Breene, K F - Growing Pains 01 (5 page)

Also, it would help if she had some
money to spare.

Back out, a glass of red wine
waiting for her, she sat with a relaxing sigh and reached for it.

“What are you, Princess
Sighs-A-Lot?” Jasmine asked, eyeing her from across the table.

“I think I’ve picked it up from my
boss…“

“That jerk guy?” Kate asked.

“Yeah. He sighs a million times a
day. Every time he opens his email, or looks at work, or looks at a cup of
coffee for crying out loud—sigh. Always with the sighs. It rubs off.”

“Better than the double chin,”
Jasmine said, taking a sip.

“True. How is work with you girls?”
Krista asked, feeling so much better about her day now that she was home, with
friends, and relaxing with a glass of vino. A girl had to look forward to the
little things.

“Eh,” Kate said dismissively. “It’s
work. I wouldn’t mind a change, but no one’s hiring.”

“Yeah.” Jasmine nodded. “It’s
better than school in that I have a little money. It’s worse in that it takes
up all my free time. So, I’m par for the course.”

“Oh—Kris,” Kate said, sitting
upright. “I totally forgot to tell you. I can’t go to your Christmas party
after all. My f**king mother wants me home for Christmas since I missed
Thanksgiving.”

“Shoot!” Krista sighed yet again.

“That’s going to get old,” Jasmine
reflected.

“It’s already old and I’m the one
doing it. That sucks, Kate. Jaz, can you come?”

“Nope. I’ll be washing my hair.”

“Cute. Ben?”

“I really admire you, Krista, but I
really don’t like those things. Sorry!”

“Ugh! You guys are all a bunch of
hoboes! Well, it’s settled then, no way am I going.”

“Why?” Kate asked the same time as
Jasmine said, “Don’t blame ya.”

“I’m not going to turn up to a
party where no one will talk to me. How ridiculous would I feel?”

“What about that friend of yours.
What’s his name…Johnny or something?” Kate asked.

“Tommy. He’s bringing his
girlfriend. He’ll be talking to her all night and she won’t let me join the
group because I’m a single chick.”

“Probably jealous of your cans,
too,” Jasmine said.

“Dang it. I wanted to see Sean
dressed up.”

“He’s going?” Jasmine perked up.
She’d started seeing someone, so she wasn’t as horny, but she also was starting
to get irritated by him already. It wouldn’t last much longer. Constantly
dreaming of something better, she always wanted to hear the latest in the Sean
files.

“Yeah, I guess he always goes. Has
to schmooze. Find a girl to take home then dump. You know the story.”

“Wow, Bitter Betty, did he shit in
your coffee this morning or something?” Kate asked with a smirk.

Kate, unlike Jasmine, wasn’t all
that thrilled Krista still talked to a man wanting nothing more than a roll in
the hay. Kate and Jasmine were always two sides about everything. They were the
devil and angel on Krista’s shoulders, except they usually took turns wearing
the different hats of good and evil.

“I walked in on him feeling up some
chick from Accounting.”

Kate’s look turned serious. “You
didn’t fall for him did you? Because you know you can’t do that, Kris. You
know—“

“No, I didn’t fall for him,” Krista
said defensively, shifting in her seat. “I’m not quite that stupid. I just…he’s
just…it’s just nice talking to him. I couldn’t find anything that made me
believe all the rumors. Until today.”

“Besides always trying to f**k
you?” Kate got slightly more dirty-mouthed when she was riled up, which was
saying something, because she was plenty filthy in the normal course of her
day.

“Who is this?” Ben asked quietly.

Krista rolled her eyes. “A guy I
work with. He’s always after—“

“Her pu**y,” Kate interjected.

“Kate, you know I hate that word!”
Krista said with spite.

“That’s why I used it. I can see
you losing sight of yourself with him. As I sit here, I can see it as you talk
about him. He’s no good. Do I have to remind you that Jim was exactly the same
way in the beginning? Attractive and clever and dashing?”

“No—“

“Because he was Krista. Jim could
charm a woman out of her house if he wanted to. He was sweet and chatty and was
completely focused on you and only you. Remember?”

“Yes,” Krista said sullenly,
sinking into herself.

“And what happened when you finally
gave in? When you decided that this time, this time, he was actually what he
seemed?”

“But, in my defense, he had been
into me.”

“He started abusing you, Krista!
That’s what happened then! Cheating on you, hitting you, messing with your
head—”

“What?” Ben sat forward, alarmed.

