"James, don't stay too late, Okay? It's a Friday and I already feel bad about you coming in today to help me," Alex said as he walked towards the door leading to the lobby.
"First, coming in wasn't a big deal. Second, it's not like I have any real plans tonight." I said without even looking up from the screen.
Alex looked back at me, leaning the gold frames of his sunglasses down, a look of defeat across his face.
"Ok, fine but seriously don't spend all night here." He said as walked out the door.
I turned on the stereo that Alex and I kept in our office, queued up a lo-fi playlist, and got back to work.
I wanted to make sure I put my best effort into our current project. Alex had been with the company a few years and was well known throughout the firm as one of the best project managers. I was new but I wanted to make sure that everyone knew I could pull my own weight after they assigned me to his team.
I reached over to grab my water bottle and picked it up, I realized it was empty. The lightness of the empty bottle being enough to snap me out of the focused state I had been in all afternoon.
Looking over at the clock revealed I had been sitting here working till almost 10.
I turned and looked out the window of the office, taking in the city at night. I could probably put in a few more hours before I headed home.
With it being Friday and having no plans this weekend, I figured I'll just sleep all weekend so working late wasn't going to be an issue. I leaned back in my chair and took a deep breath as I prepared to knock these last few hours out.
"Why are you still here?!"
I shot forward almost completely out of my chair as I awoke from what felt like a fairly deep sleep and, while it caught me off guard, I knew exactly who that voice belonged to.
Alex stood at the door of our shared office. The look of disappointment and anger was hard to miss. It wasn't the first time I had seen that look. Honestly I had seen it a million times and it probably wasn't going to be the last.
"Hey, I was just going to wrap up some stuff and head home." I said standing up and stepping from behind the desk as he walked across the office to my desk.
The look on Alex's face showed he wasn't buying it.
"James, what time is it?"
"Ummm.....Like 10:30." I said while looking up to the clock on the bookcase.
12:58AM.......Fuck.
"So I might have fallen asleep at like 10ish...." I said looking up at the clock.
Alex let out a sigh as I tried in my head to remember exactly when I fell asleep.
"So...um.....How did you know I was still here?"I said as I leaned over my desk and started saving and shutting everything down.
Alex walked over to the window and pointed at a large apartment building a few blocks over.
"I can see the office from my balcony. I came home and saw the lights on, so I pulled up sharepoint and saw several files listed you are currently viewing." He said with a hint of frustration.
I wasn't sure which was more annoying, the fact he could see the office or the fact he was dedicated enough to check what I was doing.
"Ah....well thanks for coming to check on me. Judging by the clothes I'm guessing you went out tonight?" I asked. Alex had gone through a rough breakup a few months ago and so it was nice to know he was getting back out.
I often joked that he needed to get back out there because at least one of us needed a social life.
"I did. Went out with Mia and Shane but It wasn't the best night so I called it early." he said as walked around the office making sure all the lights were off. Mia and Shane were on the marketing team and despite being in their 30's like Alex and I, they partied like they were in their 20's. Honestly, I found them annoying but luckily, I was on product design and that meant I didn't have to interact with marketing that much.
I turned my attention back to Alex watching him frustratedly close up everything for the night. I always thought he was cute and I had a small office crush on him before I was on his team. I sorta stopped thinking about him like that after finding he was in a pretty serious relationship but I still enjoyed at least getting to look at him.
Tonight he was definitely something worth looking at, while at work Alex always dressed in a very professional manner, but here he was wearing a t-shirt that looked almost painted on and jeans that were just as tight. I tried not to look too hard as I took in the way the jeans showed off the shape of his ass and hips and how certain movements caused his shirt to rise up revealing his midriff. The white tee contrasted nicely against the light brown of his skin.
"Ready to go?" Alex asked as I snapped back to reality.
"Yeah...." I grabbed my backpack and tossed it over my shoulder as we walked out of the office and into the lobby near the elevators, all while Alex watched to make sure I didn't try and slip back into the office.
"Have you had anything to eat?" Alex asked as we waited for the elevator.
"And don't lie!" He added with a bite.
"Ok, chill. Nah, I kinda just sorta snacked on some stuff earlier." I said, knowing that I hadn't even done that.
Alex had a habit of being sort of an office mom, and was always trying to make sure we took care of ourselves. I actually found it cute when he would get all upset about me not eating or drinking enough water. Alex couldn't have been more than 160 pounds and all of 5 '8 vs Me at 6' 6 and closer to 330, so even when he was trying to be intimidating it was more hilarious than anything.
As the door to the elevator opened, I stepped out and began walking towards the hall to the parking garage.
"And where are you going?!"
"Uh...home?" I said, not sure why that was surprising.
"Nope! We are going to go get you some food first and foremost." Alex interjected as he grabbed my hand and tried to pull me towards the front door.
I could have easily pulled away and headed home but I decided against it. I didn't have anything better to do and I really hadn't had anything to eat and Alex was going to just complain if I didn't go with him.
"Fine, where are we going?" I tried to sound defeated as I responded, which prompted a look of frustration from Alex as we headed out the front lobby door and onto the street.
"There is a small dinner near my apartment that's open till 3. We can get you some food and then you can sleep in my guest room. I'll bring you back tomorrow after breakfast and you can get your car and go home."
"Wait? When did I say I was spending the night?" I was caught off guard by the fact Alex had said this like I had no say in the matter.
"You live an hour outside the city, it's a fifteen minute walk from the diner to the office. The way I see it is that you wouldn't get home till 5ish and you already fell asleep in the office so I know you're tired and I refuse to let you just walk through the city at night by yourself."
I could have argued with him about that but I knew it didn't really matter and I didn't have anything to lose from it so I guess spending one night wasn't going to hurt.
Even at 1:30 in the morning, it was a still relatively warm night, one of the advantages of that early August weather. While the streets weren't empty, they weren't packed either and you could tell some people thought we were a couple.
It took about 20 min for us to get to the diner, a lot of that time was just spent standing at the crossing waiting for the walk signal.
The diner was nice, it was tucked into the corner of a building about a block from where Alex said his apartment was. I could tell he came here often as the waitress immediately greeted us and led us to a table in the back corner, one she referred to as Alex's usual spot.
"So you must come here often?" I said as I looked over the menu.
"It's close by, open late, and they have good desserts" Alex said while tapping on his phone.
Before I could ask another question, the waitress returned and asked what I wanted to drink.
I fought the urge to order a coffee and just ordered a coke. Alex didn't even say a thing as the waitress walked away. When she returned she had my coke in one hand and a green milkshake in the other.
"I'm guessing that's your regular?" I asked as I removed the straw from the wrapper.
Alex did the same before taking a deep pull from the straw.
"Mint Chocolate Chip." He said before returning to his drink.
Alex moved the shake to the side and looked at me.
"I want to apologize..." he said while looking down.
I was confused because I couldn't understand what he was apologizing for.
"For work. You put in all this extra effort and work yourself to exhaustion. You didn't even need to be in the office today and yet you came and helped me and then stayed late to work on the project." Alex said.
"Alex, didn't I say earlier this wasn't a problem and it definitely didn't warrant an apology."
"But!" Alex tried to interrupt but I motioned for him to stop and pointed to the waitress moving towards us with our plates in her hands.
I hadn't realized how hungry I had been till Alex pointed out how fast I was eating.
"Hey, Alex...Thanks for making me eat something... I would have just gone home and skipped eating." I said as I finished my last fry.
"Somebody has to take care of you since you obviously won't do it yourself." He said with an almost sarcastic tone.