Chapter 2
I rested my hand flat against Alan's front door. The white painted wood grain was smooth and cool against my palm. I was planning on knocking at some point, but such a simple action was becoming increasingly difficult as I took into account that Alan would come to the door and I would have to explain my reasons for being there.
I had just come from the launch of my Kizuki program for Microsoft that evening. The event was covered by CNN including a live interview beforehand. The experience was both intimidating and exhilarating with no time given to take in all that was happening.
I was confident in my program's success to be sure but the only recognition I thought I was going to get was my name on the product box. I didn't think that I would be ushered from interview to interview like I was Kevin Flynn or something. But people seemed to be genuinely interested in my story. Although I gave ENCOM some heat in the telling of it I left many details out… especially the ones which involved ENCOM Executive Consultant Alan Bradley. I don't think he would appreciate me naming him as my accomplice.
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would become a primary software architect for Microsoft. Not to mention heading their new independent programmer's branch. I guess they thought I was their perfect poster girl. Even though I wasn't originally freelance, nothing says independent programmer like sticking it to ENCOM's Head Architect John Dillinger. Also I had the feeling Microsoft couldn't resist rubbing salt in the wound of their rival. Mr. Gates seemed to have somewhat of a competitive streak.
After the launch was over there were a number of places I could have been heading to that night; parties and socials where I could have rubbed elbows with Bill and all the other hot shots of Microsoft. Those choices would have made perfect sense… yet there I was, standing on Alan Bradley's doorstep uninvited and freezing in my little black Yves Saint Laurent dress and nude Max Mara heels.
I know that I should have been at the after party; the artistic director of MIP had practically begged me to go with him as his date. But I had to be honest with myself; I didn't want to celebrate with a bunch of people I didn't know. I wanted to be with Alan.
Ever since that night at the arcade I couldn't get him off of my mind. I had never been kissed like that before, nor had I ever had a friend who cared for me that much to help me as he did. Even though my life was headed in a completely different direction I couldn't allow myself to forget how Alan made me feel. Every time we were together I couldn't help but light up. I didn't want to forget about him and move on, not now, not for a hundred dates with artistic directors.
Yes, Microsoft was my job now and Alan worked for the enemy, but it wasn't my home. I didn't live in wacky 9-5 hour shifts with those people, or share lunches with them, or celebrate birthdays with them. ENCOM was where I got my start and my values as a programmer. Alan and I had a history together and I wasn't going to throw it away so I could sit on the artistic board of Microsoft. I wanted Alan in my life, not just in my past, but in my present and future. We might have something special together and I wanted to find out what it could be.
Pulling my hand back from Alan's front door, I sucked up my nerves and knocked. My heart leapt into my throat the moment that I did but I wasn't going to allow myself to run away. The entire taxi ride over I stared out the window at the orange, yellow, and green lights of the city speeding by, debating whether or not I should have the driver turn around and take me home.
I was worried that things had changed between Alan and me since our kiss in front of Flynn's. I began to wonder if I jeopardized our friendship because of it. It felt right to kiss him even after so many years of being strictly friends but now our relationship was now in between friendship and a romantic attachment. We never got the chance to sort out where we currently stood in our relationship and it had been months since I last saw him at Flynn's. I felt that it might be strange to just pick up where we left off and completely wrong to ignore that it happened.
A moment after I knocked on the door, the hall light in the house came on and I immediately began to straighten myself out; tugging at my hemline to get the wrinkles out of my dress.
"Just a second!" I heard Alan's voice call from inside the house.
My heart was now fluttering in my chest. Hearing the deadbolt click I quickly brushed my skirt into place, ran my fingers though my hair, and sucked in a deep breath. It took all I had in me to keep still and stop fidgeting and try to relax. A second later the door opened and I was face to face with Alan Bradley once more. The moment I saw him, my anxiety began to fade a bit.
"Alan!" I greeted.
"Rachel…" Alan was speechless, yet he was still smiling through his confusion. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at your launch?"
"No" I said, brushing my hair back. "It's over now. Did you catch it on TV?"
