The movement to find Claire Dearing a match to hopefully keep her distracted for at least the soccer season was now in full motion at Jurassic World.
This was something that mostly only local employees had going on. Those she worked closed with, like the people at the control center and high level corporates were unaware of this little project and they would unlikely be asked to get involved.
Before the employees took the liberty to start looking for their perfect match, the ten minds behind this operation had opened a little funds pot. They knew this was an investment, a very expensive one at that, and so they had gone around asking their co-workers to chip in if they wanted to take advantage of the possible outcome.
Takers, security, cooking, and cleaning staff, attraction operators, and even some vendor staff were very much interested on making this work. The Champions League had just kicked in and they all were desperate to be able to watch their games in peace. If paying some guy to keep the boss away meant they would get to watch some games, then they all were willing to do so.
Judging by the large amount of employees who had quickly joined, you could tell what the popular opinion on the woman in charge was. It would be unfair to say she was hated, but she was certainly feared. It didn't take much effort to gather a hundred and fifty dollars in just a few days; which they hoped would be enough to cover a least five dates, preferably to take place during soccer games.
They didn't intend for this to look like they were casting the male star for some telenovela, but that's exactly what it looked like they were doing. The cleaning staff had arranged for their janitor room to be used as the little gathering spot where the first stage of their plan would take place; casting their guy.
El Cuartel General; which was the name they had for the janitor's room turned headquarters, was now opened for interviews. They knew they had to be very meticulous about their final pick, they not only needed a man who would agree to do this and have the personality to put up with her, but most importantly find someone who she would find attractive and hopefully charming enough to agree go out with.
The masterminds behind the whole thing had put together a little panel, they were very organized and serious about this. That's how passionate people were about soccer in Latin America, specially when it came to Real Madrid, most of the locals' favorite team; their own national goalkeeper Keylor Navas played for the famous Spanish team.
The panel featured five of them, three women and two men. They were in charge of interviewing each candidate and study each of them before deciding who would be the best match, and if they were lucky the perfect match.
So far, they had a list of losers whom the redhead would probably never even notice they existed if it weren't for her being their boss. Claire was an attractive woman there was no denying, so naturally some of the employees volunteered try woo her and keep her distracted. But the panel couldn't see her falling for any of those guys; at first glance it was obvious she was way out of their league.
One of them was one of those guys who liked using their curly hair long. He was always blasting spanish heavy metal on his headphones and wearing shirts featuring skulls under his uniform. It was evident he had to go through the trouble of taking a few piercings off before clocking in. He not only didn't look like the redhead's type; but he had already tried and failed at it.
Another interested guy who for some reason thought he might have a shot, was Julian, who everybody called 'Lonjas'. He was a little overweight, but that wasn't really the main reason why they knew he was going to fail the mission. His co-workers were always making fun of him because it didn't matter the time of the day, every time he came face to face with the operations manager he would stutter and all she would notice was the usual food stain on his uniform. Sometimes it was jam from a donut, other times would be ketchup or mustard. It would take him five minutes to try tell her how he thought she was the most beautiful woman on earth and all she would notice was his lack of hygiene and would ask him to change his shirt.
To their surprise, one of the staff supervisors was interested. He was in charge of the hub on weekends, he wore a suit to work. He was skinny and tall and also had a weird thing for frogs. It didn't matter whom he was talking to, he would randomly share some amphibian fun fact with them. The panel couldn't see past how much a stereotypical nerd he was and immediately revoked him. They didn't even bother to check how his approach towards Claire was, he was definitely a big no.
As they went by, the process of finding someone got slimmer. There truly wasn't a man in that island meant for their superior, it seemed. They were losing hope and even feel bad for her since that island was all there was and it was starting to seem like she would end up alone at this rate.
The panel was going through the twenty men they had seen so far, trying to see if one of them could at least try and have a shot. They had a plan B of course, but they wanted to make sure none of the volunteers would be fit before going out there and play Tinder with her.
"We found him!" One of the cleaning employees announced, he was panting and holding from the door frame so he could keep his balance. He had come running, his janitor electric cart outside barely parked. He immediately stole the panel's attention.
To make it less obvious, only three of them had gone back with the one person. He had been assigned the new raptors paddock on the far west side of the island. He had to clean raptor crap among other things, but that had given him the opportunity to meet Owen Grady. He was a nice, easy going guy who had been taken out of the navy to work on this behavioral project for InGen.
