I want You Deeper

Charlie had worked in human resources for four years. She’d been to trainings and workshops and watched videos on how to motivate and inspire employees. So, when Nicholas had everyone pair up, she was pretty sure this was going to be one of the many bonding exercises she’d seen over the years.

She was wrong.

“What annoys you most about your co-workers?”

Charlie frowned. At this point, Nicholas hadn’t shared with her-or anyone else, for that matter-what they’d be doing with the answers they were collecting. They just scribbled down words on the notepads Justin had instructed everyone to bring to the room. The questions were on a screen at the front of the room, thanks to Justin switching out Charlie’s laptop for his own.

All so complicated…not to mention well coordinated. How long had Justin been working on this in secret, behind Charlie’s back? Why hadn’t he told her this was coming up? She was more than annoyed by it. She was a little resentful.

“They don’t communicate,” Charlie said. “People just expect you to know things.”

That included her boss. She wondered if she should have said that to his best friend. But she hadn’t used Justin’s name straight out. Would he piece it together?

“That’s a huge thing to you, isn’t it?”

Nicholas’s question threw Charlie off. She looked up at the screen. That question wasn’t up there. Why was he going off script?

“You said to stick to the questions on the board,” she pointed out.

“I think you just made my point.” He smiled. “You don’t like surprises. You thrive on routine. Why is that?”

The way he stared at her made her uncomfortable. She felt like she was being scrutinized. She did not like being scrutinized.

“It’s not like I’m stuffy or boring or anything,” she blurted out, realizing how defensive she sounded. All her life, she’d been told she needed to “lighten up” and “smile more” and “just go with the flow.” But the same people loved the part of her personality that ensured everything was always taken care of without them having to worry about it.

“I didn’t say you were. I just think maybe there’s a story behind it.”

He sat back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. Again with the scrutiny. She felt the need to jump up and start dancing around. That was the most unpredictable, unplanned thing she could think to do in the current situation.

But she didn’t move from her seat.

“I believe this next question will be more to your liking.” Nicholas didn’t even look at the screen as he spoke. Instead, he leaned forward, putting his face closer to hers. “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

Charlie narrowed her eyes. That was a dig, wasn’t it? Her lack of unpredictability meant this question was perfect for her.

“Right here,” she answered without delay. “I love my job.”

Now his eyes narrowed. Maybe she’d answered a little too honestly. She’d given him even more proof of just how boring and unadventurous she was.

“What’s the most dangerous thing you’ve ever done?”

Again, Nicholas’s question sent her gaze straight to the screen. Nope.

Not a sign of that question up there.

He spoke in a hushed, barely audible tone. “Just go with it.” That sounded like a dare.

It took a while for Charlie to come up with something, but finally she did. “I ice skated as a kid. I even learned to skate backward. My best friend was a figure skater and she taught me.”

Again, he narrowed his eyes at her. She wondered if she could institute a ban on eye narrowing.

“What exactly was the risk you faced there?” he asked.

Was he kidding? “Falling. Breaking my leg. Getting a concussion. Having permanent damage to some part of my body. Making a total fool of myself in front of the boy I had a crush on.”

A smile joined the narrowed eyes. “You put embarrassment on that list?”

“At fifteen, physical injury has nothing on embarrassing yourself in front of people your own age. Am I right?”

He seemed to think about that for a second. “You do make a good point. Okay, another question. What’s the most dangerous thing you’d agree to do?”

Again, Charlie looked at the screen. This time, she also took in the people scattered around the room, all in pairs. Everyone else seemed to be going along just fine, although she couldn’t tell if they were following the questions on the screen exactly. There would be no way to know that for sure.

“Go hiking, I guess.”

That, for some reason, made his eyes light up. “I think I can arrange that.”

Wait…what? Arrange that? Charlie opened her mouth to tell him she didn’t want him to arrange anything-they were speaking in hypotheticals.

But before she could get a word out, he stood and addressed the room.

“Time,” Nicholas called out.

Gradually, the noise around the room subsided and people turned to face him. He called his first pair up-Justin and Tim from the development team. Tim was a notoriously outspoken developer. He was the guy, in every meeting, who let Justin know exactly what the development team was thinking. Justin loved that about the guy, and Charlie was one hundred percent sure that was why he’d chosen him when Nicholas told him to pick someone.

