by Various
"Look, Nora. Darren was a great boyfriend for a while. But lately, I think he's been an asshat. I'm not telling you what you should do, but there have got to be better fish in the sea. You just never seem like yourself when you’re around him.” Sophia gets up and checks her watch.
Sophia knew me before Darren. Before I decided to stop pushing myself and just live—go with the flow. All these years, I thought that’s what made everyone else so happy. This whole time I’ve been trying to be the no-stress girlfriend, the in-the-moment woman, I guess three years of trying to be someone else is too long. Although the thought of going back to that freaked out, type A, stressed to the max person fills me with dread.
“Nora, just because you want to take control of your life, doesn’t mean you have to go back to—you know,” Sophia says quietly.
I look up at her and nod my head. It’s nice to have friends who can read your mind.
“There is a middle ground. You don’t have to be anal to get things done.” Julie says.
I am floored. She didn’t even know me then, but seems to know exactly what we’re talking about.
“Oh please. No one makes it in this business without being completely anal retentive. You’re David’s wet dream when it comes to details and organization. I figured your complete lack of opinions with your boyfriend was an overcompensation. What with your fancy degree, and all,” Julie says with a smile.
All three of us start laughing at once. There it is. The big secret, only not a secret at all, Julie nailed it. Standing, my head is swirling with thoughts of Darren and our relationship. I need to focus on work, a lot has to happen between now and the end of the day.
"Okay. Let's get back to work. The marketing materials are somewhere out there, but hopefully they’ll be here by tonight. Honestly, if we can find those and make the packets tonight, neither one of us will have to work this weekend. There’s nothing we can do about the gifts, though." Still a little shaky from our conversation, I pause to take a breath. "And you know how it is. No matter what we do this week, next week is going to suck!"
"Well, it will be what it will be. I'll be in my office." Julie takes off.
I turn to Sophia. “Thanks Soph. I needed that.”
“Any time, Sister! Hang in there,” Sophia says.
I finish cleaning up and go back to my office. I notice that it’s a little easier to breath now. I don't feel so heavy. Maybe I should have talked to them a lot earlier.
~~~~~~~~
Ryan storms through my office door looking tense. It's 5:15 and Fed Ex was supposed to be here, guaranteed, 15 minutes ago. I am in for a long night. Julie has been pacing outside the office for the last half hour.
"Hi!" I say brightly to Ryan. He looks like he's been through a wind tunnel. Right on cue, he runs his hand through his hair and lets out a long breath.
"Hi. What are you so happy about?" He scowls.
"Resigned, more like it. The truck will be here tonight. But when tonight, who knows? I can either put the packets together tonight or I can come in over the weekend and put them together then. Either way, by Monday we should be fine." I look him in the eye, bracing for his mood.
He looks at me, dismayed.
"Oh. Okay. Then why the hell are we stressing out about all this crap? Julie is out there spitting fire at passing cars and screaming at people."
"Yeah, I know, she’s a little wound up, but we stress now so next week we have all this crap done, and are available to deal with all the crap that comes up then." I go back to shuffling papers on my desk.
Ryan starts to laugh. "So you planned for this?"
He sits down and runs his hand through his hair again. The wind tunnel look suits him. He seems more relaxed now, and his eyes look calmer.
"Well, um, yes. I guess we do plan for this. I mean, my plan was to have the boxes here at ten, like a normal Fed Ex delivery. But we have the weekend to make things right and keep us on schedule. This isn't our first rodeo, you know."
Ryan looks up at me and smiles, his eyes are shining and he looks amused. It takes my breath away.
"Okay, Young. Good call. What do we do now?"
Julie comes bursting through the door. "It's here! The truck is here!"
Ryan and I both jump up and help move the boxes into the conference room. There are six large boxes, all full and heavy. Julie is giving the Fed Ex guy a hard time about being so late. He nods his head and leaves as soon as he can. Digging into the boxes, we make an assembly line with agendas and other papers on one side to be collated, folders and gold stickers, and of course, the pads of paper with the logos on them, on the other. Soon the room looks like a mini paper factory.
