Ugly Davey - 6. Chapter 06 – The New Guy

Chapter 06 – The New Guy

“Damn!” I muttered under my breath as I once again clicked on a mine while playing Minesweeper.

I was sitting at my desk playing games on the computer to kill time. Though it felt like hours, it had only been forty-five minutes since Janet had shown me to my desk before disappearing and leaving me sitting there alone. The desk I was provided was located at the west side of the building and sat facing what Janet had called Tyler’s office. His office had window walls and the blinds were open for me to peek through and see the dark and empty office on the other side. Apart from the computer and phone, my empty desk only contained a notepad and pen with the company logo.

At first I had just sat there with my hands folded, waiting for Tyler’s call. But boredom had propelled me to take the plunge and start messing around on the computer. The other workers that had stared at me with so much interest had long since lost the appeal and had returned to work. In fact, after the initial shock of my appearance had worn off, no one had seemed interested in the goofy looking new guy. I had to admit that I kind of liked being ignored for a change.

I was just about to start another game of Minesweeper when the phone rang. I gave a little yelp in surprise and quickly looked around to see if anyone had noticed. No eyes were trained on me so I answered the phone.

“Hello! This is Fritz LLP, Tyler Fritz’ office. How may I help you?”

A smooth warm chuckle came from the other side.

“Seems like your fitting in already and it’s not even lunch time yet,” said the rich deep voice on the phone.

“Mr. Fritz?” I asked after a moment’s hesitation.

“Please call me Tyler, David. It’s hard enough to keep track with everyone calling my Dad that.”

“Tyler,” I nervously breathed out, mentally smacking myself for being such an idiot.

Tyler chuckled once again, “That’s right, you’ve got it.”

God! Can I sound like anymore of a tool?

“I called to check in with you and apologize for not informing you of my trip,” Tyler continued. “Everything was so sudden that it completely slipped my mind to phone you. I wanted to be there to make sure you didn’t have any trouble settling in.”

“Everything’s OK Tyler,” I tried to appease him since he sounded so sincere, “Janet showed me the ropes.”

“Janet’s an excellent worker, if you every need any help feel free to go to her. She’s good people,” Tyler responded. “But if anyone in the office gives you trouble, don’t take it personally OK?”

For a split second I panicked that Tyler had found out about Rick’s stupid bet before I realized that the undertone in Tyler’s voice had seemed to be referring to someone specific.

“You won’t be referring to a certain receptionist who happens to have the “hots” for a certain lawyer, by any chance would you?” I asked with a sly smile.

Tyler laughed before replying, “I guess your old boss was right in his recommendation. You are really bright.”

I let out a little laugh. “I’m glad you noticed.”

Tyler chuckled once again, the sound sending warmth rushing through me.

“Don’t take anything Rachel says or does personally, you hear? And since I won’t be back until next week, you can take things easy. Just go through the files Abigail left on the computer and familiarize yourself with the contacts and cases I’m currently working on. Abigail also left a schedule, so if anyone calls to book appointments just book them for available times starting from next Monday. You got that?” Tyler asked as I took notes on the provided notepad.

“Yup,” I replied already falling into an easy camaraderie with him, “stay away from the yapping vulture, sneak through the company files, and book you for your spa treatments starting next Monday. That was it right?”

Tyler let out a bellowing laugh. “I have a feeling that it’s going to be great working with you, David. I have to run now, but you have a great day and I’ll see you next week.”

After hanging up, I spent a few moments thinking on how I already liked Tyler even though I hadn’t met him yet. It was then that I suddenly remembered my conversation with Robert at the park yesterday and how he had tried to set me up with his son.

Oh God! I inwardly groaned. Does Tyler have a brother or am I actually working for someone who could have been my blind date?

I spent another minute dreading what would happen if Robert ever found out that I was Dave before I gave up and got started on doing my job.

***

I had been busy going through Tyler’s schedule, familiarizing myself with the contacts and answering phone calls (along with playing a few more games of Minesweeper) for a couple of hours before Janet appeared next to my desk.

“Hey David, how’s your first day going?” she asked leaning on the side of my desk.

I looked up at her from my computer and gave her a smile. “It’s going,” I replied.

“That boring, huh?” she said laughing, “don’t worry, things will get really busy once Tyler’s back. So you better enjoy the boredom while you can. But come on, it’s lunchtime and I’m here to take you out.”

“My, my, you sure do work fast,” I joked while pushing the ugly ass glasses up my nose, “are you always so forward when asking men out on dates?”

Janet blushed a slight pink before stuttering, “N-no, that’s not what I meant.”

I laughed before telling her that I was joking.

“You have a prankster spirit in your body, don’t you?” she chuckled as she led me towards the elevators. “Your innocent appearance is just a disguise”.

She had no clue how close she had come to hitting the truth.

As we got into the elevator, I asked Janet the question that had been nagging me for the last couple of hours.

“Hey Janet, does Tyler have a brother?”

“Nope, he’s an only child.”

I guess that solved that question.

***

Janet had led me to the 10th floor of the building that contained the food court that was shared by all of the building’s occupants. There were countless options for food from many different cultures. Janet and I went our separate ways to get our food then met back at a table near the window with a spectacular view of the street below. I was just about to take a bite out of my sandwich when I noticed the people sitting at the other end of the table staring at me.

So much for the bliss of being ignored, I thought darkly.