Nicholas gestured for Justin and Tim to come forward. “We’re going to go through the questions, in order, but we’ll put a little spin on it. The audience will guess your answers to each question. Which of the two of you answered the questions?” “Justin,” Tim said.

Whoa. Charlie hadn’t expected that. Looking around, she was pretty sure nobody else had expected that, either. The head person was the one who was supposed to ask the questions, not answer them. This should be interesting.

“First question!” Nicholas paused, probably for dramatic effect, looking around the room. “What inspires you?”

Charlie hadn’t been a fan of that particular question. She’d answered making sure her employees were paid on time and had the resources necessary to do their work. Nicholas had stared at her until she’d started talking again. Eventually, she’d come out with something resembling “employee happiness.” Point taken. A list of her daily duties was not an example of how she was inspired. She still wasn’t sure how she was inspired.

“But I’m not going to ask for Justin’s answer to that,” Nicholas said. Charlie’s eyes widened. “I’m asking you to take guesses as to what his answer was. The three pairs who get the most answers right get a pizza party, compliments of Justin Travers. So let’s go. What do you think inspires Justin?”

Chaos. Charlie winced. Nicholas had severely underestimated just how excited the development team got about pizza. She had a feeling Justin was in on coming up with the prize, actually, since pizza had become a common lunch order around here.

“Money!”

“Success!”

“Seeing us happy!”

That last one got a round of laughs, including from Justin. Charlie raised her hand, even though Nicholas was standing in front of her and couldn’t see it. One of the developers pointed at her.

Nicholas spun to face her. “Oh. I didn’t realize you had your hand up. No need to wait to be called on. Just shout out your answer.”

Lowering her hand, Charlie cleared her throat before talking. “That was actually what I was going to suggest. With raised hands, everyone gets a chance to speak.”

Everyone stared at her, including Nicholas. She felt self-conscious. Why did she have to sit up here in front? Because she was paired with Nicholas and this was where he happened to be? She wondered if she could just get up and return to her original chair, even though everyone else had rearranged based on their pairings.

“This is where I’m going to ask everyone to trust the process.” Nicholas turned toward the audience to say that, but soon after, he turned back around to address Charlie. “Did you have a guess about what inspires Justin?”

Oh. She didn’t. But now that everyone was staring at her, she felt pressured to say something.

“Students.” She looked out at the audience. “I’ve seen the way Justin lights up when he gets an email from a tutor or a parent telling him how much our app has helped a child.”

“Interesting.” Nicholas turned to Tim. “What was Justin’s answer?” Eyes wide, Tim looked down at his notepad. “Students inspire him.

Hearing from a parent whose child has been helped by the app.”

It was clear Tim was reading that verbatim. It didn’t surprise Charlie, but the others in the room seemed pretty awed by the accuracy of her guess.

She was getting quite a few wide-eyed stares similar to Tim’s expression. “I’m curious to hear how a few others answered that question.”

Nicholas went around the room, having each pair speak to what inspired them. Finally, he looked at his own notepad.

“What do you think inspires Charlie?” Nicholas asked.

“Lists!” someone called out.

“Schedules!”

“Facts and figures.”

Nicholas turned, glancing back at Charlie. He gave her a half-smile before turning back to the group, holding up the notepad.

“She said you inspire her. The employees she helps every day. And that’s something I want to talk about.”

He walked over to the podium, setting the notepad down before heading back to the center of the room. Charlie could see his face from this angle, and she was struck, once again, by how good a speaker he was. All he had to do was stand there. His presence filled the room, making it tough to take her eyes off him.

“It’s about people. People are what inspire other people. You can say all day that you’re inspired by the thrill of fixing a piece of code that’s just not working. Or the excitement of seeing your paycheck show up in your bank account. But, when it comes down to it, what really motivates people is the impact their work has on others.”Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

Nicholas began pacing, and Charlie was suddenly aware that she was still seated in front of everyone. Still on full display.

“Let me ask you something.”

This was directed at Justin, who had been staring down at his screen again. Justin looked up as though he’d forgotten where he was. It was a little rude. Charlie knew all about her boss’s strict “no cell phones in meetings” policy, so she was surprised he was doing this to his good friend.

“How easy would it be to share those stories with your staff?”

Justin frowned, sliding his cell phone into his front jeans pocket. “Pretty easy.”

“Okay. We’re going to take a break and gather that information. Everyone, be back here in fifteen. Charlie, do you want to help?”