Missed Connections (28 page)

"Calm down. I wasn't making fun of you. I'm sorry that I wasn't completely focused on you or whatever weird stupid teenage fantasies you probably had. I'm sorry, maybe my words are coming out wrong. What I'm saying is, of course I wasn't interested in you. That doesn't mean however I'm looking at the current you and thinking about how you used to be." Oliver was obviously trying to hold back his laughter. "Even if you're sure acting like a kid right now."

"I don't know what you're trying to say," Austin said in complete confusion. "But this is your office." He opened up a door and it creaked loudly, like every other door in the building. "Okay? You can stay up here and not bother me and I'm sure everything will be fine." Oliver's smile use to make Austin blush like a schoolgirl but now as adult all it was managing to do was piss him off and make him feel embarrassed.

"What I'm saying is, are you free this weekend?"

"What?"

"Ah come on, you can't be that dense," Oliver said as he squeezed his way into the office and looked around. "Wow this is a really nice office. I get this all to myself? Man, I was expecting to be sitting at a cubicle or something but this is pretty neat."

"No, be quiet about the office, what did you just say?!" Austin almost yelled. Oliver started wiping some dust off of his new desk before glancing over at Austin and smiling again.

"Oh, this weekend, are you free? I figured that we could go on a date or something, you know?" Oliver suggested with a shrug. "Unless of course you don't want to or there's some dumb work policy about not dating coworkers. I don't remember reading one though… not to say that we would be dating or anything. It's just going on a date, which isn't quite the same." Oliver walked around the desk and sat down in the dark blue and cushioned wheeled chair. The previous employee had left a stapler in the desk that Oliver had taken out to place on the table. It didn't look like had brought any of his own objects yet to decorate the small office space.

Austin was trying to go over what Oliver had just said. In all of their conversations he didn't expect what had just come out of Oliver's mouth. All Austin had done was act like an idiot and he didn't want Oliver liking him because of that. A blushing and incoherent seventeen year old was not who Austin was on a daily basis.

"On a date? What makes you think I want to go on a date? What makes you think it's okay to ask your boss of ten minutes that you want to go on a date?" He asked, tapping his foot on the tiled floor. "You've sure got a lot of arrogance." He was putting up a front but Austin knew he was actually excited. Austin always liked guys with an attitude, because he knew how to handle it. He found himself calming down but growing eager and more excited at the same time.

"Is it not okay then? Do you not want to go on date?" Oliver asked. He leaned over the desk and intertwined his fingers. "If I can't act like this, just let me know now. You are the boss here."

"Well, I don't think we can go on a date," Austin said calmly. Ah finally there it was. After the initial freak-out of seeing Oliver after so long he was finally getting a grip of himself. He was going to prove to Oliver that he wasn't the same dumb student from way back then. He wasn't going to be intimidated. "But, we can meet up this weekend to go over your work and get to know each other better, because as you said, I'm the boss here. It wouldn't hurt you to stay on the boss's good side."

"I think I want to know everything about your good side," Oliver proclaimed.

"I don't think you should talk to me like that considering I'm in charge." Austin gave a smirk that challenged Oliver's. He had played this game before. He couldn't think of Oliver has his old teacher. He was now just Oliver, the guy the newspaper recently hired.

"Oh okay, so I can't talk to you like that in front of the others then? You have a reputation here that you'd like to keep huh? I get that. I've read your work before I sent in a resume here you know. It's a rather small town, I didn't want to work for some shitty small town paper." Oliver said it as if it wasn't almost cruel. Maybe to him, it wasn't. "But reading your stuff, no, you're better than that. You're really good Austin. Really good."

"Wow, so glad I got the newbie's respect." Austin said rolling his eyes.

"No," Oliver said propping his feet on the table. Austin was immediately hit with flashbacks, to the very first moment Oliver had ever done that with his sweeping motion into Austin's old classroom. His diamond-blue eyes looked so cunning under his dark red bangs. "You have teacher's respect." Oliver laughed as Austin's entire face went red and he started stuttering.

