The Office

The Office
Chapter One

It was a lonely office. No one came in there often, not until she moved in. Usually it was dark, dusty, even damp when the ceiling leaked after one too many neglected plumber’s appointments. Someone needed to rescue it, breathe life into it, restore it to its former glory.

The boss never gave anyone that office. The latest office rumor was that the office would remain empty due to the fact that it was the last place her husband had worked before he died. People began to get superstitious; those who wanted it were never offered the isolated room, and those who were offered it quickly turned it down in case it was cursed.

It was the office right next to Gavin’s, and although he was easily the best-looking man in the building, he didn’t help matters due to his reclusive and dark personality. He had even been called the office grouch, named so by those feeling a little less than festive during the holidays.

To be honest, Gavin West couldn’t care less about the petty names he had been dubbed. Even less did he care about the woman who had taken on that dark office, being the first to occupy it in six years. He never understood why she was so excited about decorating the darkest office in the building three weeks before Christmas. It was just the holiday season, dammit; there was no need to get so worked up over a tree and a few strings of Christmas lights. Damn her and her festiveness; she hadn’t even said a word to him and already she was annoying him to the point of insanity.

Yet here she stood, bending over at the waist to pick up another strand of lights, completely unaware of the stares she was receiving from the male population of the workplace. That was another thing that annoyed Gavin about her: she was so wholly ignorant about her surroundings and the people in them that she was clueless. She was probably just as oblivious to their intentions as well. A guy could jump her and all she would probably do was smile and wish him a merry Christmas.

Janie Moore had taken that office when no one else would, so when Gavin heard the news that someone was finally settling in next door he had expected an irritable hermit. Imagine the shock he had received when this bundle of energy had made her presence known, quickly making friends with the shy girl from Accounting, and charming even that bitchy woman in the farthest cubicle down the room on floor three. What was her name? C-something. It had started with a C…

“Hey, Carol, can you please send for another box of clear lights?” Janie called happily down the row of cubicles. Ah. Carol. Whatever.

The tall, slim brunette poked her head out from her cubicle. “Sure thing,” Carol replied, giving Janie a tight smile. “Just a little busy, though, so it might take about twenty minutes for me to get around to making the call.”

“No problem,” Janie answered, a knowing smile gracing her features. “It’ll most likely take that long for me to finish with these strands, anyway.”

Gavin, annoyed that he was wasting his time watching the daily, pointless tasks of Janie Moore, cast his glance down to the paperwork he was supposed to have sent down two floors long ago. So far, he had yet to scan the first paragraph. He let out a low growl at Janie’s absentmindedness, irritated as she clumsily let a Christmas ornament slip out of her hands.

“Oops,” she said cutely, bending over yet again to pick it up, and pursing her glossed lips when it rolled out of her reach and under a desk. Gavin had to endure the sight of her settling down on her knees and crawling around, reaching an arm under the desk as she fumbled around for the little round ornament. With a small triumphant grin, she pulled out the offensive object, a shockingly neon red ball held up by a cheap metal hook.

Oh, right. Paperwork. Concentrate on the paperwork, Gavin told himself.

The two offices, his and Janie’s, had been constructed quite strangely when the building was first developed. They were two separate rooms, but there was a door in between them, as well as the doors leading to the cubicle room. Gavin’s and Janie’s work rarely crossed, and so the door never really had to be opened, but today she had decided to open both of her doors, giving him and everyone else in the building a view of what she was doing.

Unfortunately, they were also getting a view of her constantly bending over as she retrieved various dropped objects, and it irritated him that she could be so careless.
“Hey, Gavin,” she called cheerfully to him, and he gave a start as he realized that she had caught him watching her.

“Hey,” Gavin gruffly replied, shooting her a frown to let her know that she should be concentrating on her work rather than on making her office seem less despairing than it really was. It was a wasted effort.

“Are you going to decorate your office, too?” she inquired innocently, apparently not knowing that Gavin was not the type to decorate anything.

“No.”

“Oh, well, no worries. You don’t really seem the type to decorate, anyway.” She changed tactics at the speed of light, he realized. Behind that innocent face was a crafty woman, and he wasn’t going to fall for it.

“Look, don’t you have any projects to finish up?” He knew he was being a pain in the ass, but then he was just Gavin. Gavin was always an ass.