“Yes, Ben,” Kate said, not taking
her eyes off Krista shrinking in her chair. “Krista, against her own better
judgment, gave in to her ex-boyfriend Jim because he was so delightful. So
handsome—“

“You thought he was, too,” Jasmine
threw in. “You’re being harsh.”

“Yes, Jaz, I did. We all did. I’m
not blaming Krista for Jim. We were all fooled with him. No one saw that
coming. We were all young and inexperienced.

“But I’m not fooled with Sean. I’m
not a Bambi-eyed jackass anymore. I’ve seen through the rabbit hole with guys
like him, and yes, very few are Jim’s caliber of f**ked up, but still, I know
what waits for Krista with a guy like Sean. She is only getting her life back
together. She is only now, after nearly a year, starting to poke her head out
of her turtle shell and realizing how strong of a woman she is. She is only now
starting to joke again, for f**k’s sake!
I-will-not-let-another-womanizing-fuck-head-asshole-mess-that-up-for-her!”

“Well, despite my moment of
insanity, Kate,” Krista said, wiping a tear from her eye. “Sean is a floozy, I
got proof today, and I am back on course.”

“So there,” Jasmine said with a
nod.

“I knew a man was your ocean,” Ben
said pensively.

“What?” Kate and Jasmine asked
together, thinking, quite rightly, that Ben was half cracked.

“Shall we?” Krista stood and turned
toward the painting.

“Yes.” Ben got up, too. “I did
guess on a few things, but it looks like I guessed right. I embellished a
little, but it appears I really didn’t, so all-in-all, I think I just about hit
the mark. I’d like to meet the Ocean, of course. I could do a couple touch-ups
to really bring it three-dimensional.”

“No.”

“I’d like to meet the Ocean
myself,” Jasmine said with a wicked grin. “I don’t mind using him for a night.
I never have to see him again.”

“Take one down, pass it around…”
Kate sang.

“Yes, okay,” Ben said, trying to
tune out the feminine brigade behind him.

In the living room, amid the
painting and all the plastic sheets, the crew of four gathered around the
painting, currently covered with a faded black sheet.

“You need new sheets, Ben. Not that
I’m commenting,” Jasmine observed dryly.

“Ah…okay. So, what I need from all
of you are your thoughts. More aptly speaking, your emotions when it comes to
looking at the piece. If there are any, of course. Okay.”

Ben carefully removed the sheet off
of a fury of color.

“Oh!” Kate said, staring wide-eyed.

Krista had thought there would be
primarily reds and blues, and technically it probably was, but to the eye, it
was so much more. While it was every bit the abstract painting Ben had set out
for, she saw the shapes he’d envisioned. There were the swirls of yellow and
orange—hope. There was the anger and uncertainty and whatever else he’d said
was red. The waves and currents and undertow in blues. In the middle, where the
most yellow and orange could be found zinging through the canvas, was a clash
of the blue and red, turning the colors violet, indigo, magenta and pink.

It. Was. Sensational!

Jasmine had her head cocked,
analyzing. She was the most artsy of the three of them. If there was anything
constructive to say, she was the one it would come from.

“So,” Ben said, watching faces.
“Thoughts?”

“What’s the title?” Jasmine asked
as she crossed her arms, a speculative look on her face.

“Lost and Found,” Ben replied,
looking at the painting.

“It’s…cool.” Kate ventured.

“I like what you’ve done with the
colors. The conflict. To me it portrays a battle. A war.”

“I see that,” Kate nodded. “Kinda.
But also…you know…like anger. Right? Or…fear? Hope?”

“You’re just throwing out words,
now.” Krista grinned and rolled her eyes.

“Fuck off, I see that! Kinda… Feel
it, maybe? Art is confusing.”

“There is so much movement,”
Jasmine continued, moving her hands in the air over the colors. “It’s all over
the place. My eye wants to go everywhere at once, but it always comes back to
the struggle in the middle. Why Lost and Found?”

Ben was still looking at the
canvas. “A soul. One lost soul, searching. Wandering in this corporeal world
through a timeless scope. A—“

“Stop right there…” Jasmine held up
her hand, “too heavy for a weekend painter. Well, it rocks, so good work.”

“The subject is Krista. I should
mention that,” Ben said, turning to watch reactions.

“Krista?” Kate said, leaning closer
to the painting.

“He had a dream that he thinks was
about my life,” Krista explained.

“Not about your life, but about
your current struggle,” Ben clarified.

“Whatever.”

“Lost and Found, huh? Hmm. I can see
that,” Jasmine reflected.

“What, that I’m lost, or that I’m
found?” Krista put her hands on her hips. This was all tomfoolery in her
opinion. All she saw was a really cool blast of color.

