by Hazel Keys
When lunchtime had rolled around, Bella had pretty much polished off the things that she was working on for that day. She had prepared the basic code for the social media links that they were planning to add to the website, not to mention had managed to fix a bug in the code that had been causing one of the product links to not work correctly when you clicked on it. She had only noticed it when she had been clicking around on the catalog to check the pricing on a rather cute handbag that Bella wanted to purchase for her sister as a gift for her approaching birthday. She wondered how it could be that such an error in the script would have been able to be present for so long and not have been caught on to by one of the other workers there, particularly since Rachel was apparently going over the catalog every week or so to check for possible issues.
She raised her head in order to glance in the direction of Tristan’s office once more, hoping that she might be able to catch a glimpse of him while he was eating his lunch. She had never actually seen Tristan eat before since in the whole time she had been working with him he had always turned down her invitations for them to go get lunch together. He never accepted even when Isabella would ask him, and since they were all too polite to pry into the reason as to why he didn’t seem to want to eat in front of anyone they had all left the subject alone. What she was not prepared to see when she turned her head was the sight of Tristan standing directly in front of her, and she couldn’t stop the terrified squeal that escaped her lips as the sight of him made her jump.
“Whoa, didn’t mean to spook you, Bella,” he said with a sheepish smile, those warm brown irises of his glinting with amusement as he looked at her.
Bella took a few moments in order to allow her heartbeat to slowly return to a slower rhythm, doing her best to restrain the embarrassment that was currently coursing through her. She couldn’t stop focusing on the fact that she had made such an embarrassing noise in front of Tristan, and the way that his eyes were sparkling gave her the impression that he was quietly laughing at her. She let her hand move to stroke through her black and lavender hair, and then in front of her mouth so that she could cough gently into it to clear her throat.
“No worries, Tristan. I just wasn’t expecting to see you so close so suddenly. So, what is it that you need from me?” she asked casually, leaning back in her desk chair and craning her neck upwards slightly so that she could look into his face. He towered over her slightly, a difference in heights that didn’t seem to be improved whether she was standing or sitting near him. She rather liked the fact that he was taller than her, a series of midnight fantasies having allowed her mind plenty of chances to consider what it would be like to allow herself to couple up with the taller African American that stood before her. She blushed as some of those thoughts began to leak into her mind once more, biting her bottom lip as she felt a flush of heat erupting between her legs.
“I actually was having some trouble with my computer, and I was hoping that you could come and take a look at it,” he began, his fingers tapping against his own arm as he stood with his arms crossed before her. “It is running far more slowly than I am used to it doing, which as you can imagine is making it quite frustrating for me to finish some of this work that I have to do. If you aren’t too busy once you finish your lunch break do you think you could come into my office and see what you can find out about what is wrong with it?” he asked, the male putting his hands up in front of his body in a mildly pleading gesture.
“Oh, I can definitely do that,” she replied simply, grateful that the somewhat awkward conversation had taken on a more comfortable direction. “Can you tell me specifically about what kind of trouble you are having with it? Is it just a matter of the computer running slowly? Did you check to make sure that your computer isn’t trying to run too many processes at once?”
“I opened up the task manager to make sure that wasn’t the case. The CPU usage keeps jumping up to 100%, yet there aren’t any programs running that should be using nearly that much. I have ended pretty much every task that doesn’t seem to have something to do with the actual computer’s operation, yet it still seems to not have done anything,” he said in a somewhat exasperated tone, his shoulders rising and falling in a quick shrugging motion as he sighed lightly.
“Well, that sounds like a really annoying issue. I could take a look at your computer right now if you wanted,” she began, her heart starting to race slightly in her chest.
“No, like I said before I wouldn’t want to infringe on your eating time. Just feel free to pop into my office for a few minutes once lunch ends before you head back to your own office. I feel like that will be the easiest way to deal with things,” he said kindly, his eyes dipping down so that he could take a quick glance at the golden watch that he wore around his wrist.
“Alright. Well, I’ll take a look at it as soon as I get back,” she said, grabbing her purse from the bottom drawer of her desk and flashing him a kind smile before she disappeared into the elevator. She had just enough time to see Amun approaching him, letting out an audible sigh of relief once she was out of Tristan’s sight. She didn’t think that she was ever going to be able to get used to having Tristan talk to her. She felt slightly cowardly about the fact that she still hadn’t worked up the courage to tell him how she felt about him, especially in the aftermath of Rachel and Bradley managing to hook up despite their supposed dislike for one another. If two people who had hated each other’s guts had managed to work out so well together, why shouldn’t she be able to make it work with a guy that she had been crushing on since the very first day?
First things first, Bella. Let’s get us something nice to eat for lunch. I am surprisingly hungry right about now!
