“Happy Friday, Boss!” Maurice appeared at my door. He was in a much more cheerful mood now that he was hanging out with Nikki.

“TGIF,” I said, looking at my clock. Two more hours until I could officially escape. I wanted to ask Tiffany to come over tonight, but I hadn’t seen her. However, I knew she wasn’t purposely ignoring me this time. Besides having a major deadline that we were both working on, I’d spent last night at Austin’s school watching him play the part of a reindeer in the school play. The holidays were a busy season, both at the office and family-wise, but I still wanted to make time to see Tiffany.

Despite being busy with work, I’d also purposely tried to leave her alone. I didn’t want to cause her any distractions, especially at a critical time like this. We had to finish up this issue before Christmas. Everyone was working hard to get it done, especially Tiffany.

I, and others, had noticed a big difference in her attitude. She was more outgoing and talkative. A co-worker told me that he didn’t even notice her before, she was that quiet. She had slowly begun to come out of her shell, and I loved it. She was smiling more and more and engaging with her co-workers. Other people were beginning to depend on her for fact checking because they knew she did a great job.

I also noticed that she had begun to dress sexier. Not that she didn’t dress great to begin with, but I noticed that she was experimenting more with bright colors and patterns. Everything she wore looked great on her and complimented her curves. She was one of the best dressed people in the office. I thought she looked better than the former model in the finance department.

As corny as it sounded, she really started to blossom right in front of my eyes. The scared, shy girl was replaced with a woman with confidence and personality. I couldn’t help but wonder if I was responsible for this? Regardless, I was glad to see her so happy.

I started to print out my latest article when an error flashed on my computer screen. Low ink.

“Of course,” I muttered. I would have to trek across the office to the supply room to grab a new ink cartridge. I didn’t have time for this but hoped I would catch a glimpse of Tiffany on the way. Her office was on the way to the supply room.

I made my way down the long hallway and slowed down as I reached her office. I peeked in, but Tiffany wasn’t there.

“Hey, Cayden.” Nikki looked up from her computer.

“Hey, Nikki,” I responded. “Did Tiffany leave for the day?”

Nikki shook her head.

“Nah,” she replied. “She ran out of paper. She should be back in a minute or so.”

“Thanks,” I said, picking up my pace. Tiffany may have been in the supply room. If so, it would be fate intertwining. I could ask her about coming over tonight. My mind and my body needed a dose of Tiffany. Sure enough, as I got to the supply room, Tiffany was walking out with a bundle of paper.

“Hey there,” I approached her, a smile on my face. “Fancy meeting you here.”

She laughed and ran her fingers through her dark hair.

“I must be working hard today,” she replied. “I ran out of paper. What are you here for?”

“Ink,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “Unfortunately, nothing exciting, but I am glad that I ran into you.”

“Why’s that?” Her face had a mischievous smile.

“Do you want to come over after work?” I asked. “I can make you dinner. I’m not a great cook, but I can make a mean grilled cheese. Austin is the world’s pickiest eater and it’s his favorite. It’s that good.”

“I can’t,” she said, sticking her bottom lip out for effect. “I already have plans with Nikki.”

“It’s cool,” I said. “I can put the grilled cheese on the back burner for another night.”

She smiled.

“That would be fantastic,” she said. “I better head back to my office.”

“Wait,” I said, pointing up to the door. “Isn’t that mistletoe?”

We both looked up. I wasn’t sure what mistletoe looked like, but the position that it was in, hanging over the door, made it look like mistletoe. Tiffany’s cheeks turned pink.

“You have to kiss under the mistletoe,” I whispered to her. “It’s a holiday tradition.”

She leaned into me for a small peck, but I pulled her closer. I couldn’t hold back any longer, especially if I would not be seeing her that night. She began to kiss me back, even though I took her by surprise. After a bit, she pulled away with a smile on her face.

“Cayden Lewis!” she whispered. “We could get in trouble!”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “But it’s the mistletoe’s fault!”

She scoffed.

“Take that down right now,” she said. “I don’t want anyone thinking that you’re giving out kisses for free.”

I ripped the mistletoe down and threw it in a nearby trash can.

“I have to get back to work.” Tiffany finally pulled herself together. “Call me soon?”

I nodded. Of course I would call her soon.

“Are you sure you’re busy tonight?” I asked her one more time. She smiled as she walked away.

“I’ll see you later, Cayden Lewis,” she said. I watched her as she walked out of view. She had a great ass. I turned to grab my ink, but noticed our co-worker, Brenda, out of the corner of my eye. She was standing down the hallway, looking right at me.

Had she seen me and Tiffany kiss? Brenda turned away before I could figure it out. She probably hadn’t seen us. I probably shouldn’t have kissed Tiffany, but I couldn’t help it. She made me crazy, in a good way.

