Unconventional

Jarrett paced around the living room half-dressed, only wearing his pants. A part of him was doubtful but the other part, the more dominant part, was freaking out. The condom would break. What are the chances? He thought. There was no way that this one time that he and Roxanne had sex that she could become pregnant. What if she did? What would he do? Their lives would be over: he'd lose his job for sure, she'd lose hers. They'd be fucked. He tousled his hair; scratching and pacing. Sean and Max watched him walk back and forth. It was partially amusing to Max.

"Sit down, Jay, you're not thinking straight," Sean said.

"You don't get it, Sean. What are the odds that the one time, THE ONE TIME, I sleep with Roxy the fucking condom breaks?"

He was frantic.

"Do you remember when it broke?"

Jarrett stopped pacing.

"If I fucking knew that, don't you think I would have done something about it?" he snapped.

"I don't know, would you?" Sean asked.

Jarrett didn't answer and continued his pacing.

"I think you're overreacting," Max said, "She's on the pill, right? She should be on the pill. Girls are on the pill at her age, right?"

"I don't know."

"It never came up huh?" Max asked jokingly.

"How old is she?" Sean asked.

"She just turned 21."

At this point, Jarrett was ready to throw the coffee table at the both of them.

"You two aren't helping."

"Well there's really nothing that you can do about it, Jay. You'll have to come clean with her and tell her what happened. You're friends, shit happens," Sean said.

"Fuck that," Jarret scoffed, "If I tell Roxy that the condom broke, she'll kill me. You know how bad of a temper she's got."

"Man up," Sean said, "You wanted to sleep with her so bad. You got your wish."

Jarrett grew tense. He knew how bad he wanted her; he just didn't expect his roommate know, let alone say it out loud.

"Fuck you, Sean."

"Fuck you."

"What are the chances of a girl becoming pregnant if the condom breaks anyway?" Max asked.

They all stared at each other. Neither had a clue.

"You'd better think of something, you've gotta work with her today," Max reminded.

"It's gonna be hella awkward for her. She's probably gonna be a bitch to me."

"I hope you enjoyed yourself."

"It's not like I planned it. Yeah, we fool around every time she comes over but it just happened," he said with a shrug, "She's girl, I'm a guy..."

"And did you see her boy shorts?!" Max exclaimed,

"I don't blame you, Jay. Roxy has a nice pair of legs on her."

"You have to tell her. She'll probably never have sex with you again, but be upfront."

Sean smiled as he spoke. Nothing irritated Jarrett more than that stupid, condescending smile of his.

Just because he was a few years older, didn't mean that he carried all the wisdom. Jarrett glanced at the clock. If there was a way that he could stop time, he would.

"Boy, I'd hate to be you right now!" Max laughed.

***********************************

Roxanne arrived at the auditorium and parked her car. The meter man never comes to the backside of the auditorium. It's where all the students parked when they didn't feel like hunting down a meter before class. It was also a short walk from the warehouse where her internship was located. She scanned the parking lot for his car. She'd scanned the first row before it caught her eye. There it was, the shiny black Dodge Challenger that only meant one horrifying thing.

Roxanne sat in her car for a good fifteen minutes, staring at her reflection in her rearview mirror. Just leave, her mind said. No stay, you're already here. Just work the hour and fifteen minutes and go, it said. After going back and forth with the angel on her shoulder and the devil in her ear, she finally grabbed her bag and threw it over her right shoulder. Her only obstacle today was the internship that she worked. A part of her dreaded the internship because of the bullshit requests, but she ultimately loved her job. It's exactly what she wanted to do minus the bullshit. This year was her last term. She exited her car and headed down the long parking lot to the double doors leading to the auditorium. It was a spacious building, an empty floor plan on the bottom. The agency owners rented out the bottom for events and the offices were on the second floor. Roxanne walked down the halls to the office space. The sounds of the bustling of workers rejuvenated her spirit. She took it all in for a moment, inhaling the atmosphere like it was the breath of life. Her moment of bliss was ruined when her counselor called her name.

