Thursday was here and Stoned Tech would be arriving tomorrow. Everyone had worked through lunch the past two days. Every time Noah asked her a question or asked for her thoughts on something, she'd draw a blank. Hwan had pulled her aside yesterday afternoon asking if something was wrong. She had been so motivated and full of ideas when they were drafting the proposal for Noah, and now she wasn't adding anything to the team. Alissa had no idea why she couldn't think straight.
Noah's eyebrows scrunched together in thought. She admired his strong nose and full lips for the hundredth time that week. He rapped his fingers against the wood desk considering the wording to the key message they were currently working on. Alissa leaned back in the leather chair with her bare legs crossed. The black pencil skirt she wore today rose up to her mid thigh when she sat. She changed legs so her right leg was crossed over her left leg now, which made her black heel lightly scrap her shin.
"Hwan, Perry, why don't you two go out and grab some lunch? We can work on this after. There are a few things I want Alissa to specifically focus on during our presentation that I think she should work on now," Noah said as he looked into Alissa's brown eyes.
She felt her stomach do a somersault as she sat up straight and watched Hwan and Perry leave the office, closing the door behind them.
"I don't understand your lack of input, Alissa. Hwan has told me that you're usually quite enthusiastic and very much in the game. Is something distracting you?" He interlocked his fingers, leaning his elbows on the desk, and rested his head on his hands.
Alissa gulped as her hands grew clammy. Was she distracted? Was that her problem, she thought.
"I'm sorry, I-" she paused. She uncrossed her arms and clasped her clammy hands together in her lap. "I'm not sure, but I promise I will bring my A-game tomorrow with the client," she said, her voice strong as she looked up at him.
Noah grinned, "Good." He stood up and leaned forward over the desk. "I want you to give me your A-game, now," he said.
She held her breath.
"Let's go over your part of the presentation, again."
~~~
Practicing with Noah was nerve wracking. She didn't understand what was wrong with her, but she knew she would never be nervous in front of the client. Clients never intimidated her. Noah, on the other hand? He definitely intimidated her. She didn't know why, but she wanted to impress him. Yeah, look how great that's turned out, she thought.
Alissa stirred her fork around her spaghetti as she sat at her kitchen island. The news was on in the background, informing the city of Denver of the grand theft auto of a Ferrari. A Ferrari? Who would own a Ferrari in this snowy place? she thought.
~~~
Friday morning arrived with the start of a snow storm. Traffic was terrible. The RTD train rail was jampacked. Alissa barely made it with the sharp as ice wind blowing her hat off. When she entered the office, the clients were already there and waiting in the conference room thanks to Liberty.
"Are you going to be ready in time?" Hwan asked as Alissa stepped up to her desk.
She nodded, "I'm ready as soon as I take my coat off."
"Okay. Perry, you have the packets?"
Perry nodded, "Yeah, but I haven't seen Noah come in yet."
The three of them peered over their cubicle to down the hall where Noah's office was with the door closed.
"I have to greet the clients, like, this second," Hwan said, holding his head.
"And I need to give them the packets," Perry looked down at his hands holding the packets.
Alissa sighed as she flattened out her hat hair, "I'll see if he's there. Go ahead."
The guys headed to the conference room to greet the clients while she headed down to Noah's office.
She knocked on the wood door. No response. She knocked again. Still nothing.
She ran back to her desk in her black, knee-high leather boot heels. She grabbed his business card from her desk drawer and called the number listed on it.
"Noah's phone," a woman's voice answered.
"Uh, is Noah there?" she quickly asked.
"Who wants to know?" the woman asked sounding annoyed.
"This is Alissa from work. The clients are here and-"
There was a man's voice in the background, "What are you doing? Give me that–hello?"
It was Noah.
"Noah, the clients are here. Where are you?"
She couldn't believe it. While they had worked their asses off all week putting this presentation together for Stoned Tech, the morning of, Noah is fooling around with some chick.
"I'm on my way," he said then hung up.
Alissa shook her head as she stepped out of the cubicle and watched as Noah slowly stepped out of his office in a blue suit and gray tie. She gaped. He was in there the whole time! she thought.
He briskly walked towards her with his eyebrows raised, "Come on."
She stepped in line with him as they made their way to the conference room.
~~~
After what Alissa thought to be quite a successful presentation, she spent the rest of the day with her team working on logistics.
By the time 5 o'clock came, Alissa was out the door, eager to head over to Jax's Seafood to meet Trevor for dinner, but it had snowed all day, which meant the RTD was overcrowded again. She hated taking the RTD, but knew it'd be impossible to catch a taxi in this weather, especially at this time of day on a Friday.
It was fifteen minutes after six when she finally made it to Jax's. The host took her to the white table clothed booth where Trevor already was. The ambient lighting made it difficult to see, but he looked so handsome, she thought as she admired his blue suit and gray tie.
She immediately thought of Noah, as he had worn a similar outfit that day. She scrunched her nose.
"I hope you weren't waiting too long."
"I arrived maybe five minutes ago. No worries. I'm sure the traffic was just as bad for you as it was for me."
She nodded as she took her coat off and hung it over her chair. She sat down and smiled at him. He smiled back.
"So, how was your presentation with the new client?" he asked.
"Really great. Other than the fact that Noah showed up late. He was preoccupied with some lady in his office," she scoffed.
Trevor's eyebrows rose, "Okay, well glad to hear it went well, at least."
What was she doing? she thought. Talking about Noah while on a date with Trevor?
"Yeah, so how was your day?" she asked.
"Well, it was pretty productive, but let's not talk about work. I want to talk about this weekend." Trevor leaned over the table and held her small hands.
"Oh?"
"There's this new brewery that opened up and they're having a day of festivities tomorrow. There's going to be beer and donut pairings, beer and burger pairings, sip beer while you paint, and a bunch of other cool stuff."
Alissa laughed, "I've heard of sip wine while you paint, but beer? Okay, sounds fun!" She laughed again.
"Awesome, so I was also wondering something," Trevor trailed off.
Was he going to ask her to be his girlfriend, she thought. She always had fun with him and he obviously cared for her and treated her like a queen, but he hadn't asked her to be his girlfriend yet. She wondered what was holding him back, but then wondered if he thought she was holding them back.
Every time the conversation turned a bit serious, she'd quickly change topic, but this time she waited for him to speak first.
"What would you consider 'us?'"
There it was. The big 'us' question.
"Uh," she stuttered.
"I'm totally fine with keeping things how they are now, but I have been wondering if you see something more between us," he asked looking into her eyes.
She gulped as her hands grew sweaty in his.
"I don't really know, honestly," she sighed. "I'd like to think so, maybe, but we can't really be sure, you know?"
She sounded like a damn fool, she thought.
Trevor looked down at their hands, "That's okay. I don't want you to feel rushed or anything." He pulled away and started looking over the menu.
Alissa looked at him in his blue suit and gray tie. She couldn't help but be reminded again of Noah.
~~~
A/N: I wonder why Alissa is so intimidated by Noah... Trevor's so sweet, though! I really like his character. He's all around a good guy. Please vote and let me know what you thought! xo