"I'm getting your first assignment!" Austin said, louder than he should have, before galloping down the stairs, almost tripping. He came down breathless and clutching his chest, his loud footsteps and deep inhales attracting the rest of the office to glance at him. He laughed nervously at all the heads that popped up to look at him in curiosity. "Jerry! Hey Jerry! Where's Oliver's first assignment?"

"You got the boy all set up in his new office?" Jerry asked. He had been busy talking to the receptionist, Christy, who had finally reappeared. Her hair was short and light brown and her lipstick a bright red that fit her perfectly. "You were only up there for a few minutes. I was expecting you to give him a heartwarming speech about the company and boast his morale about working for such a small paper. What did you think I had you come here for?"

"To walk up stairs," Austin said honestly.

"Well it was partially that," Jerry said with a sigh. Austin was pretty sure Jerry hadn't walked up the stairs in about three years. His hips just didn't like that shit. "But it's been a while since we hired someone new. I thought a young face like you would keep him interested." Austin resisted the urge to say that Oliver's interest in his face was that of a slightly different kind. "Right now we just want him to do some editing work anyway. But some light stuff."

"Okay… so just grab some small articles and have him edit them and hand them back before the last run?" Austin asked with a shrug.

"Yes, that'll do," Jerry said waving Austin away. "But give him some speech okay? Talk good about us. There's not enough little newspapers thriving. Let him know it's worth working here, got it Austin?"

"Yes sir!" Austin said with a salute. Jerry laughed and partially coughed. Austin ran into the other offices, grabbing articles written by the other workers that had yet to be edited. He stacked the copies in his hands before going back up the steps. His departure from Oliver's office had not gone exactly how he wanted it to. He wondered briefly if the occupant of the office next to Oliver had heard their conversation. He really hoped she hadn't. A good journalist named Stephanie worked in there, he didn't want her overhearing them.  

Austin headed up the stairs, concentrating on getting rid of the blush on his face. He sighed deeply before opening Oliver's office door again. Oliver was in the exact position he had been in when Austin left. He looked up with a smile and a wave, showing off bright teeth.

"Hey! You got my work then? I'm eager to start," he said. He had the fake voice again, that polite and quiet one. Austin wanted to scoff at the awful sound. He didn't want to hear that. He knew what Oliver had in him. Austin liked the piece-of-shit attitude much better. Why was Oliver even talking like that? There was no point in pretending.

"Sure you are," Austin said dropping the paper on Oliver's desk. "I just need you to edit these okay? Grammar, word structure, you know what to do. Leave the appropriate marks in the margins. I need them by Friday. You hand them to me okay?"

"Okay boss," Oliver said smiling cutely. He looked up at Austin with innocent eyes, then averted them, looking at the articles on his desk. "This isn't a lot. I'm getting a light load for now huh? Well, I'm sure it will pile up more once I prove I can do it." Austin stared quizzically; Oliver was still putting up that façade. It was beginning to aggravate Austin.

"Well… I'm sure you can," Austin had no idea what to say now. Oliver was acting like the whole conversation three minutes ago hadn't happened. It was making Austin feel baffled and confused. He stood awkwardly in the room, glancing between Oliver and the door multiple times. Oliver grabbed the papers and started working with a pen that he must have had on his person. He did that for a minute or so before seeing Austin in his disordered state.

"What?" Oliver asked.

"I… nothing," Austin said before turning around quickly. He headed to the door as fast as he could, avoiding staring at Oliver any longer. "It's nothing at all."

"Were you expecting something?" Austin could feel the grin in the question. He stopped moving, his hand frozen on the doorknob as he looked back at Oliver, whose wide blue eyes were staring straight at Austin. "Did you want to talk about something?" Oliver asked.

"What is that?!" Austin yelled, infuriated. "What was that fake shit you just pulled? Do you always do that people?"

"Yeah most of the time," Oliver said with a shrug. "More people like innocent nice guys more than assholes. To be fair, I'm not that much of an asshole, but I know it puts some people off."

"So you just act like someone else then?" Austin asked in disbelief. "You act like you're not a total jerk underneath? Does that really work?"