The four guys watching him from the gangway didn't know much detail about the project, they weren't even sure if Claire herself knew what the project was about. They had just moved all four raptors to their new enclosure, now that they were adults. The predators were nine months old by now. Owen had been working at the park for over ten months but not many of the staff knew about him since he wasn't really the kind to socialize much. His day was usually divided in two; he would spend the morning working with his pack and his journal on their progress and then after work he would dedicate his afternoon to building his bungalow which he had finished putting together a few yards west off the park, near the paddock.
This was the first time any of the four guys had seen a raptor, but there were many legends surrounding the park, not only about what had happened at the original one but before this current one even opened. It was no secret that raptors were no puppies, in fact they were highly intelligent and lethal.
The men were in awe, like kids watching Superman fight the biggest of monsters. Owen was standing on the other side of the gangway, giving his raptors instructions and making it seem like having an intelligent predator follow your will was effortless.
He had his hand up in the air, something that looked like a clicker in his fist. All four raptors were on their mark, waiting for his signal before they ran off into the jungle. They had a big enclosure there. After a few minutes, one of them came back with a dummy in her mouth. Apparently the men had missed the first part of the training session where the raptors had been given a mark and they had to go find it. It was still beyond impressive to watch this man control these animals this way.
Owen was everything they needed; he was good looking, dangerous, obviously not scared of anything, and he knew how to deal with scary females. Now they just needed to approach him and find out if he was up to the challenge and tame a whole different kind of beast, a certain redhead.
Owen looked up from the raptors after feeding each their respective treat. He narrowed his eyes trying to make out who were the man observing him from the other side. He figured they were from the cleaning staff and didn't mind them, he smiled to himself liking the little attention.
That afternoon, Owen had ridden his brand new motorcycle over to Main Street. It was lunch time and there weren't any close restaurants or food stands by the paddock. The closest ones were by the kayak cruise so he decided to just make it all the way to the center of the park, find himself a nice restaurant were he could relax for an hour. He wished he could have a cold beer but he was working and didn't want any unnecessary trouble.
He got himself a double cheeseburger and a large side of french fries. He was quietly eating at one of the tables outdoors when two of the janitors interrupted his meal. The former navy man was left holding his cheeseburger in the air, his hazel eyes on the Latino men once he was asked if he was busy.
"A little bit, yeah." He nodded condescendingly. Owen could tell the janitor who had just addressed him was a little nervous, it was understandable since he was about to ask a huge favor from him and out of the blue at that. "What's wrong, Miguel?" Owen read his name on the tag clipped to his uniform. The other janitor was there just for moral support, he figured.
"Do you know Miss Dearing?" He wondered watching Owen take a bite of his burger and chew on it.
He nodded his head before reaching out for his soda and taking a sip, "The operations manager, I've heard of her." He nodded before picking one of his fries and nibbling on it.
"It's not true what they say, she's a lovely woman." The other janitor added making Owen tilt his head before looking back at Miguel. He was officially confused and unbothered.
"That's her over there." Miguel casually pointed over at a table a few feet from them. The redhead was on her laptop, completely focused on what she was typing. She had an untouched plate of food by her side and by the look of it, it seemed it had been there for about ten minutes now.
Owen casually looked her way and nodded, "okay." He looked back at his plate and picked his cheeseburger back up so he could give it another bite.
"We want you to go out with her." The second janitor, Hector, blurted out. The two janitors had been in the group of ten that she almost got fired that other day.
Owen chuckled, "and why would I go out with her?" He didn't get it. Why were these two crazy Latinos asking him this. "Is this something you do around here? Bug people who eat lunch alone and play match maker?" He moved his fingers around, "if we are eating alone is because we don't want to be bothered." He added, slowly leaning over as if he was telling them a big secret.
"So we can watch football and have some peace." They begged him, before they gave him the whole story and motive behind this.
Owen had found himself looking over to her table while Hector kept talking. He studied her composure and how concentrated she was on her work. She was very pretty, there was no doubt about that. "She doesn't look like the kind of woman who needs to be set up by two of her minions." He shook his head rejecting their request.
"Just one time, man." Miguel put his hands together begging, "We can pay you thirty bucks." He nodded with a hopeful smile, maybe he would do it for some cash.
