Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction and any similarities...............You know how this goes, right? That standard disclaimer applies.
Note: This is my second work in the archives. My first one was Hidden Desires in NY in the college section. To everyone who read that and liked it, thanks. To those who wrote in their comments, thanks again. I hope you'll like this one.
Enjoy!
******** Ordinary Love ******** Part 1
It always comes down to eating a sandwich at the deli in the corner. No matter how many times Andrew Matthews promises to himself that he'll eat somewhere new, he always ends up at Olivers'. What's worse is that he always choose the same thing, Ham on Rye.
"Hey Drew," Gerald Madison caught up with the 25-year-old advertising executive as he was going out of the deli. Gerald had been working for Genesis Advertising since it started three years ago. Drew meanwhile only came on board a month ago.
"Hey," Drew gave his co-worker a big smile. Though he's been welcomed warmly by everyone in the company, he still felt out of place sometimes. Especially during coffee breaks when everyone was joking around.
"Any plans tonight?" Gerald asked him as they went out to the sidewalk. "Lisa is throwing a party at her place and she's inviting everyone." Gerald looked at his co-worker. Standing at 6' even, the blond hair, blue-eyed guy in front of him can be considered very attractive.
"Lisa Marks?" Drew looked at Gerald quizzically. "She's head of personnel, right?"
"Yeah," Gerald looked at Drew strangely. "Didn't she interview you?"
"No," Drew smiled at Gerald uncomfortably. "I've been handling Mrs. Greene's advertising for the past two years when she decided to transfer her account to Genesis from New Media. I came with the Greene account so to speak."
"Maybe you can help me solve a mystery here," Gerald said to Drew as they began to walk towards the park across the street. "How come Mrs. Greene stuck with New Media when her son started Genesis three years ago?"
"It's a long story," Drew let out a sigh. " Firstly, she had a contract with us that expired only late last year. She would have jumped to Genesis as soon as the contract expired but the head of New Media is an old friend of hers. She decided to wait until her friend retired last month before left New Media."
"Ohhh," Gerald nodded his head slowly. "I take it that you're close with Mrs. Greene."
"Not really," Drew laughed softly. "We have a very very smooth business relationship. She seems to trust me when it comes to how handle her account."
"Is it true that Nick has an icy relationship with his mother?" Gerald asked him warily as they sat down on a bench facing the artificial lake. They decided to eat their lunch there.
"That's what I've been hearing also," Drew said to him thoughtfully. "When Helen introduced me to her son, they seemed to be fine. But they could have been more affectionate towards each other. Nick didn't seem to like the fact that Helen insisted on Genesis hiring me."
They talked for another thirty minutes about office gossip before they headed back to their building. Drew immediately proceeded to his desk and buried himself at work. An hour later, Mrs. Steadwick, Nicholas Greene's secretary came over to Drew and told him that the boss wanted to see him.
Drew followed her and wondered what was up. Ever since Genesis hired him, he hasn't talked to Mr. Greene. Is he being fired already? He knocked on the door three times before he opened it slightly. He stuck his head in. He saw Nick Greene busy going over some papers. Nick looked up and saw Drew. He motioned him to come in.
"Drew!" Nick stood up and gave him a very warm smile. Drew walked up to the desk slowly.
"You called for me Mr. Greene?" Drew said slowly as he gave his boss a look of uncertainty.
"Call me Nick," Nick said as he sat back down. "We're on a first name basis here at Genesis. Sit down and make yourself comfortable."
"Okay," Drew said as he sat down on a chair.
"I've been talking with a prospective client these past few weeks," Nick said to him as he gave him a thick folder. "This one is big. Very big. I'm going to have lunch with them on Monday and I want you to be there."
"Huh?" Drew gave him a surprised look. "Why do you want me there?"
"Because your resume said that you speak Japanese and----" Nick started.
"I'm not fluent in Japanese," Drew cut him off quickly. "My dad was stationed in Japan when I was a kid so I learned some basic Japanese but that was years ago."
