Jake stared glumly at his freshly polished dress shoes as he walked into the office. It was his five year anniversary at Synergy Solutions and as a special “reward”, his boss Samantha had scheduled him to give a presentation at the company’s annual meeting. Public speaking was Jake’s worst nightmare.

“Why so glum, chum?” chirped a voice behind him. Jake turned to see his annoyingly cheery coworker Beth bounding up.

“Oh, hey Beth. I’m just nervous about this presentation I have to give.”

“You’ll do great!” Beth reassured. “I believe in you! Just picture the audience in their underwear.” She giggled at her own joke.

“Gee thanks,” Jake muttered. Easy for her to say – Little Miss Sunshine probably loved getting up in front of crowds with her perky personality.

Jake spent the next few hours hiding in his cubicle, trying to avoid human contact as he agonized over his slides and talking points. His stress headache grew with each passing minute.

“Jakey!” His boss’s shrill voice pierced his concentration. “It’s almost showtime! Get down to the auditorium pronto!”

Jake gathered his things with shaking hands and made his way downstairs. The room was packed with what looked like the entire company. His mouth went dry. He awkwardly took his place at the podium.

“Um, hi everyone,” he began, his amplified voice cracking. “Today I’m going to talk about our Q3 synergistic initiatives…”

Jake stumbled through a few slides, stammering and losing his place. A few minutes in, disaster struck. He accidentally skipped forward ten slides. Flustered, he tried to go back but instead closed out of the presentation entirely. The screen behind him went blue. Panicked murmurs rumbled through the crowd.

“You know what, I’m sorry,” Jake said, his face burning. “I’m not very good at this. Let me just…”

As he fumbled to get the presentation back up, he heard a friendly voice from the front row.

“You’ve got this Jake!” It was Beth, giving him an enthusiastic thumbs up. “I’ve seen how hard you’ve worked on this. We’re all behind you!”

Jake swallowed hard. He took a deep breath and restarted the presentation. This time the slides flowed smoothly. He started to hit his talking points with confidence. To his surprise, people were nodding along, even laughing at his corny attempts at jokes.

When he finished, the room erupted in applause. His coworkers rushed up to shake his hand and clap him on the back.

“Great job man! You nailed it!”

“Wow, I had no idea our profit margins had improved so much. Nice work!”

Even his boss Samantha looked impressed. “Jake, I’ll admit I had my doubts. But you really pulled through. Well done.”

As the crowd dispersed, Beth approached with a huge grin. “See? I told you you’d do great!”

“I couldn’t have done it without you,” Jake said sincerely. “Seriously Beth, if you hadn’t cheered me on right when I was bombing, I would have completely fallen apart up there.”

“Aw, what are friends for?” she said, giving him a big hug.

Jake felt a rush of gratitude and affection. He realized that while he had been seeing Beth as an annoyance, she had been supporting and believing in him all along.

“Hey, can I buy you a coffee?” he offered. “As a thank you.”

“I’d love that!” Beth beamed. “Although you may want to make it a decaf. You’re still looking a little jittery.”

Jake laughed, a wave of relief washing over him. He knew he still had a lot to learn in the crazy world of corporate synergy. But with friends like Beth by his side, he just might survive.

The two walked out together, chatting and joking like the oldest of pals, both feeling grateful for the unexpected synergy that had blossomed between two very different but caring coworkers.

Feature Photo by Luis Quintero