Aligned

by Jaci Wheeler

  “Hello, Andi.”

  “Hi, Wes. I stopped by to see if you wanted to get some lunch. If you’re in the middle of something I can wait while you finish.”

  Ah, proof that some women understand the importance of not interrupting a man while he’s in the middle of work. I stand up and make for the door.

  “No need, I finished and I am quite pleased with the results. It looks like we can do the test run after lunch and then it should be ready to launch first thing in the morning.”

  She smiles widely. “That’s wonderful, Wes! I know Natasha is excited about the outcome of the new program.”

  We get to the café, choose our meals, and sit down at my usual table in the far right corner. I sit in the same chair I always do with my back to the rest of the room, and Andi takes the chair directly across from me. I unfold my napkin and place it on my lap in an exact ninety degree angle. I place the knife at the top of my plate, the fork to the right and the spoon on the left. I twist my plate 120 degrees so that my sandwich is facing me. She sits there for a minute looking at me. I look up at her, wondering why she’s looking at me like that. I know my eating rituals seem odd to most people, but Andi has eaten with me plenty of times so she shouldn’t be surprised. I am about to ask her what her problem is when she leans forward and whispers.

  “Honestly, Wes, how are you doing? I know Roz left today, and it must be hard on you.”

  I sigh and put down my sandwich. I know she is asking out of concern but I wish people would stop bringing up Roz leaving. I am trying to forget, and having people mention it at every chance isn’t helping.

  “I don’t really want to talk about it, Andi.”

  She doesn’t push, she only nods and starts eating. That’s what I like about Andi. She never pushes me, or flirts, or has hidden meanings. She isn’t like most girls I know. She has a quiet presence and understanding I like a lot. She knows I don’t want to talk about Roz and lets it go without pestering me for answers. As I am chewing I start to think about Roz and that’s when it occurs to me what Andi is probably doing.

  I drop my sandwich on my plate and blurt out, “Are you here because Roz made you promise to eat lunch with me every day? I don’t need your pity, Andi!”

  I can tell from the sheepish look on her face that is exactly what happened. I start to stand and she reaches across the table and puts her hand on mine. The contact shocks me and I look up.

  “Please sit down, Wes. That’s not it at all.”

  I give her a skeptical look but sit down again. “So she didn’t ask you to babysit me?” I ask and she gives a small laugh and rolls her eyes.

  “No, babysitting was never mentioned. She did mention she was going to miss you and she was worried you would close yourself off from others. She never asked me anything, Wes. I told her I’d love to eat lunch with you.” She turns bright red.

  “Why are you blushing?” I ask her, curious at the change.

  This makes her turn a deeper shade of red and she groans and hides her face in her hands. “Wes! You aren’t supposed to ask someone that!”

  I am completely baffled. “What? I’m not supposed to ask why you are blushing? Why not? You were and I wanted to know. Why are you acting so weird?”

  “Just leave it, Wes.”

  I give her a look that says I won’t drop it until she explains and she knows it.

  “Geez, Wesley, if you must know I was blushing because I admitted I wanted to have lunch with you every day, all right!”

  She stands abruptly, says she forgot about something she has to do, and she will see me tomorrow. She runs off before I even know what happened. I sit there not having a clue about what exactly transpired.

  I don’t even notice until Masters is sitting in front of me.

  “Geez, you scared me to death! Why do you have to be so sneaky?”

  He gives me a cocky smirk. “I walked right in front of you and sat down. If that’s sneaky, you need more self-defense work than I thought.”

  Natasha sits down next to him and smiles at me.

  “So what’s got your panties in a twist?” Masters asks me.

  “Excuse me? I certainly do not wear panties, and I have no clue what that even means.”

  Masters starts laughing until Natasha hits his arm.

  “He meant ‘What’s going on?’” Natasha clarifies. “You seem a little off.”

  “Yeah, even for you, and that’s saying something,” Masters adds and she hits him again.

  “It’s women. I’ll never understand them.”

  “Join the club,” Masters says, and puts his hand up to catch Natasha’s fist before she hits him again. She scowls but he kisses her hand and her look fades into a smile.

  “Women problems, huh?” Natasha says. “Who’s the lucky lady?”

  “Andi.”

  At this Masters’ head snaps up and he scowls at me like I stole his lunch.

  “Easy there, papa bear,” Natasha says, patting his hand.

  “What did you do to Andi?” he growls, pointing his fork in my face.

  “Nothing. Well, I don’t think so. I have no clue what happened here. The more I try to figure women out the worse my head aches. No offense, Natasha, but I will never understand your kind.”

  She rolls her eyes. “Why would I take offense at that?” she asks sarcastically. “Tell me what happened with Andi and I’ll see if I can interpret ‘my kind’ for you.”

  “I told Andi she didn’t have to babysit me for Roz and she said Roz didn’t ask her to, that she wanted to have lunch with me. Then she started blushing and I asked why, and made it worse. She covered her face, saying something about how you aren’t supposed to ask a girl that and then ran off. I still don’t understand what happened.”