Owen shifted his eyes between both janitors and then back at the redhead. She was wearing a maroon cap-sleeve pencil dress and a pair of high heels. She had her leg crossed under the table, Owen lingered there a couple of seconds admiring her for a moment.
He sighed not too convinced, not because he didn't find her attractive but because these people not being able to watch their soccer was not his problem.
"You can't even stop staring." Miguel teased and nudged him interrupting Owen's train of thought.
The Navy guy looked back and smirked, they were not lying. That smirk gave the two janitors some hope, they were standing there like two teenagers who had just asked their parents if they could go to a friend's party and after some convincing they were just waiting for the green light and the verbal authorization.
Owen licked his lips and was about to shake hands on it when their little arrangement was interrupted by the redhead's sudden shouting.
She had gotten a call from maintenance. They were working on fixing a malfunction with the monorail. It had been out of service all day, and they had to come up with a way to sell the idea that riding bikes around the park was a whole new level of experience, they also had some of the jeeps working as shuttles between attractions for those who couldn't ride a bike. Claire had it synchronized to the second and it seemed the guest were actually enjoying themselves, but it was still frustrating that the monorail didn't want to work.
Both janitors and Owen witnessed her at her highest peak of frustration and irritability. She couldn't understand why it was taking all day, this was the forth time her maintenance supervisor had changed the deadline to have it up and running.
"Don't make me go over there and show you how to do your job, Pete." The redhead threatened.
The janitors got nervous while Owen watched her get intense and a little too demanding. Hector and Miguel were used to being called out like that when they were the ones messing up and it was one of the reasons why they thought that getting her a boyfriend to get laid would calm her down.
"You have until five to get it fixed, otherwise don't even bother and leave your badge with my assistant, understood?" She finished the call and set her cellphone by her side. "I have to do everything myself." She mumbled before regaining focus and going back to work.
"Fifty bucks?" Hector grinned.
Owen casually stood up from his table and walked over to Claire's. "I don't think we have been introduced." He casually interrupted her typing. He noticed she was very fast at that, it felt like she was sending ten emails per minute.
Green eyes moved from the laptop screen to Owen. She curved an eyebrow and watched him take the chair by hers.
"I'm Owen Grady, the man of your dreams." He offered a cheeky grin.
Claire dismissed him and went back to her work.
"Tough pleaser, huh."
"That or your pick-up lines are terrible." She offered without making eye contact.
"I swear they work all the time, so it's definitely you." He teased her.
"Work on whom exactly? Blondes with a low IQ?" She looked over and pursed her lips.
"How about you tell me what works on you, then? And we try this again." He smiled, trying to find her eyes but she was too busy working.
Claire sighed and that's when she started to save all her work. This guy and his random need to annoy her were her cue to get out of there and go back to her office, where no one was allowed to come in unless they had an appointment. "How about you go back to where you came from and leave me alone?" She suggested.
"Or you could let me get you something to eat since your food is now cold." He insisted, making notice of the forgotten plate of food on her table.
"I don't have time for this." She closed her laptop and without another word, she grabbed her things, stood up, and left him there.
He looked back to Hector and Miguel whom had stayed close by to witness they whole thing. Owen looked puzzled, she was going to be a challenge that was for sure.
"Estamos jodidos." Miguel noticed how screwed they were.
Owen wasn't the kind to give up easy, they truly had picked the best guy for this bet. He had access to her daily routine and certain habits just with the information the people involved knew about her.
She had left her food untouched, which meant she had yet to eat. The kitchen staff took care of that. They fixed her favorite salad and gave it to Owen to take to her office. She had a weak spot for Grilled Lemon Herb Mediterranean Chicken Salad. It was fools proof, it would take a lot in her to reject the dish.
Teresa, the janitor in charge of cleaning Claire's floor, used her access to help bring Owen around the innovation center, and up to the redhead's office. Once in front of Zara's desk, it was up to his charm to convince her to let him see the boss.
He explained how he had seen her around and was trying to impress her, to his luck Zara was in the wagon of people who thought that having a boyfriend would do her some good. She also knew Owen was sort of her type, but knowing Claire she was probably going to play hard to get.
She asked Owen for a minute so she could announced him. He nodded and placing the salad plate and fork on the front counter, he fixed his vest and his hair a little bit. He gathered his things and waited for Zara to let him know he could come in.
"You got to be kidding me." Claire rolled her eyes from her desk.