When I came to work on Monday, the receptionist stopped me on my way to the office. She handed me a bouquet of red and black roses, saying that they came for me earlier. I gave her a confused look and she shrugged, saying: "Maybe you have a secret admirer, Miss Williams."
"I guess. Thanks," I said, taking them from her. I found a little note attached to them. ' Saw these and thought of you. Don't roll your eyes, Williams.'
Of course, who else than him? I smiled like an idiot at the thought of him. The memories of our weekend together only made my smile widen.
"I hope I'm the reason behind that smile," I heard him say when I entered my office.
"Jesus Christ, dude, don't you have one of those little things called A JOB?" I said, startled.
"Well, it just so happens that my job brought me here."
"Oh yeah? What for?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Well, I was feeling uninspired... So, I had to make the difficult decision to come here and see my muse."
"You think you're so smooth, huh?" I asked, trying to stay serious.
"I know that I am." He said, walking toward me. He snaked one of his arms around my waist, with the other pressed to the back of my neck. He backed me up all the way to my closed office door. I looked up at him, wondering how the hell I got so lucky. He leaned down and our lips connected. I wrapped my arms around his neck, deepening the kiss.
"Good morning, by the way," he said when we broke our contact.
"Morning," I smiled, walking past him to my chair. I put my flowers in a vase, which I filled with water from a bottle I had in my handbag.
"Do you like the flowers? I didn't know which kind you like best..."
"They're absolutely perfect. And for your information, I didn't roll my eyes."
"I highly doubt that," he said, leaning on my wall.
"You can stay here if you want, but I have to start working. I have a deadline for three things in the next couple of days," I told him.
"Nah, I just wanted to see you. I'll leave, don't worry. But I'll pick you up for lunch at noon. Deal?" He asked.
"Deal. See you then, Mr. Biersack."
"See you later, Miss Williams."
I got to work the second he left. There wasn't much left to do on any of the three projects. Just details. But everything had to be perfect.
I was disturbed around 11 by a commotion outside my door. I got up to see what was happening.
When I opened the door, I saw Kelly, one of my co-workers, crying her eyes out and begging Mr. Wayne not to fire her.
What?
"Please, Mr. Wayne. It won't happen again. I'm so sorry!" She spoke.
"We have strict rules here, Miss Winters. What you did is absolutely unforgivable. I will not have my employees sleeping with half their clientele. Imagine what would happen if the press got wind of this! We would be ruined! I wish you all the best on your future employment. And try not to sleep with your clients there. Good day," he said and turned on his heel.
What the actual fuck?
"Did you see that?" Lana, another co-worker asked me.
"Y-yeah," I said, kind of shocked.
"Mr. Wayne overheard her bragging to the receptionist about sleeping with several of her clients," she told me in a hushed tone.
"Oh crap," I said.
"Yeah, dumb mistake. It's like she learned nothing from Delilah's termination..." Lana said.
"Delilah slept with her clients too?" I asked.
"Oh, don't be so surprised, Sophie. Many employees do that. Have you seen the people we work with? But we're smart enough not to talk about it."
I was absolutely astonished at the revelation. It never even crossed my mind that what I was doing with Andy wasn't allowed. I was just so focused on all our drama that it completely slipped my mind that he was still a client.
"Hey, Lana, what if you date someone who is a client of the company, but not one you work with?" I asked.
"I think that it could hypothetically be allowed. The best person to ask would be Mark in HR," she said, shrugging.
I nodded, thanking her. After the commotion died down, I returned to my office. I still had 20 minutes to finish up what I was doing before. I tried my best to focus on my work. But I just couldn't shake the feeling that I would be getting fired next.
I was certain about one thing though: Andy and I can't be caught kissing in my office.
My phone buzzed and it was him, telling me to come to the parking lot.
I texted that I'd be going with my own car, promising him I'd explain everything over lunch.
We met at a Mexican restaurant far away enough from my workplace that I wasn't worried about getting caught.
"Hey," he said when I exited my car.
"Hi," I smiled.
We walked inside and sat at a corner booth, away from prying eyes.
"Why does it feel like you're ashamed to be seen with me?" He asked after we ordered.
"I'm not ashamed, Andrew. It's just that one of my co-workers was fired today," I said.
"What does that have to do with anything?" He asked, confused.
"Well, because she was fired for having sex with some of her clients."
"Oh. Oh!" Realisation hit him.
"Yeah, oh," I said, frowning.
"I'll stop randomly visiting your office," he suggested.
"That might seem suspicious, though. Right?" I asked.
"I guess... What do you suggest then?" He asked.
"I was thinking of going to HR and asking if, hypothetically, employees could date clients that they didn't actually work with," I said.
"But you do work with me?" He noted, confusion evident in the creases of his eyebrows. I didn't say anything because I wanted him to come to the realisation himself.