Janie shook her head, that excited light never fading from her eyes. “I’ve had a pretty light workload lately, and so I’ve had plenty of time to do things like this.” She gestured to the garlands now flamboyantly adorning her walls, and the small, perfectly office-sized tree in the left front corner of the room.

Light workload? Of course. Although why her workload was so much lighter than Gavin’s happened to be a mystery.

Speaking of him not having a light workload…

“Can you close the door?” Gavin asked, glaring at her. “I need to get work done, and all this sparkly junk is distracting me.”

Janie’s smile faded, much to his satisfaction, and she set down the string of multicolored lights she was holding. She muttered something imperceptible that sounded strangely like “grouch” before walking over to the door. That dropped the smirk right off his face.

“You know, you could at least try smiling once, Mr. Grinch,” she commented, rolling her eyes in a childish manner. Gavin decided that she could not look any less immature even if she stuck her tongue out at him.

“Well, I’m a mean one,” he said matter-of-factly, smirking at her. “I’ve got an image to uphold, don’t I? After all, someone has to hate Christmas. Since my workload’s a bit too heavy for me to consider stealing anything, let alone Christmas itself, I’ll just have to settle for general grouchiness.” The last thing he saw before Janie shut the door on him was her exasperated, deflated look. He had punctured that happy little bubble she had created as soon as she woke up that morning, if only a little. Good.

Sighing, he gathered his paperwork together, clunking the bottom edges of the paper against the hard oak of his desk to straighten them. He hadn’t made a single dent in his work. Nothing since he started that morning. He decided it was all Janie’s fault. If little Miss Moore couldn’t keep her bright sparkly lights and cheerful mood on her side of the door joining their offices, then he would have to take action. He had a feeling that she would not like it very much if he were forced to put a damper on her mood. She called him the Grinch, but she didn’t know the half of it.

Without warning, the regular door to his office flew open.

“Gavin, I really need you to pick something up for me--” Carol started, barreling through the door and lowering Gavin’s tolerance level for the day considerably. “Oh. You’re busy?”

“Aren’t I always?” Gavin snapped. Politeness be damned. If one more person interrupted him, he was going to react with the same ferocity as a coffee addict without his morning latte. Carol seemed to sense this, and took a tentative step backwards.

“If it’s not too much trouble,” Carol continued cautiously, drawing a pattern in the carpet with the toe of her Prada shoe. “I’d really appreciate it if you could pick up a pack of clear Christmas lights I just ordered--”

“No,” Gavin quickly cut in, glaring. “I am not going to get involved with Janie’s little holiday program. You want to help her out, go pick them up yourself.”

“You know, Janie’s right, you really are a Grinch,” Carol said immediately, wagging a perfectly manicured finger at him. “Be careful. Someone might actually schedule your doctor’s appointment early just to determine whether your heart really is two sizes too small.”

“Out,” Gavin replied savagely. This woman was testing his patience; sometimes he wondered whether she did it as a hobby, to see how much she could annoy him without making him explode. It was like seeing how close a person could hold a match to a fuse without invoking the wrath of the bomb.

Wordlessly, Carol left, any possible protest she could have had dying on her lips at the sight of Gavin’s scowl. She shut the door behind her, those annoying heels of hers clinking with every step.

Gavin wondered how many other people had heard about his less-than-festive nickname Janie had oh-so-graciously given him. Oh, sure, he deserved it--but no one was allowed to admit this but him. If anyone so much as breathed the word “Grinch,” his glare would vaporize the unlucky person on the spot. The only person he had let get away with it so far was Janie, and he wasn’t about to let it slide the next time it happened. Gavin somehow knew that it wouldn’t be the last time she inflicted her dim-witted holiday humor on him.

“Hey, it was a small favor,” Janie suddenly said as she came through the side door, frowning at him. “It was just some lights. What was the big deal?”

“Funny; it wasn’t quite mentioned in the job description that I would be required to run pointless errands for my underlings,” Gavin said smoothly, concealing his irritation solely because she got riled up more easily when he was cool and collected, and he definitely enjoyed riling her up.

It worked. She was so predictable. “First of all, it’s not a pointless errand, though it was quite simple. Second of all,” she gave a fierce glare that could rival his, which was a rather impressive achievement, “Carol asked you the favor for me. And I am definitely not your underling.”

Gavin smirked, leaning back in his chair. “You’ve been on the job for only two weeks now and already you’re reprimanding me?” He gave her an amused look that plainly said, “You’ve got courage.”