“Your brain is lost, that’s for
sure,” Kate said, tilting her head as she kept looking at the painting. “I
really like it; I can’t stop looking at it, but I don’t think I see the deeper
meaning here. And I certainly don’t see anything to do with Krista. But…I
agree, it rocks. Good work, Ben.”

“That’s it?” Ben asked.

“What do you want from us?” Kate
replied. “We’re stat brats. We’re not brush jockeys.”

“I guess I thought you were more
opinionated.”

“About certain things, surely,”
Kate said, leading the brigade back to the living room. “HEY!”

Everyone jumped then froze, each in
a different squat about ready to sit.

“Speed dating!” Kate boomed.

“No,” Krista said immediately.

“Sure.” Jasmine shrugged.

Ben stayed silent, probably
thinking he wasn’t included in Kate’s new big scheme, or maybe not as able to
keep up with her quick 180’s.

“YES! Speed dating. We’re all
single—or will be soon. We all need a man or woman. Speed dating.”

“Oh! Jasmine,” Ben said with a
smile. “I wasn’t aware you were a lesbian. You know, I have a good friend
that—“

Ben was cut off by Kate cackling.
When the laughter died down, Jasmine said, “I like men, Ben. Kate will be
dragging you along with us.”

“Oh, no,” Ben said, sitting back
with a polite shake of his head. “Thank you, Kate. But no. That isn’t really my
scene.”

“Ben, come off it,” Jasmine exclaimed.
“It isn’t any of our scenes. It’s another one of Kate’s great ideas—“

“It is a great idea!” Kate threw
in.

“--and she’ll keep bugging us until
we give in. Don’t try to fight it.”

Ben looked at Krista, close to
panic.

“Sorry, Ben.” Krista shook her head.
“Jasmine’s right. We’ll all have to go.”

“You guys, this is a great idea!”

Kate was drowned out by collective
groans.

The dating game totally sucked!
Krista hated it.

The other thing she hated was one
night stands. But in an attempt to sink or swim, she’d had a bunch of tequila
Saturday night and brought a friend of Jasmine’s home. She was rewarded with
sloppy kisses, one brief panic attack, and a bad lay. She wasn’t even remotely
satisfied.

It was necessary, though. It was
the first sexual encounter since Jim, and another step away from his hold over
her. She’d confronted some of her fears, and she had to be honest, doing it
drunk and with a man you would never see again if you didn’t want to—which she
didn’t, since she was mortified—was a bonus. But that was the weekend. Now,
Monday morning, she felt a little trashy and a lot insecure. This return to
powerful, blasé Krista would take some getting used to.

Krista dropped her stuff under her
cube desk, grabbed her mug and trudged into the break room, not caring if she
saw Sean or Satan. Preferably didn’t want to see God, though—probably couldn’t
face that guy just yet. As she passed through the door, she ran straight into
someone and bounced off.

Instincts said to brace herself
with her hands outstretched. Memory said do no such thing. To heroically
protect her mug, she let her face take the fall, slamming her cheek into wall.
Before she could rebound and head toward the floor, probably continuing her
heroic rampage and breaking her face this time, she was grabbed from behind.

“Jesus, Krista, are you all right?”
Sean held her for a brief second, cradling her body within his, before gently
easing her to the wall so she could settle in a soft landing.

All she could think to say, as her
brain started to buzz with the delicious proximity, was “Please don’t say the
Lord’s name in vain around me right now. He might throw a thunderbolt.”

A confused smile blossomed on
Sean’s face. “Did you not see the wall coming?”

“You’d feel pretty stupid right now
if I was a clumsy girl and often used my face as a doorstop.”

“I might, yes. But it’d still be
funny.”

“Probably.”

“You’re not a clumsy girl, then?”
Sean was leaning close, suffocating her pleasantly with that special elixir of
his. His body was so warm, and large. He was wearing a dress shirt today, which
was snug around his chest and biceps. He was filled out in all the right
places.

If she didn’t put some distance
between them, she was liable to do something crazy, like grab his crotch.
“Please step away, you are using all my air.”

Sean chuckled, putting a hand to
the wall by her face and easing himself backward. “Seriously, though, all
joking aside, are you okay? Your cheek bone is turning red.”

“Does it still look like the other
one?”

Sean’s eyes went back and forth
across her face, comparing. Only twice did they dip to her lips, probably
checking for a fat lip. “It is red with scuff marks, so no. But it is still
shaped like the other one, so not broken.”

“Well, then, when people ask how I
got bruised, I’ll say you hit me.” A shock of terror stopped her heart. A
memory flash of a large fist toward her face blotted out her vision.

