William©

It was a warm, early August evening.  Andie had been invited to a happy hour with several of her ex-colleagues.  She had not seen them in almost 3 months, not since she had left the organization and lost 30 pounds.   Since she worked in technology the vast majority of her former colleagues were men.  The makeup of this happy hour would not be much different.  She speculated that there might be 2 other women there, maybe 3. 

She ran a brush through her hair and checked her sparse makeup in the rearview mirror.   She climbed out of her car and smoothed her blouse.  It was Friday so she was wearing jeans and wedge sandals.  Since no one from this group had seen her for 3 months, none of them knew about her transformation.   She hadn’t been fat, but clearly carried extra weight.   She was now down to 125 which was fine for her 5’ 7” frame.  Maybe even a little too thin, but she wasn’t complaining.     

She walked through the bar to the back patio where everyone was gathered.   She was a little nervous to see one man in particular so she stopped before the door to the patio and gathered herself before pushing through.

John noticed first.  “Holy crap Andie, what the hell happened to you?” catching himself he added, “I mean, damn you look good”

She smiled.   “Thanks John, nice to see you too.   So glad things haven’t changed.”  She smiled sarcastically.   Will turned around and the look he gave made her heart soar just a little.  

‘Mission accomplished’ she thought.

Dan, ever the gentleman, pulled a chair over to their table for her to sit.  She was now sitting between Dan and John with Will on the other side of John.   He had to lean on the table to look at her around John who was purposely blocking his view.   Andie smiled.   The waitress came by and asked her what she would like to drink. 

“Do you have Chocolate Rouge, their milk chocolate?”

“What the hell did you just order?”  John asked.  He fancied himself a wine connoisseur.

“It’s chocolate infused red wine.   It’s delicious.” 

When the wine arrived Will reached past John and grabbed the glass.  Very carefully he took a sip.  A slow  smile crept across his face.   “Bring her another and then bring one for me” he told the waitress. 

John who knew how easily Andie could get tipsy, looked at Will and said, “Trying to get her drunk?” with the emphasis on ‘trying’.

Will just smiled.   Will was the boss of everyone at the table.  He was the CEO of the IT organization that they all worked for.  It wasn’t a huge organization, but it had around 2500 employees nationwide.  Andie had left after the last acquisition.  There just wasn’t anywhere for her to go in the company.   She had been offered a very good position with a bleeding edge IT organization.  Andie felt it was a better fit.   She was back managing an Application Development department.   This company was much smaller, under 500 people.  That also suited her better. 

Several people asked Andie what the company was like and how she liked her new position, some because they cared and others because they were jealous.   When she was tired of answering questions she carefully moved the conversation to what they were doing and how the new acquisition had panned out. 

Will quietly took it all in.  Andie had finished both glasses of wine and was just sitting there taking in the beautiful evening.  People were starting to leave for their respective homes.  Now only Dan, John, George, Lizzie, Jen, Will and Andie were left.   Andie got up and grabbed her purse. 

“You’re not leaving yet, are you?  The party is just getting started.” Will said.

“No, I’m just going to powder my nose”, Andie smiled as she walked away.

When she got back John had moved next to Dan and the only empty chair was next to Will.  There was a fresh glass of wine in front of that chair. 

‘Really?  Really!’ she thought.   He never changed, always had to be in control, even of her.  There was nothing romantic between them.  They had always been friends.  But Will always wanted to be in control, even when he knew that she knew his secrets, who he was, how easily she could read him.  They once had a management meeting where he was trying in earnest to get the other managers to agree to something he wanted.  She realized that he really wasn’t looking for their opinion, just their agreement, so she had said ‘you really don’t care what we think, you just want us to agree with you’.  He said ‘pretty much’.  She then had said,’I just wanted to know where we were at’.  After that they became good friends.  She would go nose to nose if she did not agree with him.  He had seen her nearly bite a consultants head off when the consultant was trying to pitch something that was so ludicrous it infuriated her.  One thing she did not like was ignorance, chosen ignorance.  That and people trying pretend that they had a clue when it was obvious that they did not.

Lizzie was one of those people.  She was the type that attached herself to someone new that she might be able to convince to help her move up the ladder.  Usually it involved sleeping with them.  She tried to be discrete, but she was incapable of discretion even when she tried.  She and George were the real reason that Andie left.  She could only take so much.  Lizzie reported directly to George.  Professionally it was just wrong.  It was wrong on so many levels.   George was married.  Andie had reported to George.  George was intimidated by Andie and her relationship with Will.  Andie and Will’s relationship was totally above board.  She did not work directly for him when she was at the company.  They rarely went out for lunch.  She did buy him birthday and Christmas gifts, but that was because she loved to give gifts.  She put a lot of thought and planning into buying gifts.  It was never about the money, only about the pleasure that it brought.  She would listen carefully.  Patiently wait for the birthday or Christmas.  Will loved her gifts. 

She sat down in the empty chair next to Will.   Will put his arm around her.   Andie gave him a sideways glance.  A cross between, what are you doing and a sarcastic are you serious?   Lizzie looked puzzled. 

“Lizzie you look a little puzzled.  Didn’t you know about Andie and me?  Oh, I suppose we were better at keeping it a secret, unlike you and George.”

George blushed; Lizzie looked down at her glass on the table.  Will was being unusually cruel.

“Lizzie, Will is only teasing you, there is nothing between us, never has been, never will.”  Andie stated.

“I wouldn’t say never, Andie” Will smirked.

Andie so wanted to wipe that smirk off his face.  Turning to Will she said, “You couldn’t handle me”.  

“Is that a challenge, Andie?”  asked Will.

Will had pushed his chair back from the table so Andie took full advantage.  Standing up she turned, stood between his legs, bent slightly and looked directly into his eyes.    Will was caught a little off guard.  This was not the Andie he knew, or so he thought. Placing her hands on either side of his face she kissed him full on the mouth, very seductively.  When she was done, she stood up and turned, but before she could sit in her chair Will grabbed her and pulled her to his lap.   This startled her.  She landed a little hard.  Once she was able to regain composure she could feel the reaction that she caused Will by that kiss.   The thought made her smile.

“Will you two get a room?” John said mockingly.