Within a short time I realize that the golden logo stickers that need to go on each folder are a real problem.
"What the hell? Why didn't we just order these with the logos printed on them?" I ask Julie after almost mutilating a sticker.
"Client did not approve the expense and thought the raised sticker looked nicer," Julie says, not slowing down collating her papers.
Ryan coughs.
"Okay, Cole. Get your ass over here and help with these. Tap into your artistic side, this is a pain." I make room on the table for him to work. He arches his eyebrow at my use of his name while walking over to me.
He takes a folder and places it on the table. He then picks up a sticker and lays it on top of the folder, aligning it just so. Then he picks up the sticker and starts to peel off the backing, however, it takes him about four tries before he gets a hold of it. Finally, he peels back the full sticker and gently places it on the folder.
Oh. My. God. We are going to be here all night.
"Ta da!" Ryan holds up his folder. "Well, that's one, 479 to go."
Julie is just finishing her collating. All the stacks are neatly waiting, looking like Lincoln Logs at the edge of the table.
"You guys almost done down there?" Julie still looks tense and keeps checking her watch.
Of course, her date! How could I forget?
"Julie. Go. We've got this. I'm sorry. Just go. No worries. Have fun." I stand up and start ushering her out the door. She hesitates and then looks at me.
"Are you sure? I can cancel if you need me." She waits, half in the door, half out.
Ryan stands up, sensing the urgency in her voice. "Julie, I'll stay with Nora and make sure all this gets done. It can't take that long. Go do whatever you need to do."
Julie looks at Ryan and then back at me and smiles. She hugs me briefly, "Thanks you guys. I owe you big time. Wish me luck!" And runs out the door.
I walk back to the stacks of stickers and folders. Just as I sit down, I hear the front door slam shut.
"She has a big date tonight. I totally forgot about it or I would have sent her home earlier and we could have met tomorrow. No wonder she was so frantic all afternoon."
I try to hide my smile. Poor Julie. I start giggling.
"I figured it was something like that. She was a speed demon over there. At least that's done, right?"
He struggles with another sticker. We are so screwed here.
"Yep. It's just you and me and these damn stickers. We can thank Mrs. Foster for tonight." I reach for a sticker and start struggling.
We work for about 15 minutes in silence. Slowly, the stack of readied folders grows in front of us. Ryan stops working and looks at me. He opens his mouth to speak when my phone rings.
"Hold that thought," I say to him and answer without even checking the caller ID.
"Where the hell are you?" Darren screams at me when I answer.
I stand, almost knocking over my chair. I'm trying to run from the room because I know Ryan can hear him screaming at me. Why the hell is he screaming at me?
"Darren. I'm at work.” I move to the door and slip out.
"Work? Why are you still at work?" At least he's no longer yelling.
"I'm working late. Did we have a date that I am unaware of?" I am so pissed. I can't believe he’s calling me
like this.
"I'm at your house. You never work late and I was worried about you. I came over to apologize for last night. But I can tell you’re still pissed, so never mind."
"No, I'm sorry." I feel my shoulders slump. But did he not just call me and yell at me because I’m working?
"How long are you going be there? Should I come there?" Oh shit. My heart races. The last thing I want is for Darren to come here.
"No. I'm with a client and we’re going to be awhile. Fed Ex didn't deliver on time and we’re catching up for next week. I—"
"Yeah. Whatever, Nora. I'll see you later." He hangs up.
What the fuck was that? He's pissed at me because I'm not there waiting for him to spontaneously show up and apologize for being an asshole?
I take a deep breath and walk back in the conference room. Ryan is finishing another folder.
"Sorry about that," I say meekly and scurry back to my chair.
"Yeah. No worries. Did you have a date, too?" Ryan doesn't look up, focusing on the next folder.
"Um. No. I don't have a date. But someone thought I should be home waiting. Doesn't matter." I work on the backing of the sticker, rolling my shoulders, hoping it will shake off Darren's call.
