It's a new year and I guess I should have put this out a while ago. No excuses, I'm just a really good at procrastination. But, Nic and Des have been begging me to finish their story, so I guess I'll have to get my ass in gear!! Hope you continue reading. ~J
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"Nic, can you update us on the modifications to the TCR-3130 boards and where we stand on estimated test dates? ...Nic? ...Ms. Desmond?!"
"Yes! I'm sorry, what did you say?" asked Nic, snapping back to attention as Mr. Waters, her boss's boss in the marketing department, called out her name.
"The new boards, where do we stand on their development?"
"Uh, yes," said Nic, shuffling through some papers in front of her. "The engineers have returned the modified specs on the board and sent them to the design team. It looks as though they will match up to what the manufacturers expected. We should have a test version out in as little as three months. We'll need to start finding respondents in our target market to run this initial version and discover any bugs that we haven't caught by next month. And as far as my records and the accounting department go, we are right on budget with everything progressing more or less on schedule."
"Thank you Nic. And, in future, if you could pay a little more attention during these meetings. I know I'm boring, but something important might come up," remarked Mr. Waters, smiling slightly to soften the brunt of his words. The other managers at the conference table chuckled lightly as Nic ducked her head in embarrassment.
"Yes sir, sorry." Nic doubled her efforts to pay attention and not let her mind wander during the remainder of the meeting. It was a difficult task, but somehow she managed to stay focused and not inspire any further lectures. As Mr. Waters brought the meeting to a close, Nic quickly gathered her papers and practically ran back to her office, hoping for a moment without interruption.
It had been a long, sleepless night, and the day wasn't getting any better. As soon as she had stepped foot into work, she had been bombarded with problems she had to fix and questions she had to answer. This was not so unusual for her job, but Nic's mind was definitely not on office matters. Her first date with Des was all Nic could think about. A million questions ran through her brain, as well as numerous scenes detailing how the night could play out. It was driving her past distraction and into insanity, a fact that was hard to hide from the other people in her office.
Just as Nic had laid her head down on her desk, reveling in a peaceful minute alone, her door burst open. Without raising her head, Nic knew who had walked in by the enticing smell of CK One cologne. She waited for him to make some kind of smart-ass comment about what had occurred in the conference room. Long moments passed before Nic could no longer take the anticipation and leaned back to glare at the man lounging in the chair across from her desk.
Eric Tennyson was, hands down, one of the most handsome men Nic had ever met or seen. His longish blond hair ranged from the color of wheat to a light russet, and never seemed to be un-styled, even when it wasn't meticulously combed from his high forehead. His cerulean eyes reminded Nic of the waters in the Caribbean, bold and boundless as they surveyed his surroundings. With chiseled features that managed to be masculine without giving way to severity, many would imagine he was the direct offspring of an angel. To top all of this, his lean form, encased in only the finest of suits, was casually muscular and carried a perpetual tan which made Nic wonder if the sun followed him around like a love-sick puppy.
As Nic's eyes met those of the man across her desk, a smile began to appear across his well-formed features. His full lips pulled back to reveal straight, incredibly white, teeth and a dimple in his right cheek. Nic leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, waiting for what she knew was sure to come next.
Without fail, a slight tremor began in Eric's body as one hand came up to cover his mouth. While this was an effective barrier to his smile, it did nothing to hold back the rising sound of mirth which was quickly filling the office. Nic rolled her eyes as Eric stopped trying to control his laughter and let the deep, rumbling sound pour from him unrestrained. He relaxed into the chair and laughed until tears began to spill over and his hands clutched at his stomach, while Nic fumed and shook her head.
"Shut up, Eric." Nic's voice could barely be heard over Eric's continued guffaws. His amusement was so loud people passing by Nic's office peered into her windows with unreserved curiosity.
"I'm serious Eric, if you don't shut up, I will take out all of my frustrations from the past few days on your narrow, overly-coiffed, stuck up ass." Although Nic said this with a smile, there was no mistaking the dangerous tone to her voice. Hearing this Eric quickly tried to sober up, looking almost remorseful at his outburst. However, the lull in his enjoyment was short-lived as he gathered breath to utter a single sentence.
"I wish my boyfriend was dominating enough to say that," Eric gasped before breaking into laughter again; this time almost falling out of his chair in his glee.
"That's it!" Nic scanned her desk and picked up the seven-pound paper weight from its surface, reasoning that no one could possibly blame her for assaulting Eric when he was being so damned annoying.