"Get a move on, Roxanne. I have a job for you," her boss said.

"Right behind you, Shannon."

Roxanne trailed behind her boss, following her footsteps.

"I need you to separate these files alphabetically and file them. And then I need to scan and email some brief proposals to the provost office."

"Got it," Roxanne said, "Anything else?"

"I'll let you know," Shannon said.

Roxanne threw herself into her work, nothing like mindless work to keep her mind off of last night and to keep her occupied. She kept her eyes on the task at hand. It wasn't long before she heard a smooth voice call her name. Her heart fluttered a little at the sound of his silky voice.

She turned around and realized the azure eyes that she saw last night were drinking her in.

"What are you doing?" she asked Jarrett.

Jarrett bit his bottom lip and stared at her frame. He used to sneak peeks of her ass when she wasn't looking. He didn't feel the need to hide it now.

"What do you think?" he said sarcastically.

Roxanne placed her hand on her hip and cocked it to the side a little.

"Could you maintain a shred of professionalism?" she asked in whisper.

Jarrett took his eyes off her ass and looked in her eyes.

"Better," she said, "Is there something I can do for you, Mr. Myers?"

Her tone was just as sarcastic as his was. He could tell that she wasn't in the mood for conversation. She didn't seem embarrassed or awkward. She just looked like she didn't want to be bothered.

"Huh?"

"You called my name," she reminded.

"Oh yeah, let's talk in my office," he said.

Judging from the look on her face when he called her name, he was almost afraid to ask her. She was so rude to him sometimes. Admittedly, he was rude to her when they first met, but there were two sides to her that he realized she possessed. First, there was the nice Roxanne; she smiled all the time and was giggly. The most personable girl at work that made time go by quickly just from talking to her. That girl didn't talk much. Jarrett was more acquainted with her alter ego, Roxy, the attitudinal young lady that never did what he asked at work out of spite. Maybe it was his own fault; he did give her a hard time when they first met. She was pleasant to him and he was the ass. Karma really was a bitch that day she stormed in his office and told him to go fuck himself. Since that day, he was infatuated with her.

Get it together you pussy, he thought.

Roxanne followed him to his office and hesitated closing the door, partially concerned with what he was going to say or do.

"Could you close the door please? I don't want the whole office knowing our business," he said.

She did as he asked and closed the door. She crossed her arms in front of her and stared at him, waiting for him to speak. Jarrett leaned back on his desk and folded his arms as well.

There's no fucking way, I'm telling her, he thought.

"Listen, about last night, it was fun and all but it can't happen again," he said.

Roxanne felt herself relax a little. She was sure that he was going to share some bad news. She let out a sigh and felt comfortable enough to sit in the chair in front of him. He had a clear view of her cleavage from his position. It was hard to concentrate with those big brown orbs peeking out at him.

"I agree. And it won't happen again."

"Great. Let's not talk about it at work."

"Whatever Jarrett," she said carelessly.

"It was also unprofessional of me. You're still an undergrad and even though you decided to come over, I shouldn't have invited you."

"It's not the first time I've been to your apartment, Jay, and...what? What are you trying to say?"

"Nothing," he said with a shrug, "Just that the feelings were mutual."

"We're friends, Jay. Friends have sex, haven't you heard of 'Friends with benefits'? It doesn't bother me that we had sex. Clearly it's bothering you."

"I'm not bothered, Roxanne."

"Bullshit, look at you. Standing over there like you got a giant stick up your ass."

"You're the one with the giant stick, or at least, you had it last night," he said.

He grinned devilishly.

"You can't even follow your own rules," she said,

"Are we done here? I have copying to do."

"Go ahead and get back to your remedial task."

"Screw you, Jarrett. You're such an asshole."

"You've got a real mouth on you, you know that? Why don't you put it to good use?"

"What do you suggest?" she said.

