Roommates

Like everyone in the working world, everybody hated Mondays. It was the start of a new work week that had to be overcome. It was when everything was due and new assignments were passed out. People who played too hard over the weekend had the hardest time adjusting back to their work life, often needing one or two cups of coffee to stay awake.

Nami took it all in without a hitch.

She got up early like she always did and did her daily jog through the park. She loved passing by the clothing boutiques to look at newest clothes. Sometimes she bought a magazine from the corner newsstand to read on the latest trends. When she got home, she showered and changed for work. If she had the time, she made coffee and toasted some bread before heading off.

Today was a little different than usual.

The refrigerator door had not one but two Post-it notes. One was a reminder that it was her turn to take out the trash. The other was same old message to clean up after herself. Only this time, Sanji had written the entire message in capital letters.

Nami rolled her eyes, annoyed with him. Sanji was so fussy when it came to his kitchen and impossible to please. How clean did he expect the kitchen to be? Nami rarely left any dirty dishes in the sink and she hardly ever cooked. She ate out most of the time.

Running short of time, she ran through the kitchen, the living room and then her own room, collecting all the trash. She didn't need to worry about his room. He took care of his own trash when it was his turn. She carried the trash downstairs to the garbage room where she dumped it all in the waste bin. She never once bothered to separate them. She knew one day she would have to answer to God about that.

She rushed back to her room and grabbed her coat and purse. She checked herself in the mirror before running out. She made it just in time to catch her bus to work.

Nami worked on the 10th floor of a large office building. Her company, Arlong Park Inc, did some consulting and design work. The head of the company, Arlong, was a creepy tall man that she met a few times. When she applied for a position a few years ago, Arlong conducted the interview along with another man, called Hachi. He was so impressed by her sample work, he hired her on the spot. Nami couldn't really refuse when she saw her starting salary. It was high for someone with her little work experience.

Today, she had a big presentation for a potential client, Baroque Works Ltd. She had been working on it for a few weeks. If they liked it, Arlong Park would get hired. If they didn't, she would have to answer to Hachi, who in turn would have to answer to Arlong. No one wanted to have a private meeting with Arlong.

Nami was a little stressed. She went over her notes and rechecked her PowerPoint slides. Everything seemed good to her until she realize with a blood-draining shock that she couldn't find the designs for the layout of the building. She searched under her desk and then around her cubicle. No sign of it anywhere. She felt horrible. Where could it have gone?

Nezumi, that sneaky bastard, she thought. He had a face like a sleazy rat. She wouldn't put pass him to sabotage her. The guy never had a nice thing to say to her and always expected her to do everything. He was the type of guy to take it and hide it from her just to stress her out.

Then she remembered she took it home over the weekend to put the finishing touches. It sat in her room on her survey desk. She had completely forgotten it in her mad rush to take out the trash.

Crap. She checked her wristwatch and realized she had like 10 minutes before the meeting was schedule to start. It would take her at least 15 minutes to get home and then another 15 minutes to get back. She seriously doubted they would be patient enough to wait that long. She needed a plan fast.

Then it hit her. If she could get someone else to bring them to her, she could save a lot of time.

Nami dialed up Usopp on her cell phone. "Usopp, I need Sanji's phone number."

"Huh, Nami? What's going on? What do you want?"

"Give me Sanji's number."

"Why don't you have it already?"

"Don't ask silly questions. I'm in a hurry. I need his phone number."

"Okay, okay. Don't bite my head off." Usopp gave her the number and she jolted it down a piece of scratch paper. She immediately hung up and dialed the number. It rang seven times before he finally picked up.

"Hello Sanji. This is Nami. I know we don't know each other very well, but I would really appreciate it if you could go to my room and get a canister and drop it off my work as quickly as possible. You would be doing me a big favor."

"Hmmm?"

She repeated herself again. "Sanji, I would really appreciate if you could find something in my room and bring to my work. I have a very important meeting in a few minutes and I need it for my presentation."

A long moment of silence followed.

"Hello?"

"Who is this?" Sanji sounded groggy and disoriented.

She gritted her teeth, trying to control her frustration. "It's Nami. Your roommate. The lady who took out the trash today. Remember?"

