“What about Paul?” Jasmine asked while looking around the bar.
“Yeah, hey! Why do you never mention him?” Kate asked in confusion. “It seems like we always have to ask. Which we then forget about. Which then makes him slip through the cracks…”
Krista shrugged, “Saw him earlier in the week. I had ‘the talk’ with him.”
“What kinda tawk, dawlin?” Kate asked in some kind of New York accent.
“The same one as the last time. ‘I just want to keep it light and easy’ kind of talk. I definitely like him more, it’s just…”
Krista blew out a frustrated breath.
“Someone always winds up at the bottom of the shit heap with those types of things. Just be careful, you know?” Kate commented.
“Yeah,” Jasmine intoned, “someone always falls. Always. Usually the gal.”
“I thought Paul was the one getting a bit too serious,” Krista replied. “I’m just not quite there yet.”
“Well, he was always the chick in that affair anyway.” Jasmine shrugged as if that was common knowledge.
“Doesn’t matta, dawlin--”
“Enough with that damn accent. You suck!” Jasmine gave Kate a little shove.
“--someone’s always gonna fawl.” Kate never really listened.
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Krista said, “It seems—”
“Krista…”
Krista jerked ramrod straight. Cold water trickled down her spine at the same time her sexy-systems started to purr. She turned slowly, noticing Jasmine staring with wide eyes.
There stood Sean, suit jacket taken off revealing a white dress shirt. His tie was removed and his collar loose, allowing his shoulders and arms to be on display. And the pecs…
Krista involuntarily gulped, “Hi Sean.”
Sean regarded Krista for a beat, then looked past her to Kate and Jasmine. When his eyes returned to her, he was clearly asking to be introduced.
I don’t wanna, would probably sound lame.
“Sean, this is Kate,” Krista motioned to her friend, currently frozen with her glass halfway to her mouth. “And Jasmine.” Who still had wide eyes. “Girls, we aren’t playing freeze tag. Also, this is Sean, my current…uh, kinda-boss.”
Sean smiled his most charming smile, causing Jasmine to blink. “It’s nice to meet you ladies. I’ve heard a lot about you. Jasmine,” she blinked again, “I believe you do a Thump-Bird I have been wondering about.”
“Why are you here?” Krista asked, ignoring her friends, who were currently making asses of themselves. And her.
Sean leaned against the bar. It was clear he wanted to sit down. It was also clear he would wait to be invited. Call her rude, but Krista did not want to invite him. She didn’t need work and social life intermingling. Not with this guy.
“I just finished a meeting,” he replied. “I was about to leave when I saw you.”
“Oh, a work meeting,” Kate unfroze. It was clear she thought it was a different kind of meeting.
A brief look of surprise flitted across Sean’s face. He straightened up slightly—he no longer wanted to hang around, it seemed.
“Yes,” he said easily, turning his focus back to Krista. “How is the office? Have you settled in?”
Krista relaxed. Talking about work was fine. That was common ground.
“My chair has my butt print in it,” she laughed. “You weren’t kidding when you said I’d be busy.”
“Have you made any headway?”
Krista sighed, her mind drifting back to the lengthy list sitting on her desk. With her mind distracted and overwhelmed, she missed the mouth-made sound of a helicopter crossed with a pair of giant wings.
She didn’t miss the feeling of getting flicked in the head by Jasmine.
“Damn it, Jaz!” Krista yelled, ducking to avoid further Thump-Birds and rubbing the sore spot on the side of her head. “I’m talking to my freaking boss!”
Sean was laughing. He had one hand braced on the bar, the other clutching his chest. The girls were back to staring.
To Jasmine he said, “It’s okay, I’m not really her boss. But thank you for the demonstration.”
“I told her to stop that sighing,” Jasmine said, coming back to reality. Star-struck never lasted long with those girls.
“Anyway,” Krista said, giving Jasmine a dirty look. “I am working on it. You want a lot of info, so it’ll take time.”
Sean was still smiling. “You have time. Doing a good job is most important, so take the time you need to be thorough. Just let me know if you get overwhelmed.”
