"Hey, it's Lily, right?"
Lily turned and looked up at the man who had held the door for her. He was familiar, but she didn't know him.
"Yes?"
"Hey, I'm Ryan. I work here too? In IT. I did the updates on your system last week?"
"Oh, that's right, I remember you now," she said with a vacant smile, wondering why he had stopped her. "Umm, it was good seeing you again, I have an Uber waiting on me." She turned and left before he could say more. She knew his look, his flirting smile, his hopeful eyes.
It was true she was recently single, but she had a thing for tall guys. A huge thing for tall guys. Tall and buff and hot. She knew it was shallow, but she didn't care, tall guys did it for her. She also didn't care that she was 4'10", she loved the height difference and how cute she looked with tall guys.
Short guys, nerdy guys, were a definite automatic no. Even nerd-cute guys like Ryan. He was still too short. Short guys always hit on her and it always made her uncomfortable. How do you explain to someone who is a foot taller that they are still too short? She wanted 6'4"and up.
The next morning, she saw him hovering in the lobby and she paused, watching him. He kept looking at his watch and looking at the doors in front of the front desk. She hadn't made it there yet. She let out a sigh and decided she would just have to bite the bullet and tell him no thanks.
She went in, pretending to be looking in her bag for something as she walked by him and hit the elevator button. It had already been pressed by one of the half dozen people waiting on it, but it was habit. She saw from her peripheral that he moved up next to her, as if waiting as well.
When the door opened, she got on, but turned into the front corner immediately. She was short enough that being in the back with so many people made her claustrophobic. Ryan got on last, standing next to her, but she was looking at her phone now, pretending not to notice him.
To her surprise, he said nothing before he got off on his floor and she relaxed. He was going to let it go after all? She let out a relieved breath and rode up to her floor feeling less dread.
When she got off on her floor, she paused, seeing everyone milling around instead of at their desks.
"What's up?" she asked Terri, one of her closer friends in the office.
"That new system they put in crashed. Overloaded the servers or something. Allan is on the phone now with IT."
Lily knew it had to be coincidence, but it felt odd to her that it would crash. Of course it didn't mean anything.
She went to her desk and sat down to a blue screen with a blinking command prompt. She ignored it as she opened her folders and got on her phone to make phone calls, ignoring the downed system and doing the work she could do.
"Hey again."
She looked up at Ryan and his awkward grin.
"Hi, can I help you?"
"Uhhh..." his smile faltered a little at her cold tone. "I sort of need in here a minute?"
"Oh, right." She rolled her chair back out of the way and turned to work on the extension, ignoring the fact that she was shoulder to shoulder with the guy as he worked on her computer. She started dialing another number.
"Sorry about this. One of the janitors must have accidentally unplugged something in the server room."
"No big deal," she answered, phone to her ear as it rang.
"Yeah, we don't usually get..."
"I'm on the phone."
"Oh. Sorry."
Of course it rang to voicemail and she hung up without ever speaking. She dialed another number.
"Uhh, sorry. Can you enter your password?"
Annoyed, she hung up and entered her password.
"Cool beans. I'll have you up and running soon. You live near here?"
"Across town," she snapped, hoping that rudeness would make him leave her alone.
"Me too. Skyview Lofts on the edge of downtown. What about you?"
She didn't answer him, pretending that she was texting on her phone. She wasn't about to let him know that she lived a block down in the Redstone Lofts.
"Alright, it's all set. Umm, see you around I guess."
"See ya," she answered, rolling to her computer to log on.
By lunch, she had forgotten him. She was riding with Terri down to go have lunch when the elevator stopped on his floor and he got on. Her smile slid off her face. She didn't believe in that many coincidences. It didn't matter that he was looking at his phone and not her.
Did it? Was she overreacting? For all she knew, he rode with her every day and she never noticed because her and Terri were so engrossed in conversation.
"So, The Inferno tonight?" Terri asked her, bringing her back to their conversation.
"I don't know, maybe something less wild? I'm not feeling all out tonight."
"Blondies?"
"How about CiCi's? We can watch the drag show!"
"There are no straight guys at CiCi's! Come on, don't tell me you aren't over Blake. You broke up with him! It's been almost a whole month!"
