Chapter Thirteen-Normal Haze
I'm gonna wear you down
I'm gonna make you see
I'm gonna get to you
You're gonna give into me.
"Give in to Me" by Garrett Hedlund and Leighton Meester
"I heard you met my brother," Ray said on Monday morning. I looked up from my overflowing inbox in surprise.
"How did you know?" I asked. He perched on the edge of my desk.
"Sunday was our father's birthday. We have different mothers but Gabriel always comes to dinner at our house. His mom is less…accepting. He mentioned meeting you," he said. I looked away from Ray's frank gaze.
"I was celebrating a friend's birthday and ran into him," I said. "I mentioned that I worked here and he said something about knowing you." Ray thumbed through a few things I had sorted for him.
"He's a good guy," he said. "I would normally discourage any kind of relationship because I am your boss but Gabe's good people. Can I take these or do you need me to leave them here?" He asked holding up the papers.
"No you can take them," I said. "I should have the rest in about an hour." He waved me off.
"No hurry," he said. "It looks like someone drowned your desk in paper." I smirked as he left the room. I had been surprised at just how much I thought of Gabriel over the weekend. Paul had stayed the entire weekend, on the couch, and we barely spoke beyond social niceties like "do you need the shower?" and "pass the salt". Gabriel had been very present in my mind. I had never really been interested in "normal guys" so he was throwing me for a loop. As if my brain had conjured him he appeared at my desk. I blinked rapidly in surprise.
"I brought you a coffee," he said thrusting a cup at me. I took it, dumbfounded. "Two creams and one sugar, right? Ray told me." I finally found my voice.
"Right," I said. "I have a lot of stuff to get through." He smiled.
"As much as I want to be, I am not here for you. I have to go through Ray's tax stuff," he said. "But I thought you still might like the coffee." I watched him saunter off and hurricane Amber landed.
"Oh my god who is the hottie?" She asked. I groaned.
"Can no one see that I have two weeks of work sitting on my desk?" I asked. She rolled her eyes.
"Ray would tell you to take a pill," she said. "So who is he?"
"Ray's half-brother," I said. "He's here to do Ray's tax stuff." She perched on the edge of the desk and a few papers toppled to the ground. I groaned again.
"What's his story?" She asked. I shrugged.
"How the hell should I know?" I asked. Her eyes narrowed.
"He brought you coffee," she pointed out.
"He brought Ray coffee but forgot the sugar," I lied. "So I said I'd take it." I took a sip as if to prove my point. Ray poked his head into my office.
"I need you in here Bella," he said. "My computer is acting like that chick from the Exorcist." I followed him into his office and dropped into his chair. Gabriel smirked at my obvious irritation.
"I only pushed like two buttons," Ray said. "And it started spitting errors at me." I tapped a few keys and cleaned up the error messages.
"Stop trying to open a thousand windows at once," I suggested. "But I think you have a virus. What the hell did you click on?" I asked as more error messages flooded the screen.
"I resent the implications," Ray said. I made my doubtful face and he backpedaled.
"Okay so I clicked on a porn popup," he admitted. "It was late and no one was in the office…" I cut him off with a wave.
"I don't need the details," I said. "But you need a professional. This is messed up."
"Then can we do taxes at your desk?" He asked. I sighed.
"Ray I have a shit ton of paperwork on my desk right now," I said. "Can this wait?"
"I'll take the papers in here and you can help Gabe with the program," he said. "I suck at all of that anyways."
"I don't really need help doing this," Gabriel said for the thousandth time two hours later. "I am perfectly capable of operating a computer." I shoved his hand away from the mouse for the millionth time.
"You're related to Ray," I said. "He looks at computers wrong and they explode. Do not touch my computer."
"You're lucky I like bossy women," he commented, crossing his arms over his chest.
"And you're lucky you brought coffee or I might have stabbed you with a pen by now," I said.
"Not a morning person?" He asked. I shrugged.
"I have an annoying houseguest right now," I said. I couldn't exactly say that I had been up all weekend thinking about the measly peck on the cheek he had given me.
"I'm assuming it's Mr. Wrong Choice," Gabriel said.
"Yes and it is very complicated," I said.
"I don't doubt that," he said deferentially. "Can you move the expense reports to the other sheet please? It needs to be under travel." I was happy for the change in conversation. I didn't even know what my relationship with Paul was. I'm not sure I could define it to someone else at this point.
"I hate you," I snapped at Ray when, at 5PM, Gabriel and I were still working on the tax information.
"And I am beginning to appreciate your value," he answered with a shudder. "How you would be able to get through all of that paperwork in an hour is beyond me. How about a raise?" I raised one eyebrow.
"I'm an unpaid intern," I reminded him. He feigned a look of confusion.
"Is that right? Well I just got off the phone with your work study program and I agreed to hire you on full time, pending your approval of the pay of course," he offered.
"And what kind of money are we looking at?" I asked trying to keep cool even though my heart was practically jumping out of my chest.
"Well it's a promotion of sorts, turns out we have need of a junior editor and I might even let you share my new assistant," he said. "We'll talk money tomorrow." I waited until he floated out the door before breaking out into a broad grin.
"I guess congratulations are in order," Gabriel said.
"Well thanks," I said. I couldn't stop smiling.
"While you're in a non-pen stabbing mood," he said. "I have this work function thing. It's this charity masquerade ball thing to raise money for Children's Hospital. Anyways it's this coming weekend and I really need to find a date before my boss sets me up with his ex-wife. I was hoping you would take the job," he said hopefully.
"I don't know," I teased. "What's the pay like?" He smiled.
"Well you get dinner," he said. "And it's an open bar."
"I'll be there," I said. "But don't get any crazy ideas. You are way too normal and well-adjusted for me."