“If she gets overwhelmed?” Kate said, laughing. “Just look at her. If she gets any more wound up, she’ll go suicide bomber on you.”
“Don’t embarrass me, Kate.”
Sean dropped the fun and honed in on Krista with his business look. Jasmine gave an “oh my” as he said, “Don’t panic, Krista. We have plenty of time. We are in a marathon on this one, not a sprint. I’m not looking for miracles. If you need help with any of it, just let me know and I’ll do whatever I can to help, okay? We’re a team now--we work as a team. Everyone needs to count on everyone else. We won’t let you fall.”
“Good pep talk,” Kate commented, nodding.
“Yeah, it usually works,” Krista answered. She was flushed and embarrassed. As such, she excused herself to the restroom.
~*~*~*~
Sean semi-awkwardly stood in Krista’s wake, trying not to watch the sway of her h*ps as she strode away. He didn’t want to leave without saying good-bye, but he didn’t want to stay with her two friends. Krista had obviously been talking about him, and it didn’t seem positive. Her friends were loyal; they would take him to the cleaners. It spoke well of all of them, but still.
“Krista is a hard worker,” Kate stated when Krista was out of earshot.
Jasmine nodded.
“We were with her in school,” Kate continued. “She worked best when left alone. Give her a goal and a deadline, and stand back. If you don’t rein her in, she’ll go way beyond your expectations. It sounds like that’s what you’re after.”
“Yeah,” Jasmine said, nodding. “And don’t try to play tough guy with her. She’ll just shrink. Give her constructive criticism in a matter-of-fact way and she’ll work harder. Be pushy and angry, she’ll shut down.”
“Oh yeah,” Kate spoke up again, eyes lit up with memories, “and don’t put her with others unless you want her to take over the whole group. She is the worst kind of overachiever you will ever meet. Seriously. She’ll push everyone else around to make sure she gets an A. Or, you know, whatever the goal is.”
“I hated working with her in groups,” Jasmine declared.
“That’s only because she made you work harder,” Kate reflected, apparently forgetting entirely about Sean.
“Yeah because she made me work harder! I was happy as a B student.”
“I stuck to her butt like glue! She did more work and I still got an A. Win-win!”
“User.”
“Pusher.”
“How am I a pusher?”
“What are you girls arguing about?” Krista said, showing up on scene.
Sean hadn’t seen her approach, what with the bickering going on with her two friends. They were a trip. Fun, down-to-earth, and brazen.
He caught Krista’s eye as she came around the bar. And held it, trapping her within it. Or being trapped, it was hard to say. “They were just telling me …”
Kate shot Sean a warning look.
“Oh, giving him cheat sheets to make me work harder?” Krista asked with a smirk, sitting down.
Sean inhaled Krista’s scent; fresh and clean and woman. He loved the way she swished her hair unconsciously when she was nervous. It was one of her biggest tells.
“I have to run,” Sean said, wanting to get away before her friends got out their pitchforks and started chasing him.
“Okay,” Krista said, smiling. “See you Monday.”
Sean nodded, gobbling down that gaze, wanting to stay, or wanting her to go with him. He risked a glance to her two friends, realized either of those options were impossible, said good-bye, and was off.
~*~*~*~
Kate and Jasmine stared after him.
“Steer f**king clear, Krista,” Kate warned. “That one is way, way too good at the game. He plays it in his sleep.”
“Yup.” It was all Krista needed to say.
“But my-oh-my,” Jasmine’s eyes had followed his progress out of the bar, “I get why you keep getting sucked in. He’s hot!” Jasmine said the last word in a sing-song voice.
“Yeah. He’s probably the devil,” Kate reflected somberly.
“Yup.”
Chapter Twelve
By the end of the next week Krista had everything researched, organized, graphed, cataloged, compartmentalized, and stuffed in every nook and cranny she could find. There was a method to her stockpile, but she was worried it would only be decipherable to her. There was nothing for it, though, she had to move on. She had a crap load more work to do and no idea when it was due.