"No, it's not that. Just not feeling it right now. Maybe I will be up for it later," she said as they got off the elevator. "If not, you can go without me. Katie would probably love to go."
"No! Do NOT bail on me again! We will have fun, I promise!"
"Ok, but dinner first. No drinking on an empty stomach," she answered as they went through the front doors. Ryan immediately peeled off from them and headed towards the parking lot and not to the green space where a lot of people ate lunch. She sat down with Terri and they talked through their salads.
She was surprised when she noticed Ryan coming back as they were finishing. Had she been subconsciously watching for him? Like a warning radar? Maybe.
"You ready?" Terri asked.
"Two more minutes. A little more vitamin D before I go back to the windowless oblivion."
He wasn't waiting this time as she got on the elevator, he had already gone up. Was she disappointed? No... she didn't want to date him or anything. Maybe she just liked the attention? A little? Even if it was from someone like him.
"Miss Evans!" her boss said, getting on the elevator on the second floor where the big wigs were. "I saw your report in the Carmichael account. Excellent job!"
Thank you sir," she said, smiling up at the man. He was tall enough for her, if he were a decade younger. He was still hot in an older man in a powerful position kind of way, but mostly it was his towering height.
"Do you think you could handle the Henderson account as well?"
"Yes! Absolutely. I am almost done with the Ruttledge account, I will be done by the end of the day."
"Efficient and good at your job! Double threat. Alright Miss Evans, it will be on your desk Monday morning. You have an excellent weekend!"
"You too," she said warmly as he got off on his floor.
Terri nudged her as the doors shut. "Holy shit he is hot!"
Lily nodded in agreement. "What do you think? 6'6"?"
"Something like that, what is your hangup with the tall dudes? I mean, I like a guy taller than me, but an inch is fine. I don't need a giant."
"I just like it. It's a thing for me."
She spent the afternoon focused on finishing her open account so she would be ready on Monday for a new one. Terri stopped by her desk.
"I'm cuttin out girly, you almost done?"
"Yeah, ten minutes, tops. I will meet you at Rosemonts at 7, k?"
"Ok, see you there!"
It took her fifteen to finish and she hastily shut everything down so she wouldn't be late. Twenty minutes home, at least thirty to get ready, maybe more if her hair wouldn't cooperate, then fifteen to get there? Yeah, she was going to be late.
She got on the elevator, opening her Uber app. "Twenty minutes? What the heck! There are always five out there waiting every evening!"
"Yeah, I guess they are already taken since you left late today?" Ryan said quietly.
She turned and looked up at him warily.
"I could give you a ride if you want? I have a car?"
"No, that's all right, I can wait for an Uber. Thanks though."
"It's no trouble and you live close to me anyway."
She froze, going cold. "How do you know where I live?" she demanded.
He had the grace to blush. "I... uhh... it's in the employee database. I looked. Sorry."
The doors opened and Lily turned and stalked out. Instead of walking out the front, she went and stood by the security desk, near the huge guard until Ryan had left. Still, she waited inside until her Uber arrived as she texted Terri to say she would be late.
They sat at dinner and she told Terri about Ryan. Asked her opinion.
"Well, maybe he is being kinda stalkery, or maybe it's coincidence. He seems nice enough though. Just say you aren't interested. I mean, we work in a building with people, we are bound to see the same people every day if we pay attention. Maybe you only notice him now because he said hi?"
"I wondered that, but he also looked up where I lived?"
"Yeah, and you have never looked into a guy you thought was cute? Waited in a grocery store aisle for him to get close so you could cross paths and he'd notice you? Girls do it too, it's just a way to meet people. If he gets close again, just say you aren't interested."
"Yeah..."
She let it go, but by Sunday she was fretting about it all over again. She didn't really like confrontation, just thinking about it made her nauseous. She made herself focus on the fact that she had been given an important account. And maybe her boss would hand deliver it? Or ask her to come to his private office to get it. She liked that idea better. She fell asleep fantasizing about naughty boss things.
She got up early, wore a nice dress when she usually wore slacks and a blouse. She did her hair and make-up perfectly without being over the top. She even wore her sexiest black lacy underwear and bra, keeping the fantasy going in her head.