"Of course," he chuckled, putting a hand in his pants pocket. "I wouldn't have missed it for anything. Still, aren't there usually parties after these kinds of things?"
"Yeah..." I nodded, not quite knowing what to say next. My hands nervously reached to pull at my dress again but I stopped myself. "It really wasn't anything that great though, I didn't feel like staying." … and I really wanted to see you. There was no way I could say it; hopefully that bit could go unspoken.
"Well I'm glad you came by. I haven't seen you in a long time." He said, taking me in.
A grin pulled at the corner of my lips. It seemed to me like he was inviting me in for a friendly hug but I couldn't quite tell.
"Yeah" I nodded, awkwardly stepping in. We hugged each other lightly, our bodies making as little contact as possible. It was very strange. "It's been forever. I'm not used to it."
"Yeah…" Alan said as we pulled away.
A violent shiver ran down my spine then and I quickly wrapped my arms around myself in reflex.
"Wow, it's really cold out here." I blurted out just for the sake of saying something.
"Oh sorry," he said, embarrassed for not thinking about it before. It was a really frigged night. "Come inside, I just put popcorn on. We can celebrate your victory."
I laughed as he stepped aside to usher me in out of the cold. Thank god some things never change. At the office, Alan would always make popcorn and I'd never fail to snag a few bites. Ram on the other hand would try to sneak off with the whole bowl. The guy was a popcorn menace.
"Thanks," I said as he closed the door behind us. "I don't have a coat, I was so nervous about the interview I forgot to bring one when I left my house." I then gave him a sly glance out of the corner of my eye, "It's all just a ploy to get in your house and steal your popcorn."
Alan laughed as he made his way into the spacious living room. The back wall was lined with large floor to ceiling windows, lined with crisp white wood frames and a set of French doors that led out to the backyard. Everything was clean and neat, just how Alan kept things in his office back at ENCOM Tower. White upholstered couches and armchairs matched the dark wood floors. Someday soon I'd be able to afford a house like this, but for now I'd take in Alan's and all the nuances that made it his.
Even though most of the lights were turned off in the house, I could tell that it was very nice. The cool blue-green light from the pool outside filtered in through the windows spilled into the dark living room. Soft tungsten light was stretching across the floor from the doorway of an adjacent room which, judging by the shelves filled with overflowing binders and thick books, was his study.
Alan flipped on a switch for a lamp to give us more light. The soft glow of the side table lamp was warm and easy on my eyes which had been acclimated to the dark. Looking at the room now, I noticed that his walls were not white as I had first thought but a very light blue.
"Sorry things are a bit of a mess," He said as he began clearing up a few things on the coffee table which he thought needed some fixing.
"Don't worry about it, I don't mind."
He then began straightening out the pillows on the couch. I felt like telling him that he didn't have to clean up for me, after all I dropped in on him unexpectedly. Still, he would have insisted anyways.
"You did great on your interview by the way," he said, placing the last blue/gray pillow in the corner of the couch.
"Thanks," I smiled, a warm blush creeping across my cheeks. "I thought it went pretty well. But then again I didn't get to see it… and I'm not really sure I want to."
"Trust me, you were great." He reassured me. "When I was CEO, I hated interviews."
A shadow crossed his face then as old memories of Flynn's disappearance began to surface. The months following were hard on all of us and we were hit with media storm that was so rough, we had no idea how to deal with it. And unfortunately Alan was unexpectedly hurled into the frontlines. He had to take care of an entire company, it's thousands of employees, and Flynn's son, Sam, on top of it all. I stepped closer to him hoping that my proximity would give him some measure of support,
"Well, when all the news is bad news Alan- it's hard." I told him. I wanted to reach out to him but I didn't. "I couldn't imagine having to go through what you did."
"Well, it's over now." He said mustering a smile. Alan never liked talking about Flynn or his duty to Sam. Soon he was back to his old self. "Besides I think someone has already filled the place of renegade in the programmers' world," he said giving me a look, "you and the Flynn Lives group anyways."
"Why thank you." I said with a playful bow.