It wasn’t funny yet. It probably
wouldn’t ever be funny again.

She lost her humor and changed
gears quickly. “Anyway, I need coffee. I had a weekend.”

~*~*~*~

Sean watched as Krista’s face shut
down. Sarcastic comicality dissolved into fear, then resignation. It had been
something she said…

As he replayed the scene, it dawned
on him. Cold fingers clutched his gut.

“I’d never hit a woman, Krista,” he
said quietly.

Her step hitched and her body bowed
a little. She glanced at him, mouse-like.

“It’s not all about you, McAdams.
Get a grip,” she said in a wispy voice playing at being strong. She took a deep
breath, trying to claw her way back from whatever dark place that comment had
taken her. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out. She’d been hit. By a man.
A father, maybe. Or an ex-boyfriend.

Without warning, something deep and
forgotten raised its ugly head. Anger boiled, rising to the surface. Seeing her
hurting, afraid…he could barely breathe for wanting to ease that pain. He
wanted to meet that guy, whoever it was, and put some manners into him. Make
him pay for what he’d done to her; make sure that guy didn’t ever to it to
another woman again.

“Does no one in this company know
how to make coffee?” she was saying, reaching for an open bag.

Sean pulled himself together, took
his own deep breath. Stilled his overwhelming emotions and tucked them back
inside.

“So, you had a weekend?” he asked,
willing humor to cover the uncomfortable place he found himself.

“Eh! I went speed dating, of all
things.” Krista put her head in her hand. “Kate’s idea.”

“And Kate is…your friend?”

Krista turned and gave him a flat
stare, her eyes on fire. “Bloody good show, Captain Obvious, you’ve solved the
riddle.”

The dark cloud over their moods
dissolved instantly. Sean barked out laughter, unused to seeing this side of
the nerdy research girl. He wondered if anyone in the company had. He bet not.
He would’ve heard about it. They liked to gossip about her as much as him.

“And how’d it go?”

“Well, I met fifty wankers…” She
ripped the bag open. “No, that’s not true. I met about forty-five wankers, and
five decent fellows. One I quite liked. The others were door stops.”

She scooped the coffee into the
machine and hit the “Start” button. She took her full cup and crossed to the
creamer station. Sean took up her position, but instead of using the last
dredges in the pot, something he usually would have done to move his morning
along, he poured it down the sink and waited for the next batch in order to
hang around longer.

“So you met five keepers, then.
That’s not bad,” Sean said as he lounged against the wall.

Creamer in hand, Krista lounged as
well. “Not keepers, no. Five guys that weren’t awful. One keeper. Just one. And
he--”

“Oh, Sean!”

Sean and Krista both looked toward
the entrance of the break room where the worst possible gossip was hurrying
forward.

“Good morning, Cindy,” Sean
muttered, hating the interruption.

She smiled at him and batted her
eyelashes, late on noticing Krista. When she did, she looked at the other
woman, then back to him, suggestion taking over her features. “Oh, am I
interrupting something?”

“Well that depends. Are you
planning to steal all the creamer?” Krista asked with a voice that sounded like
honey poured over razor blades.

Cindy made a sound like, “Wwu..?”

Krista continued to stare at her
like she’d asked a logical question.

“Oh, well…Uh, no, of course not!”

“Then no, you won’t be interrupting
my morning ritual of making coffee. Anyway, Sean, like I was saying—or are you
bored?”

“Fire away.”

“Right.” Krista got a sugar packet
and shook it within an inch of its life. “Like I was saying, I liked one of the
five, right? And guess which one of the five didn’t call?”

Sean raised his eyebrows.

“Exactly. The one I liked. He was
hot and laid back and cool. He didn’t call. Of course he didn’t. But the
others—oh they called lots. I had to return a call on each one to get them to
stop freaking calling me! So then I tried to say I didn’t want to go out with
them, right? And they asked why I gave them the envelope. It was a good point,
so now I have freaking four dates in the next two weeks with guys I don’t want
to talk to. Did I mention I hate first dates?”

Krista stared accusingly at Sean.

“Well, dear, how will you ever meet
someone? You’re single, I take it?”

Krista looked at Cindy with that
flat stare again, daring her to interrupt their conversation one more time.
After Cindy was fidgeting nervously, Krista turned back to Sean.

“So now I have to go on these
dates, sit at some restaurant awkwardly, listen to them as they nonstop talk
about their lives, and pretend to be having a good time because I’m too nice to
say how uncomfortable I am! Urg!”

“Then why did you go in the first
place?” Sean asked, inwardly smiling at Cindy’s discomfort.

