Alicia

I was sure I threw off Colin by leaving so abruptly. All I knew was that I had to get out of that cafe. Something shifted in our relationship and I didn't know what to think of it.

One minute we're having a heated conversation and the next we're having coffee with Colin flirting with me? The worst part though? When he leaned forward, his voice becoming slightly husky, I felt a stirring inside me. And that stirring was an attraction. I was on the verge of leaning forward myself. I could already see it. My lashes lowering demurely while matching his tone with a flirtatious reply of my own.

It all happened so fast that the second the thought went through my head it was the shock of it that brought me back to my senses. I was so ashamed at my reaction that I ran out of there as fast as I could.

Now I was back at my apartment hiding in my room. I did not want Cameron interrogating me about what was up. It would only solidify her option that Colin had the hots for me.

I buried my face into my pillow when I thought about how I was supposed to go to work on Monday. If things weren't difficult enough already between Colin and I, now it would be downright awkward.

What confused me the most though, was how it was that I felt a spark with Colin, when, as far as I knew, he had no personal relationship with Jesus. Yet with Liam, there had been nothing whatsoever. It was maddening.

I flipped over onto my back and let my mind sort through my conflicting emotions. I realized my frustration was not necessarily about having feelings toward Colin. But the fact that he was off limits.

I always knew that my boyfriend and eventual husband would have to share my faith. The bible was very clear about the dangers of becoming unevenly yoked.

So how did Colin and I move forward from here? The best thing would probably be to pretend it never happened. It was only for a second after all. I greatly appreciated his words of wisdom. It's comforting to know I was not the only one who made mistakes.

I pulled out my cell phone and found Colin's contact info. I never thought I would use it but I was glad now we exchanged numbers..

Hey, thanks for the coffee earlier and your encouraging words. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who messes up in the world of business.

His reply was short and succinct.

Don't mention it.

I wondered if there was a double entendre to his words and deduced he probably wanted to forget the episode just as much as I did.

My phone pinged with another text, this one from Olivia.

Hey, the young adults are getting together for pizza tomorrow night. You in?

I responded in the affirmative. What better way to distract myself than going out with friends? I made a mental note to invite Cameron. Maybe she would be more receptive when I offered to buy.

Olivia sent the time and place and I noticed it was not too far from CyberSecure. I wondered if Colin would allow me to work on a Saturday. I might be more productive too, knowing he wasn't sitting just a few offices away from mine. I shot him another text.

Is the office open on Saturday? I wouldn't mind going in to do a little catch up.

I'm not in on Saturday but I am on Sunday. You can come in then.

Well obviously that didn't work for me.

I have church on Sunday but thanks anyway :)

Saturday night I was ready to meet up with everyone. Cameron once again declined my invitation but I figured one of these times she's got to say yes. If even just to get me to stop asking.

Stepping out of my cab, I relished the feeling of wearing jeans and a tank top. It was a nice change from my work attire. Though while also taking a break from the stilettos, I couldn't help strapping on some high heeled wedges.

Entering into the restaurant, dozens of red and white checkered tables are crammed into the space. My eyes roamed over the room, wondering if anyone was able to snag a table.

I finally spotted Jessica sitting beside Liam at a table set for five.

"Glad you guys were able to get a table. This place is packed."

Liam halted mid-conversation with Jessica and shifted towards me. "Hey, Alicia!" he said brightly.

Jessica's face fell when she looked at me but then gave a small smile in greeting.

I'm taken aback by her reception of me. I knew Jessica and I had never been close but I thought we had turned a corner after our last conversation in her car. Maybe I had misread her.

I took a seat across from Jessica but only because it would only be worse if I sat near Liam. I did not want to add anymore fuel to that fire. "Have you ordered yet?"

"No, we're going to wait till Devon and Olivia arrive," Jessica said, taking a sip of her lemon water. "How was your week?"

"Steady," I said, going for a neutral answer. "I discovered a new coffee joint around the corner from my client's. You should try it. Expensive but way better than Starbucks."

Liam snorted. "You girls and your overpriced coffee. Give me Timmies any day."

"Well thankfully this one was bought for me."

Jessica suddenly piped up in interest. "Oh? Did someone take you out on a coffee date Alicia?"

I felt a flush creep up my neck. Liam eyed me warily, waiting for my response.

"No date," I said, hoping I sound nonchalant. "I was having a tough day yesterday so my client, Colin, offered to buy me a drink."

"Isn't that a little creepy?" Liam asked with distaste. "I mean how old is the guy? Fifty?"

"Oh no," I corrected, "Colin is the same age as me."

