Lady in Red

“Day’s end can’t come close enough, right?” Aaron popped his head above his cubicle.

I was working on a deadline and had just sent my final piece into my editor. This particular piece was about the police brutality in Ferguson, Missouri over the weekend and was pretty challenging but I was satisfied with what I’d managed to produce. I knew where Aaron was going with this line of conversation, though.

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to join a few of us for happy hour after work?” He asked.

Usually, I turn Aaron down for happy hour but Dan’s words rang in my ear about how the invitations will eventually stop. I was in the mood to celebrate my article being done anyway so I agreed to go. We had a few more hours left of the work day so I started up on my next project: A District Attorney’s son who wrapped his car around a tree while driving drunk and had somehow managed to avoid any charges.

All of the information I had about the case was laid out in front of me and I was studying it intensely and lost track of time. I someone clear their throat outside of my cubicle. When I looked up there was a woman standing there. She had thick, dark red hair, green eyes, and a killer smile highlighted with deep red lipstick. She was wearing a black wrap dress with white polka dots and was holding a folder.

“Hi, I’m Serena.” She held her hand out and I shook it as she stepped into my cubicle.

“I’m Ada-”

“You’re the new guy. I know.”

She smiled at me and then held up her folder.

“I’m here for your copy order. I’m one of the support staffers.”

Now that she’d said that I remembered seeing her around the office but we’d never been introduced and the woman who usually came by to pick up my copy requests was out sick today.

“You must be covering for Annette.” I said as I spun in my chair to grab the paperwork I needed copied.

I had to reach by her and accidentally grazed her hip.

“Sorry about that.” I blushed.

“Oh, it’s fine. And, yeah, Annette has bronchitis or something.”

I handed her my paperwork. She turned to leave but then turned back around.

“Aaron told me you’re coming to happy hour…”

“Yeah.” I said with surprise.

She didn’t seem like the happy hour kind.

“Nice. It should be fun.”

She walked backwards out of my cubicle and smiled at me the whole time before disappearing down the aisle between the cubicles. I found myself smiling and realized how weird it felt.

At the end of the day, I collected my things and met the group I’d be hanging out with by the elevators. There were six of us, including me: Aaron, Serena, Dale, Preston, and Ken. We made our way to a bar about two blocks from our office building and grabbed a table for everybody. Aaron and I went up to the bar to get some pitchers of beer and glasses. As we were waiting, Aaron eyed our table and then me.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing.”

I wasn’t in the mood for pulling information out of people so I changed the subject.

“Serena doesn’t really seem like the kind of person who would come to a happy our work thing.” I said.

Aaron smiled and I realized she was what he’d been eyeing.

“Yeah, she’s not.”

“What?”

“She only agreed to come when I told her you were coming. I think she’s into you, man.”

I looked at him in disbelief and shook my head, laughed, and then turned toward the bar waiting for the glasses.

“No, I’m serious, man. I’ve asked her to come to happy hour with us probably every week for months and she’s always said no. But then I mention you’re coming and she hops on board immediately. She’s definitely into you. Plus she’s smoking hot. I wouldn’t mind taking a tumble in the sheets with her.”

I decided I wasn’t really a fan of Aaron or where our conversation was going but thankfully the bartender handed me a tray with our glasses on it and Aaron grabbed the pitchers. When we got to the table, I realized that the chair set aside for me was next to Serena. The look she was giving me told me it was purposeful.

I sat down and poured us both some beer and things went smoothly for the rest of the evening. It was nice to get to know my coworkers. At one point Serena and I were the only ones left at the table, everyone else had gotten up to play a game of darts. She was tracing the rim of the glass with a finger and watching the game quietly.

“So, how long have you been working here?” I asked her.

“Only about 9 months. I’m just office support staff but I really want to become an analyst. I love that line of work.”

She lit up and told me all about what got her interested in the field and the paper we were working for.

“I’m hoping they’ll give me Gerald’s job when he retires in October.”

Gerald was an analyst who’d been working in the field forever and announced his plans for retirement a few weeks ago, shortly after I started working here. He’s a nice guy but I found myself hoping Serena would get the open spot. She was one of those people you couldn’t help but root for and like.

“So, how’s the move here been for you?” She asked.

“It’s been, uh, an experience.” I didn’t want to come off as too negative so I took a neutral stance, “It was a rough start what with being robbed and everything, but I think I found a cool place.”

“Robbed?”

“Yeah…” I told her about what had happened with my moving van before I found a place.

“Wow. I’m so sorry that happened. I don’t know how you managed to keep it together. I think I would’ve just given up.”

“Well, I ended up in a pretty good place, anyway.” I told her where I lived and she lit up again.

“We’re neighbors!” She said, “I live right across the street from you!”

She nudged my shoulder and laughed.

“You’re I luck, it’s a pretty great part of town. My building hasn’t had a robbery since I’ve been living there. You’ve got to make sure to…”

For the rest of the night, Serena and I talked about all of the things in the city that I should make sure to do in order to get a proper welcome to Cincinnati. Our coworkers were starting another round of darts and I looked at my watch. I was ready to go.  Serena gave me a sly smile.

“Do you want to get out of here? I know a great sandwich place…and it’s on the way home.”

I was hungry and it wasn’t like we were going on a date so I agreed. We got up from the table and said good bye to everyone before setting out.

“This place has an absolutely awesome Italian beef sandwich. You’re going to love it.”

We arrived at the sandwich shoppe within ten minutes and she was right. They had one of the best Italian beef sandwiches I’ve ever had. We sat at a table and shared some chips as we ate. She told me more about herself and it was nice to just listen. I didn’t really know how much to share but she was more than happy to take over the conversation. When we got up to leave she wrapped her arm into mine again as we walked. When we got to my apartment complex she hesitated and I realized I we weren’t on the same page and I would need to try a different tactic to let her down easy.

“You know, I think Aaron is pretty into you.” I said nonchalantly.

I stuck my hands in my pockets as she stood across from me. She snorted.

“Of course he is. His hard-on for me is obvious to everyone but I’m SO not into him like that. He seems like such a skeeze.”

I had to give her credit, she could certainly read people pretty well.

“Plus,” her eyes flicked up my body slyly, “I think I’m into someone else, anyway.”

She took a step towards me. I realized I was going to need to be more direct.

“Look, Serena…you’re really cool and everything but I just got out of a pretty serious relationship, I’m not really looking to date anyone right now…”

I expected her to look more disappointed but she smiled brightly.

“I’m not looking to date anyone right now, either. But you look like you know what to do in the sack and as it just so happens I AM looking for someone to help me out with that.”

She ran a finger over my chest and I’m sure I just imagined it but it burned under her touch. She filled the space between us with another step and I looked down at her.

“I don’t really thi-”

“We’re adults here, Adam. I can take a hint, but I also think that we have a lot of chemistry and I’m betting that that also means we’ll have a strong sexual chemistry. I’d love to help you get over your ex by screwing your brains out.”

She was like a completely different person than I thought she was and I was strangely interested in it but I was hesitant. She leaned in and kissed me hard. It was…different. I think I was so used to kissing Faith that kissing someone new was unexpected. I was surprised when I found myself kissing her back. I missed human touch and I hadn’t realized it until that moment. When we broke apart I could feel her lipstick smeared on my face and knew my hair was messed up.

“So, what do you think? Should we take this upstairs?”

She looked up at me flirtatiously.

“Uh….I…”