Janie folded her arms stubbornly. She was being mulish as always, and budging didn’t seem to be an option for her. Despite the fact that Gavin’s inner voice was spitting, I don’t have time for this, he was up to a good verbal sparring match.
“Don’t start,” she said dangerously. When she was crossed, her seemingly innocent demeanor would do nothing to calm her temper. “I’d rather not have another day ruined by the great Gavin West.”

“Oh, this isn’t the first time? I’m flattered.” Gavin raised a hand to his navy blue tie as if her words had truly touched him. He knew Janie was used to his type. All mocking and no true bite behind his words.

“I’ll get the lights myself. Happy now?” Janie said. Gavin was a little disappointed, because her sentence was a cue that she was ending the battle so soon.
He furtively stole a glance at his inbox, as well as the pile of paperwork stacked before him. Nothing was getting done, and he was about to dismiss it as a lost cause anyway. It was worth sacrificing a little just to fight with Janie a while longer.

“You know, I think I’ll go get the lights,” he said, sitting up and groaning a little as his stiff muscles protested. He had not moved from his desk all day, and now he was paying for it. He had to grin at Janie’s surprised expression.

“Y-you will?” she sputtered, clearly wrong-footed. His sexy half-smirk revealed all the smugness he felt.

“That’s what I said, wasn’t it?” He raised a sardonic eyebrow at her. And without bothering to explain why he was doing such a thing, he headed out of the office.



Chapter Two: Distraction

Christmas passed much too quickly for Janie Moore, as there had just been so much for her to do: setting up the office gift exchange, making sure that all of floor three had been properly decorated, keeping up with her work, and generally keeping everyone else in the holiday spirit. The last task had quickly proved to be the most difficult, as the irritating person who inhabited the office connected to hers seemed determined to stay in a sulky mood the whole holiday season. Janie didn’t know what exactly spurred him to act the way he did, but it dragged her mood down with his on occasion, and for some infuriating reason he seemed to enjoy this.

Gavin West was not someone to be messed with. Janie simply could not make heads or tails of him. The only time he seemed to be happy was when he was annoying her, a fact that did nothing to quell Janie’s frustration with the man. Everything about him screamed ‘recluse’—from his dark, midnight hair falling over his eyes in a rather unprofessional manner, to his obviously expensive black suit.

Janie stole a peek at him from her desk, as she had ‘accidentally’ left the door connecting their offices open. She figured that some of the light from her office would filter into his; he worked under the dim light of his desk lamp only, and Janie had to take on a mother-like mood when she saw this. That couldn’t be good for his eyes.
Unfortunately, from where she was sitting, only the front corners of Gavin’s desk were visible. It suddenly occurred to Janie that she had never seen him truly at work, when he was deep in concentration. She had only walked in during moments when he was already aggravated by someone else, his concentration broken. Carol seemed to be his newest annoyance. Carol, her closest friend, thoroughly enjoyed bursting into his office, not meaning to disturb him but finding any excuse possible to see him. Janie had to laugh at her actions, as Carol clearly had a massive crush on him.

Janie sighed. Well, if she couldn’t see him, then she might as well return to her work. Or…her Spider Solitaire game. Funny how she didn’t have much work recently. Her drive to get things done had led her to tackle her work the second it was practically chucked at her (her boss didn’t exactly request that work be done), even if it had caused her to work much later than her colleagues. Let’s see…Janie thought. I’ve finished typing up that proposition the boss wanted by Friday, and I’ve come up with several ideas for the next magazine advertisement…Janie rattled off all her accomplished tasks in her head, ticking them off on her fingers as she did so. She received a shock when she ran out of fingers. Wow. I guess I’ve done quite a lot lately. Because of her motivation to finish everything, she was completely finished with all projects for the day, and was so incredibly bored that she had resorted to playing mindless Spider Solitaire games on her desktop computer.

She buried her face in her hands as she matched the last set of cards, winning the game for the fourth time in a row. That was it. Something had to be done. Janie had played Solitaire, Spider Solitaire, Minesweeper, and even Hearts, and now she was yearning for something to spice up her hours at Aero, Inc. Working in the advertising department of a shoe company only interested her so much; in truth, she was yearning for a more exciting opportunity. She did get plenty of free shoes, though.

“Miss Moore,” Gavin’s deep voice rumbled from his office, startling her out of her thoughts. “Can you get in here for a minute?”

