AUTHORS NOTE: I live in Louisville KY which is the Horse Racing Capitol of the U.S. It's Derby Week, which means you probably won't see much of me after this chapter. Don't despair, I won't leave it unfinished. Thanks- 8Belles (my handle name is of a filly who died at the track on Oaks Day- the day of races before the Derby a few years back.)
Nerds in Low Places ch 2
" So who are these people?"Oliver asked casually trying to get comfortable in the front seat of Felicity's Mini Cooper.
Keeping her eyes on the road to prevent her from second guessing herself in bringing him along, she replied, " Just some guys from work."
"Guys?" Felicity could hear the smile in Oliver's voice as he prodded her.
Feeling her forehead curling down into a frown of defense she replied tersely, "You know, not a lot of women chose IT as a career."
"That's a shame. They could use more beautiful, intelligent women like you." he concluded and she felt her cheeks grow warm.
" Thanks. But these are just the guys I work with."Felicity replied and glanced at him. He had his elbow propped on the door, head in hand looking at her, which made him look very cute.
" So I should discuss computer things?" he rejoined now gazing out the window at the storefronts passing by in the dark.
" I wouldn't if I were you." Felicity warned, " You've been out of the loop for a long time."
" Doesn't mean I don't know what's going down on the Internet!" Oliver sounded slightly indignant.
Felicity said nothing but gave him a long sarcastic look of "Really?" Oliver pouted and decided to stay silent.
The Cantina had a flavor all its own that was hard to pin down to a genre. As they exited the car, Oliver heard late 1980's rock performed by a live band. It had a lively tempo and he thought it was an AC/DC tune. They paid the cover to a scary bouncer in Nirvana plaid and entered the building. Felicity let her eyes adjust to the dim light and scanned the room of scattered tables for her friends. They saw her first and waved. A smile sprang to her lips because she really did enjoy the company of her fellow IT-ers. It was so easy to be themselves and not have to worry if someone didn't know what an IP address was or a root directory.
Oliver followed a half step behind Felicity, not wanting to intrude upon their greetings. Marc, a chestnut haired man of Oliver's height, stood and gave her a hug and then a gentle pull on her ever-present pony tail. Felicity laughed and gave him a soft punch in the shoulder, the expression on her face Queen had never seen before. He noticed Marc filled out his t-shirt well because the message "I'm here because you broke something" was easy to read across his chest.
Another man at the table was a much thinner, lankier man with a long greying ponytail reminiscent of Jerry Garcia but thinner, who gave Felicity a more polite hug around the shoulders. Oliver noticed a wedding ring on the man's hand and Felicity was more 'dad' affectionate towards him. The third man was heavier, the stereotypical computer geek with glasses, and an infectious smile. Felicity greeted him last and to Queen, he looked very brotherly towards her.
After all three men had greeted Felicity, they simultaneously turned to look at Oliver almost like they were Borg. Marc puffed out his chest a bit; skinny Jerry Garcia-look-a-like appeared to know who he was but kept his mouth shut and bro-guy crossed his arms over his chest like a defensive reflex. " So, who's your friend, Felicity?" Marc asked with an edge in his voice.
Felicity glanced at Oliver briefly and then said to her pals, " This is Oliver. Oliver this is Marc, Bill and Tom."
" Oliver. As in Queen?" the lanky man named Bill asked.
" Pleased to meet all of you." Oliver said diplomatically pulling his social grace-face down like a mask. He shook hands with each noting that Marc definitely seemed to chip on his shoulder.
They all sat down with Felicity between Oliver and Marc. " Felicity, I ordered you your favorite." Marc said as he pulled in his chair.
" Merlot?" she sighed. Oliver noted that he wasn't aware Felicity's favorite wine was merlot and that bugged him slightly.
"Yup. In the biggest glass they have!" Marc beamed at her and the other men who chuckled. Oliver wondered what the joke was.
" Oh, I don't drink much. They think I'm a tea totaller. That's the joke. " She commented to Oliver who looked interested and politely puzzled.
" I get it." he smiled back noting that point and seeing a pair of empty bottles in front of each man. When did he become so blind to her habits? The waitress in a slave Leia costume appeared and placed the glass of red wine in front of Felicity and then looked at Oliver. " Water with lemon, please." he asked and the woman walked away. The men stayed focused on Queen, instead of the barely dressed waitress. Oliver was starting to notice not so subtle the scifi vibe of the interior.
" Let your hair down Mr. Queen. We don't bite." Tom spoke, still giving Oliver the 'eye'.
"Please, call me Oliver. We all work for the same company." he soothed with his best congenial smile that always worked with corporate people.
" More like HE owns it!" Marc hissed in Felicity's right ear and she jabbed him hard in the ribs making him mumble something else. Bill stayed eerily quiet.
" So, who's playing tonight?" Felicity quickly changed the subject.
" It's Back in Black, an AC/DC tribute band." Bill replied nodding his head to the beat of the bass.
" Not bad, so far. The guitarist is pretty good." Tom added looking at Felicity from across the table.
Marc leaned back in his chair and stretched his arm out over the back of hers, " We were just discussing the network problems that we fixed today. What a pain. It'd be nice if we could get some upgrades in equipment so we wouldn't have to tell other departments that their phones would be down for hours at a time." The waitress deposited the glass of water with lemon on the table. Oliver took a sip and met Marc's dark eyes over that jab.
Oliver felt his body tense subconsciously, but Felicity indicated no distress, instead frowned at Marc and the other men like she was trouble shooting in her own mind. " Did you try reconfiguring the VoIP with our LAN?" They all nodded and so she launched into more technical jargon. Oliver now felt like he was in deep water and sinking fast. As they chatted on, it reminded him of physics class while the nerds were crunching calculus, he was busy trying to get out of class to meet up with a cheerleader.
Feeling uncomfortable in social settings was a new concept to him and not one he was ready to handle. Downing his water, he mumbled something about a bathroom and scooted away. Felicity was now arguing with the guys about the maintenance of and merits of VoIP versus cellular versus landline operations for voice communications and didn't see him depart right away.
Finally when she felt she had made her point and the men acquiesced, she noticed his chair was empty. " Where's your pretty boy?" Marc sneered.
" Don't call him that." She retorted hotly.
" Well watch out for those playboys. They can lead you down a wrong path." Bill added sagely.
" And if he hurts you, I'll kick his ass." Tom finished, cracking his knuckles for emphasis.
Felicity wasn't sure if she should be flattered or furious at her co-workers, " Listen to you three. You sound like a bunch of asshole jock who used to pick on us when we were younger. May I remind you, I whooped your asses at Assassins Creed last month and my Minecraft world makes you look like Pong rookies."
The three friends all made a 'whoa' sound and then Bill spoke, " Gentlemen, we've been pwnd." They all nodded their heads and Tom and Bill fist bumped. Marc remained sullen. He pulled her ponytail again and whispered in her ear, " Those victories are only temporary." Felicity got goose bumps on her skin. She wasn't frightened but more curious than anything. It'd been a while since a man showed interest in her and they already had much in common.
" Well, I'm going to go find him so he doesn't think we're a bunch of antisocial tech heads." She replied breaking loose from Marc.
" But we ARE." Tom chided and they all laughed and waved to the waitress for more beer.