“You try saying no to Kate! But I
did meet Paul. He was at the bar directly after to shoot the shi—ah, to chat.
He didn’t do the speed dating thing, but his friends did, so that’s how we all
kinda met. Kate and Jasmine wanted to hook up with the friends…“

“Together?” Cindy exclaimed.

“Cindy, my dear, you watch too
much  p**n ,” Krista said as she stirred her coffee. “Anyway, he’s okay.
Paul, I mean. Really sweet. I should’ve just hung out with him that evening,
but we had to rush off to meet Jasmine’s friends—” She grimaced, sighed and
shook her head all at the same time. “Ah life, it sucks, yes? Well, anyway,
I’ll catch you all later.”

Without further ado, Krista trudged
out with her coffee in hand and her cheek bright red.

“What’s got into her?” Cindy asked
indignantly.

“She had a bad weekend,” Sean
explained, still feeling as light as a balloon. If he didn’t already want her,
he would now. He loved sassy women.

When Sean got back to his desk, he
had an email from Krista.

Hi Sean,

What can I say, I’m an a-hole.
Sorry about the tirade. Always be wary when I’ve had a bad weekend full of
tequila and bad lays. I can be a cranky S.O.B.

J
P.S. I don’t plan to
apologize to Cindy. I hope you did damage control. You’re good at that sort of
thing.

Bad lays? So she wasn’t so saintly
after all.

The next email was from John.
Reading it with a hard-on just felt wrong.

~*~*~*~

Krista was working on her first
real project, which would turn into her first real, honest-to-God presentation.
She’d been at it for a half hour and already come up against a brick wall.

Her boss had emailed her the
subject, which was a type of sports drink, and noted that if she had any
questions, she should “go ahead and ask sales directly.” In other words, don’t
bother him; it’s none of his business.

Not afraid of forging ahead without
a support system, or dead weight, depending on how one looked at it, the first
thing she’d done was research sports drinks in the company’s giant database.
That yielded a ton of information, way too much for any one presentation. The
topic had to be narrowed down somewhat. And while she had read the email 800
times, there was nothing in it to help.

So here she was, halfway into a bad
day, also halfway into her first real assignment, and already with questions.
It was probably a departmental record.

She sent an email to the general
Sales account, having no one specific listed in her email, asking for some
specific information. It would take a second for the email to be routed, so she
headed to the other side of the floor to get a soda. By the time she got back,
she had a message in her inbox. She nearly peed herself.

It was from Sean.

He must not have realized he wasn’t
supposed to respond to her last email, and was now trying to glean some more of
her private info while the vault was open. When her eyes skimmed lower, her
heart froze. Even worse still.

Dear Krista,

I received your email from the main
Sales email account. In future, please contact me directly with any questions
about this presentation.

Attached you will find specific
parameters and demographics I would like to encompass within this presentation.
If you have any problems with the guidelines, please notify me immediately. I
am excited to be working with you on this campaign.

Best regards,

Sean McAdams

Before she could open the
attachment, she got another email.

Dear Krista,

On hindsight, I am not sure how
thorough James was about protocol for getting a presentation approved. He will
need to sign off on any final content. He will then forward it to Sales for our
viewing pleasure, but will not give us time to work with the Researcher on
format.

As a special favor to me, I
wondered if you might send me a copy of your presentation when you send it to
him? I can then have more time to look it over. I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks a million!

-Sean

She couldn’t help but notice how
formal the first email was, and how loose the second was. It was like he sent
the first email without looking at who the researcher was, then realized it was
her and tried to use his influence to call out a favor. If he didn’t use her
name in the first email, she would have paid it no more mind. As it was, it
seemed like there was a tiny bit of manipulation going on.

On the other hand, Sean could help,
whereas Mr. Montgomery wouldn’t. Being that Sean was the best salesman in the
company, his critical eye was as good as getting a private lesson directly from
the teacher. She just had to make sure he was always out in public, and
therefore responsible for his actions. She really didn’t want her first real
presentation marred by a sexual harassment suit. Or a kick to the groin.

~*~*~*~

Four full work days of complete
focus later, Krista sat back and looked at her finished report. She’d done two
edits and two final checks, and now it was ready to be sent.

The presentation wasn’t for another
two weeks, so she didn’t have to work so diligently, but she had little else to
do and a lot she didn’t want to think about—like the latest date and his love
of birds--so she worked on it almost exclusively. She wasn’t hammering it out
like normal, either. She took her time, learned the software, did some
Photoshop, and tinkered with the visuals. She wanted it to pass her personal
inspection before it went out to the powers that be. And she had exacting
standards.