Thankfully, the rest of work went by quickly. Nikki and Tiffany passed my office on their way out to get drinks.

“Have fun, ladies!” I waved to them, winking at Tiffany. I was bummed that she already had plans with Nikki, but I really did want her to go out and have a good time. She deserved it. I would call her later that night to make sure she had gotten home okay.

I needed a drink after this week, too, I decided. I would head down to Allen’s bar and get a nice, cold beer. I could also talk to him about Tiffany again. Hopefully he would remember me bringing her up. With all the new developments, would he be happy that I was finally getting laid, or would he think I was crazy for getting involved with a girl from work? Who the fuck knew.

“Hey, Cayden!” Allen exclaimed as I entered the bar. Like the week before, the bar was empty. It was still early, though. I knew how crazy the bar got at night, especially with Allen tending bar.

“What’s going on, my man?” Allen slid a beer bottle across the bar. I picked it up and took a sip. Nice and crisp, just what I needed to wrap up the week.

“Long work week,” I told him. He nodded as if he understood.

“Man, you don’t even know what a long work week is,” I joked with him. He shrugged.

“I know that,” he said. “But as a bartender, I have to sympathize with my customers.”

I rolled my eyes at him.

“What else is going on?” he asked. “Haven’t heard from you since last week.”

“There’s a girl in the picture now,” I revealed. Allen leaned into me.

“A girl? The one you’ve mentioned below?” he asked. “Tell me more. Have you hooked up with her yet?”

I nodded, and he gave me a high five. “Yeah the same one. She’s incredible.”

“That’s my man,” he said. “Shots on the house!” He grabbed two shot glasses and began to pour tequila into them.

“Cheers to Cayden Lewis getting on the horse again!” We raised our shot glasses to each other. The tequila burned as it went down my throat. Not my best idea, especially before six on a Friday.

“Damn,” I slammed the shot glass down on the bar. “That was rough.”

Allen laughed.

“So, what’s she like? Was the sex good? Her parents crazy? Fill me in.”

I should have expected these types of questions from Allen. Even though he was my best friend, I wasn’t about to spill our sex secrets. I could not betray Tiffany like that.

“It’s more than sex,” I told him, taking a sip of my beer to wash the rest of the tequila down. “I really like her.”

Now it was Allen’s turn to roll his eyes at me.

“Really?” he scoffed. “I told you, Cayden, don’t get sucked in by these girls, especially now. She probably just wants you for the holidays. They do this. They get you in so you can celebrate Christmas and Valentine’s Day. She just wants the presents, man. Don’t do it, Cayden.”

“Come on, Allen,” I said. “That’s bullshit. Tiffany isn’t like that. She doesn’t care about holidays or presents, we just really enjoy spending time with each other.”

Allen laughed.

“Dude,” he said. “That is so corny. Where’s the Cayden Lewis that I know? The one that doesn’t say stupid shit like this?”

“I thought you would be supportive,” I replied.

“I’m sorry,” Allen apologized. “I just know how women are. They’re evil.”

“Tiffany is not evil,” I said. I was beginning to get annoyed. I didn’t have many people to talk to Tiffany about, especially keeping it a secret at work. I thought I could at least turn to Allen for some support.

“Do whatever you want,” Allen said, handing me another beer. “I am just trying to look out for you, and you don’t need a girl bringing you down. You’re Cayden Lewis. You’re focused on your work and you do a damn good job. Don’t get caught up with a chick. She is going to chew you up and spit you out. You would be crazy to start dating a girl at the prime of your career.”

I sipped my beer silently, choosing not to respond to Allen. I was the crazy one? He was the one who didn’t have a solid job and had no plans of settling down, despite being thirty. It was dumb of me to come here and expect him to be happy for me. Maybe I would just go home and call Sarah. At least she would be happy that I was talking to another woman again.

“Don’t be mad at me, Cayden,” Allen said. “I’m sorry. You’re right, I don’t know this girl, but I just worry about you. You are such a nice guy, and I would hate to see some girl come around and crush you.”

“She’s good for me,” I said, finishing my second beer. I wanted to go home before I got too drunk or said something to Allen that I would regret. I didn’t want to fight with him, but I didn’t want to stay around for his crazy talk, either.

“Hey, when she breaks your heart, you know you can always come here for a drink,” Allen suggested. I know he was trying to be helpful, but I was beyond irritated by his attitude now.

“Thanks, man,” I said, sarcastically. It had been a mistake coming here. I put some money on the table and stood up.

“I’m just looking out for your best interests. You have too much positive stuff going on right now to let a girl take it all from you,” he said.

“I’m not mad,” I lied. “I just need to go and pick up Austin from my mom’s house.”