"Alright. I'll give you that one."
"Of course, I got you real good! But you're not the reason I can't finish my work at home. You of all people should know how relaxed I get when I am in my comfort zone.”
Justin smiled mischievously again, like he always did when he was about to say something silly. “What happened to annoying Mr. Maxwell? Hmmm?" I could notice him holding back his laughter.
"Please just get out of my hair already Justin, I need to work. Run along now, you know those hazel eyes have got nothing on me." I laugh as I watched him grab his jacket and turned to leave.
"How's Jenny though?"
"She's good. Don't forget the burgers!" He replied with his back turned to me as he began to move towards the door.
"Seriously Justin?”
"And the fries!" His back was still turned towards me as he pulled the doorknob and yanked the door open. He walked out and just before attempting to shut the door, he turned to me again and said,
“Try not to stay out too long, you will need to beat the 9pm traffic!"
“True that!” I exclaimed with my eyes fixed on my system.
"Plus, I'm hungry!" He yelled as he pulled the door to shut it.
“You're just terrific! Please leave the door open!" He immediately released his grip on the handle and the door came rolling back to its position against the wall.
"Thank you. Help me tell the security that I will be here for some time before you leave too!" I screamed after Justin.
“Stop yelling at me!” He retorted like a child being bullied. I chuckled lightly and shook my head at Justin's folly.
"Silly old man." I was grateful he didn’t hear me say that. I immediately vanquished the smile on my face and turned my focus back to the screen of my computer.
“Now let's get serious baby.” I said under my breath.
Chapter 10
Ashley
An hour and thirty minutes passed now, but I was just getting to notice that it felt like 25 minutes to me. My proposal was almost ready, even though I felt there was something not quite right still. My water bottle was empty now, I wondered how I was not pressed to use the restroom yet with all the gulps of water I had taken at intervals. Just then, a notification drove my eyes to my phone screen. I picked up my phone and looked closely. It was a text from Ryan.
“How is the work going?”
I pick up my phone and replied to the text;“Well, it's going fine, just not there yet though. Something's off."
“Really? You're still at the office?”Ryan asked.
“Yeah, I thought I should finish it up before heading back.”
“Perhaps that's why it's not clicking. You have overworked your brain. You need to go home and get some rest, it's almost 9. You presentation is not scheduled for a few more days".Perhaps he was right, I needed to get some rest and start again on a fresh slate tomorrow.
“Alright. I think I'll do just that."I replied and dropped my phone to stretch for a minute. I shut down my laptop and began to pack up.
"Good. And oh! Before I forget, thanks for agreeing to have lunch with me today."I smiled. Again, Ryan is really smooth.
"It was my pleasure."And indeed it was. Not just because I had a good time over lunch, but I was wondering how I would have survived not eating for so long, having worked this late. I was done packing up now. I lifted myself from the chair and headed towards the door. On my way out I remembered I had left my jacket on the coat rack. I turned, took my jacket and raced down the stairs to the exit.
“Miss Lane, you are leaving now?” the security officer asked, a show of concern in his tone.
“Yes Joe, I don't want to be late for work tomorrow.” I answer.
With both his hands grasping his belt, he replied, “Oh, sure, the boss won't be happy about that too.”