Chapter 7

Olivia was having a hard time concentrating. There were construction workers just outside her office, installing the new cubicle walls, and she was overseeing a few invoices, being careful as to choose the right one while not exceeding the company budget. The drilling, pounding, knocking over and booming was becoming too much for her.

"Fucking hell." she murmured, burying her face in her hands. How was she supposed to cook for Dean that night if she had the most splitting headache. She groaned loudly, and heard a knock on her office door. She looked up. "What?"

Sam popped his head inside, smiling uneasily. "You up for lunch?" he asked her.

"I can't leave this place. What if the workers fuck up? Zach told me the workers are my responsibility." she explained. "Can you order something to go and bring it over here?" She looked at her laptop screen, where at the side was a small window, showing the general tech support area through CCTV. "I still don't get why they have to cause all this havoc. It's just plastic walls. Chuck them out and replace them."

"I heard they might be getting a fitted carpet for the whole area. Is it true?"

Olivia nodded, taking a long sip from her glass of beer. "Yeah. And they were supposed to come take the measurements yesterday but they never did."

"Anyway, uh, should I get you the usual?" she nodded and Sam sighed. "Good. I'll see you in five then." he told her and left. Once Sam left, the noise picked up, becoming louder by the second.

"Oh, come ON!"

Olivia wasn't too worried when Mr Adler called her up in the office to 'discuss something'. He usually called her up to his office to chill and talk. Once she helped him plan his eldest son's honeymoon. As he once told her, she's "the other daughter I would've love to have".

"Mr Adler..." she softly spoke after knocking gently on his office door. 'Shit, he wants me to all him by his first name!' "...Zach...?"

"Ms Muhl, door's open, honey." came his reply. She opened it slowly, closing it behind her and sat down on the chair opposite his. "How's work in Tech Support going?"

"It's okay... The noise, however, is unbearable. I have a splitting headache." she explained meekly, rubbing her temple with the tips of her fingers.

"I'm sorry about that, Ms Muhl. Do you want me to move your office elsewhere for the next couple days?" Olivia smiled. This was why Mr Adler was the coolest boss ever. He was nice to everyone... except Kay, obviously. No one's nice tot hat bitch.

"I'd really appreciate that, but I think I'll stick to my office. Makes it easier to overlook the workers in case they break the rules." she chuckled. Mr Adler chuckled along. "You... you wanted to discuss something with me, Zach?"

"Yes, yes..." He looked at her with a twinkle in his eye. "It's come to my attention these past several days, especially after the concert last weekend, that you and Dean Smith have formed some kind of... friendship?"

Olivia gripped the armrest as she shifted a little uncomfortably. "Uh—Well... I... We—" It's not that Mr Adler intimidated her, but one of the top rules of the company was that co-workers can't date. And if he found out about that, both her and Dean would get fired.

"You don't need to be afraid, Olivia, hon. I'm not going to fire you or him." She blinked. "I actually wanted to tell you, in person, that you'd be really good for him."

"I... I don't—We're not... not at all. No!" She couldn't bring herself to say the word 'dating'. They haven't exactly established that they're dating, or that they're boyfriend/girlfriend yet. They've just been over at each other's houses for dinner and 'Game of Thrones'... and a few makeout sessions. But other than that, they never showed any PDA outside their doors. Not even for a brief hug.

"Sweetie, I know things. I may be old and wrinkly, and sometimes forget things. But I'm not blind." His tone was fatherly and cam, which made Olivia relax. Just a tiny bit. "I see the way you've been looking at each other, Olivia. It's the same way me and my wife look at each other."

"Um..." She had no idea what to say.

"You're a smart girl, Olivia. Smart, beautiful, funny, ambitious... Dean deserves a good girl like you." He took a deep breath before continuing. "I've been a friend of his dad's since college, and sometimes Dean, his brother and sister stayed with me during holidays. He wasn't always... like he is today."

"What do you mean by that?"

"He was a bit of a player. Started hanging out with the wrong group of friends, started drinking, smoking... sleeping around... Then he finished high school, and met a girl in college." 'Oh great. Ghost of girlfriend past.' "She was a true pistol, Cassie. Dean was head over heels in love with her and in a few short months, they were engaged. Dean's drinking and attitude got worse and she broke his heart. So much so he got a haircut, changed his wardrobe and enrolled into university. And now he's a successful director of sales and marketing, and a potential SVP of the company."

Olivia was speechless. Never would she ever imagined a different Dean Smith than the present one, so what Mr Adler had just told her about his rocky past surprised her. "W-why are you telling me all of this exactly?"

"Like I said, honey, you're a good girl. And Dean deserves a girl like you. I'm not sure whether he wanted you to know all this now or later, but I had to give you a head's up because, let's face it, you're the coolest person in this building." Olivia smiled bashfully as he stood up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to get to... and you have construction workers to make fun of." He added with a smirk, making her laugh as she stood up and followed him out the door. Once he disappeared round the corner and she was about to start walking back to her office, she spots Dean. She grinned as they walked up to each other.

"Smithy." she greeted him, smiling cheekily. "I see I'm on the wrong side of the building. Oh golly! Gosh darn it!"

