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“Wow, is that a new computer?” Tim complained behind him. “I can’t believe your luck, man. Where’s the old one? Or did they just decide to give you an upgrade and leave me to struggle on my old bucket of bolts...” Andrew sucked his breath in through his teeth. “I threw my other one at the wall.” “What?” Andrew hammered in his password, determined to ignore his cubicle-mate. He knew what was going on. Tim had seen Andrew trotting up and down the hallway the past two years trying to look at the Goddess. Sitting there in the same cubicle, he must have seen Andrew rummaging through the White Serpantine website. The young idiot just put two and two together and played a joke on Andrew, pretending to be Marjory. And Andrew, stupid man-animal that he was, fell for it. Right now, he doubted the Goddess was even aware of his existence, much less lustful about it. # Marjory opened the glass door, frazzled. She was late. Blasted thumbnails! And she’d have to walk past his cubicle. She sucked in her breath, feeling a bit queasy as she took the first few steps around the corner. # Andrew was glad he didn’t verbally slaughter Tim when he saw the Goddess come in. He felt his face turn red. He couldn’t help it. It was all of those feelings that rushed freely through him yesterday. He’d indulged in his fantasy. That was all. It felt real to him yesterday. He smiled at her as she glanced in their cubicle. And held that smile even when their eyes met. Andrew didn’t care if she never knew how he felt. Or if she was in on Tim's joke and thought that he was pathetic. He loved her. And during his madness yesterday, he thought she loved him. # Marjory kept going. She walked down to her cubicle. She stuffed her purse under the desk, sat down, and turned the computer on. She leaned back, waiting for the foul thing to power up. Meanwhile, she felt dazed. That smile on his face said something – he wasn’t mad. He couldn’t possibly have been so stupid as to BELIEVE there was a hole in the bathroom wall that Tim had been gawking through. That was stupidly naive... and kinda sweet. “What am I going to do about him?” she asked herself, staring at the floor. # Andrew flinched when the phone rang. It knocked him out of his fog. On the other side of the office, Tim snickered clicking into a new solitaire game. Let the creep snicker. Andrew grabbed the phone. “Good morning, Andrew Kite here. May I help you?” # Marjory wiggled her moist fingers, trying to get a good grip on the phone. Her face felt hotter than a steam-circus. This was embarrassing and weird. In a minute she was going to die. “Hey, Andrew." Her voice sounded amazingly smooth and sincere to her ears. “Why don’t you come out to lunch with me today?” She bit off all impulsive apologies for the last e-mail she sent and simply waited. What was that clunking sound? She bit her lip and glanced at the connection. No, she was still on... # “I suppose you need a new phone now, huh?” Tim grumbled, not taking his eyes off his card game. “Just keep your phone throwing on your side of the office, OK, buddy?” Andrew threw his head back and laughed. “Timmy my man, just remember you can play all the jokes you want and I’m still going to make you my best man.” “Wha-“ Tim snapped a startled look away from his game at that. “What's your problem?” Andrew
laughed again and grasped the phone. Taking a deep breath, he
blurted into the receiver, “I’d love that.” ***** END *****
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