Just then I heard a timer go off in the kitchen. Alan looked towards the door and then back to me.
"I'll be right back, I have the stove on. Make yourself at home."
"Cool," I nodded as Alan hurried through a doorway, into the kitchen.
I couldn't help but grin when I saw an old Space Paranoids poster framed on the wall. Other gaming memorabilia was randomly mixed in with the rest of the décor. Most of it was TRON stuff. Something next to the couch caught my eye and I wandered over to get a better look. It was a blue and white Identity Disc that was displayed on a side table along with a 4" statuette of a Recognizer. Leaning over, I took in the impressive detail of the little statue. I had a few promo things from ENCOM at my house too, but nothing quite as nice as what Alan had.
"Alan, these models are amazing," I exclaimed, hoping he could hear me from the kitchen.
Alan came back into the living room then, holding a glass bowl of popcorn in his hands. That was when I noticed how he was dressed; no tie, the top two buttons of his shirt undone, his sleeves carelessly pushed up, belted slacks, and no shoes. There was something very attractive about him being dressed so casual. So this is what an executive consultant looks like after work, I thought to myself. I really hoped he couldn't tell that I was gawking but I couldn't help it.
"Oh thanks," he said, seeing that I was admiring his statues. "Those are prototype models from the movie."
"Really?" I gasped in shock. Being such a fan I was barely able to contain my excitement.
"Yeah," Alan laughed, happy to see that I was so excited. "When they were making the film Kevin and I were given a tour of the set. When the director found out that Kevin's nickname for me was Tron he gave me the one of the Identity Disc props."
"Oh my god, that's so cool!" I exclaimed with the widest smile, barely able to keep myself from jumping up and down. "Wow I'm freaking out- I'm such a nerd."
"Don't worry about it, so am I." He said setting the popcorn down on the coffee table and joining me. Picking up the disc, he held it out to me. "Here, it's heavier than it looks."
He was right the disc had some weight to it, probably so it was easier for the actors to throw about. A lighter material would have been harder to work with, taking gravity into account.
I was so glad that Alan was a Tron nerd like me. Not like he wouldn't be, after all he created the program that inspired the game. But to have something like this in common was really nice, especially since I couldn't talk Tron with the workers at Microsoft.
"This is awesome," I told him as I carefully turned the prop over in my hands. "You know, I always thought you looked like Tron… did Kevin do that on purpose?" Luckily the blush that crept up on my cheeks was hidden in the low lamplight. I secretly had a huge crush on Tron and a not-so-secret-anymore crush on Alan. I always figured that Kevin based the character off of him but I never asked.
Alan let out a little embarrassed laugh at my question. After all I was comparing him to a hot hero. "You know, I never asked him. I think Kevin might have borrowed a few things. Definitely not the muscles though."
"Really?" I asked. A playful smile crossed my lips as I handed the disc back to him. "Because I think Kevin got you spot on."
"Thanks," Alan said, putting the prop back on its pedestal with a wry smile. "I think I'll go hit the gym now to try and live up to my fans expectations."
"Or you can sit here and eat tons of popcorn with me." I said slipping out of my heels and curling up on the couch.
"I could do that," he agreed picking up the bowl of popcorn and sitting down next to me.
"Good."
Alan politely left six inches of space on the couch between us which I easily adjusted to three as I reached for a handful of popcorn to pick at. It felt so nice to be this close to him, even if we weren't touching.
Alan and I ate popcorn and talked for hours about what was new in our lives and even reminiscing on the past. I realized that even though so much had changed over the past six months, we still remained the same people inside. Alan and I had not altered since the night in front of Flynn's and it was exciting to know it. It felt like destiny to be with him.
No other man made me feel the way that he did. I knew that I could not have anyone else knowing that he was out there; I wouldn't settle for anything less than him. Alan was the one that I wanted.
"You look beautiful by the way." Alan said after a slight lull in our conversation, trying to mask his slight blush. He may have wanted to have told me this earlier but only now found the courage to do it. I couldn't help but smile shyly and thank him for his complement. The truth was, I did feel beautiful, but I was really hoping that he thought so too.
