As she stepped into the elevator, she tapped her foot in time with the beat, even whistled the tune as she carried on down to the TechPit. As soon as the door slipped open, she was greeted by the cool breeze of the air conditioning. She headed to her desk, deposited her bag, and started to power up her system. With a glance to Vara, she gave a smile.
“Morning, Vara, how goes it today?” Venom asked.
“It’s going well. I hope you have your work head on; a lot came in this afternoon,” Vara responded as she worked on her AR.
Glancing down the room, Venom’s eyes were drawn to the glass walled corner office with the set-up like no other. It wasn’t the system that interested her, it was the man behind it. Micah paced the room, his lips moving as he was obviously on a call. Today his shirt read ‘If at first you don’t succeed call it version 1.0’.
“So are you finally going to talk to him?” Vara asked nonchalantly before sipping from her water bottle.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she responded as she tried to look busy putting in passwords and checking her messages.
“You like him,” Vara said brazenly as she looked up from her AR display, a twinkle in her eyes. Venom’s face flushed red. Since the hack, she had grown closer to the woman, and that was just making the timid hacker a little more confident. It was times like these she wished Vara was still the shy little mouse she had been last month.
“How about you say that a little louder? I don’t think he heard you,” Venom said sarcastically as she shook her head.
“Who didn’t hear what?” Fenric asked as he appeared at the side of Venom’s desk.
“Nothing, Fenric,” Venom said, dismissing the subject.
“We were talking about her crush on the boss man,” Vara said with a mischievous grin.
As Fenric gave an amused chuckle, Venom shot both of her co-workers daggers. Now he knew he was never going to let her live this down, and since he had transferred to the graveyard shift, they spent a lot more time together. After two years of working afternoons, Fenric had suddenly requested a shift pattern change. Venom had asked him why, and his answer was simply that he had needed a change. She knew that he was lying, but she didn’t bother to press the subject.
“Alright, let’s not talk about Venom’s crush on the boss man,” Venom said, looking between the both of them. “Something we can help you with, Fenric?”
“Well, I just came over to ask if the two of you fancied strapping on some very attractive and oh so very revealing brightly colored straps and joining me for the Neon’s tenth birthday party?” Fenric asked in a flirtatious tone as a grin grew on his face. “I managed to get three tickets, and I thought you two lovely ladies would like to join me.”
“Hell, yeah,” Vara said with a smile.
“How the hell did you swing that? I’d ask if you managed to hack the guest list, but I know you aren’t a good enough hacker for that,” Venom teased with a smile at him.
“I know a guy. Anyway, I’ll meet you both for lunch, and we’ll make plans,” Fenric said as he pushed off the desk and started back across the office to his own station.
Venom’s eyes glanced back to the glass office. She wasn’t even sure what it was about Micah, but when he smiled, it made her smile, too. He reached for the cup on his desk. Coffee. He was going for coffee. In that moment, Venom made a decision and grabbed her cup.
“Vara. Coffee… yes… no?” she said quickly. Vara didn’t even have time to answer before Venom hooked her cup off the desk and hurried to the staff kitchen at the other end of the floor.
The coffee machine was making a satisfying hum as she stepped onto the black and white linoleum. But she was much more impressed with the sight of Micah leaning back against one of units as he watched the machine with an unwavering focus.
“Good evening, Micah,” Venom said as she placed her and Vara’s cups beside his and leaned against the opposite sideboard, trying to look as calm as possible. Inside, her heart was hammering, but he didn’t need to know that.
“Evening, Venom. How are you today?” he asked with a friendly smile.
“Do you want to go for a drink after work on Friday?” she asked quickly in case she managed to talk herself out of it. His eyes opened a little wider in what was likely confusion at the unexpected question. She felt instant regret; this was going to make life awkward in the office now.
“When you say drink… what do you mean?” he asked. Now it was time for her to look shocked. He hadn’t said no instantly.
“Coffee… a beer… a date, Micah. Do you want to go on a date on Friday?” she blurted out as her sabotaging brain took temporary control.
“Yeah, you're on,” Micah replied as he gave her a smile. Taking his coffee from under the machine, he started towards the door. “I’ll message you a time later.”
He walked out of the kitchen, leaving Venom looking gobsmacked in his wake. He’d actually said yes. A combination of elation and nerves overtook her as she realized what she had just done. With what had happened recently, she understood she needed to live her life. She hadn’t realized that it meant asking out her boss. Extracting her and Vara’s cups, she made her way back to the desks with a smile on her face. Life was getting good again.
Yasmin Hawken is the pen name of Kay Hawken and Charlotte Head, a writing team who is bringing The Seraphim Network to life.
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Website: https://www.theseraphimnetwork.com/
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Caustic (The Seraphim Network - Everyday Series Book 1) Page 16