Note to self: in future, ask for a specific deadline.
She had not seen hide nor hair of anyone from her team, which included her handsome and fearless leader. She would’ve liked to know how she was doing so far, but worried he’d tell her she hadn’t done enough, and she had most of the list still to do.
She had to move on.
Next up on the grudge-list, A.K.A. Number Two, was asking Marcus for new research ideas. She took that to mean new directions in which to get numbers. Or maybe the viability of the new ideas? Sean had been a little vague, which, in his book, meant he thought it obvious.
Hopefully after meeting Marcus she would find it equally so.
As she walked into the art department, she looked around for Tommy. Since he worked near the entrance, she spotted him immediately and went over. He was hunched over his computer, deep in concentration.
“Hey, Tommy.”
He jumped about a foot. When he saw who it was he sat back and smiled, followed by rubbing his eyes. “Hi, Krista. Haven’t seen you in a while.”
“Yeah, I am a floor up now.”
“I heard. New office!”
“I know!” She giggled happily. “I’m so excited! Been working my ass off, though.”
“You’re not being mistreated are you?” Tommy asked seriously.
She knew he was talking about Sean, and therefore didn’t mean much of anything besides being hit on or similar, but she didn’t like the way he asked. She didn’t like what those words had meant a couple short years ago.
“Well,” she said, trying to brush it off, “if you count that I have so much work it is nearly giving me hives, then yes, definitely mistreatment!”
Tommy laughed. “Yeah, I hear McAdams is a grueling boss.”
“You got that right. Speaking of, do you know where Marcus sits? I am now supposed to pick his brain. I think. I’m not really sure.”
She got directions deep into the art department, where not many Research people went. For a reason. As she walked, clutching her pen and paper, she entered into a chaos against which her brain tried to rebel.
People were everywhere, talking and laughing and yelling. Paper was strewn all over desks of all different colors and sizes. Some desks had paper over their keyboards, crawling up their screens. One person was singing at the top of her lungs. When she finished, three other people clapped. It might as well have been a theater production of “Cats”. Krista wanted to turn around and run.
Keeping composure, barely, she noticed people looking her way. A couple people made eye contact and smiled a welcome, which she returned nervously as she continued to make her way to the back where Marcus sat.
This better not be a joke Tommy thinks is hilarious. Marcus had better be sitting way back here!
As she rounded a makeshift green wall of fake plants, she heard his voice chatting on the phone about the kind of dog food his Lab ate. Krista let the wave of irritation flow past her at his lack of diligence—just because she was an over-achieving work horse didn’t mean everyone else had to be.
She smoothed over her scowl and replaced it with a half-smile as she neared. The last thing she needed was people to have proof she was a typical Research a-hole.
She got to his desk and noticed the similar state of chaos as the rest of the department. There were pictures strewn about of rings, necklaces and various other pieces of jewelry. The pictures ranged from the early ’60s to present day. There were sapphires mixed in, and she knew this must be the same type of thing she was working on. That at least made her feel better. She knew now that she didn’t get any more work than anyone else on the team. She just worked harder at finishing it.
Marcus saw her and raised his eyebrows in surprise. He finished up his conversation with, “I gotta go, babe, ciao.”
When he hung up the phone he leaned forward on his desk and smiled a welcome. “Well, if it isn’t our team geek! How are you faring?”
If said with disdain, Krista would’ve immediately taken offense. The way he greeted her, however, was kind and inclusive. It was easy and friendly. Krista relaxed as much as she possibly could through her desperate need to organize his desk.
“Hey Marcus, how are you?”
“I’m great, mama. Good as can be. How are you doing with the tidal wave of work that young stud has dumped on us?”
It suddenly occurred to her that Marcus might be g*y. He didn’t affect the g*y speech so common in San Francisco, he wasn’t in any way effeminate, and he didn’t have that “swish” of movement that she had seen so frequently among g*y men. All the same, her g*y-dar went off. It was quiet, but it was there.