Janie scowled. Carol hadn’t even had the pleasure of annoying him yet, and he was already in his trademark mood.

“Yes? Would you like me to bring you a little bell, so you can just ring for me instead of wasting precious breath?” He only ever voluntarily talked to her when he needed something done.

“Not today, Moore.” Gavin’s tone held a warning note, indicating that today was not going to be fun for either of them. “I want you to do something for me.”

“Don’t you always,” Janie replied sarcastically. Her peppiness had been drained out of her by her intense boredom, so she wasn’t in the mood for verbal sparring any more than he was.

“Here.” Gavin set a stack of papers at the front of his desk, furthering Janie’s impatience with him. The man was so arrogant! She didn’t know why he couldn’t simply stand up and hand them to her like a normal human being.

“What?” Janie asked. Normally she would just say no and walk out of the room, but her brain was crying out for distraction.

“Take these to Carol.” Ah. Such a man of few words. Janie hated that. She couldn’t help but smirk as she realized the reason he had called her in. Carol was, to put it bluntly, not Gavin’s favorite person in the world, and by getting Janie to run the papers over to her, Gavin could avoid interacting with her completely.

“You owe me.” Walking over and scooping up the papers, Janie glanced up at him. Funny, she thought. He always wears the same blue tie.

Instead of turning around and leaving, she straightened and smirked. “Why are you in such an awful mood this early in the morning?” she asked. Rational thinking warned her that she should just walk out and deliver the papers. However, boredom and curiosity took over faster than sensibility.

“You don’t need to know. Can you just deliver those?” Gavin’s voice was curt and to the point.

“So there is a reason,” Janie pressed. “What exactly could annoy you more than Carol before the day even reaches ten o-clock?” She gently set the stack of paperwork down and paced, a finger to her chin. “Could it be that you haven’t had your morning cup of coffee yet? Or is it that you just discovered some gray hairs?” Her eyes lit up as she teasingly grinned at him.

“Don’t be ridiculous, I’m not getting that old,” Gavin snapped. A little touchy? Janie asked herself. He seemed to be more reassuring himself than her as he said that…
“Well? Then what is it?”

Gavin glared at her, pulling the arm of his suit straight where it had wrinkled. “What will it take to get you to leave?”

Far from being repelled by his rude manner, Janie was intrigued. What on earth could have made Gavin act the way he did? She decided she didn’t want to know.
“I’ll leave if you tell me what’s bothering you.”

A frustrated sigh escaped Gavin’s lips, and Janie gave a satisfied smile. He was giving in, she could tell. Gavin paused before answering.

“Low on caffeine.” This was Gavin-speak for “I ran out of coffee this morning, and all I had in the cabinet was decaf”. Despite this being a very reasonable excuse, Janie somehow knew he was lying.

“Gotcha.” Janie turned on her heel, grabbing the papers on her way out. “Don’t worry, I’ll fix that.” She caught sight of Gavin’s confused expression as her words registered. “Don’t worry about it, kay?” With that, she walked out, leaving his front office door open on purpose.


“Oh, more papers from Gav?” Carol asked excitedly as Janie set the impressive stack on Carol’s desk. “I swear, I will never figure out why he doesn’t just bring them to me himself.”

“He’s a hermit. When he gets engrossed in his work, no one can bring him out of that office,” Janie replied without missing a beat. Surely she couldn’t tell Carol that Gavin was avoiding her with a passion. “And I believe he prefers it if you call him ‘Mr. West,’” she added with a grin.

“Nah, Gav is just fine with me. It’s cute.” Carol said triumphantly, as if Gavin himself had given her permission to call him by that name. Mental note, Janie thought, use that name at first opportunity to see how much it drives him crazy. It sounded like fun, but Janie was a little annoyed that Carol could be so completely ignorant.

“You might be on to something there,” Janie said. “I’ve gotta head back. Lots of work to do, you know.” The angel on her shoulder hissed, Liar, liar, but she ignored it. Briskly walking away, she sped toward her destination—the breakroom.


Janie saw Gavin look up from his desk as she came in, a cup of steaming hot coffee in her hand. Wordlessly she set it down next to his desk lamp, enjoying the surprise that crossed his face.

“So there. All better,” she said happily. “Now you can go back to just being irritable, instead of being downright cranky.”

