Chapter 18: The truth
Alex sat in his office the next morning, twirling the recently purchased bottle of deodorant in his hand. He blocked out everyone except his conscious all night, and it was that alone which spoke to him and softened his stance. He looked at his watch, knowing that Nicole would be arriving soon at his office with a cup of coffee as she had normally been doing for the past two weeks. Every time she purchased a cup for herself, she always got an extra cup for him. He even thought about the relationship that he had begun to build with Taylor. The way they joked around with each other and watched television. He had even brought young Taylor out to his parent's house, and Henry took him and rode go-karts and four wheelers with him all throughout their property. His parents had taken to him much quicker than Alex thought they would and it was all going too seamless for it to end.
Suddenly, there was a knock at his door. He glanced at the spray one final time before he closed it in his drawer. “Come in,” he said dejectedly. Nicole came in with a smile and sat his cup on his desk.
“Thank you, baby.”
“What’s wrong, honey?” she asked with a look of concern.
“Nothing. I’ll be fine.”
She walked over to the window and glanced outside, “you know,” she said, “today marks the thirtieth day that we have been involved with each other. Exactly thirty days ago, my feelings for you just suddenly changed, you know?”
Alex began nervously looking around the room as she spoke, “I mean, one moment I hated you and the next, I was just infatuated with you. Do you know what happened, or what you did, to change that? Now that I think about it, it is odd, wouldn’t you say?”
Alex hadn’t sprayed the last dose on himself today, and he wasn’t going to. In fact, he didn’t even intend to use the bottle he had just purchased, so spraying it one more day would just delay the inevitable. He remained silent.
“Dear?” she asked, “Wouldn’t you say that was odd?”
He sighed, “Yes. I mean, odd things happen all the time, though, you know? It’s hard to say that anything I did caused it. Maybe you just saw me as a good guy and wanted to give me a chance.”
She laughed, “No, not even. I would have never given you a chance, especially since we worked together. That is a line I would have never crossed.”
“Oh,” he said, knowing what was coming next but not wanting to face it.
“Are you sure that you had nothing to do with it?” she asked in a way that would have led anyone to believe that she knew something else was going on.
Even with that, he still denied it, “No, I didn’t. I… I don’t know, dear,” he said, placing the coffee cup to his mouth and hoping it would hide the glimmer of the tear that was caught in his eye.
“Alright,” she said as she sighed and headed out of his office. “I guess I will see you later.”
“Alright.”
Before she could close the door behind her, Alex yelled out, “Wait a minute, Nicole.” She paused and turned towards him, “Can you close the door, please? I have something to tell you.” She closed the door, and he stood up and met her in the middle of the room.
Moments later, he exposed the truth to her as she stood there, shaking her head while tears fell from her eyes. “How could you do that to me?” she asked as she wiped the tears, “You manipulated me. You literally drugged me into being with you.”
“I know, and I’m sorry, I truly am. I just wanted the chance to be with you and show you that I can be who you need me to be.”
“It’s all fraudulent. All of it. None of this happened naturally.”
“I know, I know, Nicole and I’m sorry I did it. I feel horrible because I knew that it was all fake. I knew it but I… I just knew you were the one for me.”
“So you drugged me?”
He sighed, “Yes.”
They stood away from each other in the middle of his office, both wiping tears from their eyes. She was angry at him but truthfully, she knew something was different. The effects of the deodorant had worn off about a week ago and since then, she kept questioning why she was spending time with Alex, but even then, she couldn’t stop. She spoke to Charlotte about it, and Charlotte tried to tell her something weird was going on a few weeks ago but at that time, the spell had not worn off. Then, when she came to Charlotte to question her a week ago, she was finally in her right mind and could understand everything. Charlotte got all of her information when she threatened Jerry and was just waiting for the moment she could release it to Nicole.
Even though the relationship started as manipulation, it helped Nicole develop true feelings for Alex, and it took her a few days for her to come to terms with it. She hated the way it happened but the truth is, the feelings she had for him now were real.