There was another moment of silence. Then she realized the call was disconnected. Did he hang up? She dialed his number again.

It took five rings before he answered again. "Please, I'm begging you. Could you please help me this one time?" she pleaded. If she didn't get those designs, who knew what Arlong would say.

"Now?"

"Yes, please."

"Fine. What do you want?"

Relieved, she quickly explained her situation and gave him the address to the building. "Just give the canister to security at the front desk. His name is Wong. He'll bring it up to me." Just before she disconnected, she added, "Take your time, but hurry!"

To her dismay, the representative from Baroque Works Ltd was early. Their clients were never early, but he was five minutes early. Hachi ushered him into the conference room and told someone to get coffee. Nami scrambled to get her notes and laptop ready. The projector was already setup. She needed to stall for time. Go as slow as possible.

Nami went through projection, cost and timeline. Hachi stepped in whenever he could. Her slide show seemed so pitifully short with the time ticking away. She couldn't help but stare at the clock every minute and then the door. The potential client, Mr. Daz Bones, looked positively bored. A tall man with broad shoulders, his expression was flat and lifeless. The only movement he exerted was occasional writing he did in his journal. He didn't even touch the coffee that was given to him.

Every time Nami presented a key point, she stopped and asked if he had any questions. He always shook his head and told her to continue. Nami cried inwardly. All her other clients asked questions. They had plenty of questions, pointless questions, sometimes dragging the meeting out for another half an hour. It wasn't until 20 minutes into the meeting did he interrupt her.

"Ms. Swan." Bones carefully set his pen down in front of him and clasped his hands together. "I'm sure everything is in order in your portfolio. The number sounds very good, but I am interested in seeing the designs. My recommendations to my superior are largely based on your designs."

"Yes, the designs," Nami spoke slowly, her heart beating rapidly. She glanced nervously over to Hachi.

"Why don't we take a short recess and let Ms. Swan set them up," Hachi spoke.

"Very well."

Salvation! She ran to her desk and phoned for the security downstairs. "Wong, I'm expecting something. Did anyone leave me anything?"

"I'm afraid not. No one has given me anything."

Dejected, Nami hung up and let her head fall flat on the desk with a dull bang. Where was Sanji? Did he get lost? She tried calling him on his cell phone, but she was sent directly to voice mail. What was she going to do now? She had no designs. She would have to admit she wasn't ready. Maybe they could reschedule the presentation.

Someone cleared his throat.

Nami didn't bother to look up. It was probably that stupid Nezumi, giving her a hard time again. She wasn't in mood for his condescending banter. What a bad day.

There was a thud on her desk as something dropped in front of her. She peered up in disgust and then her eyes opened and closed rapidly. It was her canister.

Nami lifted her head and saw Sanji standing in her cubicle. He was dressed entirely in black, sporting a pair of sunglasses.

She was speechless. She sat up and popped open the canister and pulled out the layouts. They were all there. Thank goodness. Wasting no time, she headed straight to the meeting room and started setting up.

The rest of the meeting went smoothly. Mr. Bones still didn't crack a smile or do anything else encouraging, but he had questions for her, which showed he was at least interested. He left shaking hers and Hachi's hands. Hachi seemed hopeful, which was good enough for her.

When Nami returned to her desk, ready to put the whole crisis behind her and go to a long lunch, she was startled. Someone was sitting in her swivel chair. The back of the chair was facing her and she could see a mass of blond hair over top of the chair.

It was Sanji. Nami had forgotten about him after she ran back to her meeting. Surprisingly he was still here, waiting for her return. She groaned, realizing she ditched him without saying anything to him. "I'm sorry. Thank you for bringing my designs. It saved me a lot of embarrassment."

There was no sound from him. Did he fall asleep or something? She was tempted to spin the chair around to check when it turned on its own. Sanji had an unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth and he still wore his sunglasses.

"I don't wake up this early." His tone clearly annoyed.

"I'm sorry." Nami was struggling to find something to say. "Thank you for coming to my aid. How much did the taxi ride cost?"

He lowered his sunglasses and peered at her over the top of the lens. "Is that all I get?"