"That's good enough," Nick said to him. "You can greet them in Japanese, can't you?"
"Yeah," Drew nodded his head. "But---"
"I'm going to assign this account to you anyway so you'd best be there on Monday also," Nick said to him.
"You're giving me an account this big?" Drew looked at Nick as if he was insane.
"Actually, We'll both handle that account," Nick gave him a sweet smile. "Besides, you're the one person in this whole company that I trust."
"Huh?" Drew looked at Nick like he was crazy.
"My mom is a very good judge of character," Nick said to him slowly. "There's no way anyone can put one over her. You must be very good at what you do for her to trust you to handle her account." Drew just looked at his boss silently. He didn't know what else to say.
"I guess I'll go over this immediately," Drew said as he stood up and showed Nick the folder.
"I'll just see you later at Lisa's party," Nick stood up and gave him a smile. "You're going, right?"
"I..ummm....had sort of made some other plans tonight," Drew said to Nick slowly.
"I see," Nick nodded his head. Drew left the office and went back to his desk. He dropped the folder on his desk and sat down heavily. He sighed out deeply as he opened the folder and began to read the countless papers within. He was lost in his job for god knows how long when he felt someone calling out his name. He looked up and saw Gerald.
"Hey!" Gerald gave him a lopsided grin. "It's quitting time already or haven't you noticed?"
"I've got some more work to do," Drew groaned out to him.
"See you later at the party then," Gerald said as he gave Drew an odd look. Drew just focused his attention back to his work. He heard his officemates talking loudly as they left the office. Thirty minutes later, Drew was alone in the office. He stood up and went to the employee's lounge and got himself a cup of steaming coffee.
He went back to his desk with the cup of coffee and returned to his work. He was lost in what he was reading when he heard footsteps coming closer to him. He looked up and saw Nick looking at him in surprise.
"You're still here?" Nick asked him. Drew stood up and looked at his uncomfortably. He knew Nick didn't like him because Helen was the one who got the job for him. And Nick didn't seem to be that fond of his mom.
"Ummm," Drew said slowly. "Work."
"I know that," Nick laughed softly. "But work ended an hour ago."
"I'm just finishing reading these papers you gave me," Drew said to him rather stiffly.
"Read them over the weekend," Nick said to him. "Right now we have a party to go to. You'd better ride with me."
"I'll be done in an hour," Drew said to him. "I'd rather finish this today. I'm moving into a new apartment tomorrow and might now have time to read this."
"Getting into a bigger apartment?" Nick asked him quizzically.
"Actually I'm moving in with someone," Drew said to him uneasily.
"Girlfriend?" Nick said in a soft voice.
"No," Drew laughed nervously. "An old friend of mine back in high school. He got a job here in the city and asked me if he could move in with me. My old place was small so we went hunting for a bigger apartment we can share."
"I see," Nick nodded his head. " I'll just get something in my office."
"Goodbye sir," Drew said to him.
"I told you to call me Nick," Nick said to him. "Calling me sir is too formal. I'm 26 and you're 25. We're practically the same age."
"You're still older," Drew said jokingly.
"So that's how it's going to be, huh?" Nick laughed loudly. Nick then went to his office and returned a few minutes later. He saw Drew had gone back to reading the report. He approached him slowly.
"You're more of a workaholic than me," Nick said loudly as he grabbed the papers from drew and put them back in the folder and placed them on top of a pile of papers. "These can wait till Monday. I've already ironed out most of the details anyway. Now we have to go to the party. Just drop by for a minute or so. You can do that, can't you?"
"I guess so," Drew said slowly. He saw Nick looking at him expectantly so he got his things quickly and the two went out of the office. They rode down to the parking lot. Nick led him to a red corvette.
"You didn't attend the last office party," Nick commented to Drew when they were on the road towards Lisa's apartment.
"I was busy," Drew said to him simply. Drew couldn't help but look around the car in awe. He had never ever ridden a car this fancy before. Nick saw Drew and he laughed softly.
"Go ahead and touch anything you want," Nick said to Drew in amusement.
