I feel every eye on me as I walk down the hallway and towards my desk. This isn't exactly anything new. The whispers and comments I hear every so often rarely phase me. It's the cat calls and laughter I hear that phase me.

Women working in a 'man's workplace' is something I will always have to deal with. When deciding to change my major from Nursing to Software Engineering in college, I had no idea about the shit I would have to put up with. The men who are around my age, maybe even a few years older is something that I have learned to tolerate and have a strong patience with. The millennial group aren't even the ones creating all of the fuss, surprisingly. The newest generation in my workplace make working feel like a crime. The Generation Z group of men in my office are the ones who continuously drive me fucking insane.

At what point did this generation feel that whistling at women anywhere, let alone the workplace, was appropriate? It's exhausting, really.

As complicated as it may be, I don't want to change who I am at work just to deflect the men's advances. When I came to work in a dress just last Tuesday, it was as though the entire ceiling caved in and everyone just had to stare. I mean, really. Two inches above me knee is really scandalous? Get real.

"Good morning, Natalia." I hear a voice say from behind my desk. When I turn around, Brian is smiling at me as he extends a cup of coffee towards me.

"Hey, Brian. Thanks." I say as I grab the cup from his hand and take a sip. With as much money that was put into this office to make it one of the best startup companies, you would think that they would invest into some better coffee.

"How's the app coming along? Have you had any time to work on it?" He asks, taking a seat next to me.

"Ha! Funny joke." I say sarcastically, "Justin has me working day and night on a bunch of stuff for him. I mean, hey. I'm not exactly an engineer here yet." I shrug.

"Yeah, but interns should have time to finish their own work, too." He counters. I smile appreciatively at him, wishing that everyone else in this office felt the same way he did.

"Try telling that to everyone else in the office." I say, pulling out the notebook of tasks I have left to do. He glances over my list and cringes slightly.

"Damn, you do have a lot of work." He remarks.

"I know. All thanks to Justin." I say with fake enthusiasm.

"Well, I have some extra time later today. I can help you knock out some of this if you want the help. I really think you should throw your hat in the ring with this new project. It's a great opportunity. Grayson rarely does stuff like this." He reminds me.

"Thanks, Brian. I really do appreciate it. I think that if I'm able to do all of this and finish the project in time, I'll be respected a little bit more. And hey, even if I don't finish it by the deadline date, I can still work on it. Who knows, maybe it will be good enough for something else down the road." I say.

"Look at you, always looking on the bright side." He says with a smile. "Anyways, I've got to get to work. If you change your mind about the help, don't hesitate to ask. Please." He tells me as he gets up from his seat and walks towards the door.

I really wish that everyone in this office acted like Brian did towards me. The respect and kindness he uses towards everyone an a day to day basis is what gives me hope in this workplace. Sadly, he's probably the only one to ever give me hope in this place.

The day drags as I attempt to finish the miscellaneous tasks at hand. I swear, some of these are just to keep my busy for a full day. I rarely finish everything in the same day, because Justin gives me nearly impossible tasks to finish. He has me go all over town to find certain things for him, or to get him lunch on the opposite side of town. It's exhausting.

In the back of my mind, I think he's making it so I have zero time to work on my own app. I think that maybe he views me as one less person to compete against. Yet, this seems highly unlikely at the same time. Justin has been working for GRIP ever since it was made. The fact that he would view me as any competition is more than likely the opposite of the truth. If anything, everyone else should be nervous to lose to him. The amount of respect he receives in this office is amazing. People practically kiss the ground that he walks on.

"Natalia." Justin says in a sing-song voice. I turn around and offer him a smile.

"Hey." I say, handing him his binder along with the Diet Dr. Pepper he had requested.

"Thank you, thank you." He says, seeming uninterested in anything else around him. "Where are we on the list?" He asks, pulling his phone out and scrolling through Instagram.

"Uhm, I have a few more things left." I tell him. He laughs at a video he sees on what is probably some meme account, completely ignoring what I said.

"What was that?" He asks again, putting his phone back into his pocket.

"I have a few more things." I repeat.

"Cool. Great. Make sure to get those files up to Grayson today. That needs to be done like...now." He says as he walks away.

"Wait, Justin." I say, stopping him from leaving. He turns to looks at me with raised eyebrows. "Do you think I could maybe have some time to finish my paperwork for the app design?" I ask nervously.

