Ian and Jake had a lunch meeting with one of their firm's top clients at a fancy New York restaurant when Jake's phone suddenly began to ring. Since his cellphone was placed quite close to Ian, he inadvertently glanced at the screen as it rang -- it was Tara calling. Ian felt a sharp pang of jealousy rising up deep within him, suddenly making him lose his train of thought. He paused mid-sentence and gazed quizzically from Jake to their client, Brandon.
Jake quickly cancelled the call, Ian noticed, and sent Tara, what appeared to be a custom message. Ian concluded that it must be a 'call you later, busy right now.'
Jake looked at Ian then and signalled him to continue pitching the advertising campaign idea to Netsol CEO, Brandon Holmes. Netsol was one of the biggest tech companies in the world, boasting forty-one branches all over the globe, with their major operations being based in Manhattan, New York. It was imperative for Ian's firm to seal this deal and Ian could trust no one to be by his side during this but Jake.
When it came to dealing with big clients, Ian knew he could depend on Jake to be shrewd and smart. He knew Jake's people skills were better than his own and he knew that by having Jake by his side, success was all but guaranteed.
Ian finally continued what he was about to say when Tara's call had come, "so you see, Brandon, our annual projections show definitive numbers. We are confident that if you choose us, your sales will show a marked growth from the past two years. It won't be an overestimation to assume a 13-14% increase in the annual turnover."
Brandon looked at the papers he held in his hands and then glanced at Ian, "The numbers do look good...I want you to make this a reality, guys! I want you both to do this for us!"
Ian and Jake both smiled at Brandon, Jake jubilantly remarked, "You can count on us!"
"Sure!" Ian joined in.
"I think this calls for a celebration!" Brandon exclaimed, "And the drinks are on me, boys!"
Ian and Jake shared a cab back to their office from the restaurant, Ian couldn't wait to share the good news with their subordinates. It was during the car ride that Jake suddenly decided to give Tara a call.
Ian wasn't really paying much attention to Jake and sat reading a newspaper as he celebrated his victory in silence.
"Tara, hi!" Jake sounded excited to hear Tara's voice.
"Yes...no, I was in a meeting." Jake continued. Ian became exasperated the moment he heard Jake say Tara's name, as his friend continued chatting with his latest fling, Ian cursed the day he had decided to share a cab with Jake.
"I miss you too, babe...I wanna meet you tonight...I am not letting you go till morning." As Ian heard Jake say vulgar things to Tara, his hands automatically formed tight fists and he gave Jake an angry look.
Jake misconstrued Ian's look and thought that his friend didn't want to hear lovers dirty talking each other in his presence. What Jake didn't know was that Ian was feeling envious of him and wanted him to stop talking so that he could control the seething anger he felt towards him.
"Babe, I think I am making Ian uncomfortable...yeah, he is with me. No, we are heading back to the office...hey, I didn't say anything weird...he is used to this...no, I don't do this with every other woman, I mean he knows how couples can be...yes, talk to you later, baby." Jake finally hung up after a long back and forth with Tara, and by the time he was off the phone, Ian had decided that his attraction to Tara was not as harmless as he had initially thought it to be. He had seen the girl once, had dreamt about her too many nights and had heard about her so many fucking times from his friend that he was starting to worry for his sanity now. How could a girl effect him like this by just a short encounter? He wished that his sound reasoning would bring him back from this strange fixation.