Janet noticed the stares and shot a glare at the one man and two women whispering to each other while looking at me.

“Did your mothers’ never teach you that it’s rude to stare,” Janet said to them.

They all stopped whispering and lowered their eyes, clearly ashamed to have been caught.

“Sorry Janet,” said the women with the light brown hair cut in a short bob. She seemed very young and was pixie like in appearance.

“We were just curious about the new guy,” added the young reddish blond haired guy whose tall height and skinny build gave him a lanky appearance.

“Yes we were curious, but that doesn't give us the right to be rude,” said the matronly middle-aged woman with shoulder length curly red hair. She looked at me before continuing. “I apologize on our behalf for our thoughtless behavior.”

I gave her a smile, something about her manner reminded me of my mother and I instantly liked her. “Apology accepted,” I told her.

She smiled and held out her hand,. “My name is Dolores, I work as a paralegal at the firm.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m David,” I replied shaking her hand.

Dolores’ initiative started the rest of the introductions. I learned that the young woman’s name was Megan and she was a student at the University of British Columbia and was working part time at the firm as a paralegal under Dolores’ guidance as part of an intern program at her university. The man’s name was Jared and he was part of the IT staff of our firm.

After the introductions, we shared more information about ourselves and made more small talk. Megan was glad to hear that I had also gone to the University of British Columbia, and we started talking about our experiences.

It was out of the blue when Jared popped up a question.

“So dude, have you ever heard of Proactiv?” Jared asked me eyeing my pimply face.

Megan elbowed him in the ribs before whispering, “Jared! That’s rude!”

I heard her response and quickly searched for something to say. “Umm…I’m allergic to most acne products,” I said, hoping they would believe the lie.

“Please excuse Jared my dear,” said Dolores. “Spending all day at work in front of the computer has fried his brain.”

Jared shot Dolores and evil look, but before he could respond Janet looked up and let out a sigh of disgust.

“Guess who just walked into the cafeteria,” she said looking towards the cafeteria entrance.

I turned my face to the side and saw a man entering, closely followed my Rachel at his heels.

I unconsciously sucked in a deep breath when I saw the man. He was probably around 6’2 with a linebacker build and in his thirties. He was wearing a crisp black suit, white shirt, and red tie. His jet-black hair was expertly styled. Though his face was more striking than handsome with its thick brows, firm cleft-chin and thin mouth, his eyes were captivating in their icy-blue beauty.

Oh shit! I thought as I realized my body was reacting in ways that were completely inappropriate at work. I scooted my chair closer to the table in an attempt to hide my growing hardness underneath the table.

I knew that the others at the table had once again started talking but I couldn’t seem to help my eyes from following the striking figure as he moved across the cafeteria. I was still trying to get a grip over my embarrassing reaction.

Damn it! I usually have way better control than this!

It was then I realized that the last time I had had any type of sexual contact with another person had been at least a month before my father’s stroke. I hadn’t had the time to go out and get laid while dealing with all the worries about getting a new job and then my dad’s health. And having to watch over Josh this past weekend had meant that I hadn’t gotten a chance to visit one of the gay bars I usually frequented.

I finally peeled my eyes off the man and realized that my fellow co-workers were still having a heated conversation.

“God Rachel is such a bitch! Did you know that she shredded at least three of the resumes of the people applying for Tyler’s PA position before they hired David?” Janet was saying. “And when Abigail confronted her, she said that she had assumed the position had been filled and thought she was just getting rid of the trash.”

"She was just trying to get rid of the competition so she could land the job," said Megan.

“Oh dear! Why didn’t anyone call her in on it?” asked Dolores.

Jared snorted. “Yeah right! Like that would work. We all know that she won’t lose her job as long as she’s got Smith backing her,” he said nodding his head towards the black haired man I was so enthralled with.

“Who is that?” I asked them.

“Dean Smith,” said Megan. “He’s the third partner in the firm at this location.”

“His father used to be the third partner here,” continued Dolores. “But after his death a few years ago, Dean managed to snag the position. Mr. Fritz probably felt like he owed it to him since he was very good friends with Dean’s father.”

“He hates Tyler,” Megan piped in.

That surprised me. “What? Why?”

“Because Tyler managed to become a partner in the firm before him. Not only did Tyler work hard for the position from the bottom up, but he was also younger than Dean,” said Janet.

“Yeah and that sure had to gall Dean,” Jared snorted. “Beat by a man six years younger than him.”

“For the longest time he went around claiming that Tyler only got the position because he was the Big Boss’ son,” said Janet.

Jared snorted again. “Ironic isn’t it? Tyler actually worked for his position, while Dean ended up being the one who got it because of his own father, even though it took his father’s death for it to happen.”

“Yup! And that was just another reason in the ever-growing pile for him to hate Tyler. That’s the only reason he supports Rachel. He knows how much her behavior aggravates Tyler. I guess he finds some kind of sick amusement in it,” said Janet.

I looked up at Dean where he was sitting, chatting with some other men while Rachel sat nearby hanging off of his every word. I tried to see the so-called evil man that the others were talking about. All I saw was an exceptionally striking man that I knew I was very much attracted to. My body had once again started to react to his appearance when Dean looked up and our eyes caught. The disgusted hate-filled look in his cold blue eyes did more to quickly dampen my libido then a cold shower ever could.

Call it a hunch but I was pretty sure that this guy was not going to be my friend.

To be continued…