“I know,” she said in the midst of the silence, “Charlotte told me everything.”
“Charlotte?” he asked suddenly, “How?”
“She found out about the spray through Jerry.”
“Jerry?!”
“Yes. She got him to show me the video last week. I witnessed everything, even you kissing that elderly woman. That, in itself, was disturbing enough,” she said as she smiled, wiping another tear from her eye.
Alex shook his head, “I’m so sorry.”
Her smile went away, “Yes, I am too.”
Soon after that, she walked out of the office as Alex paced back and forth a few minutes. “Jerry!” He yelled out as he suddenly turned and darted out of his office. Jerry had his leg up on his desk while he sat on the phone when Alex charged in and gripped him around his throat.
“Alex, Alex!” he struggled to get out, “Just calm down, let’s talk!”
“Talk about what!? I told you to delete the damn video!”
“Alex!” he barely got out, “I’m losing consciousness!”
Alex finally released his grip around his neck as Jerry sat up in his seat, regaining his breath. After a few moments, he stood up, “Alex, I can explain,” he said, placing his hand on his shoulder. Alex smacked it off as Jerry spoke up again, “Come on, man. Charlotte! It was Charlotte! She had me cornered in her office and threatened to sit on me if I didn’t tell her what was going on! Come on; you have to understand! I’m not that big of a guy, and if she sat on me, I was likely to be squished to death! I can’t handle a woman of that size!”
Jerry frantically tried to defend why he told but it was of no use. Alex didn’t say a word, he turned around and walked out of Jerry’s office as his voice followed him down he hall, “Alex… Alex, come on, man. I’m sorry. Alex.” He ignored him and left the building.
Chapter 19: What now?
“It’s over, Mom,” he said with his head buried in his hands. “I can’t believe it.”
She rubbed his back, “Son, I don’t understand why you even had to use that stuff.”
“She wouldn’t give me a chance. I had to.”
“I can’t believe you fucked that up!”
“Henry, hush!” Susan said quickly.
“No, no! I had big plans for Taylor and me this weekend! Besides that, I wanted some mixed accounting grandchildren!”
“Henry, that is enough! He feels dumb enough already! He doesn't need to be reminded!”
Alex got up and silently walked out of their home as Shaun waited by his car door. When he opened it, Nicole stepped out. Alex looked around, confused as to what was going on. Nicole smiled and shortly after, Taylor stepped out of the car with the Playstation 4 controller in his hand. He slapped five with Alex and then ran into the house while Alex still had a befuddled look on his face.
Nicole walked up to him and put her arms around him, “You made a mistake,” she said, “it was a dumb ass, idiotic, narcissistic, spoiled, bratty ass mistake but it was a mistake none the less. I know it is hard to believe, and I just had to make sure myself, but the feelings I have for you now are real. The way you are. Your attention to detail and how you seem to remember every little thing about me that I tell yo
u to how you cater to me. I honestly have not been treated any better by anyone else in my life, and I don’t think I will.”
Alex embraced her as the tears fell from his eyes and onto her shoulder.
She continued, “And it certainly doesn’t hurt that you have a man like Shaun on your side. If it weren't for him coming by my house to help explain that you are a decent guy, and you just do the dumbest things at times, I wouldn’t have thought twice about it.”
“Shaun?” he asked, releasing Nicole.
“Yup. Shaun.”
Alex turned to look at Shaun as he stood by the door, smiling, “Yes, sir?” Alex ran towards Shaun and hugged him, knocking him down into the grass that was just behind them. “Sir!” he yelled, “You must get off of me! You must!” Moments later, Alex’s parent’s came to the door, “Oh my goodness!” Susan yelled, “My accountant is back! My beautiful accountant is back!” she said, running to her with her arms opened. They embraced each other as Alex rolled around in the grass on top of Shaun, hugging him and kissing him on every inch of his face. Henry glanced at them, “Um, do you two fuckers need a room? God damn, you got this beautiful woman here, and you’re rolling around in the grass with another man. What the hell is wrong with this boy!?”
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