Work Crushes
Text Message:
Lauren: Paul Grady’s wearing the blue suit again. He looks so damn hot! There’s no way I’m going to get any work done today
Delilah: Me either. Not because I have the distraction of a hot bloke. I just lack motivation
I’ve never had a work crush before – how could I when the male population of the office consisted of Neville and his spotty son? Even the thought of hooking up with either of them gives me an unpleasant feeling in my tummy. It’s a bit like when Ryan kissed me at Clara’s party but with less tongue involved. Lauren is constantly infatuated with people at work, whether it’s a colleague, a client or the lad who cleans the windows every Thursday morning. She says it helps pass the time and I can certainly see what she means as Adam drops into the chair next to me. I’d much rather look at Adam’s lovely face than the spreadsheet in front of me. Mine and Adam’s desks are packed so close together, his knee is almost brushing against mine and this fact alone is making me blush like a teenager accidentally watching a sex scene in a film with their parents (it’s happened to us all, right?). I find myself gulping cartoon-style; over-exaggerated and so noisily it catches Adam’s attention.
‘Are you ok?’ Adam swivels in his chair to face me and this time the very tips of our knees connect for a beautiful split second.
‘Yes. I’m fine. Really fine. Super.’ Super? ‘Why do you ask?’
‘I thought you were choking or something.’ Adam checks me out, looking for clues that I’m not ‘super’ at all. You know, like a blue tinge to my lips, a lack of chest movement or my hands clutching my blocked throat.
‘Nope. I’m fine. Are you?’
Adam nods. ‘Yeah, fine. Super.’
I ignore the twitching of Adam’s lips as he fights against the smile that is clearly itching to spread across his lovely face. ‘How are you getting on with the blog?’ I point at the screen, where the Brinkley’s blog is loaded up. Adam has been working hard to promote us and the blog is now packed with information about our products and the faces behind them. Katey-Louise was not at all happy that Neville was put first in the ‘getting to know you’ section, jumping the queue ahead of her.
‘It’s going well. The hits are building more and more every day.’ Adam points at the ‘getting to know you’ tab at the top of the page. ‘Are you still interested in being featured?’
‘Sure, why not?’ Adam promised to whisk me away for lunch to go over the questionnaire so I’m hoping this still stands.
‘I know we said we’d go out for lunch to go through the questionnaire,’ Adam says and I can sense a ‘but’. I’m disappointed as I was hoping to take a breather from Katey-Louise this afternoon. I’m sick of hearing about the comments she’s had on her latest YouTube vlog and I’m tempted to post a load of negative ones just to shut her up. ‘But I’ve got a meeting with Neville this afternoon to go over some stats and figures so I’ll need to work through lunch to prepare. Are you free after work instead?’
As buts go, this one isn’t so bad. In fact, I quite like it.
‘Yes, I’m free. But only if you get the first round in.’
The work day can’t come to an end quickly enough; not only am I ready for launching Katey-Louise – and her array of hair products – through one of the Portakabin windows, I also have the pleasure of meeting up with Adam. To avoid suspicion, we leave the office separately, meeting over at The Bonnie Dundee a few minutes apart. Adam left first and is currently sitting with a couple of pints.
‘You remembered,’ I say as I sit down and take a refreshing sip. ‘Ten out of ten for memory skills.’ I take another sip. I need this drink after spending the day listening to Katey-Louise. ‘How did the meeting with Neville go?’
Adam takes a sip of his own pint and nods his head. ‘Great, thanks. Neville was really pleased with the results from the biscuit recipes we put up on the blog. The response was amazing. We’ve had so many people retweeting and sharing and they’ve been posting their own versions on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram so Neville wants to move forward with it. We’re going to showcase some of them on the blog and we’re also going to run a competition for the public to come up with their own recipes. We’ll make the winner’s and share it over our social media and there’ll be some sort of prize too, but we haven’t worked that out yet.’ Adam shakes his head. ‘I’m so sorry. I must be boring you to death.’
‘Not at all.’ I love that Adam is passionate about his job. ‘Let me know if you need any help.’
‘I will, thanks.’ Adam reaches into the rucksack he brings to work and pulls out a piece of paper, which turns out to be the questionnaire. We fill in the boring work-related questions before we come to the fun stuff.
‘What’s your favourite Brinkley’s biscuit?’
‘That’s easy. Fudge Sundae.’ I have a real craving for them now.
‘Ta-dah!’ Adam reaches into the rucksack and pulls out a packet of Brinkley’s Fudge Sundaes. ‘I remembered you saying they were your favourite.’
‘You definitely get ten out of ten for memory. Can I?’ I point at the packet, tearing it open when Adam nods his head. ‘These are heavenly. What’s your favourite?’ I grab a biscuit and bite into it, closing my eyes to savour the taste.
‘You’ll have to wait until it’s my turn on the blog.’ Adam grabs a biscuit and takes a bite. ‘But these are pretty good.’
We move onto the next set of questions, which covers hobbies.
‘Shall I put down go-karting?’
I laugh, grabbing another biscuit. ‘I’ve only been once. I’d hardly call it a hobby just yet.’
‘What about musicals? You love those.’
I gape at Adam before realising how unattractive I must look and stop. ‘Have you been making notes about me?’
Adam shakes his head. ‘I must just have a good memory.’
‘You’re a strange kind of male,’ I tell him. ‘You actually listen.’
Adam laughs. It’s a lovely, day-brightening sound. ‘Should I get offended on behalf of my species?’
‘Nah, they’re making you look good.’ I finish my pint. ‘Shall I get another round in?’
Adam looks down at the questionnaire. It’s almost complete. ‘Yeah, why not?’