Both of Liam's eyebrows shot up. "And he runs the whole company?"

"Colin is very gifted when it comes to creating cyber technology. In fact, it's his own patent that is almost completely impervious to hackers. It's one of the reasons why his company grew so fast."

Liam crossed his arms over his chest. "You speak pretty highly of him."

I shut my mouth tight, realizing I said too much. Jessica's eyes darted back and forth between Liam and I, the tension palpable. "I admire his capabilities from a business perspective." Which was true, if only partly.

"Is he a Christian?" Liam asked.

I knew what Liam was trying to get at, I could hear the challenge in his voice. "No," I replied, refusing to rise to the bait.

"I would be careful Alicia," Liam warned. "You're fraternizing with a lot of non-believers. Even to the point of living with one."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean you're surrounding yourself with the world. You need to watch that you don't conform to it as well."

My hackles rose at what Liam was insinuating. To suggest that I would even consider sacrificing my faith for the world was the worst kind of insult. "It's because of my faith that I know nothing can happen between Colin and I."

"But you would, wouldn't you? If it weren't for your faith?"

I clenched my teeth together, before I spoke out of turn. My silence was the only affirmation Liam needed.

"I can't believe it," he muttered. "I've been asking you out for coffee for months. You've never said yes, but some random guy asks and you're all head over heels for him."

The reason for Liam's anger became all too clear. It wasn't about me living in the world but rather that someone from the world caught my eye. Especially when Liam failed to.

The revelation took some of the anger out of my sails, but it didn't excuse Liam's harsh words towards me. As I tried to think of what to say to rectify the situation and salvage what was left of the evening, Oliva and Devon arrived.

"Hey," Olivia said, "Sorry we're late." Her face faltered when she noticed the dark expressions. "Is everything okay?"

Liam roughly pushed back from the table. "Sorry guys, I lost my appetite."

I cringed as he stomped angrily out of the restaurant. Oliva and Devon looked between me and Jessica, waiting for someone to explain. I didn't have it in me to rehash the words said tonight, so I also rose from my chair.

"Thanks for the invite Olivia, but I have to go. I'll let Jessica do all the explaining." I left the restaurant with a weary spirit and an even heavier heart.

+++

Colin

All weekend I worked myself into a frenzy trying to erase the shame I felt in how I acted towards Alicia. How did I go from wanting her to feel the powerlessness I felt back in high school, to showing interest in her. Talk about bi-polar disorder.

Her text helped somewhat to alleviate the sting of embarrassment. What intrigued me more however, was when she mentioned church on Sunday. I had badly wanted to text back asking her to elaborate. What church did she attend? How long had she been going? I knew there was something different about Alicia, compared to the one ten years ago. Still headstrong and obstinate but softer. Kind of like when it would just be me and her working on that final project.

I cut off the line of thought. That was the whole problem with Alicia. She acted like a good person when it was only her. It was when other people were around that her spots would change. But something had me questioning that maybe Alicia had changed. And I wondered if church had something to do with it.

Going round and round trying to figure it all out made my head hurt. What did any of it matter anyway? Three months at most and Alicia would be gone. I just had to control myself until then and not have any repeats of what happened back at the cafe. Suddenly three months felt like a very long time.

Monday morning arrived and as I headed into work I was intent on avoiding Alicia as much as possible. Hopefully she didn't schedule any more meetings.

I stuck to my office like glue and only came out unless absolutely necessary. I sorely wanted to shut the blinds but apparently I enjoyed torturing myself and left them open so I could catch small glimpses of Alicia when she left the confines of her office.

On Wednesday I got a reprieve when I was called back to headquarters due to a situation. The weight that is lifted feels immense like I could breathe fully again.

Yet, while I spent time in my other office, it felt colder, more lonely. I found myself missing the small eyefuls I would get of Alicia strolling around the floor. Whenever she would smile or laugh at something someone said, it was like a burst of sunshine in my day.

I still didn't know if I could trust Alicia, or if her motives were entirely pure, but one thing I did know was that once again, I had been pulled into Alicia's orbit and unable to break myself free from the irresistible hold.

I returned to the satellite office on Thursday. I gave a curt nod to Mrs. Lee in greeting as I walked past. I gave myself a little pat on the back that I didn't ask if I had any appointments with Alicia today.

Settling myself behind my desk, I organized the various notes and papers while booting up my computer to see what I missed while away. A reminder popped up on my calendar about an event tomorrow night. When I clicked on it to enlarge I groaned out loud when I saw the Toronto Tech Fest logo. The gala had completely slipped my mind. Thankfully I had already booked my "date" for the night but I still wasn't looking forward to it.

