"The bottom line is we can't get people on board unless we're the cheapest option available, no one cares if we're environmentally friendly. We have to be cheap and easy..." I glanced up as Ryan whispered something to Doug and they both snickered. I rolled my eyes. This was meant to be half his work so fuck knows why I felt like some kid in high school who got stuck doing the group project alone. "You wanna jump in Ryan?" I offered and he ran a hand through his short blonde hair as he leant back in his chair.
"No, I agree." He grinned and glanced at my boss with a shrug. Erin just sighed and motioned for me to keep going. God damn it why does no one pull him up on his shit?
I finished my point and we continued with the meeting, really fucking earth shattering stuff about fishing line. Yes, this could have been an email.
I guess I hadn't quite put my phone on silent because we were wrapping up when it pinged. Ooops. I went bright red I'm sure. I glanced around the room but no one blinked an eye.
Except Ryan. He grinned over the table and raised his eyebrows at me. Oh for fucks sake. How did Ryan of all people know what a Grindr notification sounded like?
-
I escaped back to my desk and gently thumped my forehead against it a few times. Caro cleared her throat and I turned to look at her.
"So super good meeting then?"
"Some twink just messaged me and I didn't turn my sound off." Caro laughed.
"So don't play on hookup apps at work?"
"Tell horny me from an hour ago that." I glanced at my phone and opened it. Hmmm. Cute ass though.
"So you like your men like your coffee." I heard a smug voice from over my shoulder. Oh my god. I could barely summon the effort to turn around. I glanced at Caro- she was trying not to laugh... some best friend she was... and I sighed.
"We can get into what I like in a man after you get me that research you said I'd have on my desk two days ago." Ryan held up a sheaf of papers.
"Done." As if two days late was acceptable. And it was already two days late on top of that. "God he's close isn't he? Were you planning on meeting up during your lunch break?"
"I don't have time for a lunch break because some asshole keeps forgetting to hand in their research and this report is due in two fucking days."
"Well if you're not interested, give him my number." He winked and sauntered off. I turned to look at Caro. She shrugged.
"Ryan's a cunt, what's new?"
β
He was in a good mood the next day. He was late but everyone forgave him because he came in with a round of coffee for the team. He stopped at my desk last.
"Long black." He placed it in front of me with a wink.
"So that's only $29,996 you owe me then."
"What?"
"We have a $30,000 budget we're working with and if you don't give me a breakdown of those fucking numbers you're working on were going to lose it." Ryan sighed and folded his arms, sitting on my desk.
He always did that. He was so full on; tall, a few inches on me, blonde, tanned... He lifted real heavy and it showed. Apparently he was an amateur powerlifter in his spare time. Colour me so fucking shocked. He was twice the size of me and he made sure I knew it too.
Uni had bled me dry. Now that I had a real job and wasn't slaving away for minimum wage as a barista I was trying to get back in shape- I already dealt with my friends giving me shit for being Asian and good at math, I really could do without looking like a skinny nerd on top of that. My hair was longer than appropriate although I secretly wanted it even longer. I had quite a few tattoos- nothing visible in my cheap suits, but I'd spent most of my disposable income on getting inked up to that point. One day I wanted to go full Yakuza and get my fingers and neck done as well- but the office wasn't quite the right place for that.
"Yeah. We need to talk about those numbers." Ryan said and he bit his lip.
"Fuck. What have you fucking done?"
β-
Well that was yet another lunch break spent trying to fix Ryan's incompetence. At least he had the decency to look somewhat ashamed. I stayed an hour late and just managed to get the shit show under control before hitting the gym.
Ryan was there, and he kept staring at me between sets. The office got a discount on Jetts Fitness or believe me I would have gone literally anywhere else. Lifting half of what Ryan was right in front of him did nothing to help my self esteem.
I thought it was more of his weird office power play, the staring. I looked away from him and continued my workout, blasting, embarrassingly, Powerwolf. Hey man, it's good to lift to.
To my despair we finished our workouts around the same time and bumped into each other in the lift. He leant against the wall and folded his arms. Fuck, could the gym not have been on the ground floor? I cleared my throat.
"Good workout?" I asked. He shook his head.
"I was super distracted." He cocked his head to the side and gave me a look. I couldn't quite decipher it. Fuck, he was so annoying. "You uh. You saved my ass today, Sam." He said. I blinked. Huh. An acknowledgement that he totally fucked up? Weird. "Let me buy you a drink." I refused but he ran me out of excuses and I couldn't just say 'Look dude, I fucking hate you.'... so I reluctantly followed him to a nearby pub.
"What do you want Sammy?" I bristled. Sammy. Like we were friends.
"Just a lager, mate. Thanks." He grinned and motioned for me to sit down. I texted Caro as he bought the beer. She seemed to be the only other person who couldn't stand him. For some reason everyone else fucking fell for it. He had this sheepish grin and shrug combination and apparently everyone in my department found that just the most charming shit they'd ever seen.
SOS- I'm stuck at The Green Dragon with Ryan
I'm already home.
So call me. Pretend my mum's been in a car crash.
Remember when you wouldn't help me out with that report last week?
Fuck you
Say Hi to Ryan from me
Seriously, fuck you
I looked up as Ryan reappeared. God damn it. He bought a jug. Each. I sighed.
"Thanks dude." He grinned and sat opposite me, leaning over the table.
"So tell me about your tattoos?"
"All of them?" I rolled my eyes. You just get to a certain point where you never want to explain your tattoos again. "None of them mean anything. It's just random shit." Ryan laughed.
"Yeah, ok. The guy who cant fucking fire off an email without checking it 12 times just got random shit tattooed on his body." I blushed.