He knew what he had in mind. Her lips wrapped around his cock. That's one thing he didn't get to do with her last night and he regretted it. The thought of her full lips wrapped around his dick immediately made him horny. He'd unbuckle his belt in a heartbeat, drop his pants, grab her by the hair and shove her mouth on his dick. But they were at work and not to mention it would be breaking several rules, including his own.

"That's what I thought," she commented.

She stood up and readjusted her skirt. Sitting in that chair shifted the bottom of her skirt up to her thighs near her hips. It was already a short skirt and the fact that she sat in the chair only made it ride up her hips. Jarrett thought she was teasing him. He watched her ass sway from side to side as she departed from his sight.

"Fuck me," he sighed.

Roxanne allowed her thoughts to drift back to the time she first sat in his office and had their first talk.

***********************************

She'd heard that he'd been asking around for her. Wondering what he wanted, she hunted him down and politely knocked on his door. Jarrett, in all of his haughtiness, was well acquainted with his office by now. It'd been a week and he was already settled in to his office. It was appropriately sized, he had his own space, a door that closed and you couldn't hear the outside world. Roxanne thought they could've been soundproof but she never tested the theory before he moved in.

"I heard you were looking for me?" she said to him.

Jarrett sat in his chair, leaned back and very comfortable, in her opinion. He wore a blue buttoned down shirt that complemented his pretty blue eyes. That was the first thing that she noticed about him. She hadn't seen him since the first time they met in her counselor's office.

"I was. What's your name again?"

He looked like he was pre-occupied with something. Roxanne wondered why he called her if he was presumably busy.

"Uh, it's Roxanne. You were looking for me, right?"

"Yes. On the form it just says 'R. O'Brien' so I asked around."

"Yeah, we met a few days ago in Mr. Martin's office," she said, attempting to jog his memory.

"Have a seat, please, Ms. O'Brien," he said, barely making eye contact with her. "I'm Jarrett Myers. You and I will be spending a lot of time together."

"Pleased to meet you," she said with a half-smile.

His eyes were more focused on the papers in his hand. When she sat down, he kept his eyes on the paper for a moment longer and finally looked up.

"Do you go by something other than Roxanne? It seems so long," he said, "Never mind, I'll call you Ms. O'Brien for now. Are you Irish?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your last name is 'O'Brien'. I was just wondering if you were half Irish or something."

Is this guy crazy? She thought. In what world did she look like she was Irish? There was nothing Irish about her. No red hair, no accent, no trace in her bloodline. There's no way he couldn't tell that she was black. She could've made up a story but that would've taken too much energy. She just shook her head. Roxanne couldn't tell whether or not she was dealing with a sane person or not. Was this his way of making conversation? If it was, it was a pitiful attempt. He was so weird, kind of like he was in his own world. Not to mention how incredibly cute he was. This was going to be incredibly difficult, being able to focus while working around him.

"Wow," he said.

Roxanne was confused. She grew tense. The look on his face was not that of a good impression but criticism. She tried being open-minded.

"Wow?" she questioned, "What's 'wow'?"

Jarrett crossed his fingers together and placed them on top of his desk.

"Nothing. Just that you have a very impressive way with words; I just finished reading your paper for your assignment."

"And?" she asked curiously.

She'd been working on it for days, perfecting it, editing it. It was a grueling effort but at the end of the day, she was proud of it.

"And it needs a lot of work. You have a lot of discipline with your details and your information, but there's one thing that you're missing," he said.

Roxanne was a little disappointed. That wasn't the reaction that she was hoping for. She received a lot of praise for it by her co-workers and peers. Her shoulders slouched a little.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Passion," he simply said, "I'm not interested in publishing work solely based on information. If you want to make a difference, you'll have to stand out a little more than this. This is mediocre at best. I thought you were the best undergrad in the office. Surely you can do better that this."