I went back to work trying to catch up after a missed day. It was a painful reminder that I was not going to be able to keep up trying to be in two places at once much longer. Sooner or later I was going to have to hand over the reins so I could get back to being full-time at HQ.

The clock read almost nine o'clock, which was the usual time that Alicia came into work. Glancing over my monitor to watch for her arrival, I frowned when I noticed the blinds had been pulled down. I never close the blinds. I would know because I've been battling with myself for weeks that I should be closing them. Was it Mrs. Lee? She was the only one allowed access to my office to water the plants and such. I pushed the intercom button on my phone to connect to her desk. "Mrs. Lee?"

"Yes, Mr. Evans," her voice crackled back.

"Did you close the blinds in my office while I was gone?"

"No, Mr. Evans. I found them that way first thing yesterday morning. I thought you had put them down because you would be gone for the day."

I could feel the crease forming on my forehead as I contemplated the issue. Had someone come into my office first thing Wednesday morning to close my blinds? And for what purpose? The thought was unsettling. Grabbing my cell phone I made a call to my security team.

"Rowan? We have a situation." Rowan was my head of security. If we had a breach he would know what to do. "It might be nothing, but I have a suspicion that someone was in my office uninvited while I was away yesterday."

"Is anything missing?"

I scanned the room. If it hadn't been for the blinds I never would have suspected that someone else had been in here. Everything was clean and orderly, even my desk appears untouched. Except...I saw a corner from a piece of paper sticking out from under one of the legs. When I picked it up, one of my origami creations came into view. A white swan. I remembered making it on Tuesday with a certain someone in mind. It was possible I knocked it to the floor when I left for the day but given the present circumstances, I doubted it.

"Not as far as I can tell but my desk may have been disturbed."

"I'll send someone over to do a sweep. In the meantime check through every nook and cranny to see if anything was stolen."

This was why I loved Rowan. He was straight to the point with no nonsense. After we hung up I went through each drawer in my desk but nothing was missing. I never thought to lock my office because what was there to steal? We were a cyber company, anything of value was all virtual. Our top security measures were put into firewalls and malware. Other than maybe some high-end computers, I couldn't see a reason why someone would break in physically.

Something wasn't adding up and I needed to know why. I page Mrs. Lee to come into my office. "Mrs. Lee," I began when she was standing in front of me, "Did anyone ask you yesterday for entrance into my office?"

"No sir," she replied, shaking her head, "And I saw no one go in, not that I would let them of course, but then again I'm not at my desk at all times during the day mind you."

I stared at her without blinking trying to process everything she just said. I don't think I ever heard Mrs. Lee string so many words together into one sentence. "Thank you Mrs. Lee, you've been most helpful."

After she left, I went to stare out of the window. My arms crossed, I tapped a pen incessantly on my arm while I tried to sort out this puzzle. It was possible I was making a big deal over nothing. It could have been the office cleaners for all I know.

I needed to let it drop for now. Security would be over soon to check everything out and I'll make sure they added some extra measures so this didn't happen again. I wasn't going to allow a repeat of last time when I was robbed by my own employee. If there was a thief among the ranks, they're not going to get very far.

Instead of diving back into work, I procrastinated and headed to the kitchenette to make myself a coffee. I watched the Keurig fill the hot liquid into my mug though my gaze was unseeing, my mind running through a million scenarios of who would go into my office.

"Oh sorry, I didn't realize someone was already using the coffee machine."

I snapped out of my thoughts and turned to see Alicia standing in the doorway, an empty mug in her hands. It took me a second to realize that I was the one using the coffee machine and my mug had probably finished filling a while ago.

"Apologies." I quickly grabbed my coffee and moved to the side to add my cream. As Alicia selects her flavor of coffee, I noticed that it is pink pumps today.

Pushing the button to start the machine, Alicia quirked a smile at me. "Today is definitely a two-cup type of morning."

I gave a light laugh, thankful for the safe conversation topic. We hadn't spoken in person since that awkward moment in the cafe. It was obvious things were still weird between us. I wasn't sure how to get back to...unweird. "Have a lot of catching up from the weekend?" There, that wasn't so hard. Nice and casual.

As her mug began to fill, Alicia gave a half-shrug. "Not really. I guess I just mean the normal morning blues."

Her voice sounded indifferent but her body language told a different story. Hunched shoulders with a slight crease in her brow tells me that maybe it was more than just a case of morning blues.

Before I could ask, the Keurig machine suddenly stopped, leaving Alicia's mug only three quarters of the way full. The crease in her forehead deepened.