Gavin, speechless for the first time in months, gazed down at the black mug filled with wonderful caffeine. But…hey…

“This is already a third empty!” Gavin accused, looking up at her incredulously. Glancing down again, his suspicions were confirmed as he located the tiny pink ring that her lip gloss had made on the rim of the mug. “You drank out of it!”

“Oh, that’s no big deal! You got your coffee, right?” Janie said gleefully. “Or…most of it, anyway.” Take that, she mentally shouted. Surprise and indignation, both at once. Score. “Anyway, I need to get back to work.” When she was almost at the door, she gave him a final glance over her shoulder. “Enjoy the coffee.”


Gavin could hear her chuckling at him from her desk as he attempted to focus once more. The shock of her appearing so suddenly, bearing coffee, had finally worn off, and he was left with a numb feeling of relief that she was gone. She was far too distracting right now.

He raised the mug, looking into its hazelnut depths. He guessed two packets of creamer, a few packets of sugar, and just a hint of lip gloss.

He expected to become angry with her, even though she had gone to the trouble of bringing him coffee. Unfortunately for him, his emotions decided to have a mind of their own, as pleasure unfurled in his stomach. He slowly smirked. Her gesture was, for some reason, sexy, and he had yet to figure out why.

Placing his lips directly over the lip gloss ring she had left behind, he drank, inhaling the warm vanilla and hazelnut scent drifting into his nose.

Hmmm. Whether she meant it to or not, her lip gloss added a flavor to the coffee that the old Columbian just couldn’t outdo. Gavin wondered whether he could convince Janie to bring him half-empty coffee every morning.


“Janie.” Janie’s ears perked up as Gavin called to her from his office. She could easily hear him from her own, as their door was still wide open. Gavin hadn’t bothered to shut it yet, she noticed, feeling triumphant.

“What is it?” He was going to reprimand her about the coffee, she knew it. Too bad she didn’t really care. In fact, she couldn’t wait to hear what exactly he had to say about the matter.

“I lied about the problem.”

Janie gave a start. What?

“I’m turning thirty tomorrow.”

Silence. The air was so heavy with silence, actually, that Gavin started to whether Janie had left the room.

“Ah!” Janie squealed, her exclamation followed by peals of loud laughter. “A mid-life crisis! And you’re not even…not even old enough to have one!”

“Janie.” Now Gavin’s voice was reprimanding. “I bother to tell you the real cause of my irritability, and this is how you show your concern?”

“Concern?” Now she was positively howling. Breathing at a fast pace, she struggled to calm herself down. “Okay, I realize that was a bit unprofessional on my part—” Gavin, unprofessionally, snorted—“But really, thirty is not a reason to have a conniption. Granted, it is a milestone, but you should be celebrating!”

Celebrating. Like Gavin would ever celebrate a reminder that he should be farther up the job ladder by now. His sense of accomplishment was rather low at the moment.

“Well, happy birthday, okay?” Janie said, then spoke not another word on the subject. Gavin was grateful for the drop of the subject, and for the first time that day he could finally concentrate.


The next day, Gavin was surprised to see Janie already hard at work in her office as he came in. Prompt as always, he had arrived at six. They were supposed to be at work at six-thirty; Janie was never there before him. Puzzled, Gavin settled into his chair and set his briefcase down.

“Wha—” A small package lie on his desk, with a yellow Post-It note on the front that said “From Janie.”

“Happy Birthday,” Janie said loudly from her office, a smile evident in her voice.
Bewildered, Gavin tore the brilliantly colored red wrapping paper, and held the revealed object in his hands. It was a black tie, diagonally striped with intensely bright yellow lines.

Gavin glanced down at his own navy blue tie. He always wore the same one every day, only wearing one strictly out of necessity. Being original with his ties never occurred to him; at least not until this moment. He looked back to the tie from Janie, the comfortable black shade streaked with yellow that screamed color.

Gavin threw his head back and laughed.


Janie gasped at the sound. She was sure that she was the first in the entire company to have heard any expression of amusement from him. She felt a sort of fierce pride that she had been the first one to make him laugh, and a relief that he had not simply rejected her gift. Carol would know of his birthday, she was sure of it. Even though Gavin had not told her, Carol would know, and would have a large, expensive present ready. Janie wondered how Gavin would react to it.

There was nothing business-like about Gavin right now; Janie could tell without looking at him. His usually smooth cheeks would be dimpled, and she was sure that if she could see him she would catch a glimpse of his perfect white teeth. It almost made her weak at the knees to think about it.