Chapter Five
Tristan
Tristan had been standing alone after watching Bella depart for lunch, his arms crossed loosely over his chest as he watched her walk hurriedly away. He found his eyes wandering down to take a glance at her firm little butt as she went, noting how there was a surprising amount of bounce to her rear with each step she took. It took everything in his power to not pitch a tent right then and there, his eyes closing as he quickly focused on a myriad of things that would hopefully quell his more lustful impulses. The last thing he needed was to get a boner at work, particularly in such a place that there was a good chance that someone might see him. The office was no stranger to playful teasing amongst his fellow coworkers, so he didn’t quite want to supply ammo against himself if it could be avoided.
His solitude was broken by the appearance of his good friend Amun, who walked over to Tristan and gave his shoulder a friendly pat. “Hey there, buddy. How did you enjoy that movie I loaned to you last night?” Amun was the kind of guy that Tristan liked greatly, the kind of person who knew how not to make his presence too overbearing for those who would be forced to be in his company a long time. He was still somewhat new to America, having moved there from India where he had been living with his moderately wealthy parents, but he had quickly made himself just another one of the guys there at the office.
There was nothing about Amun particularly that Tristan could say was a source of attractiveness for Amun since in his definitively straight mind he was not usually one who noticed the more appealing features of his fellow men. Amun was athletic like he was, but didn’t have nearly the amount of muscle mass that Tristan had managed to develop. He had no facial hair, which gave him a much younger look, and his styled black hair made him look like a person who wouldn’t have looked out of place at a rock concert. His dark brown eyes reminded Tristan of his own eyes, amusement always seeming to glow in Amun’s eyes no matter where he was or what he was doing.
“It was a good one, I do admit. When you told me there was a movie called Kung Fu Hustle that combined Looney Tunes-type effects with martial arts, I had to watch it for myself. I can’t say that I was disappointed with what I saw. Definitely would watch it again,” he concluded, taking a sip from his thermos of coffee.
“See? I told yo
u that you were going to enjoy it,” Amun said with a grin, his hand moving to stroke over his chin lightly. “I’ll have to make sure to recommend another movie to you relatively soon.”
“I look forward to seeing what you offer up next,” Tristan said smoothly, his hand moving to run through his dreads as he waited to hear what else it was that his friend seemed to want to tell him. He heard Amun take a deep breath, and when he glanced back at his Indian friend’s face he couldn’t help but notice the look of uncertainty that had settled across his features. “Something on your mind, Amun?”
Amun fidgeted lightly for a moment, the Indian male biting his bottom lip gently. He looked like he was trying to think of how to word what he wanted to say, his mouth opening a few times to speak, closing it shortly afterward each time. Tristan couldn’t help but let out a slightly amused chuckle, his head slowly shaking from side to side as it became his turn to set his hand gently on his friend’s shoulder. “I won’t be able to help you out if you don’t tell me what is on your mind,” he said gently, watching as Amun’s eyes slowly moved up to meet his gaze.
“Do you have any plans for Valentine’s Day this year?” Amun asked hesitantly, obviously uncomfortable with having to ask the question of his coworker in the first place.
“Not currently, no. Though if you are going to try and ask me out for Valentine’s Day, I am afraid I will have to tell you right now that I am not interested in you that way,” he began playfully, sticking his tongue out slightly at his friend, laughing as Amun rolled his eyes exaggeratedly.
“Very funny,” Amun said sarcastically, punching Tristan playfully in the arm. “No, I am not trying to ask you out for Valentine’s Day. I wanted to know because I am actually thinking about asking a girl that I have had my eyes on for a little while out, and I wouldn’t be opposed to having some support from a wingman,” he said casually, his hand flapping back and forth in a nonchalant kind of way.
“Oh? Who is the special lady that has actually caught your attention Amun?” Tristan inquired curiously, his eyes slowly moving to glance over in the direction of where Isabella was still sitting at her desk working. Her lunch was sitting directly next to her, and she would occasionally stop working long enough so that she could take a bite of food before returning to whatever it was that she was working on. Tristan allowed his gaze to move from Isabella to Amun’s eyes, quickly noting the fact that his friend was looking in the attractive Puerto Rican’s direction. “Is it Isabella?” he inquired quietly, allowing his voice to drop so that it was quiet enough that only Amun could hear him.
The somewhat guilty look that spread across his friend's face was really all that Tristan needed to see to know that he had hit the nail on the head with his guess. He had to force himself to bite down on his tongue in order to keep his original thought from blurting out, Tristan having to catch himself before he accidentally let slip the truth about his own feelings for Isabella. He didn’t want to dissuade Amun from trying to get with her since he figured he would be a pretty bad friend if he did that. While he held onto some hopes that Isabella might come to be interested in him, he wasn’t going to be the one who stood in his friend’s way.
“Alright, so what would you need me to do?” Tristan finally asked after a few minutes of awkward silence, leaning against the wall gently.
“I would just need you to agree to come with me on a double date. I am thinking that I will ask this one woman to go out with me for Valentine’s Day, but I know that I would probably get super nervous if it was just the two of us there alone. I was thinking that maybe, if it wasn’t too much trouble, that you would possibly agree to ask Bella out for your date. That way you aren’t there alone and don’t feel like a third wheel. If you don’t want to go out with Bella then you can always try and come up with another date, but with Valentine’s being not too far away I don’t know whether you’ve got anyone else in mind or not,” Amun added casually, his shoulders rolling in a shrug.