"I was definitely hoping for the full cup experience."

I pointed to the back of the coffee machine. "You probably just ran out of water."

"Oh, well that can easily be fixed." Lifting out the water reservoir, Alicia carried it over to the water cooler and started filling it.

This should be the part where I mention something about getting back to work. But I couldn't seem to make myself leave just yet. I was enjoying talking with Alicia, even if it was only surface level.

With the water refilled, Alicia pushed the button again to resume filling her mug. "I was wondering," Alicia paused, biting her lower lip. The action did strange things to my insides. "If you've ever- oh, shoot!"

Alicia leapt back from the counter as coffee spilled over her mug and onto the floor. Leaning over the puddle, she smashed buttons at random. "I can't get it to stop!"

Spying the power outlet, I jumped forward and pulled the plug by its cord. With the power cut the machine instantly stopped pouring.

Black water covered the kitchenette, dripping over the side and onto the floor with soft plinks. At first neither of us said anything, we just stared at the carnage in front of us. When Alicia's eyes found mine, they were dancing in merriment. She pressed her lips together as if trying to stop a snort from escaping. I felt my own lips begin to twitch and I wondered who was going to break first.

Alicia did, sputtering at first and then giving in to full-on laughter. Unable to hold back any longer, I joined her. I bent over clutching my sides, they hurt so much.

As we regained control of our senses, Alicia was wiping tears from her eyes. "I guess I got more than I bargained for."

I chuckled. "This Keurig machine means business."

"Oh, I will never complain about a not full cup of coffee again."

Reaching into a cupboard, I found a roll of paper towel. Handing some to Alicia, we cleaned up the spill. Who would have thought mopping up coffee could be so enjoyable?

"Thank you," Alicia said, throwing the last of the sopping paper towel into the garbage.

"Don't mention it, I was happy to help."

"I wasn't talking about the clean up." Alicia cocked her head to the side. "I meant for the laughter. I haven't laughed that hard for a long time."

For some reason I found that hard to believe. Alicia was always the life of the party. Just another thing that showed that I didn't really know Alicia at all. "Always happy to be at service." I gave a mock salute, earning me a few more giggles.

Grabbing her coffee, Alicia toasted it in my direction and then departed.

I felt lighter than air watching her go. The worry of a possible serious security breach was almost non-existent. It was then I realized, the thought of Alicia as a suspect hadn't even crossed my mind.

+++

I slammed my cell phone down on my desk in frustration. It's Friday night and I'm almost ready to head over to the Tech Gala. I even brought my tux to work so I wouldn't have to head home to change.

Except the service that provided my date said she canceled and they didn't have anyone else available. Now I get to be a miserable loner all night while trying to pretend I'm not. I had half a mind to just not go altogether.

A wolf whistle brought my attention to the front of my office where I found Alicia watching me. "Don't we clean up nicely." She wiggled her eyebrows.

My neck warmed at the comment. "Business event," I mumbled. I focus on trying to fix my bowtie to stop my face from turning too red at Alicia's teasing.

She sauntered over and slapping my hands away began to fix my bowtie. "You don't sound too pleased about it."

It took all of my willpower to keep my chin lifted and my eyes situated on a spot on the wall. I barely registered her words as her proximity was muddling my senses. "My, uh, social skills are little to be desired."

"I'm sure it can't be that hard."

"It is when you're standing all alone feeling like a loser."

Alicia took a step back once she was done fixing my tie and I almost grabbed her by the waist to keep her close. She might make me an incoherent fool but her presence was too intoxicating for me to care.

Tilting her head up at me, Alicia gave me a once over. "You don't have a date to go with you?"

I snorted and walked away to my desk. "Guys like me don't easily get dates Alicia." I hate to sound self-deprecating but it was the truth.

As I gathered up my things to leave, I heard so softly, "I can go with you."

I turned sharply towards her, thinking I must have misheard her. "What?"

Alicia looked down abashedly. "I could go with you, you know, as a thank you for making me laugh earlier."

"That hardly seems like a fair trade."

"Then as a favor for a friend."

What if I didn't want to go as just friends? Of course, that idea would be preposterous. It's not only the fact that I don't get dates, but especially not a date with someone like her. Still, if I accepted, not only would I not have to attend the event alone, but I got to spend it with Alicia.

"Okay, if you're sure. I would really appreciate the company."

Her eyes widened for a second like she was surprised by my answer. It's soon replaced by a toothy grin. "Great! I'll run home right right now and get ready. Pick me up in half an hour."

Without another word she dashed out of my office, leaving me bewildered at what just happened. Did I just land a date with Alicia Hannigan?