"That was the worst fake how-did-I-get-here acting ever, Liv." he gave her the same goofy smile. "So anyway, what were you doing in Mr Adler's office?"

"He wanted to know how construction down in Tech is going." she replied coolly, rolling her eyes as she pursed her lips. 'What was I supposed to say, that we talked about his rebellious past and failed engagement?' Then she realised what she did: she was smooth, rolled her eyes and pursed her lips. And Dean knew what that motion meant.

"You're lying." He didn't sound disappointed, but rather worried. "Did he...? did he fire you?"

"No! No not at all!" she insisted. "Look, can we talk about this tonight?"

"My brother's stopping by tonight so I kinda can't." he explained with a frown. "He might be sleeping over." Then he smiled brightly. "Why don't you come over to dinner anyway? Get to meet the bro."

She clicked her tongue, smirking as she tilted her head sideways and crossed her arms. "I thought you didn't want to mix family with pleasure." She was referring to his excuse for her not to meet his sister, Jo. Not that she was upset about it, she didn't want to 'meet the family' before he says the words 'girlfriend' or 'dating'.

"Okay, that's not true." he finally admitted. "The real reason's that I know my sister, and she's been all giddy and excited to meet you. She wrote a list of things she wanted to do with you."

"How's that bad? I think I would've bonded really well with Jo. She seems awesome."

"She asks a lot of questions. Most of them inappropriate." Dean explained. "Not Ash though, he's chill."

Olivia shrugged. "Sure, I'll meet your brother."

"He's a computer whiz himself you know." Dean smiled proudly. "Went to MIT."

"Get outta here!" she exclaimed. "That's a damn good school! Pretty expensive too."

"He spent all his life saving up for that school, and it still wasn't enough. Mom and dad pitched in..." He looked back up at her and smiled weakly. "Me too."

"Okay, enough sappiness, get back to work, Smithy." she chuckled, pushing him gently down the hall.

"I am at work, silly goose." He turned round to look at her. "We're right in front of my office. You go to work."

She glanced briefly at his tempting lips and then back into his eyes. "It's a good thing I like you, otherwise I would've kicked the sassiness outta you. Now if you'll excuse me... Smithy."

"Liv." Their eyes lingered on one another for a few more seconds before they parted ways, with Dean looking over his shoulder, checking her out.

"What was that?"

'Oh great.' he thought as he heard Kay's voice. Seriously, if Mr Adler didn't happen to be a good friend of her dad's, she'd so be fired. "What was what, Kay?" he asked her monotonously.

"Dean, I could sense it from the other side of the floor." she replied, walking up to him. "Are you seeing Tech girl?!"

"No Kay. I'm not seeing her. We just found common ground." 'Leave, kay. Just... park your ass on your stupid chair and IM your friends from the country club or whatever it is you do instead of work'.

"You'd look kinda cute together, to be honest." she simply said. Dean slowly opened his office door, not closing it behind him, which Kay took as a sing that he wanted her inside his office. She wasn't usually this nice about anyone but herself, especially if it as someone from a lower level than hers.

"Since when did you turn nice?" he asked her, sitting down behind his desk. She closed the behind her.

"Look, it's you guys that treat me like I'm some stuck-up bitch." She pointed out. "I know I'm a cold, heartless, self-centred bitch but... that was because I had some shit to sort out outside of work. And now it's sorted, so I can be myself once again."

Dean, still not convinced, sighed. "How many people know?"

"About you and Olivia? Probably not a lot, but Brenda from HR saw you two hanging out in town last weekend, holding hands." she said. "And your blossoming chemistry, which was never there in the past, is existent now. And soon people are gonna start noticing. But it's okay with you guys, cos everyone likes you."

"Look..." he sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with frustration. "I have a splitting headache right now and I've a lot of work to be done. So, uh, keep everyone out of my office for the next hour, would you?"

She nodded. "Sure thing, Dean. Want me to get you a glass of water and Advil?"

"Yeah, thanks Kay."

And with that, she opened the door to leave, but stopped halfway out. "By the way, tell Olivia that her hair looks nice today. Never saw her with it down before."

As soon as the workers were sent home at the end of the day, Olivia turned on the radio. Lynyrd Skynyrd were playing in the background, calming her down. She typed away calmly, humming happily along the song playing as she ate the lunch Sam got her.

She felt her phone vibrate, and couldn't help the small giggle escaping her mouth when she saw it was Dean texting her.

Smithy: Pasta for dinner?

Me: Yeah. And wine! Oh, and does your brother like red velvet cakes? Might get Duncan's ;)

Smithy: Yes he deserves to taste Duncan's. So what are you doing right now?

Me: Working, eating lunch, texting some dude I really like... you?

Smithy: Working, getting ready to wrap up soon. So this dude, he cool?

Olivia bit her lower lip.

Me: You bet he is but I dunno whether he's got a girlfriend or not. Don't wanna get my hopes up, you know?

She knew she was playing with fire, but she wanted to know where she was with him. They didn't have much time to talk during office hours, and this discussion somehow never came up outside of work as well. So it was now or never.

The reply came not one second later. It took her breath away and made her grin widely, forgetting her headache, the workers, what Mr Adler told her about him.

Smithy: Oh most definitely. And she's a beauty too :) xxx