We're Going To Be Friends ➮ Intern Joe

005

"I don't want you to treat me any differently than you normally do," Vera gives Joe a deathly serious look before continuing, "You said you really liked me, so if you do, you'd treat me exactly the same as you always do on the date. Okay?"

It was currently Friday morning and work was going as it usually does at the Creature office. Everyone was excited at the fact that it was the end of the week and that the weekend was only about 24 hours away.

"Of course, I wasn't planning on treating you any other way than I already do." Joe replied. She sighed in relief, before taking a deep breath.

"Also no gifts."

"Aw, come on! Why not?" Joe stuck his lower lip out to form an exaggerated pout.

"Because I said so, Joseph," she states firmly, curtly nodding her head, "that's that. So no more arguing."

Joe was silent for a moment before he smirked at her, "You know it sounds pretty hot when you call me Joseph."

Vera's cheeks lit up red as she let out a huff of breath. She made eye contact with him and he winked at her with a grin on his face. She lightly smacked his arm.

"Shut up," She mumbled, leaving Joe laughing in his office while Vera retreated to her own. She immediately sighed as soon as her desk came into sight, knowing full and well the amount of work she still had to do from the week she was gone. She didn't even bother with her normal routine of lighting incense, closing the curtains or even shutting her office door. She just sat down at her desk and got to work, praying someone would come save her with filming or anything to get her away from her office.

But her savior did not come, and she was stuck working until the end of the work day. She finally shut down her computer and walked in the hallway, running into Joe.

"Hello, Vera," He greeted her, settling his hand on her elbow.

"Hello, Joseph," She winked, biting her lip as she chuckled at him. Joe made a small gasp as he let go of her elbow.

"Vera!" Joe shouts as Vera runs off back to her office with Joe in pursuit of her.

"So Joe," Vera begins as she gets her things together, "where are you taking me on this wonderful evening?" Pulling on her jacket, Joe reaches his hand out and she takes it with a soft smile grazing her lips.

"You'll see," was all he said before he led her out to his car, saying goodbye to some of the guys on the way. The whole drive there, the budding couple talked about all sorts of different thing. They couldn't find anything not to talk about it. They talked as if they hadn't seen each other in months and we're trying to tell each other every little detail of what happened in their lives while they were apart.

As they were talking, Vera was thinking about where Joe could possibly be taking her. She knew she'd enjoy wherever it was because in the end, she just wants to spend time with Joe. However, she was a little taken aback when they pulled up to Joe's apartment.

"Uh, what are we doing at your apartment?" Vera questioned, staring up at his balcony from her car window. Joe was already out of the car and around at her door, holding it open for her. Placing her hand in his open palm, she let Joe help her out of the car, smiling to herself over how precious he was.

Trailing behind Joe, Vera was led inside to his apartment. She was still grasping onto his hand, their fingers interlocked. She waited patiently as Joe struggled to get his keys out of his pocket with only one hand. Eventually he unlocked the door and pulled her through, shutting the door behind her.

"I got a present for you," Joe announced, turning so he was standing directly in front of Vera. She immediately frowned, dropping her hand from Joe's. Crossing her arms across her chest, she scolded him.

"I specifically told you not to do that!" Joe pulled another puppy dog look.

"I'm sorry but I ordered it the day after we put that puzzle together," he mumbled. "It finally arrived two days ago and I thought it would be the perfect thing to do with you for a date."

"Y-you really didn't have to do that," her cheeks dusted pink as she glanced down at her fidgeting fingers. Joe reached out, gently took her hand in his and lightly tugged on them, motioning towards another room.

"Close your eyes," Joe says, stopping until he made sure Vera wasn't peeking. He led her into his room where he set up a card table in the middle, next to his bed. "Okay... open them."

Vera did as told and slowly opened her eyes, slightly excited to see what Joe got her.

"Joe! Thank you!" Vera shouts, her eyes running along the eight felt mats to put puzzles on and the abundance of puzzle glue sitting next to it.

"But wait, there's more!" He yells, holding up his index finger in the air. Vera laughed as Joe disappeared in his closet pulling out a huge box. He set it down on his bed and flipped open the flaps revealing a plethora of puzzle boxes.

"What the fuck, Joe! There are like twenty puzzles in this box!" Vera stares wide-eyed into the box.

"I found a store online that had a deal where you could get ten puzzles, four mats and some glue. The only problem is that you could only get certain themes per order so originally I got you the fantasy theme. Y'know, Wizards and unicorns because I know you love those two things."

"I do love those two things," She chuckled.

"Yeah! So I ordered those but I saw another theme that, I don't know, it just really reminded me of you and I really thought you would like them. So I ended up ordering a whole new thing which is why there is so much stuff." Joe motioned to the pile of mats and glue on the card table.

"What about it made you want to buy it so badly?" Vera couldn't deny that at this point, she was extremely curious, even if she was mad that Joe spent so much money.

Joe didn't answer but instead, dug around in the box for a moment, pulling out different puzzle boxes to move them out of the way. Vera caught glimpse of a few of them. One was a wizard, standing in front of a crystal castle, the sky a mix of beautiful purples and blues. Another was of a fairy, floating in the air, bending down to sniff a blue tulip, a green meadow was behind her.

"Here it is," he pulled a final puzzle from the large box. "The other one I ordered was like a nature theme but this exact puzzle is why I had to get it for you."

"A volcano?"

"Yes, but it's so beautiful. It reminded me of your hair; the color of it, the way the red fades perfectly into the orange." He glanced at Vera, to see if she would say anything. But she didn't so he kept going, "Volcanos are so unpredictable and that worries a lot of people sometimes. But in all the chaos, they're still gorgeous and very under-appreciated. People just glance over them as just another part of the world, settling with something safer, more predictable and boring."

"Joe-"

"Hold on, I'm almost done," Joe interrupted her, holding up the palm of his hand. "You're so under-appreciated, Vera. You let people step on you all the time and you think so lowly of yourself. But you're so amazing and gorgeous, for some reason you don't see that."

Vera sniffled, wiping a tear from her cheek, "you, asshole, I didn't want to cry on our date." She chuckled, staring at the volcano pictured on the puzzle box.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to make you cry but it needed to be said," His voice grew quiet. "I thought, for our date, we could put this together." He held up the puzzle, shaking it slightly in his hand.

"Like with the ducks," she mumbled, grinning at the happy memory.

"Exactly like with the ducks," Joe agreed.

Vera reached and grabbed the puzzle from his hands, running her thumb along the edges of the box. She set it in her lap and made eye contact with Joe.

"Are we-" He was cut off by Vera leaning forward and pressing her lips against his. She pulled away, with a smirk on her face.

"Let's put this together, Joseph."