Coffee & Biscuits

16|the dress

The social outing that Tom had been a part of yesterday evening had done him some good because today he wasn't having lunch alone at his desk. Rick had personally invited him out for lunch, his treat, and Tom liked Rick enough to accept. It turned out that despite Tom's hard exterior Rick was determined to get to know him well and for that Tom was thankful. There was only one person who had dared to push their questions on him and that was Aria. Across the street from the lunch restaurant was a bakery and perhaps that's why Aria easily came to his mind. She was inevitable going to ask him about yesterday and for the most part he'd tell her the truth but there was one incident he knew he had to keep to himself, the situation Rick was so eager to bring up now.

"Victoria and you looked very cozy at the end of the night, is something going on there?" Rick asked him and popped a fry in his mouth. 

"Of course not! She had quite a lot of wine during dinner so I'm sure it looked more than it was." Tom deflected but knew that Rick had a point.

Most of the employees had seen how many times Victoria had blushed and laughed out loud during the evening. Tom knew he wasn't a particularly funny guy but she had laughed at most of the things he'd said, that was the first sign. Those signs became more obvious during the evening; her coy smile, occasional touching of Tom's hand and how she got closer to his seat the longer the night carried on. Of course he hadn't minded any of this since he had enough to drink to feel relaxed, but today he was sort of regretted it.

"It looked more like her true feelings came out after a few glasses of wine. Who would've known that you were the one she'd set her sights on in the office." Rick winked and took a large bite of his hamburger. 

Tom stared down at his steak and wondered if he actually had noticed the signs before but decided to ignore them, since it wasn't in his path to date yet. He still considered women to be enough of a distraction for his career right now. He remembered the promised he'd made for himself; he was going to get Tinder once he'd gotten an office.

"I'm not looking to date someone right now, not when I'm still new at work and need to focus on my career, and to date someone in the office seems like a bad idea." Tom said.

"I can understand why you wouldn't want to date someone from the office but a few one night stands here and there aren't going to slow you down at work, it might actually do you some good." Rick suggested with a laugh. 

All Tom could do was laugh in response but soon realized that Rick was serious. As lonely as he was in this city there had been a few moments of weakness from Tom. He recalled the woman he'd met at a bar who'd tempted him enough to go with her. He didn't know anybody and hadn't started the job yet, which meant he had time for some temporary fun. Then there was another woman that he'd met the day he'd been hired, she had celebrated with him and they had ended up in her bed. These moments had been enough for Tom to live on for some time but the mention of sex had him wondering if his urge was back.

"Do you ever have any fun, like at all?" Rick asked him bluntly. 

"I'll have fun once I get more comfortable here in the office. I'm still labeled as 'the new guy' here and until that fades I have to stay focused." 

"I doubt that a few sexual encounters will have you stray from your path to success, Tom. You need to have some fun, put yourself out there and make more friends." 

"This sounds an awful lot like peer pressure--" 

"So what if it is? I've seen a lot of men start working here with ambitions that require too many important sacrifices; stay late every day, be here before the cleaning people and leave around eleven p.m - it's just not attainable for eternity." Rick lectured him.