Hita (12 page)

The night of the Christmas party David picks me up. I greet him at the door with a spin, showing off my new outfit. He gets a surprised look on his face.

“Hita, you look so sophisticated. Are you really my date?”

“I better be your date. It would really suck if you decided to stand me up now.”

David looks good too; he’s actually wearing slacks and a button down shirt. It’s the first time I’ve seen him in anything other than a T-shirt and jeans.

We drive over to the Tech, a large building in downtown San Jose. Walking in we’re greeted by an attendant dressed as Adi Gallia, who is quick to take our coats. We then head down the hall to the Star Wars exhibition. At the door to the exhibit a Sabe dressed attendant asks if we want to sign up to ride the Millennium Falcon. Of course we both jump at it with a firm, “yes.”

Once in the exhibit area we take a look around. David quickly spots Colin in the personal hovercraft. We smile and wave at him as he pretends to shoot us while we pretend to slowly die. After Colin gets out of the hovercraft, he introduces us to this year’s blond girlfriend. She wasn’t with him a few weeks ago at underground gaming.

They join us at the exhibit where we get to build a robot by selecting design elements like sensors, wheels, or treads. There’s also a remote control booth where you can use hand controls to finally maneuver small things around inside a glass container. We all take turns, laughing, since none of us are good at it.

Colin’s girlfriend is nice. She seems to be all into him and she’s smarter than last year’s girlfriend. Though, then again, the games this year are all based on hand eye coordination and not math.

When it’s David’s turn, he shakes his head and says, “I’d be much better if it had a WII joy stick.”

After playing with the Maglev cars for awhile, we check out the Chewbacca, R2D2, and 3CP0 that were actually used in the movies as we dine on hors d'oeuvres served to us by Mace Windu, Count Dooku, and Qui-Gon Jinn.

Colin runs into Sherri and her husband, who works in his group. He and his date take off with them. I spot Mark at the open bar set up across the way. He’s talking to a very sophisticated looking couple I don’t recognize. The guy must be in sales. The woman’s getting a lot of side looks. She looks hot, with straight, long, dark hair and a tight deep pink dress. Creepy Tom is there with his mousy looking wife. He keeps checking out the brunette. The big sales guy she’s with is giving Tom the hairy eyeball. Tom better back off.

As I get close, I realize the woman in pink is Juliette. Her dress shows no skin, but it accentuates all her curves and she’s straightened her hair. The guy she’s with isn’t a sales guy, it must be Nate. After listening to her obsess on which guy she’s going to go out with, I’m glad she’s finally made a decision.

Grabbing David by the hand, I pull him over to Juliette. Immediately I ask, “Did you see Mace Windu, Count Dooku, and Qui-Gon Jinn?”

Juliette gets a big smile on her face as she playfully needles me. “You do realize that they’re servers dressed up as Star Wars characters?”

“Juliette don’t be a spoil sport,” I say in feigned annoyance. Since I can’t help but needle her back I say, “Nice dress, did you need to use oil to glide that on?”

She glares back at me then gives Nate a sidewise glance. Artfully changing the subject, she turns to David and smiles. “You must be David. Hita’s a college friend of mine. She actually got me this job.”

She then points to Nate. “This is Nate.”

Firmly shaking David’s hand, he says, “Nate, Juliette’s boyfriend.”

I flash Juliette a look. I bet Caroline’s jaw would be dropping with jealousy if she heard him say that. Nate’s certainly not a guy with commitment problems, he’s already labeling them. Juliette has a big smile on her face. It’s obvious that Nate is making sure the guys at work know she’s taken.

The bartenders are dressed as Lando Calrissian and Captain Panaka. David leans over and says, “You want me to get Lando to make a drink for you?”

I pretend to swoon. “Yes, I love it when the swashbuckling hero makes me a drink. Can you see if they’re serving margaritas?”

Juliette lifts her glass to show me she got one.

3CPO enters the cocktail area announcing, “The IMAX Hidden Universe show will begin in fifteen minutes.”

“Do you want to see it?” Nate asks Juliette.

“I’d rather eat dinner first. It’s supposed to be a special catered buffet,” she replies.

David gives me a questioning look to see what I want to do. I tip my head and question back at him, “Let’s eat with them. We can see the IMAX after?”

He nods as we join the group heading into the food pavilion.

