The Desire Variable | Rewrite

⸻ TEN ⸻

"Alright, Friday, then," I boldly state. "We'll find another way for me to repay you."

As I turn to my desk, I see the guys quickly resuming their tasks, proving they were following my exchange with Oliver rather than working. Hmm, maybe we could have been a little more discrete about this.

Only Brian isn't pretending to not care, and he's about to say something. "Shut up, Brian," I say with a teasing smile, silencing him before he can attempt anything.

⸻

Thanks to Oli's help, I make momentous progress on my app in the following days. By Thursday, I feel confident enough to show it to him during our lunch break. He's more than impressed by what I created, and just like Tammy, he insists that I must show it to our boss.

"We tried and failed to do what you did a few years back," Oli explains to me. "Lex will lose his mind when he sees how well you've done on your own. You can be sure he's never going to treat you like a newbie after that."

The idea of showing my arrogant boss what I'm capable of is tempting. I'm not one to brag or show off, but giving the pretentious genius the proof that I'm as good as him, if not maybe even better for this project in particular, would most definitely feel great.

We're on some kind of truce, and wanting to put him back in his place is wrong, but I can't help it. Almost four weeks later, and I'm still not over the fact that he thought I was a fraud on my first day here. Because even though he apologized, I'm still pretty confident he's an ass.

Since that fucking wet dream, I've been avoiding him like the plague. It probably isn't a very healthy boss-employee relationship, but strategically, it makes sense. I can't help but think about his dreamed dick pressing against my entrance, his voice whispering sensuous things to me, his warm mouth pleasing me... I daydream about it sometime, absentmindedly staring at him when he's downstairs with us. He caught me doing it once, and the shame that invaded me turned my face crimson. Being constantly reminded that I found my boss attractive is, frankly, unfair.

"I'll give myself one more evening to work on it," I tell Oli. "Then it should be good enough."

"Trust me, he's going to be impressed. You might even get a compliment out of him. Last time, we were three on it, and we worked for about four months, full time, to not even reach a quarter of what you've accomplished."

Alright, then... My app may be enough as it is. Tomorrow, Alexander Coleman will learn a lesson.

That evening, I end up working late to polish the app, which isn't great. I have my first date with Oli the following evening, and I'll look like shit for it. But I'm proud of the improvements I made, even though it's getting harder and harder to find what my app needs. I have tunnel vision, and a fresh pair of eyes would go a long way. Hopefully, Oli can fill that position, since he's already involved to some extent.

The first thing I do when I arrive at work the next day is send a message to our boss using the internal messaging app. My fingers are trembling the whole time I type it, my heart racing under my ribs. Good morning. If you have a moment today, I'd love to show you something I've been working on.

He answers a few minutes later, with his usual dryness. I'll see if I can find the time.

As it turns out, the man does not find the time. I spend my morning anxiously waiting for his message offering me to come up. But the longer it takes to arrive, the more stressed I get about it.

When I'm not stressing about Alexander, I'm obsessing over tonight. I'm going on a date with Oli. And I'm excited about it, I think? But also a little worried. I haven't had a first date in ages. Those stress me out. The whole weirdness of it, the awkward tension... Tamika is super excited about it, though, glad to see I'm taking the leap. I suspect she has a little crush on Oli, which is why she's so adamant that I don't miss my shot with him.