Now I Have You

Chapter 4

I arrived to work alone because Stephen was feeling under the weather. Once I arrived at the office, I turned on my computer to start working. While the computer was booting up, Derek walked toward me. I tried to ignore him, but then he said, "Hello, Andrea."

I decided to be polite and answer back, "Hello, Derek."

"There's a party going on two blocks from the office tonight. Want to join me?" he asked. 

Is he serious? He has never formally asked me out at all and now that I called everything off, he wants to go out with me. I took a deep breath and answered, "Around the first year we were friends with benefits, I would've jumped at the chance, but now, I would have to respectfully decline."

He looks at me with a confused expression, then clears his throat, "You know, you've been different since you've been hanging out with the IT department. Did you meet someone in there?"

"They have nothing to do with what happened between us. I'm not sure if you noticed, but I've wanted more than what we were for three years. From what I see, you just now catching up," I explained.

My company phone rang before he got a chance to respond. I picked it up and said, "Andrea Emmett, how may I help you?"

"You could start by dropping the formalities. It's only James Wilson," Mr. Wilson answered in his heavy Scottish accent laughing.

Mr. James Wilson is the head of the social media department. He's a tall, stocky man with dark brown hair and light brown eyes. He's easy to recognize because of his Chevron mustache. Every time he shaves it off, he gets confused for any regular person on the street until he speaks. I laughed, "How can I help you, Mr. Wilson?"

"Since our dear friend Stephen is under the weather, there's no one to monitor activity on Twitter. Are you able to do it?" he asked.

I nodded, then said, "I'll be able to, Mr. Wilson."

"That's my girl," he replied, then hung up.

I looked at Derek who still looked confused. I said, "If you'll excuse me, Derek, I have work to do."

Derek shook his head and walked away, still looking dumbfounded. Once he walked away, one of the other ladies who worked in the social media department gave me a smile and a thumbs-up. I smiled and finally got started working. While I was working, my cell phone rang. It was Stephen, so I answered it, "Hello, Stephen. How are you doing?"

"Terribly. My head hurts, my throat is sore and there's no hot doctor to look after me. Do you know any who does house calls?" he asked me with a very raspy voice."

I chuckled, "Unfortunately, I don't. I'm doing your work right now."

"Oh, I'm sorry for leaving you with my stuff," he replied.

"It's fine. You just focus on getting back to health. I've got it from here," I told him.

"Alright. You take care of yourself," he told me.

We hung up and I continued working. I was through monitoring Twitter when I noticed that it was time for my lunch break. I went to Subway and ordered a chicken teriyaki sandwich. Once I got it, I went to the IT department. When I walked in, a woman with blonde hair and green eyes shyly greeted me. I greeted her in return and went to the usual table where food was allowed to be around. Ben saw me and sat at the table, "How are you doing, Andrea?"

I smiled, "I'm doing alright."

I looked around for Ryan, but I didn't see him around. Dulce seemed to know who I was looking for because she said, "He's with his younger brother helping him with his college work."

Ben gives me a curious look and says, "I've been wondering this for a while, but why chicken teriyaki?"

I smiled, "I always pick this sandwich because it's the perfect marriage between chicken and sauce and no matter what happens in the day, it always cheers me up alongside freshly baked bread."

Then Ryan walked in. I smiled, "Hello, Ryan."

Everyone else greeted him as well. Ryan looks around the room and asks, "Where's Stephen?"

"He's out sick today, unfortunately," I told him.

"Oh, well, I hope he gets better soon," he retorted and sat down next to me. 

I looked away in surprise, and Ben and Dulce are giving me knowing looks. I knew they were implying that me and Ryan had chemistry, but I dismissed them by shaking my head. I said to Ryan, "So, what does your brother study?"

"He's a math major," he told me.

"So, he's constantly looking at numbers and figures," I retorted.

"Yeah. He wants to be an accountant," he replied back.

"If all goes well, he could be my accountant," Dulce said.

We all laughed, then a girl I recognize from the social media department showed up. Her name is Brenda and she has long brown hair and dark brown eyes that could rival dark chocolate. She also has light mocha skin that one would only see in a Starbucks' drink. She stood next to Ryan and said, "Hello, Ryan."

While her voice is as smooth as velvet, everyone in the room seemed uncomfortable, including Ryan. Despite this, he replied, "Hello, Brenda."

She looked at me and said, "Hello, Andrea. I usually don't see you down here. I see Stephen a lot, though."

I don't like the way she's looking at me. She's looking like I'm in her territory. I said, "He's the one who introduced me to everyone in here."

She chuckled, then said, "See you sometime, Ryan."

When she left, Ryan excused himself to the restroom. I must have had the largest question mark over my head because Dulce sits next to me, "She comes here sometimes, mostly to flirt with Ryan because and I quote, 'He's the best looking computer genius in this company.'"

I raised an eyebrow and replied, "So that would explain why she was giving me a dirty look."

Dulce nodded, "And that's why I never bothered with the social media department before Stephen started coming here. I thought every single one of them were like Brenda."

I sighed and just continued eating my sandwich. I'll admit that Brenda isn't a very pleasant person to be around, but I didn't think that she would be that way around other people. I cleaned up the area I was in and I went back to work. While I was monitoring the Twitter activity, I heard high heels walk toward me. I didn't have to look to know that it was Brenda. I looked at Brenda and asked, "Is there any particular reason why you're near my desk?"

"Oh, aren't we sassy today? Well, you're an intelligent woman, so I won't waste time with pleasantries. You shouldn't get too comfortable around the IT department," Brenda explained.

What does she take me for? I retorted, "Do you really mean the IT department or Ryan?"

Brenda chuckled, "Thank you for making this conversation easier for me. Don't bother getting close to him."

I leaned back in my chair, "That's rich coming from you. All you had to do was walk in the room and everyone was ready to abandon everything they were doing, especially Ryan. He went to the restroom once you left."

She raised an eyebrow, then said, "Just watch yourself, Andrea."

Once she walked away, I continued working. When the day was finally over, I walked toward my car and I noticed that Ryan was standing near it. I walked toward my car and said, "Are you alright, Ryan?"

He shook his head and said, "Are you available right now?"

I nodded, then he said, "Want to go to the cafe, just you and me?"

I smiled, "Sure. Right now or a little later?"

"A little later when we  both had time to gather ourselves. Is 6:30 too soon?" he asked

"That's perfect," I replied.