A little taken back, she was unsure how to respond. Men were generally agreeable in her experience and never this cranky. "Uh, how about lunch? Are you hungry?"

"I suppose." He tilted his head to the side and spun in her chair once more before jumping up. "Where are we eating?"

She grabbed her purse and led the way to the elevator with him following a few steps behind. "There's a cafeteria on the second floor. We can- Wait a second. How did you get in here in the first place? How did you get pass security?"

He shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "I just did. I couldn't find Wang so I came up."

"It's Wong," she corrected.

"Whatever."

The cafeteria was crowded as usual with people pouring in from all over the building. She took a tray and utensils from the dispenser and started looking through stalls at the food. Today was sushi day and there was a chef, who didn't even remotely appear Asian, preparing it. She noticed Sanji was not following her. Instead, he scrutinized the whole place. He took one look at the sushi chef and immediately turned away.

"You eat here?" It sounded more like a statement than a question.

Nami rolled her eyes. "Yes, I eat here." That was right. How could she forget. He was some kind of a gourmet chef. Of course something like a cafeteria was beneath him. Well, she didn't care what he thought of it. The food was cheap and fast. She just wanted to feed him and get him out of the building before security caught them.

"I don't want to eat here."

"What?"

"I don't want to eat here," he repeated firmly.

"Then where do you want to eat?" Her hand fell to her hip. She had almost picked out a salad from the bar.

"Let's go outside and see what's around here." He waltzed off, waving at her to follow. Nami had to quickly put the tray back and run to catch up to him.

Nami rarely ate outside the building. The few exceptions were when Hachi treated the group to sushi or pizza. It was easier to eat at the cafeteria when she didn't bring lunch to work, which was often.

Sanji walked fast, making her jog every so often just to keep up. They passed several eateries: Mexican, Thai, Chinese, and Indian. None of them caught his attention. Nami was wondering how far they were going to go for lunch.

Finally, he picked out a small fancy-looking French restaurant. They stepped inside. The waiter, dressed in a shirt and tie, seated them and left them with the menus. Nami took a glance at the menu. There was rabbit, venison, quail and swordfish, all meat she had never eaten before. When her eyes flickered over to the prices, she gasped. The cheapest dish was 20 dollars and it was only an appetizer.

Nami folded the menu and set it down on the table. "I'm not that hungry."

Sanji murmured something, but didn't acknowledge her. He continued to peruse the menu unconcerned about anything until the waiter arrived to take their order.

Nami was only going to ask for coffee, but Sanji stopped her, talking in French to waiter. The waiter jolted down everything he said, nodding his head and grinning.

"Wait, what did you order?"

"Don't worry. I ordered for you. You'll like it." He gave her a bland smile.

It was going to be an agonizing lunch. She had no idea what to expect, but she knew it would cost her plenty. Sanji, who was busy eyeing the male waiter, ignored her until first dish arrived. His sunglasses were finally off and Nami could see just how tired he looked.

"Don't be so uptight and eat."

"I'm not uptight." She scrutinized her plate. It looked like someone painted a stain than any kind of food she had ever seen.

"Then enjoy the food. You can afford to splurge a little."

"What is it?"

He paused and considered. "It's hard to explain. Just eat it."

That only worried her. Presently, Nami had only two options. She could either sit, shaking her leg and watch him gobble everything up or she could hold her nose and eat whatever the mystery surprise Sanji had ordered. She went with the second option when she remembered she was paying for the meal.

By the time it was all over, Nami realized she was wrong. Lunch wasn't agonizing like she predicted. It was different and delicious. Sanji was indeed an expert of food. He was patient enough to explain what some of the food was and how to best savor the taste of it. He even made a joke about the name of the establishment.

Nami had to admit he didn't behave like a total jerk and didn't waste all his time checking out the male patrons. But he didn't bother be subtle about it either when he did look at them.

Nami took a sip of her coffee, enjoying the wonderful aroma. It was really good coffee. The best she ever had.

Sanji pushed back his sleeve to stare at his watch. "I have to go to work. Thanks for lunch."

He took off just as the waiter bought her the check. That left her in a bad mood for the rest of the day.