The dining room looks like a Star Wars set. I think they spent more this year on the party than last. The food is set up Brazilian BBQ style with waiters dressed as warriors. They circle the room with large skewers of meat; slicing them onto your plate if you turn the card they give you to green.

David starts laughing, he gives me an elbow. “Hita, your favorite dinner—skewers of meat.”

Chiding him back, “Hey, maybe I should have brought your co-worker, the vegan. We both could sit around making annoying comments.”

David leans into me and says, “One day with that guy, and you’ll be eating meat just to piss him off.”

I nod my head as I walk up to the buffet table to see what vegetarian dishes they have.

Savi is starting to come back down to earth actually telling me, “Arav’s a bit of a slob, he always leaves his wet towel on the bathroom floor and in the kitchen, he never wipes off the counter or cleans out the sink.”

“If that’s your biggest complaint, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. David’s really a slob. His apartment is gross. Those guys have been living there for three years. I don’t think they’ve ever cleaned the bathroom. The EPA is going to come in one of these days and declare it a superfund site.”

***

After an unusually contentious team meeting, Juliette and I decide to take a walk around the building to get away from all the testosterone.

As we head outside she confides in me. “I’m a little concerned about my relationship with Nate.”

This is a surprise, they looked so happy at the party. “Why, what’s he done?”

“He’s kind of alpha,” she says.

I ponder that comment finally asking, “What do you mean?”

“He spent a lot of time at our party making sure everyone knew we were together.”

“And there’s a problem with that?”

She looks conflicted, but responds, “No, that’s not it. It’s, I hope he doesn’t turn controlling. You know, you read all about these alpha guys who don’t have boundaries.”

“So you’re afraid of something that’s going to happen based on what, romance novels you’ve read?”

She flashes me an annoyed look, then says, “It’s more than that. When we were at the holiday party, he was sure that all the guys at this company are after me.”

“Juliette, did you see yourself in a mirror? That dress was tight. I never realized what a hot figure you had until I saw you in that dress.”

She looks at me in horror. “Was it worse than the football game?”

“No, your boobs were hanging out at the football game. This was much classier. But I think even the gay guys were checking you out.”

I can tell by the look on her face she’s horrified. We work with guys. You need to be careful about dressing too sexy. You don’t want the wrong kind of attention.

“Back to Nate, actually, it’s not the arm around me and making sure the other guys know he’s my boyfriend. It’s that he had this macho showdown thing with Flint.”

“Flint?”

“Yeah, it was really embarrassing. Nate got all aggressive with Flint. Like as in this is my girlfriend, don’t hit on her.”

“Has Flint been hitting on you?” I say in shock.

“No, that’s what was so strange, and what got me worried. Flint came over to thank me, he heard Mark and Roger had a good session with my dad.”

“What?”

“Let’s stay focused on one topic,” she says. “Flint was being nice, Nate got all caveman, the only thing that saved the day was Terri. She came over and pulled Flint away.”

“Terri?”

“You know, Terri, the blond who runs the engineering calendar for Sid?”

Something sounds strange, but I can’t put my finger on it. Going back to our original conversation I ask, “Besides the incident with Flint, what else has he done that makes you feel uncomfortable?”

“Nothing, actually he’s been great, I really like being with him. It’s that macho thing with Flint that has been playing in my mind. It’s got me worried.”

As we take our second lap around the building, I bump Juliette with my elbow. “You know you have a tendency to over think things. Nate seems like a nice guy. Give him a chance. I wouldn’t worry unless he starts stalking you or wants to pull you away from your friends.”

She gives me a devilish smile. Then confides, “He’s killing my workout schedule. I haven’t made a weekday swim since we got together.”

“You’re down to what, only one workout a day?”

“Hey, I’m nothing like the triathletes. Janine in marketing, she swims before work and runs at lunch. She told me she cycles to work taking the long way home so she can get in at least twenty-five miles a day.”

“Oh, good, you’re now comparing yourself with obsessive triathletes.”

***

Ping pong is getting real competitive. We’ve all been playing together for awhile. Our game is getting better, which is fun. We’ve turned into a tight group. Even the Chinese guys have gotten into trash talking. Periodically we have a new guy join us. Naturally, I’m the only woman. After playing a game with Colin, we’re both enjoying a drink before heading back to our desks when he says, “You know your friend, the one with the long curly hair?”