Tristan had to pause for a moment at the sound of Amun’s suggestion, his thoughts turning to Bella once more. He couldn’t deny that she was really pretty, and the few conversations that the two of them had enjoyed throughout the time they had worked together had shown Tristan that they did actually have some things in common. He was just worried that asking her out might give her the wrong impression, and given how she seemed to act around him already he didn’t want to confuse her by sending mixed signals. Asking her out for Valentine’s Day was pretty much guaranteed to put him in a situation that he might not want to be in, but with how desperate Amun seemed to be to make his idea work he didn’t have the heart to say no.
“Alright, if that is what you are trying to do then I guess I don’t mind helping you out,” Tristan replied finally, scratching the back of his head lightly as he spoke. “I would never turn down such an earnest request from a friend, after all,” he added, his white teeth glinting from his mouth as a smile spread across his lips once more.
“Thank you so much, Tristan,” Amun replied excitedly, his eyes twinkling once more in obvious delight as he bounced up and down on the balls of his feet lightly. “You won’t regret this. I’ll even cover your tab at the bar to compensate you for helping me out. How does that sound?”
“Sounds to me like a deal that would be too good to pass up,” Tristan replied simply, walking into his office for a moment so that he could set his thermos of coffee down onto his desk. He fished his wallet out of the back pocket of his dress pants, pulling it open so that he could check to see how much cash he had on hand at the moment.
Twenty-five dollars here. That is more than enough for me to stop and get lunch at pretty much any place around here.
“Perfect. I’ll send you a text with the details of what I am planning after work tonight. Thanks again for agreeing to help me out, Tristan. You are a true friend,” Amun said genuinely before making his way towards the elevator to go get his own lunch. After putting up the sign on his office door that said that he had gone out to lunch as well, Tristan found himself standing in the elevator as it slowly descended towards the first floor. He had a whole hour during which he could eat, so he figured that he wouldn’t mind having some food from the diner down the road from the office. Little did he know that he had only just missed a chance to have lunch with Bella, who had gone to the Chinese restaurant directly next door.
Chapter Six
Bella
The rest of the day had managed to be just as rough as Bella had originally thought it would be, her workload having resulted in her working all the way up to closing time. When she finally shut down her computer for the night, she was of the opinion that if she had to see another line of code at any time that night that she might just scream. She turned around in her desk chair, blinking with surprise when she discovered that Isabella and Tristan were standing there watching, small smiles spread across each of their faces. That struck Bella as slightly odd, and her confusion was probably evident in her voice when she spoke.
“Hey there, guys, what is up?” she asked plainly, grabbing her purse from the bottom drawer of her desk and slinging it gently over her shoulder.
“We were all thinking that we would make a stop at O’ Cleary’s tonight so that we could all unwind after today. I noticed how often you seemed to get frustrated today, so I thought that you might appreciate the ability to have a few drinks before we head home,” Isabella said matter-of-factly, one of her hands resting on her hip as she watched her friend go about gathering the rest of her things.
“I don’t know, Isabella. After last night and how I felt waking up this morning, maybe I should take a break from drinking for a night,” she said gently, her hand moving to her stomach as she felt it rumble with hunger. At least if she went to the bar, she could order something to eat as well as getting some time to relax with her friends. It would also give her time to spend with Tristan, something that brought a small smile to her lips from the mere thought of it.
“Aw, don’t be a stick i
n the mud Bella. We won’t stay super long, and you can just order non-alcoholic stuff if you really don’t feel like drinking tonight. I just think that it will do you some good to get to hang out with your fellow coworkers after hours. We only ever seem to go out together on birthdays, and the last time we actually went out together as coworkers for a big occasion was Tristan’s birthday almost a year ago,” Isabella said, a pleading tone creeping into her voice that Bella found hard to ignore.
“Okay, Isabella. If you want me to go with, I guess I can’t say no. Did you ask Rachel and Bradley if they wanted to come with us?” she asked curiously, craning her neck to see if her other friends were just out of sight or something since the door to her office was only wide enough for two people to stand side by side together in the frame.
“I asked them earlier when I went up to talk to Bradley about our next project,” Tristan said casually, his hand moving in a somewhat dismissive gesture as he spoke. “Bradley said he appreciated the invite, but he and Rachel apparently already had plans for tonight. They politely declined,” he added, giving a casual shrug as he spoke.
“So will it just be the three of us?” Bella asked politely, the three of them making their way out of her office and down the hall towards the front entrance.
“Well, Amun is coming along as well, so it will be the four of us,” Tristan said, his hands clasped behind his back gently as he walked. Bella couldn’t refrain from sneaking sidelong glances at him when she was certain he wasn’t looking, her heart fluttering a little bit as she let herself take in his features. His profile was striking, his face reminding her of that of a proud warrior’s. His dreads hung down slightly in front of his face, his hand stroking through his hair on occasion in order to pull his bangs away from his face.