"Okay."
We go back to our task. About an hour later we are half way through the stickers. My back is aching and my fingers are sticky. Ryan gets up and stretches.
"That's it. Break time." He walks around the room stretching his neck.
"Yeah. Okay. Looks like we’re about halfway there." Moving the folder I just finished into the done pile, I stand up and stretch too.
"Come on, Young. Let's get out of here." Ryan heads for the door.
"Uhh. " I hesitate, rooted to the spot. I still feel awkward about Darren's phone call.
"Yeah, your boyfriend's an asshole. You’re working it out. I get it. Doesn't mean we can't eat. I need a break, we have another two hours to go. We're leaving." He holds the door open, waiting.
My mouth drops open for a second but I quickly close it and walk towards the door.
"Excellent. Let's take my car," he says as we leave.
Ryan's car turns out to be a four door, burgundy Jeep Grand Cherokee. It's big and surprisingly comfortable inside. It certainly beats my car any day. He takes us to Mario's, a cute little Italian bistro with checkered table clothes, wax candles, and a smell that calls to my rumbling stomach. We order as bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar arrives at the table. The bread is warm and melts in my mouth.
"Oh. This is so good. I needed a break. Thanks," I say, my mouth full.
Ryan is watching me, smiling. He sips his dark red wine. His wine was too dry for my taste, so I went with a crisp chardonnay.
"What?" I ask, sipping my wine.
"You are an interesting woman to figure out," he says, as his eyes flash.
Self-conscious now, I sit back. "Why do you need to figure me out? I'm just me. Boring!" I reach for more bread.
He looks surprised. "Boring? No. I don't think so. Most definitely a mystery."
The wine tastes great as it slips down my throat. I can feel the alcohol seeping into my blood, creating a pleasant fuzziness in my brain. His words make my heart skip and I feel myself blush. Damn.
"Well, Mr. Cole, you're a bit of a mystery yourself."
Just in time, our food arrives. A huge plate of steaming spaghetti bolognese is placed in front of me. Smelling the delicious aroma, I forget about Ryan's comment and dig into the pasta. After stuffing two or three huge bites into my mouth and moaning about how good it is, I look up to see Ryan, once again, staring at me.
"Okay, what?" I ask him, wiping my face with a napkin. "Is your food not good?" I say, hoping to distract him.
"No. I'm just riveted watching you enjoy your meal." His eyes are smiling at me. It looks like he hasn't touched his food yet.
Spinning my fork again, I say, "You'd better eat that, or I just might do it for you. Oh my God, this is so good. I love Italian food." I stuff more pasta in my mouth and gesture to Ryan to start eating.
I know he's still watching me. But surprisingly, I’m not worried about it. It's just too good and I’m too hungry to care right now. Besides, there is something enjoyable about him watching me. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's not freaking me out like usual. It must be the wine.
I finish my meal. "Too bad," I say, putting down my fork. "Damn, I love this place."
Ryan laughs, almost spewing his food. He grabs his napkin and recovers himself. "Yes. I can see that. You've never come here before?"
"No. Never. I usually eat at home. Darren, my boyfriend, likes to cook. So when he's over, he cooks. Otherwise I just eat whatever. Toast. Cereal."
"Ah, so Darren keeps you close to home, huh. No wonder he didn't like it when you weren't there when he showed up." His eyes flash with something, disgust I guess, but with Darren or me, I’m not sure.
I put down my wine glass. "Look. I don't want to talk about Darren right now. Things are—odd."
"Odd. Okay. You don't seem very happy with him." Ryan leans forward with an intense stare.
"Happy?" I ponder the word. "Happy is not the adjective I would go for these days."
"Is that why you were at the club last weekend?"
“What?” I freeze feeling my entire body light up. “So that was you!”
He smiles a mischievous smile. “Yes. That was me.”
“I can’t believe it! Why didn’t you say anything?” I almost shout at him.
He laughs, “Like what, ‘I know you hate me right now but that dance rocked my world.’”