The next time she saw him was like every other day except in one factor. Glancing over at him, Janie spotted a flash of color, and immediately felt like embracing him.
He was wearing the tie.

It might be just a little unprofessional to suddenly bear hug him here, wouldn’t it? Janie asked herself. For some reason she had the feeling her boss may not appreciate it.

Gavin caught her eye, and treated her to a rare grin, as if to say, Happy now? Janie could only grin back. Absolutely.



Chapter Three

Janie sighed. Not even her drive to get things done would get her out of having to work an insane amount of overtime. She was just sitting innocently at her desk, playing Spider Solitaire, when it happened. Her boss had called Janie into her office to talk.

At first, Janie panicked. Had she done anything wrong? Judging by her boss’s smooth but firm tone, something was on her mind. Janie had had a sinking feeling; she wasn’t going to like this.

To her immense relief, she wasn’t fired. Instead, she was faced with a mountainous load of work all piled onto her at once. It would take a shovel made of pure determination to dig her out if it.

Her boss had assigned her three projects. Three! And all of them had deadlines so close that Janie got cross-eyed just looking at them.

So for the first time in months, she was working late. Her shift usually ended at six, yet here she still was, hunched over her desk and staring at the impossibly complex tasks before her. Aside from the dim glow of her desk lamp, her computer screen bore the only light in the room. She hadn’t bothered to turn the main light on; Janie supposed her office closely resembled Gavin’s at the moment.

Gavin. Ugh. Janie did not want to think about him. Gavin had withdrawn into his office again that day, not even bothering to talk to her until he found out that one of the projects assigned to him had been assigned to her as well. Even then, all he had done was shove basic contact information at her, in case she “felt the need to disturb him after work hours.” Translation: Sooner or later, they would have to tackle the project together, so if it had to be outside of work she’d now know how to reach him. Indirect and rude. Still, he was the only person who once in a while saved her from workplace boredom.

After hours of seemingly unproductive work, Janie set down her mug of now cold green tea and rested her forehead on her palm, loose strands of hair spilling over her fingers. It was nine fifteen; time to finish up. Actually, she should have finished up a long time ago.

Carefully sweeping her array of papers into one disorganized pile, she attempted to put some of them in order. She turned her briefcase on its side and placed her papers on top of it, balancing her tea mug haphazardly on the fluttering white stack. Lord knew how she was going to get this out the door. Poor Janie had to grip it all on one arm while fumbling with her keys to lock her office. The janitor had already shut off half of the lights in the building, and this only made it increasingly more difficult to see the stubborn little keyhole.

Maneuvering her pile of work out to the car made her wish she had been born with the grace of her sisters, instead of with the clumsiness she so dangerously possessed. She unlocked her car and swung open the car door, and winced as her tea mug finally toppled off the top of the stack and crashed to the ground. Crap.

Janie had to admire the large navy shards it shattered into; she could attach an emotion to each of them. That one’s for my frustration with my sudden workload, she thought. And that one is the despair I feel about making those deadlines. That one’s for my stress, and that one’s for how tired I am… She deliberately stepped on the pieces with the toe of her high heels, gaining a strange sort of satisfaction from the crunching sound they made beneath her foot. Abandoning the pieces and sliding into her car, she set her pile of work down and started the ignition.

Vroom, splutter, splutter.

Oh, no, not now.

Vroom, thwacka thwacka.

“Come on, baby, don’t do this,” she pleaded with her car. She tried starting it again, but no success. Janie groaned, resting her arms on her steering wheel and staring out the windshield.

“What am I gonna do now?”

Gavin West rubbed a towel vigorously through his dark hair, beads of water dripping off his bangs onto his shirt, the fabric soaking up the moisture. He closed the bathroom door to hear the professional jingle of his cell phone traveling from the nightstand. Who could be calling now?

“Hello?” Gavin said gruffly, cursing as the phone nearly slipped through his wet fingers.

“…Mr. West?” a tentative voice spoke, sounding feminine and worried.

“Miss Moore?” Gavin could not hide his surprise that she of all people would be calling him.

“I know it’s a lot to ask, but…are you busy?”

If Gavin didn’t know better, he’d have thought she was going to ask him out.

“My car broke down.”

Oh. “Where do you need to be picked up?” asked Gavin, running a hand through his damp hair.

