Private Relations

Chapter 18

The most common way to get at taxi in NYC was to stand on the curb, put your hand out and hope. At the moment however, it was storming outside and no matter how bad I wanted Peter Bens gone, I wasn’t going to set foot outside. So calling a cab it was. Sandra said that due to the weather it would be a while before the taxi got to the building. Maybe even an hour. I thanked Sandra and walked back into the conference room where Peter was standing at the window looking at the falling snow.

“Mr. Bens?” I called, “Sandra said that the taxi company won’t be here for a while. An hour at the latest.”

Peter frowned and reached under my hat to scratch his head, “Damn. They don’t have an express or something?”

“You could go out there and catch a taxi yourself the old fashioned way.”

“Yeah go out and there and freeze to death. I nearly froze up sitting in the taxi to get here.”

“It probably wasn’t such a smart choice to leave the house without watching the weather.”

“Yeah probably.”

Peter let out a big sigh and drooped against the window. I stood awkwardly in the doorway of the conference room and shuffled my feet.

“You know what, Mr. Bens? I feel like Samantha would be better company than me right now, I’ll go get her.”

“No!” he shouted.

I flinched at his sudden outburst and he calmed down.

“Sorry, sorry. It’s just, your boss is a little creepy.”

“If she wasn’t the one paying me every 2 weeks I would agree with you but, for the moment, I’m going to say that is mean and untrue.”

We both laughed a little before he sighed again and sat down in one of the chairs around the table. I still stood in the doorway. Peter took off my gloves and laid them on the table before looking up at me.

“Why are you so far away, man? Come sit and talk, I’m not diseased I promise.”

I took a seat in one of the chairs across from him and he rolled his eyes, “You know, across the table is still far away. This is a pretty big table.”

“Look, Mr. Bens—“

“Call me Peter. We’re going to be around each other a lot right? We might as well get used to each other.”

I didn’t really think seeing someone once a week for a few hours counted as a lot, but whatever.

“Fine. Look Peter, you may be a celebrity and all but you’re still technically a stranger even though you're my client.”

“All right,” Peter replied putting his elbows on top of the desk and leaning towards me “Let’s not be strangers. I have like, an hour before the cab gets here, let’s get to know each other.”

“Ehhh, I’d like to keep the relationship between us strictly professional, to be honest.”

“What? Why? We could be friends.”

“I’m not really friends with people who are younger than me.”

“Please, you’re older than me by like maybe a year! It doesn’t make that much of a difference.”

“Peter. I’m 28.”

“No shit, really?”

I nodded.

“Damn, black really don’t crack huh? Well, let’s play twenty questions.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know it’ll be fun! And I’m bored and my phone is out of power and you were one of the only people who didn’t burst into tears or try to grope me so let’s play.”