No wanting to sound conceited I said, "Those makeup artists really know what they are doing." I then tucked a piece of my hair behind my ears.
"Well, I mean… you always look beautiful," Alan stumbled over his words, holding the popcorn bowl a little tighter to him, "It's just tonight, seeing you again, it's really nice."
Alan looked over to me, his blue eyes searching mine to see if what he said was alright. He was so careful sometimes. I bit my lip trying to hold back a beaming smile, a blush spreading across my face once more.
"I'm glad to see you too… I really missed you." I told him. I felt that he needed to know- to understand that I didn't just move on without him, that he wasn't alone in his feelings.
Alan slowly reached out and gently set his hand on my own, his eyes meeting mine. "I missed you too."
Then Alan leaned into me, closing the space between us and brushed his lips against mine in a soft kiss. A warm, exhilarating shiver ran through my body at the feel of his touch. He pulled away slightly, his lips only an inch from my own, waiting to see how I would respond.
I felt his warm steady breath against my skin and I pulled Alan to me, wrapping my arms around his neck as I kissed him feverishly. Gripping fistfuls of his thick hair, I held him against me. Alan responded just as reverently as he wrapped his arms around me tightly. I slipped my tongue between his inviting lips and he began passionately teasing me with his own.
It felt as if the night at the arcade had never ended and we were still kissing each other for the first time. All the passion was still there from before and yet it was even more heightened by the intense longing we felt from being separated from each other for so long. I was tingling with warmth all over from his touch.
"Alan, I couldn't stop thinking about you…" I confessed to him between kisses.
"I couldn't stop thinking about you either," He whispered, his gravelly voice caressing me, "Not since that night at Flynn's. I thought I was never going to see you again."
I then slipped my leg over his and moved onto his lap. "I would have found a way," I told him with a smile. Alan returned the grin as he held the backs of my thighs and looked up at me through his glasses. I wrapped my arms around his neck and Alan pulled me in for another kiss.
Reaching up, I took his glasses off and gingerly set them down on the coffee table behind me. An endearing grin tugged at the corner of his mouth as he looked up at me then without the barrier of glass between us. Cupping the side of his face, I kissed him warmly on the lips once more. It felt so good to be able to kiss him finally after all this time of waiting.
Alan rolled us over then so that we were lying on the couch side by side, our foreheads touching. I laughed slightly as I snuggled closer to him. He wrapped me in his arms a bit tighter then.
"Rachel, you're so beautiful." He whispered. "I never imagined that you would want someone like me…"
"I have always wanted you Alan." I told him cupping his face in my hands and kissing him adamantly. Pulling away I brushed his hair from his eyes. His blue hues connected with mine and I smiled, "I've never wanted anyone else."
Alan then kissed me with equal fervor, wrapping his arms securely around me. I draped my leg over his hip to snuggle closer against him. We kissed and talked until I felt my eyelids grow heavy. Then we fell asleep in each other's arms, not once removing ourselves from the other's embrace. It seemed that Alan and I had finally caught our break.
I knew that it was early in the morning even before I cracked open my eyes. Alan was pressed against my back, his arm wrapped protectively around my middle. We were still on the couch from last night. A smile spread across my face and I curled up closer to Alan as I recalled all that had been said and done only a few hours ago. It had been months since I had left him outside Flynn's Arcade, never imagining that I would see him again. Now I was actually here with him and we were finally together. I was so happy that I could cry.
Alan then began to move behind me, his limp fingers now curling around my thin waist. "Morning," he croaked as he gently nuzzled my neck.
"Hi," I said, placing my hand atop his. "Sorry I woke you up."
"Don't worry about it I usually get up early anyway," he said, propping himself up on his elbow.
I turned on my back so that I could look at him. I realized then that it was so nice to wake up and see his face.
"Do you have work today?" I asked, hoping that he wasn't going to leave me soon. I had the day off seeing as I had my interview last night and the social after.
"I have to go in at four today for a quick meeting but other than that I'm free," he answered.