He dropped the papers on his desk in front of her like they were nothing. Mentally, Roxanne took the display as a representation that she was nothing. Now she was the one that was wowed. This guy didn't know her. He didn't know the first thing about her. He'd only been in the office for a week and now he had the balls to criticize her work. The nerve of this bastard, she thought.

"You just jump right in for the kill, don't you?" she said.

Jarrett was taken aback.

"Excuse me?" he said, "It's my job to look over your work since I'm overseeing your internship."

As badly as she wanted to give him a piece of her mind, she decided to take the high road in the most passive aggressive way.

"Then why don't we get started on the right foot?" she suggested.

Jarrett sat up in his chair.

"What do you have in mind, Ms. O'Brien?"

"Can't we get to know each other first? A little ice-breaker before the blitz attack?"

"What's there to know? I've got all the information that I need," he informed.

Roxanne exhaled sharply.

"You know, since I've been working here, I know what the public likes and dislikes. So, I'm going to do both of us a favor, and come back some other time," she said.

"That won't be necessary. I'll call for you if I need you. In the meantime, I have some work for you."

"I'm not an office assistant, I'm a writer."

"We all have to start somewhere, Ms. O'Brien. That stack over there needs editing. Let me know if you have trouble with the AP style."

He was a total controlling asshole in her mind but she wasn't going to let him get her panties in a bunch.

Roxanne stood up and looked Jarrett straight in the eye. At this point, "Go fuck yourself," was ready to roll off her tongue.

"I'll get right on that," she said with a polite smile, "Right after you go fuck yourself."

She pivoted, walked out of his office and nearly slammed the door behind her. The nerve of that handsome, arrogant bastard criticizing her work without so much as sitting her down and have a one-on-one first. Jarrett was seemingly amazed. She had spunk, was unreserved and based on the gossip around the office, she wasn't a pushover student worker. He liked that about her. She wasn't what he expected as an undergrad worker.

Roxanne was so pissed she could barely think straight. She sat at her cubicle and tried to organize her desk but her hands were still shaking from the excitement. She clutched them tightly, digging her nails into her skin and breathing while trying to calm herself down. Jarrett Myers wasn't going to get a Christmas card from her this year.

When work was over she packed up her stuff and carried it outside. She looked up at the sky. A storm was headed her way in a moment's time. Roxanne rushed to get her stuff in her car. She unlocked her door from the passenger's side of her green '94 Toyota Camry. It was the only door her key could unlock that also unlocked her other doors. It was an old car but she was proud of it because he bought it herself with her own money while being in school. It wasn't the best car, every day she had to put water in the radiator. It required anti-freeze, but she didn't have the time to buy it, plus water was cheaper. She knew one day her little Toyota was going to put her down on the side of the road but she didn't care. She had full coverage. She popped the hood of her car just as droplets of rain fell from the sky. Thunder rumbled overhead. The parking lot was nearly cleared out when the rain came down. She poured her jug of water from the trunk into the radiator and waited for it to flow through the hose to the engine. When she went to crank up the car, the engine didn't turn over. It wouldn't crank, and she was stuck in the parking lot in the rain.

***********************************

Looking back, Roxanne realized she didn't know that much about him before she started working with him. It was that day when he pissed her off at their first meeting that made her not want to get to know him but be a bitch toward him every day that they worked together. It was a promise that she made the moment he offended her. She couldn't hold it against him forever, it wasn't meant to last. Jarrett was a great friend in her personal life, however, as a coworker, he had habits that pissed her off beyond comparison and it was hard making the switch between friend and coworker five out of the seven days of the week. He was insatiably sexy at work though, with his tie and button down. In her private thoughts, she used to imagine what kind of package he had inside his pants. She didn't have to wonder anymore.

Jarrett wanted to chase her down and talk to her again. He had a habit with saying the wrong things at the wrong time. He knew how much of an asshole he was. That didn't surprise him. He was surprised to find friends that could match sarcasm to his own. Max and Sean were not like Roxanne though. Roxanne was in a category all by herself. He knew that the day that he forced her to swallow her pride.