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry," Eric pleaded, holding up his hands in surrender. He fought to regain his composure as he straightened up in his seat and pulled himself together. Nic reluctantly replaced the paperweight before letting her head fall once more to the cool surface of her desk.
"I've known you for about one year now," mused Eric, as he regarded the amusing picture Nic made. "In all of that time, I have never seen you frustrated, bewildered, or completely distracted by anything. The only time you ever gave a hint of being overly-stressed was during the Bione chip manufacturing disaster back in February. We stood to lose about $15 million on that deal and you didn't even break a sweat. But today, when old man Waters tried to get your attention...and the look on your face. It was classic. I wish I'd had a camera to capture that once in a lifetime moment of complete surprise. Anyway, your conduct today leads me to one conclusion, and I have a question to ask... What's his name?"
Nic mumbled unintelligibly into her desk, refusing to raise her head from its surface. When Eric repeated the question, leaning forward to catch her answer, Nic gave up the pretense of shutting him out and prepared to once again lay the drama of her life on the table. If it had been anyone else in the office she could have lied and steered the conversation to work or some other distraction. But, Eric knew her too well.
Nic had met Eric on her very first day. He was basically her counterpoint in the sales department, meaning that they worked closely nearly every minute of every day. When Nic had been promoted to her current management position, she knew it would be essential to get along with the sales department division manager if they were to be successful. She couldn't have possibly predicted how well they would get along in the ensuing months from their first meeting.
Upon first being introduced, Nic had been struck by Eric's looks, like every other female. But, instead of fawning over him like a blithering idiot, something nearly every woman who met him couldn't seem to resist doing; she shook his hand candidly and hoped he had brains to match his handsome appearance. Taken aback by Nic's obvious disinterest in trying to work her way into his bed, even before he had told her that he was gay and in a very happy, long-term relationship, Eric had liked her direct and honest attitude, as well as her complete ignorance of what a good person she was. He had become completely enamored of the way see humorously put herself down while still having great self-confidence, stood up for what she believed in, and cared unreservedly for her friends.
Nic had garnered the enmity of most of the female staff, and a few of the males, in her building for their incredibly tight relations, but had gained a true, if not sometimes annoying, friend in Eric Tennyson. Few understood how the friendship worked, seeing that they were like night and day, unlike Lila and Nic who seemed to be long lost twin sisters. Where Nic was usually serious, nearly morose, in her outlook, Eric was constantly upbeat. Getting a smile from Nic was like pulling teeth, but speaking more than two words to Eric would likely result in the glaring brightness that was Eric's customary grin. And yet, in spite of their differing attitudes, they managed to remain close with little effort and almost no disagreements. This was the only reason Nic felt at all comfortable in revealing the cause behind her lack of attention today.
Trying not to go into too much detail, Nic explained the basic situation to Eric who, to her surprise, listened without comment or emotional outburst. After she had finished bringing him up to speed on the date tonight, Eric simply nodded his head in understanding and sat in quiet contemplation. Nic cocked an eyebrow in confusion and tried her damnedest to stem the growing tide of apprehension she felt building at Eric's continued silence.
"So," said Eric, finally coming out of his reverie. "...what you're telling me is that there is a good possibility that you could get laid."
Nic stared at Eric in shock before slowly shaking her head and covering her face in her hands.
How is it possible that this is all my friends can think about? Isn't it supposed to be a good thing to not sleep around and instead concentrate on building a nice life?
Nic exhaled wearily as her mind tried to make sense of everything.
"Have you not heard what I just said over the last five minutes?" asked Nic as she pushed away from her desk and began pacing in the space between the chair and the window that was the back wall of her office. Her muscular legs ate up the small space in five steps, the black patent leather pumps she wore making muted thumping noises in the carpet.
"I have a date in less than six hours with a man that I have no idea how to deal with. And did I forget to mention that he is also the most irritating, frustrating, and annoyingly arrogant man that I have ever met. I don't think it's ever occurred to him that he may be anything other than correct, every minute, of every day. And yet, with all of these things going against him, he still has the completely illogical ability to make me feel like I'm the ninth grade reject getting attention from the all-star, senior quarterback!"
As Nic continued in her tirade, her anxiousness steadily increased, pushing her to walk and talk faster. She was building up to what looked to be an incredibly deadly explosion, and Eric began to wonder if he should take cover. He had never seen Nic so out of it before and while half of him was ecstatic that she was finally showing some form of human weakness, the other half wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her that everything would be alright. But, knowing Nic, well-meant compassion would hardly help matters. What she would want would be sensible opinions, that could aid in the formation of a plan of attack. So, Eric settled back and tried to think of what to say when she finally ran out of steam.