"You haven't already finished that?" He asks with surprise.

"Not exactly, no." I tell him.

"Well, Natalia. The paperwork that is getting sent up to Grayson is what you should have been working on this entire time. Those are the app designs. The deadline is today." He reminds me.

"I know, I just-"

"Maybe pace yourself next time, yeah?" He asks as he leaves the office.

"Alright then." I mumble to myself sarcastically.

I finish the email I'm writing and gather up all of the files for Grayson. As I head upstairs to his office, I feel myself grow anxious. I have never met Grayson Parker in person. I have no idea what kind of person he is. I have no idea if he's going to be rude or nice. With the pattern that I have seen at this office, I'm only assuming he's going to be rude. The suck up part of me wants to impress him. I want him to notice who I am and have a certain respect for me. But at the same time, why in the hell would someone like Grayson Parker be impressed with me? He has an entire building of engineers with twice as much experience as me. He's going to fucking laugh.

As I get closer to his floor, I see the drastic change in scenery. Unlike the other floors of the building that are loud and cluttered, Grayson's floor is clean and quiet. I almost think that it might be empty until I turn the corner and run straight into Mr. Parker himself.

"I'm so sorry." I say, picking the files up from off of the ground.

"What are you doing here?" He asks with confusion. The question isn't rude, but definitely catches me off guard. I almost get distracted as I look at him. I've only ever seen him from a distance. I rarely see him looking anywhere but at his phone. His hair is on the longer side, but no where near being considered shaggy. It's just long enough to push it back without it falling right back into place, I'm sure. He has a baby face, too. But his short beard hides it well.

"I...Uhh, Justin." I say quickly, forcing myself to stop staring at him.

"What?" He asks, even more confused now.

"Justin Miller wanted me to give these to you." I say, shaking my head at myself.

"Come to my office." He says as he turns to walk away. He doesn't try and help me pick up the papers or anything. He only turns to walk away from me.

I sigh in defeat, already making a terrible first impression. I quickly follow behind him as he walks into a large office with a few things scattered here and there. For the most part, his office looks like the rest of his building. It's organized and clean.

"What are they?" He asks, reaching his hand out to grab one of the files.

"I think they're the applications for the project. They're from our team." I tell him.

"I see." He mumbles, flipping through the files in hand. "What is your name?" He asks, not looking up for even a second.

"Natalia Zamora." I reply nervously.

"Are you on Justin's team?" He asks me, stopping at one file and reading over it carefully.

"No. Well, yes, but-"

"No?" He asks.

"Yes." I reply. He gives me a quizzical look but only nods.

"What are you?" He asks.

"I'm an assistant. Well, an intern, but-"

"Are you an assistant or an intern?" He asks once more. He is losing his patience with me, I'm sure. Nothing that he is asking is rude, but I can feel the aggravation starting to build. His voice is rather monotone, which I'm sure is why I'm assuming he's getting impatient with me. Maybe he just sounds like this all of the time?

"I'm an intern." I reply.

"So where is your app paperwork? Deadline for this was today." He asks, setting the files down onto the desk.

"Oh, I didn't get the chance to do it." I mumble nervously.

"Why?" He asks.

"I didn't have time?" I ask, almost looking for his approval.

"Why did you not have time?" He asks further.

"I guess I've just been busy helping Justin with the things he needed. I wanted to get done with all of that first." I tell him.

"So you gave up your own project to help Justin finish his things?" He questions.

I don't even know how to answer this question. I feel like everything I'm doing is wrong right now. This guy is literally questioning the fuck out of me and I feel like I'm just doing everything wrong.

"Yes." I sigh.

"Did you want to participate?" He asks me.

"I'm not exactly an engineer here, yet." I say instead of replying with my real answer.

"That is not what I asked." He tells me. I feel so fucking small in front of him.

"Yes." I reply softly.

"Yes, what?"

"I wanted to participate." I reply. He nods his head and sets the files on top of a big pile on his desk.

"That will be all for now. Thank you." He tells me, getting up from his desk and walking to the door.

As he opens the door for me, I quickly leave and give him a nod of appreciation as I walk out. He closes the door behind me quickly and I groan softly.

"What the actual fuck." I mumble quietly to myself as I get into the elevator and replay the last few minutes in my head.