“That dance rocked your world?”
He puts his fork down and fixes his stare at me but doesn’t say anything. The tension builds and finally I can’t take it any more.
“I still can’t believe you let me think I was going crazy all week. I knew it was you, but then you were such an ass and I thought no way. Was that really you?”
“Yes,” he says, his voice low and deep. “I was just trying to be respectful. It was one dance and we never really introduced ourselves. As it turns out, you have a boyfriend—of sorts. You were saying happy wasn’t the right adjective you would use. What would you use then?”
"I'm not sure. But even if I knew, the last thing I want to discuss with you is what adjective I would choose to describe my relationship." Now I’m wishing that I hadn’t drunk the wine so fast. I can’t believe it; my sexy stranger and Ryan are one in the same!
"Relationship? Okay. So, you are in a relationship then?" His eyes darken and he sits back against his chair.
Shit. Was that what this is? He’s asking if I'm in a relationship? That thought pulls me back down.
"I don't know what to call it these days. But yes, I met him three years ago. Senior year." I want this conversation to be over.
"Oh. Senior year. So now this begins to make sense." He smiles and looks around the restaurant.
Why does it make sense now? I’m about to ask when the waiter comes over with the check. Ryan grabs for it, but I take it first.
"No way, buster. If you pay, it's a date. If I pay, then I'm treating the client to dinner in exchange for labor."
He looks sullen and crosses his arms.
"Okay, Young. When I pay, it'll be a date." And with that he gets up and walks off toward the restroom.
When he pays? Not if he pays? My heart skips a beat again. I watch him walk across the restaurant. He really is nice to look at.
~~~~~~~~
It's 9:30 at night and we’re almost done. Ryan has been telling me tales of law school to keep us entertained. I've never had so much fun working late before. I’m laughing embarrassingly loudly but I just don’t care, this is too much fun.
“Ta da!” Ryan stands, triumphant. “And that is the last sticker done.”
“Great. Let’s start stuffing.” I stand up and start moving towards Julie’s long neglected stacks.
He growls in playful frustration. �
�I forgot about that part. Will this ever end?” Ryan sags. He does look tired, but even so, still stunningly handsome.
“Oh, come on. We’re in the home stretch!” I walk towards him and hold out my hand. “Don’t quit on me now.”
He stands, grabbing my hand, and our eyes lock. The copper in his eyes is swirling with chocolate. They are magical. His hair is swept up, sort of sticking up in a messy way, but wow, does it work on him. His collar is open, showing me just a hint of what might be underneath. And that slow smile spreading across his face is just so inviting, I can feel myself falling into him. Now that I know he is the same man from the club, I know what he’s capable of and my body is craving more.
My breath stops and electrical currents shoot from his fingers straight to my sex. “No,” he says. “I won't quit on you."
We are so close I could kiss him. Another thrill shoots through my body as I realize that I actually need to look up at him to maintain eye contact.
Get a grip, Nora. Shaking my head, I pull away from him.
"Um. Good." I walk back toward the piles of papers and start working.
I feel him walk up behind me. Heat radiates from his body to mine. I want this man! The thought pops into my head so suddenly I almost gasp. But I know it's true. I can admit it, finally. I’m so attracted to him I can barely breath, and now that I sense him standing behind me, feeling the heat coming off him, my entire body starts trembling with desire.
Taking a deep breath, I steady my nerves. To be fair to everyone involved here, I need to finish things off with Darren before jumping into something else. I feel Ryan move to my side and start stuffing the folders.
We work side-by-side and finish quickly. Still, it's after eleven before we’re done. I know I’m tired, but I don't feel it. I wonder if I look tired.
"Okay. That's it for now. I couldn't have done this without you. Thanks for hanging in there with me," I say, trying to keep my voice level.
Somehow, knowing who he really is and admitting to myself how attracted I am to him makes me nervous. Ugh. What a pain.
"Yeah sure, Young. You really know how to show a guy a good time." He smiles, satirically.