"No, absolutely not, Sophie. I won't have a random stranger designing the cover of my most personal album. I want you to do it," he said angrily when he connected all the dots.
"Then we'll have to keep this a secret from everyone. No touching, or hugging, or flirting. And definitely no kissing. I'll finish all my projects as fast as possible. That way we can start working on your cover promptly. Can you record the songs sooner than you intended?" I asked.
"God, you're hot when you talk business," he said, smirking.
"Andy, what did I just say about flirting?" I crossed my arms over my chest.
"Alright, alright, sorry. Yeah, I'll call my studio and arrange a meeting."
"Good. The sooner we finish this project, the better. Then you'll ask Mr. Wayne for a different designer, and after that I'll go to HR. That sounds doable, right?" I asked.
"You sound doable," he winked.
"Andrew!" I hissed.
"I'm just saying..."
"God, do you ever think about anything other than sex?" I asked.
"Not when I'm with you," he said.
"You know, sometimes it's really hard to believe that you're turning 32 in December."
"You remember my birthday!" He said, pretending to be touched.
"You don't know that," I said.
"Sorry... You remember my birth month!" He said, increasing the level of theatricality.
"You're such a moron," I chuckled.
"And you love it," he winked.
"Yes, well, I guess I'm a moron as well," I shrugged.
"My moron," he smiled.
"Tell me something about yourself," I said.
"Way to change the subject, Williams. What would you like to know?" He asked.
"What's your favourite colour? And before you answer, black is not a colour."
He chuckled at the last part. He looked like he was deep in thought. "Hmm, well, it used to be red, I guess. But now, I think it's green," he said finally.
"Why green?" I asked.
"Because that's the colour of your eyes, and they're one of my favourite things in the world. Especially, when you narrow them in anger at me," he said.
"God, you're such a simp," I rolled my eyes, giggling.
"I'm not the one sending you drunk voice messages, Williams."
"Are you sure about that, Andrew? Because I have one here that might change your mind."
His smile disappeared and his face significantly paled. I smirked at him and then handed him my phone. He pressed play, turning the volume down. He listened intently. His facial expressions went from shocked to embarrassed to absolutely mortified. I couldn't stop laughing.
"Oh God, I'm so sorry," he said, staring at my phone, ashamed. Then the shame slowly disappeared from his face, only to be replaced by amusement.
"Why does it say that 'Asshat' sent you this?" He asked.
It was my turn to be embarrassed. I apologized to him and reached for my phone. He moved his hand upward, so I couldn't reach it.
"Andy, give me back my phone."
"I shall do no such thing. Not until," he said, typing something, "I change this. Here you go."
He gave me my phone back and I snorted when I saw that 'Asshat' had been replaced by 'Biersnack'.
"You're unbelievable, I swear to God. What do you have me under in your phone?" I asked.
"Eyeroll," he said.
"Like that's any better than 'asshat'," I scoffed.
"It is. Because every time I see it, I think about spanking you," he shrugged.
"Andy!"
"Sophie!"
I couldn't believe the audacity of that man. Nobody has ever talked to me this way. I can't say that I completely hate it, but sometimes I really want to strangle him. The absurdity of his statements, I swear... But I still started laughing. "God, I'm so in love with you, man," I said between fits of laughter.
"I'm glad," he said, grinning.
My lunch break ended too soon for my liking, but we agreed to meet at his place after work.
The second half of my workday wasn't nearly as eventful as the first. I completed three out of 13 tasks. I really wanted to get everything done by the end of the month. I knew that Andy's album cover would take me a while to do. Especially, if he wanted me to paint him again. We could've just used one of the many paintings he bought from me. 'But then we wouldn't get to spend so much time together,' he had said when I suggested it.
Well, I guess he was right. Now that I knew about the dangers of dating him, I realized it would be much better if the bigger part of our co-operation happened away from this building, and the prying eyes of co-workers.
Andy texted me before I left the office. I was surprised by his ID because I forgot that he'd changed it. I was expecting to see Asshat texting me. I miss his old nickname. But I can also get used to this.
Biersnack: What do you want to do later?
Me: No preferences. Why? You?
Biersnack: I was thinking maybe we could watch a movie?
Me: Sure. What kind?
Biersnack: 👻🎃☠️
Me: YES!
I stopped at the store on my way home and ran into Sam. She wanted to hang out. It broke my heart to say no to her. She asked me why and I had to lie to her. I told her that I had work to do. I don't think she believed me, but she didn't say anything. We said our goodbyes after what felt like an hour. I waited until I saw her leave. I didn't want her to see me getting snacks, because then she'd surely know I was lying.
It's only been a few hours, but all this lying and sneaking around was starting to get to me. Only a couple months longer... It'll be worth it in the end.