Getting down to business --Gillian (19)

"Down to business" said the woman in the black suit.
Finally, I thought. I really didn't think I could last much longer with all this uncertainty. I like to know whets going on. Don't get me wrong -- I love surprises. But not when someone drags them out for too long. Then I get annoyed.
"You have all been selected for a top secret mission," the woman began. I suddenly realized I didn't know what her name was. Scarlett had the same idea.
"Excuse me?" she interrupted. Everyone suddenly looked at her. "Um, could I please know your name? I don't think we should trust someone whose name I don't know."The woman paused for a moment and snuck a look in the direction of the man who had recruited me. He looked at her reproachfully. Quickly she looked away.
"My name is Ellen," she said, "I won't give you my last name; that's top secret."Maybe we should all give our names," suggested Scarlett. She tossed her long red hair as she said this, causing young guy to inhale quickly. Ex-boyfriend, I guessed immediately. "I'm Scarlett," she said, looking over at me.
"Gillian," I shot back, returning her gaze with what I hoped was a sophisticated look. I debated tossing my hair, but decided that that would be overdoing it.
Scarlett looked past me at the young guy behind me. As soon as she did, he looked the other way. "Ian." he told the non-descript laminate flooring. He looked as though he was afraid he was going to mess up and say the wrong name.
Scarlett, oblivious as usual, turned to the other guy, the one who had recruited me. He was wearing a black sweater with hairs of some kind clinging to it. "Greg." he said shortly, and glanced over at Ellen. Scarlett looked them both over incredulously. She was about to say something when Ellen tactfully cleared her throat. I knew I was going to like Ellen.
"Alright," Ellen said to the group, "As you know, you have been chosen for a secret mission. This mission may, and probably will, take a substantial amount of time. It's not going to be over by the end of next week, but it varies with every mission," Ellen was looking directly at Scarlett, who obviously wanted to interrupt. "You may also be in a position to risk your life at some point during the mission," she continued."This is your last chance to back out. After this, you will not be allowed to leave the mission. I strongly recommend you really think this through. I know you have had a day, but we're really down to it now. This is it. If you decide to return to your normal lives, you may exit through the door you entered. If you are absolutely sure of your decision to join this mission, please come over here to sign your contracts." She gestured to the desk on her right, and walked over to it.
Greg followed her immediately and signed the paper Ellen handed him. Once he had handed it back, he sat down on a chair nearby and busied himself with picking the hairs off his sweater.
That left Scarlett, Ian, and me. We looked around at each other; Scarlett was nervously playing with her hair. She looked over at Ian, who became extremely interested in the coat rack in the corner.Realizing Scarlett was about to look over at me, I turned and saw Ellen reading a black file. She turned over a page and I recognized a Matt Leblanc 'Got Milk?' ad.
Smiling, I looked back at Scarlett and saw her taking a hesitant step toward the desk, still fiddling with her hair.Seeing this, Ian looked like he was panicking. He obviously wanted to appear 'manly' to Scarlett, but he didn't know what was coming. None of us did. And we were all scared.
For some reason, I felt bad for Ian, and I wanted to help him. I guess that is what made me do something spontaneous. You have to understand, I am not an out-of-the-blue kind of girl. I don't have a spontaneous bone in my body. I like everything (and everyone) to be predictable. Which is why I almost gave myself a heart-attack when I felt my feet walking up to the desk, to the uncertainty of the secret mission. I walked past Ian (who was looking confused) and Scarlett (who was suddenly looked small and child-like). I gave Ian a reassuring smile, and wished someone would do the same for me.
Ellen looked up at me, put down her "file", and handed me a page. She did not look at all surprised that I was the first one to come up to the desk. Then again, she could have just been hiding it behind her scary mask-face. You really can't trust a recruiter to show how they really feel.
On the page was various annoying legal terms that basically said I should understand that couldn't tell anyone about my mission and that I could potentially die at some point during said mission.
Yeah, I was really excited to sign that.But you know what? There was no way I was going to walk away now. I knew the mission was my ticket to a new life, where I did more than shred paper and pour coffee all day. And I was ready for it. Man, was I ever ready.
So I took the pen Ellen offered me, signed the paper, and handed them back to her. She took the paper and put it in a file, then went back to her magazine.I took this as my cue to go sot down with Greg.
When I sat down, he was still picking at the hairs on his sweater. I looked at the desk and saw Ian signing a paper, with Scarlett close behind him. I turned to Greg and said jokingly "What are we really signing up for?"
Greg turned to me, his face serious. "You can't even imagine." he told me.