"Ohhhh," Drew looked at Nick in embarrassment. "Sorry about that Nick. I didn't realize I was that obvious. No one in Dayton owns a car like this."
"Dayton is where you grew up?" Nick asked him softly.
"It's a small town in Maine," Drew nodded his head. "My grandparents lives there. My dad decided to quit the army some years ago and put up a small business up there. It's a very quiet, peaceful town. In short, very boring."
"Living here in the big city must be very exciting for you," Drew said to him slowly.
"Yeah," Drew sighed out deeply. "I like the freedom and having the chance of living my own life. But I guess Dayton grew on me because I miss it every now and then. I take it you grew up here."
"Guilty as charged," Nick laughed loudly. "I was born and bred here in the city."
"You're one of those guys, huh?" Drew laughed too.
"What guys?" Nick just grinned at Drew for a second before he looked back on the road.
"The guys that make fun of guys like me who grew up far from civilization," Drew said jokingly. "Though I'll have you know that we do have a K-Mart in our town."
"I'm supposed to be impressed by that?" Nick joked back at him. They reached Lisa's place thirty minutes later. Nick found a space to park some blocks away and they walked the rest of the way. When they got there, the party was just starting.
"Hey!" Nick said to Lisa when she opened the door. Nick gave her a hug before giving her the wine he bought earlier. "This is from me and Drew."
"Drew?" Lisa looked at her friend in surprise before she looked at the new guy who was looking at her nervously.
"I found him in the office still working so I dragged him here and he didn't have time to buy anything," Nick explained to her as they stepped inside and Lisa closed the door.
"You keep that up and you'll replace Nick here as the most uptight person in the office," A guy behind Lisa spoke up. Drew looked at the guy and recognized him as Joseph Carson though everyone calls him Joey. From what he heard, Joey, Lisa and Nick were friends back in college. Nick hired them when he started his business.
"I heard that you actually spent a night in the office back at New Media working on some project," Joey added to Drew slowly. "Tell me it's not true."
"My immediate superior will literally skin me alive if I didn't finish my work immediately," Drew said jokingly though he was still very uncomfortable around them. "I think she idolizes Hannibal Lecter." Drew then saw Gerald by the window, talking to a girl. He excused himself and went over to him immediately.
"Hey!" Drew said softly to him. Gerald turned around and saw Drew. He gave him a huge smile.
"You made it!" Gerald said to Drew. Then he gestured to the girl. "You know Rinoa Howards, right?"
"Yep," Drew nodded his head.
"We have the same coffee break," Rinoa said to Gerald. "You wouldn't believe the amount of coffee Drew drinks." They talked for a while. Then Drew excused himself and went to the phone in the kitchen. He called his apartment to check up on his friend.
"Hey!" Drew said in a whisper.
"Drew!" Shawn Masterson greeted him happily. "Working overtime again?"
"No," Drew said softly. "I'm in a party someone from the office is having. I'm leaving in a few minutes. I could drop by a restaurant and bring you something to eat. Italian or Chinese?"
"I'd like to eat some lasagna now," Shawn said to Drew.
"Italian it is," Drew said to him. "Bye." Drew put down the phone and turned around. He saw Rinoa looking at him quizzically.
"Girlfriend?" Rinoa gave him an amused look.
"No," Drew said very softly. "An ex-boyfriend actually."
*************** To be continued ***************
E-mail me your comments at: sliders21@iname.com
Note: As you can probably guess by now, this isn't a story about the hardships of coming out. I plan on writing a story about experiences of two guys in a relationship. I haven't really been in a relationship before so this one isn't going to be as realistic as my other story.
Note: I'm not going to name the city where this is set because I've received some comments that my description of New York City sucked. This takes place in a city in New England. Let's leave it at that.
Note: To all those FF8 lovers, Rinoa came from that game. I couldn't come up with any more names so I borrowed that first name. And if anyone is wondering, I just finished the game already and the ending totally blew me away! It's much better than the ending of FF7.