Janie smiled. He was always straight to the point. “I’m still in the parking lot. I worked late, so…”

“You couldn’t have called your family?” Gavin questioned rudely. There he went again, thought Janie.

“They’ll be sleeping right now. Your number was on that contact sheet you gave me, and I couldn’t think of anyone else.”

Gavin decided not to point out that the contact sheet she had received was supposed to be for business purposes only. “They fall asleep before nine? That’s strange.”

“You don’t know my family.” Over the phone, Gavin could hear Janie exhale sharply.
“I’ll be there.” And with no further questions, he hung up.

Janie stepped out of her car and shut the door, leaning against the side. She was alone in the dark parking lot, with only the dim shine of the streetlights to keep her company. Somewhere far off to her left, a dog barked.

There is absolutely no point in staying here, Janie thought. Gavin won’t be here for a while, and I’m craving something stiff. The small, devastatingly old bar down the street caught her attention, as it was the only place still open on the block. Everywhere closed early these days.

Janie’s first instinct was ‘No.’ The bar looked like a slight breeze would end its existence entirely. The painting on the loose boards was peeled beyond repair, the windows were cracked…oh, for Pete’s sake, both of the ‘r’s on the “Joe’s Bar and Grill” sign were out. But the other side of Janie’s mind was crying out for a calming drink, and in her state alcohol was too tempting to pass up.


Gavin swung the door to the little tavern open so forcefully that he was afraid it might fall off of its hinges. Wouldn’t take much, he thought, noting the quality of the place. The inside of the bar was just as grubby as the outside, but the customers didn’t seem to mind. Or rather, the burly men in the dirty dark corner table didn’t seem to mind. The rest of the establishment was completely devoid of people, except for the person sitting on a barstool at the counter. Gavin breathed a sigh of relief.

“Janie,” he called. She turned to look at him, a dopey smile plastered across her features, mug in hand.

Oh, no.

“Heyyy, you found me!” Janie responded cheerfully, swinging her legs back and forth on the stool.

“You’re drunk,” Gavin stated obviously.

“Nooo,” Janie answered, flicking her wrist in his direction as if the idea was ridiculous. She tried to stand to go meet him, but she stumbled. Gavin immediately rushed over to catch her, but slightly off timing resulted in him grabbing her arm and shoulder and her knee banging on the floor.

“Owww,” Janie moaned. “Why’d you do that?”

“You fell, Janie,” Gavin said, using her first name and talking to her as if she were a naughty third-grader.

“I’m not drunk,” Janie said, trying to reassure him, but the slow, uneasy sound of her words may have given her away.

“Sure you’re not,” Gavin replied sarcastically, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to steady her. “Good lord, woman, it didn’t take you long, did it?”

“To get drunk? Nah, took about twenty minutes.” Janie stopped and looked at him. “I’m not drunk.”

“I’m getting you to the car.”

Janie giggled hysterically at everything as they made their way out of the bar. The fact that she couldn’t seem to walk only made things funnier to her. Gavin opened the passenger side door of his sleek black car (Janie couldn’t identify the model) with his free hand and plunked her down on the seat, shutting the door behind her.

“Thanks for coming,” Janie said as Gavin started the engine, sounding like a game show host. “If you hadn’t come, I would’ve been stuck.” She said the word “stuck” like a six-year-old might have said “muck,” like it was exciting and gross at the same time.

“Explain to me how you ended up drinking so much,” Gavin said in monotone. To his displeasure, Janie started giggling again.

“W-well…my car died, I walked into that dump (Gavin guessed she was referring to the bar), and told the person that I wanted something strong. Whatever it was, it was good, so I ordered three more…”

Gavin sighed. She was hopeless.

“By the way, you look good, your clothes,” Janie commented. Gavin flinched at the unexpected compliment.

“Kinda dressed like an overgrown teenager.”

Well. There went any warm feeling Gavin might have had. He glanced down at his apparel. Loose-fitting casual jeans paired with a black T-shirt to match his hair. Oh, lord, she was right. This was the first time Janie had seen him outside of work, and she was just drunk enough to fully speak her mind.

“Hey Gav?” Fresh giggles erupted from her mouth. “Sorry. Carol calls you that when you’re not around. I thought I’d try it out.” Seeing Gavin’s puzzled expression, she added, “I take it you don’t like it?”