I nodded as I looped my arms around his neck and brought his face down to mine. "Good," I smiled, giving him a peck on the lips. "Then I get you for a little while longer."
"You sure do," he said with a grin. Alan then leaned in for a sweet kiss. I couldn't help but smile against his lips I was so happy.
Alan got up from the couch about fifteen minutes later to make us some breakfast. I urged him to stay but my growling stomach wasn't convincing him that I wasn't hungry. I let him go once I realized that I'd be able to see if Alan was a good cook or not; my curiosity had gotten the better of me. God knows that the only thing that I could make was pancakes and sandwiches and I needed to look at instructions for one of those.
Stretching out my arms and my back, I finally sat up on the couch. Alan, already working hard in the kitchen, leaned his head out the door and asked, "Before I start making anything serious in here, are you a vegetarian?"
"Sometimes," I replied with a smile, "but not today."
"Great, then Denver omelet it is," he said stepping back into the kitchen and leaving me to my own devices. He looked so sexy with his shirt wrinkled and his hair messed, I thought to myself.
Looking on the coffee table I caught sight of his glasses that he had set there last night. A part of the Alan Bradley uniform I thought as I picked them up. I examined the relic for a moment, running my fingers over their large wire rimmed frames. They were so wonderfully of-the-80's. Still they looked amazing on him and I honestly couldn't imagine Alan in another style.
Curious to see how his vision compared to my own slightly diminished sight, I held them up to my eyes. Dear god, I thought as I immediately pulled them off. It was so blurry looking through those lenses that it was giving me a headache. We obviously had very different vision issues from one another.
"I was thinking about getting a different pair," I heard Alan say from the kitchen doorframe as he came over with two plates of eggs and sat down beside me. He must have noticed me playing with his frames.
"No!" I gasped, instantly turning on the couch to face him. Alan was a bit surprised at how adamant I was. Gently slipping them on his face I added, "I love these."
"You don't think they're too outdated?" He asked as he self consciously set a finger on the edge of the frames and pushed them up the bridge of his nose slightly, still not completely convinced.
"No, they're perfect…" I reassured him as I brushed his hair back, my fingers trailing over the light dusting of grey at his temples that had showed up over the last year or so, "…they're you."
"… and that's a good thing, right?" He asked, now smiling nervously.
"Yes," I laughed, climbing into his lap and placing a light kiss on his cheek. "It's a very good thing."
Alan placed his hands on my hips then, guiding me to his lips. Our eggs and his glasses were forgotten as we kissed each other passionately.
"Are we going to have to meet in secret now that you're a Microsoft girl?" He asked once he pulled away for air, stroking up and down my back with his large hands.
"I don't know ENCOM guy, does Forbs have a gossip column?" I quipped saucily, lightly nipping him on the tip of his nose.
"If they don't I think they'd make an exception for us," Alan said with a sideways smile.
"Yeah…" I muttered then, "What are we going to do about that? The press I mean and everyone else."
"Nothing," Alan said simply.
I pulled back to look at his expression to see if he was joking. "Nothing?" I asked, upon realizing that he wasn't.
"Yep, what does it matter if they know?" He said, stroking my hair, "As long as we're happy that's all that really matters."
Thinking about it, I realized somewhat begrudgingly that Alan was right. It would be a struggle to get on without a lot of questions and nosy people but it would be worth it to be able to stay together. I really didn't care about the press or what people would say. After all I did skip out of my own after party last night to go to Alan's house; my disappearance alone probably arouse suspicion so why not give them a real reason to talk.
"You're right," I nodded before hugging him close to me. "Let them say whatever they want. I hope Dillinger has an aneurism when he finds out."
Alan laughed as he handed me a plate of eggs. "Now wouldn't that be something," he said with a grin.
AN: PLEASE REVIEW! I'm only asking for at least one. I really am interested to hear what people think of this story and I want to write more for TRON but if I don't get any feedback I don't really see the point in writing it. So if you're interested in a Zuse/Castor story I have in the back of my mind let me know. The famous Kizuki program in this story will make a starring appearance in it.