"It worked at the park," Oliver said. "I mean, I do it for appearances. I can't get hired being me. I hate everyone." Oliver laughed. "But when you said you met me before, I realized you must have seen me when I was a substitute, I didn't act like a nice guy then. So there's no point in hiding it from you. I'd like to see you get everyone else to believe you though." Oliver snickered as Austin made a face of disgust.

"I could just fire you, you know," Austin said, walking closer to Oliver. He was trying not to notice how good he looked behind a desk. Oliver just seemed to belong there.

"Ah come on, where's the fun in that?" Oliver asked leaning over the desk, getting closer to Austin's face. Austin was dangerously close to those blue eyes and perfect smile. "I'm a good worker, you'll see. Besides, don't we have a date coming up?"

"I promise no such thing." Austin found their faces had gotten even closer, almost touching noses. "Especially to someone who's living a lie."

"Oh, that's cruel. Are you sure you're not the asshole here?" Oliver asked. "Listen, everyone pretends to be something they're not okay? Everyone says shit that's a lie, 'Oh I would love to see more pictures of your baby', 'Wow, your niece is having a recital that sounds exciting', I just have to pretend I care a little more than the rest."

"Maybe you could just start caring instead? That's not a bad trait you know," Austin suggested.

"That's the worst trait," Oliver said. "Anyway, how about we talk about this later, more specifically this Saturday with some drinks?"

"Not a date," Austin said, he pulled away. He was getting the strongest urge to just make out with him but there was no way he was doing that. Oliver was going to have to work to get some affection out of him besides a red face. "A work meeting. We'll talk about your progress."

"Okay, if you want to put it in boring terms like that," Oliver said as he leaned back on his plush chair. "But we'll both know what it's really about."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Austin commented. He crossed his arms again and tried to discreetly scan over Oliver. God, he was just way too handsome. It wasn't fair, people couldn't just be born like that.

"So how long are we going to keep this strictly professional?" Oliver asked.

"You really think I'm just going to fall for you like that?" Austin asked with a laugh. He gave Oliver credit for being full of himself so much that it was more funny than obnoxious. Oliver knew how he was acting, he knew his words were more lame than charming.

"I don't know," Oliver said. His tone had a change in it that Austin hadn't expected. He didn't know what it meant. "But it doesn't hurt to see, does it? Going on a date doesn't mean anything. It just means we're testing the waters and there's nothing wrong with that."

"I guess not," Austin replied. Suddenly a very serious feeling seemed to overtake the room. It made Austin feel strange and his chest feel heavy. "But you know, you can't be a jerk to me the whole time and expect me to like it. I like to be treated like a gentleman."

"Ah man, I'm not a complete jerk anyway; hopefully I can prove that this weekend. You've just got to take a chance on me." Oliver smiled.

"Well, at the very least I'm pretty sure we'll be friends," Austin said honestly.

"Friends with benefits?" Oliver said as Austin opened the door.

"Get me drunk enough!" Austin said with a laugh as he closed the door behind him.

It probably wasn't good that he was flirting so much with a coworker. Especially one that might possibly be absolutely full of himself. But Austin didn't care too much about that. Right then, he was too busy thinking about Oliver sitting behind the desk, feet propped up and smirk on his face.

Did it still count as roleplay if you had once actually been the other person's student?

Sam waited patiently for the Captain to receive him. Well, he was waiting anyway. As for the patient part, he was gearing for a fight, so he was less than calm. He sighed when he saw several suits walking down towards the office. There went today's appointment. He blew the blond strands out of his face. Better luck tomorrow.

He pushed himself with his hip off the wall, sighed and moved into the open work space.

"Detective Riff, sir, I have a case that I'd like you to take a look at." Sam quickened his steps. "Sir!" the voice repeated, indignant.

Sam sighed and slowed down. "Yes?" he offered with a dumb smile. People had let him know that it was useless in the past, that he had something in his brown eyes that screamed intelligence, but he still tried. Someone was bound not to notice at some point, right? Right.

"Sir," the young man stopped to breathe.

"Need a second? Two? I could leave, you know. You can find me again whenever," he smiled toothily. His smile, however, started to fade under the annoyed stare of the younger detective. Sam sighed and offered his usual expression: that of the harried government employee who had better things to do then talk with younger, eager versions of him.