  Natasha gets a knowing look and a smile spreads wide on her face. Masters’ scowl only deepens. I look between the two and their completely different reaction to my story.

  “What?”

  Natasha squeals and Masters sets his glare on her. She completely ignores her new husband.

  “Don’t you see, Wes? She was embarrassed by admitting she wants to be with you every day.”

  “I’m a genius, Natasha, I figured that part out already. What I can’t comprehend is, why?”

  “Because she likes you! Duh!”

  “What?” Both Masters and I yell.

  “Calm down you two. Don’t cause a scene.”

  “She hasn’t said anything to me,” I say, still not believing her.

  “Of course she hasn’t. She’s shy and not the kind of girl to tell a guy something like that.”

  Masters keeps glaring at me.

  “Well, thanks for the insight, Natasha. Now, I have that program I need to launch for you so I better get back to it.” At the mention of the program her eyes light up. I don’t stick around to get a response before I hurry back to my office.

  The whole way back I keep thinking about what Natasha said. Could it be true that Andi does like me? And if she does, what am I supposed to do about it? Do I like her? For a girl I think she’s pretty great. She doesn’t do that annoying flirting stuff with me that Aspen does. She’s intelligent and doesn’t seem to mind my weirdness. But does she expect me to be her boyfriend now? Oh geez, I don’t know how to be a boyfriend! I just learned how to be a friend without scaring people off, for goodness sakes! This is all Rosaline’s fault. If she hadn’t left none of this would have come up. Now what am I going to do about it? I stop thinking and start counting my steps back to the office.

  I put all the nonsense out of my mind and throw myself into my work. I have my intern Chaz come over and check out my final product. He’s as excited as I am to test it out. We do the test launch and are thrilled when it goes off without a hitch. We show Natasha when she comes back from lunch and she does a little dance and tells me how happy she is. Once we get Cole’s approval, we’re ready to do the countrywide launch first thing in the morning.

  I go home, eat dinner, tell a story to
Grace before bed, go through my bedtime routine, and get into bed. I stare out my skylight and count all the stars I can see. Nothing helps take my mind off what Natasha said at lunch. I don’t have any work to throw myself into to take my mind off of it, and even if I did I will never be able to let this go until I get to the bottom of it. I look at the clock—it is after midnight. I pick up my tablet and open my e-mail. I have a short one from Roz saying they set up camp at the first compound and would start the building process in the morning. I send her a quick reply.

  Rosaline,

  My life is out of control and it’s entirely your fault! Glad you are making a difference in the country.

  Wes

  Most people would freak out by such an e-mail, but not Roz. She will assume something happened since she left, which would be a correct assumption, and she will most likely write me back asking what happened. I will then tell her about the craziness with Andi and how it wouldn’t have happened if she had stayed and eaten lunch with me herself every day. I guess I could have written that all to her now, but this way we will have something to talk about tomorrow.

  Once I am dressed I head out and head back to the Ministry. I go down to the guest quarters, find Andi’s suite, and knock on her door. I wait a few seconds and knock again. I am about to knock once more when the door opens. Andi is standing there with her hair disheveled, wearing a robe and squinting at me.

  “Wes? Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. Where are your glasses?” I’ve never seen her without them and she looks odd. Maybe it’s the squinting.

  “They’re next to my bed since I was fast asleep. What time is it?”

  I look down at my watch. “It’s 1:47 a.m.”

  Andi groans and steps back, motioning me into the room.

  “Well come in then. I’m going to go get my glasses; have a seat.” She disappears into the bedroom and I go to the living room. I have too much nervous energy to sit down so I take to pacing the living room. She comes back in with her glasses on and her hair brushed. It looks nice down like that. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it down before. I must have been staring because she clears her throat.

  “So you are all right? There hasn’t been an emergency?”

  “I told you I’m fine. No emergency.”

  She looks at me like I am crazy. “So you show up at my place banging on the door after 1:00am because…?”

  “I can’t sleep and I need to talk to you.”

  “All right, well come have a seat and we’ll talk then. Can I get you some water or tea or…”

  “Do you like me?” I blurt out, not being able to wait to ask her any longer.

  So many looks flash across her face. First shock, then worry, then embarrassment. So many expressions I can hardly name them all play out right before my eyes. It’s fascinating.

  “Wesley Sanders, you come barging in here at two o’clock in the morning to ask me if I like you?” she says in utter disbelief.

  “Yes. Do you?”

  She sighs and sits down on the couch, then looks right at me. “Yes, I suppose I do, although I’m having a hard time remembering why at this moment.”

  I’m not expecting that answer, especially not for her to be so direct.

  “Oh.”

  “Oh? That’s all you have to say is oh?”

  “Well I’m not really sure what to say.”

  “Then why did you come over here demanding to know?”

  “Because I wanted to know. Natasha mentioned that you might like me and…”

  Another groan interrupts me. “You talked to my uncle about this?”

  This is the most reaction I’ve ever seen from her, and from the looks of it I’m in trouble.

  “Yes?” I question more than state.

  “Gah! Great, that’s all I need, as if this isn’t embarrassing enough as it is.”