“Yeah, Juliette.”

“I was told that she wasn’t working up to par, that her dad was doing her work for her.”

Barking out a laugh, I tell him, “Well then this whole company is not up to par. She brought her dad in on a bug Mark and Jim couldn’t track down. Afterwards, Roger and Mark met with him. You know all the gray hairs we’ve been interviewing?”

He nods.

“After that incident, Flint’s now pushing for more engineers with twenty years or more of experience on each team.”

As I start to walk away, I stop and call after him, “Hey, Colin?”

“Yeah?”

“Who said that about Juliette?”

He knits his brow and shakes his head, finally saying, “I think Terri told me it was one of the guys in your group.”

***

After the first night of making love with David, he’s turned into my nightly companion. He’s cool with my schedule, showing up conveniently when I get home. He fits right in with Kristi and me, playing online games before bed, though, we leave a bit early so we have time for the “other game.” It’s so much fun being in a new relationship.

Juliette, Meredith, and Jennifer invite David and me to join them in Tahoe for New Year’s. Eighteen years in Chicago has made me avoid cold and snow. As I tell my friends, been there, done that, now I know I don’t need to do it again, go enjoy cold and snow, I’m staying out of it. David and I both spend the long weekend together attending a holiday underground gaming event.

After coming back from break I walk down to ping pong with Juliette. Jonathan, one of the regulars, meets me at the table while Juliette waves as she takes off to fill up her water bottle. Jonathan watches her leave. When she’s gone he asks, “What’s up with her?”

I look at him confused. “What’s up? I don’t understand?”

“I heard she was difficult.”

I must give him a blank face. “Difficult? Juliette? Why would someone say that?”

He shakes his head. “I guess it doesn’t matter.”

This reminds me that Juliette said someone told Roger she was difficult to work with. Who would say that? After losing to Jonathan, I’m about to head back to my desk but then decide to ask him, “Juliette’s really easy to work with. Do you know who said she was difficult?”

He shakes his head. “I can’t remember who said it to me. She passed us in the hall and one of the guys said he heard she was a bit of a prima donna.”

“So no one thinks she’s a prima donna, there’s just a rumor she’s a prima donna.”

He looks perplexed, then says, “Hita, forget I said anything.”

Getting home a few nights later, I put my key in the lock and start opening the door, and a loud angry conversation confronts me. It’s Kristi and Tim. They’ve been together now for almost a year. It’s the first time I’ve heard any raised voices from either of them. I stand in the doorway paralyzed. Should I leave, should I scurry to my bedroom and give them privacy?

I don’t want to be in the middle of this conversation. I close the door and stand on our balcony looking over the parking lot as I contemplate where I should go. It’s late, it’s dark, I told David I’d text him when I got home. I finally head down the stairs to my car. I don’t want to stay at David’s. I can’t stand using that bathroom; I’d have nightmares that some kind of primeval creature is going to crawl out of the dirty bathtub or toilet. I’ve gone as far as recommending that they all pitch in and hire a cleaning lady, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to clean anything. Double damn, my laptop’s on our dining room table, and I never use my work computer for games.

Sitting down in my car I text David: Do you want to join me at Starbucks?

David: Come over to my place.

I sit in my car pondering what to do as I watch Tim stomp down the stairs with a scowl on his face. I figure I can sit here for another five minutes giving Kristi some time to cool down before I enter.

David: RU coming over?

Hita: Never mind…Tim and Kristi had a fight…Tim just left.

David: I’m coming over.

I head inside to find Kristi sitting on the couch angry and crying. “Hey, what’s up?” I say.

“I think Tim and I broke up,” she says in a flat voice between tears.

***

David and I meet Meredith and Sam at Bierhaus in Mountain View for a double date. David picks me up at my place. Finding a table, we look through the beer list deciding what we’ll try. When Meredith and Sam show up, I ,of course, give them a big hug and air kiss, then introduce David. Surprisingly, David is real quiet. He never says a word during dinner. Both Sam and Meredith try to engage him. I think this is strange until I realize it’s the first time I’ve been with him where gaming isn’t the central theme. Our holiday party, dinner with Kristi and Tim, we’ve always talked about either games or science fiction; two subjects I’ve never heard Sam or Meredith talk about. Before tonight I thought David was outgoing and chatty. It’s strange seeing him out of his element.