekend and addressed the office as a whole.