  “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to upset you. It was just that I didn’t understand what happened at lunch. Masters and Natasha came over and I asked what I did wrong, and Natasha said it sounded like I embarrassed you because you liked me and—”

  “Enough, Wes, I understand. It’s fine, I’m not going to die from embarrassment or I’d already be dead by now.”

  “Well, I’ll let you get back to sleep then.” I start to leave.

  “Oh no, no you don’t! You opened this can of worms, you are going to come back and finish this.”

  “Finish what? I got what I came for.”

  “How nice for you. Now it’s my turn. Sit.”

  I’ve never really seen her like this and am not sure what to do, so I sit.

  “Now, I’d like to know how you feel about what I said, and it would be nice to know how you feel as well.”

  Great, feelings. I should have known she would want to talk feelings now. I would much rather talk facts than feelings. She’s right though. I started this so I guess I better see it through.

  “Well, I haven’t really had time to deduce how I feel at the moment, Andi. How about I tell you when I do?”

  She stares at me and I’m not sure how to take that.

  “Do you see me as a friend, Wes?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “Like you do Roz?”

  That question throws me. Do I see her like Roz? Of course not. My relationship with Roz is much different and I can’t compare what I have with her to what I have with Andi. For one, I’ve known her longer, but something else is different too. I don’t think of Roz the way I think of Andi. I don’t notice the way she smells and want to know what she thinks of me like I do with Andi.

  “No, not like Roz,” I say finally and she nods, thinking for a moment.

  “Would you ever want to date Roz?”

  “Absolutely not!”

  “And me?” she whispers.

  I look up at her and answer honestly. “I’m not sure…maybe.”

  She smiles slightly. “Okay, that’s good enough for me. We both better get some sleep. You go home now and get some rest.” I turn to go.

  “And Wes?”

  I look back at her.

  “When you’re sure, will you let me know?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re going to make a pro and con list and figure out the data on relationships first, aren’t you?”

  “Of course I am,” I say.

  She chuckles. “I thought so. Good night, Wesley.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Despite only getting a few hours of sleep, I wake up before the alarm, as usual. I go through my morning rituals and then wait for my roommates at the bottom of the stairs. We all walk to the Ministry together and once Grace is dropped off at school, I fill them in on the happenings of the night before to try to get their input on the situation. Molly bursts out laughing so hard she looks like she is going to fall over. Dex stands there in shock for a moment and then shakes his head.

  “What? Molly—why are you laughing? Did I do something wrong?”

  After taking a moment to get the laughter under control and wipe the tears from her eyes she looks over at me. “You’re joking right? You didn’t seriously sabotage the poor girl in the middle of the night demanding to know her feelings for you?”

  “I don’t think sabotage is the correct word, but the rest sounds about right.”

  “Oh my dear, Wesley, you should thank your lucky stars if Andi wants anything to do with you after this. If she does, snatch her up quick and never let her get away. Oh man, I needed that laugh.”

  I look over at Dex.

  “Don’t look at me for advice on women. I’m the last person in the world who understands them.”

  “Well, you are dating Roz aren’t you? You must have some insight.”

  “Ha! Thanks for opening that wound. That’s my point exactly, though. Are we together? Are we not? I have no freaking clue. I don’t even know if I am in a relationship so I’m the last person who needs to be giving dating advice. Although for what it’s worth I do like Andi, I think she’s a gr
eat girl.”

  We continue our walk in silence for the most part, although every now and then Molly bursts out laughing again and mumbles something about me or Andi.

  Once we reach the Ministry we all go our separate ways. Even though Cole is there when I arrive, Natasha isn’t so I decide to wait until everyone gets here to do the official launch. With nothing but time on my hands I check my e-mail and see that Roz wrote me back.

  Wes,

  I’m sorry that I ruined your life but it can’t be that bad. Put the dramatics aside for a minute and tell me what happened…is this about a girl?

  Roz

  I write her back, filling her in on the events of last night. Right as I hit send Natasha walks into my office.

  “Sorry, Wes. I know you wanted to launch first thing this morning but time got away from me. I’m here now and appreciate you waiting, so catch me up to speed before we do this.”

  “Good morning, Natasha. It is quite all right. After talking to Cole we decided it would be best to fill everyone in at once so I’m going to call a meeting now that you are here.”

  “Perfect.”

  I buzz Chaz, telling him it’s go time, and he immediately comes to my office. By the time we gather everything we need and go to the main room everyone is there waiting for us.

  “Good morning, all. Thank you for being here. Well, I mean, it’s not like you really have anywhere else to be since you work here, but thank you for taking time to listen to us, even though in actuality you should be thanking me since this is going to greatly increase your productivity and save you time on—”

  Cole clears his throat pointedly.

  “Right, sorry. I’ve been told I babble when I’m excited.” I start talking about the software design I came up with and eventually notice the confused looks on everyone’s faces.

  Natasha stands up. “Wes, dear, to those of us who don’t speak geek, do you think you can show us what it does?”

  “Oh, right, yes of course. Chaz?”