Chapter Sixteen - #TGIM
Aidan sat at his desk, fired up his computer, and began browsing through his e-mails. Leaving aside the spam that seemed to find him no matter how hard he tried to keep it his inbox crap-free, a few social media notifications that he ignored since they just showed how happy some people were, and newsletters from online shops he only visited once, he finally decided that it was actually a good moment to get to work.
Only that, for the first time since he started working, he could not find the motivation in him to 'hustle harder', as was the mantra around the office these days. No, Aidan the perfect professional seemed long gone, or hidden somewhere he could not find him. In his place, the no-longer-a-virgin version of himself sat triumphantly. Well, maybe not that triumphantly, since he was still sore after his crazy weekend.
His middle finger was lazily rolling the mouse wheel, and his mind was happily wandering, back to what had happened in the short span of a Saturday night and an entire Sunday.
The good news was he hadn't dreamed whatever happened. The bad news was that he had no idea where to go from there. Heathcliff had been clear; they were in a relationship of sorts. Not a relationship-relationship, but sort of a business deal. It was easy for Heathcliff to take everything so easy, mostly because he hadn't been the one getting fucked.
Not that Aidan had any regrets. He had been an enthusiastic participant and he would have done the same all over again. He just hoped Heathcliff would be true to his word and this would continue, at least for a while.
It felt like he had so much to learn, mainly about sex, but also about interacting with someone on an intimate level. Everywhere he looked, people seemed married to their jobs, and treated romantic implications as nothing but obstacles. By how they bragged, they also fucked a lot, but Aidan had an inkling that wasn't the case, at least, not for everyone.
Work was the number one priority. It had to be for him, too. He was twenty-two, young, strong, capable, ready to climb the career ladder that seemed to go up, up in the clouds, only if he logged in the hours and proved to be the perfect corporate employee.
At least, that was the spiel. He envied Heathcliff. The man didn't have to work from nine to five. He did what he liked. And, on top of everything, he had no troubles showing how good he felt in his own skin.
Someone was leaning against the half wall of his cubicle. The smell of coffee from the downstairs machine let the intruder's presence known. Aidan turned his head, feeling already irritated. Could people just see that he was busy working?
"Thank God it's Monday," the intruder, some young employee who was even newer than him, commented with a wistful look on his face.
He wore a suit that seemed too large for his skinny frame, and shoes that appeared as penguin feet from under the overflowing hem of his pants. Penguin-pants, Aidan thought an immediate nickname for the man interrupting his musings about a certain gorgeous fitness guru.
"Excuse me?" Aidan looked at the other, intrigued.
"It's the start of a new week," the young man said loudly, as if he was addressing an invisible audience, "the gate is open for new opportunities."
Aidan felt the need to roll his eyes, but caught himself in time. "Yeah, nice, great, whatever," he mumbled and turned toward his screen.
"Attitude is everything," the guy continued, as he could barely wait for someone to listen to him babbling away.
Aidan didn't want to listen. He stole a glance around, half sitting up from his chair. To be fair, they were the only ones present. Why had he come so early? Maybe because he felt too energetic after his weekend with Heathcliff.
"Work is the most beautiful thing in our lives, as young people," the intruder added.
"For you, maybe," Aidan said under his breath.
He would have sided with this guy last week. Well, maybe not entirely, but still. Now, he had more important things on his mind.
"What did you say?" Penguin-pants asked smoothly.
"Nothing. I'm just going through the tasks for the day, in my head. I sometimes find myself talking," Aidan attempted an apologetic tone, while trying to make it clear that the guy was bothering him.
"That's great, Aidan. Just imagine, one day, years from now, that we might switch our cubicles with some offices on the corner," Penguin-pants continued, seemingly impervious to being told off.
"There's only one office on the corner," Aidan pointed out.
Penguin-pants stared down at him with his washed out eyes. "Exactly," he said pompously and finally decided to leave.
Aidan shrugged. Whatever that dude was into, Aidan wasn't interested. He needed to go back on more important matters, such as how serious Heathcliff was about the whole thing happening between them.
No, no, no, he had promised himself that he would not lose his head, and that was what he was doing. He would just have some more amazing sex with Heathcliff, but that was where everything stopped.
Come on, Aidan, he chided himself, do you really think a guy like that would want anything else? It was a wonder in itself that Heathcliff wanted anything from someone like Aidan. So, he needed to stop fretting, and be content with what he had.
Hmm, what he had ... his mind traveled to the day before. How many times had Heathcliff blown his mind? Yes, he used metaphors, trying with all his might to stop his mind from sending the wrong signals to certain parts of his body. The last thing he needed was a hard-on at work.
He would open Excel and start working. That would be the perfect cold shower he needed so that he could stop his mind from wandering to those magnetic blue eyes, perfect abs, amazing c -
"Aidan, do you have those graphs ready?" A female voice interrupted his daydreaming.
"Of course," he shook his head, "just printing them."
"Good. The boss wants them now."
When the hell had that man arrived? Looking around, Aidan noticed that the cubicles were now quite animated. His daydreaming proved dangerous. He was clearly unaware of his surroundings.
He grabbed the graphs impatiently, the whirring of the printer getting a little on his nerves. He could have just used the larger printers down the hall, but, for some reason, his boss wanted him to have a printer in his otherwise poorly appointed cubicle. For emergencies, or something like that.
Aidan ambled toward his boss's office, and almost crushed into Penguin-pants. "Sorry," he said and tried to move past him.
Apparently, Penguin-pants had other ideas. When Aidan quickened his pace, he did the same, and for a few awkward moments, they almost brushed their shoulders.
Little was Aidan's surprise, seeing how Penguin-pants was making a beeline for the big kahuna's office, just like him.
"He wants to see my graphs," Penguin-pants threw over his shoulder.
"Really? That's exactly -"
The door opened and their boss's personal assistant looked them up and down as if she could check them for some fatal diseases while doing so. "You're late," she said haughtily, and made room for them to walk inside.