Gavin said nothing. He now had yet another reason to hate Carol.

“Amnyways,” she continued, stumbling over her words, “what I wanted to ask was, why are you always so cold?”

Gavin stiffened. “What do you mean?” he asked uncertainly.

“You know,” Janie said casually, swaying slightly. “The way you’re always so gruff and distant. Even when I bring you coffee you barely say thanks or anything.”
Gavin felt a twinge of guilt, but didn’t mention it. “There’s no reason,” he said defensively.

“Of course there is. I’ve been…speculating for a while now (Janie giggled at the big word), and I have a few guesses, but I don’t really know.”

The male next to her sighed. She’s not likely to remember tonight anyway, he reasoned. No harm in opening up just a little. I may owe it to her a little, seeing as she’s obviously hurt by my actions around her.

“It’s hard to explain.”

“I’m still listening.” Janie propped her head on her hands, her elbows resting on her knees as she stared intently.

Gavin coughed. This would be awkward, not to mention difficult. He reminded himself to breathe, telling himself that it would be okay. Talking about it after years of keeping silent was something he just had to do eventually.

“I…I was married three years ago.”

“Gavin West, married?” Janie said incredulously, her eyes wide.

“Yes. She died of leukemia that same year.”

Janie’s face twisted into a pained expression, and she placed a hand on Gavin’s arm. Gavin gently moved his arm out of her reach. He kept silent, but the air was too tense for the conversation to be at an end.

“There’s more, isn’t there?” Janie asked seriously. Even when she was under the influence, Gavin noticed that she was still incredibly perceptive.

“Well, my parents eventually called, two months after it happened.” Gavin’s tone turned bitter and resentful. “And all they called for was to express their disapproval of her anyway, and…” He took a deep breath and released it. “And that they hoped I wouldn’t make the same mistake next time.”

“Oh, Gavin.”

Gavin avoided her sympathetic gaze and instead focused his eyes on the road ahead. He couldn’t handle her sympathy.

The car slowed to a stop in front of Janie’s apartment, and the two sat there in silence.

“Well…thank you,” Janie said. She giggled sheepishly. “I promise this won’t happen again.”

“It better not,” Gavin warned, taking off his seat belt. “Because next time I might not rescue y—”

Janie had worked free of her seat belt and had leaned over the stick shift, and had captured Gavin’s lips mid-sentence with her own. At first she was shy and cautious, but as soon as she was sure he wasn’t pulling away she kissed him harder, resting her weight on her arm to keep herself upright.

For a moment Gavin could only sit there in shock, all too aware of Janie’s glossed lips moving against his. And then he was responding, lifting his hand to the base of her neck and pulling her closer. He opened her mouth and she grabbed a fistful of his overgrown-teenager shirt, leaning on him and running the fingers of her free hand through his hair.

This is Janie, Gavin’s conscience reprimanded him. You can’t do this, She’s your co-worker. Besides, she’s drunk.

Oh, God, she’s drunk, he suddenly remembered. He was stupid. He could even taste the alcohol on her tongue.

Grasping her shoulder, Gavin firmly pushed her back. “That’s all you get,” he told her. She let out a small whimper of disapproval and reached for him again, but he shoved her back harder, ignoring his own guilt and disappointment.

“Janie, you’re drunk. Think about what you’re doing.”

“I’m not drunk,” she insisted, but Gavin had already exited the car and was opening the passenger door for her.

“Try to make it up to your room on your own, okay?” he instructed. “You’re going to have a hell of a hangover tomorrow. Good thing it’ll be a Saturday.”

Janie pouted, managing to get herself out of the car and onto the sidewalk. “Okay,” she mumbled grudgingly.

Gavin gave her one last concerned look before getting back into his car. Janie watched him drive off, looking sad and exhausted.

Gavin hoped she wouldn’t remember anything come tomorrow morning. The still had a project to work on. Speaking of…I’ll have to call her tomorrow to see if she’s well enough to work on that, won’t I? he rationalized, smirking. That ought to be fun.


The next morning, Janie was roused from her sleep by a shooting pain in her head. Groaning, she rolled over in her blankets as she realized she was horribly hung over. Through the hazy fog of her thoughts, one memory drifted to the front of her consciousness.

She immediately sat up, and then wished she hadn’t after her head started spinning. Her neighbors woke to an ear-piercing shriek emitting from Janie’s apartment.

“Good God, I kissed him!”