FREE⇡RIDE⇣HOME [Elevator Hitch || COTAG]

Are you coming with me?

"I have a document addressed to you~" The love of my life pokes a folded piece of paper into my cubicle.

I plunge it, and unfold it immediately, in curiosity. It says: "Let's go on a date tonight!" in a shiny, pitch-black marker, in really sharp lines. The choice of the marker seduces me well.

I take a blank card, and write: "Do you have anything in mind?" before handing it to him, the same way he handed it to me. "The recipient told me to forward this..."

He plunges the card. I can hear the wobbling noise of the paper as he reads it, before he giggles quietly. Lord, this role play is so silly...

I wait for an answer, but instead, he walks up to me and smooches my forehead. "There's a film I want to see. Will you go to the cinema with me?" He takes his lollipop back.

"At what time? I have to see my landlord today."

"Well, tonight. In the evening." He presses his nose gently against mine. "I'll drive you to your old apartment."

"Ho ho ho, when has this office become a love hotel?" Our employer interrupts us. "They're not that expensive, you know..."

He's purposefully teasing us, and especially my boyfriend. I don't have the courage to say anything, considering how red and embarrassed I am. My boyfriend, on the other hand, has plenty of things to say. "We're taking a break. I don't see how we're doing anything inappropriate."

Our employer leans against the cubicle wall. "If it's nothing inappropriate, you won't mind me watching, will you?" He mocks.

My boyfriend groans, and walks back to his cubicle, bumping our employer's shoulder on purpose.

"What's the matter?" I whisper. He came here for a reason, I guess.

Our employer waits until my boyfriend is seated, and walks up to me. "So, how are you doing at work so far?"

"I'm doing fine, actually. It's not so difficult, but the quality of the documents makes me worry."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they're in poor condition... I mean the layout, sometimes spelling, and very often grammar. I-"

"It's not your job to correct them. You're not getting paid extra for that," he states.

Well, I know that, but it'd still be nice if I could stop printing rubbish and waste ink on some valuable documents instead. "Okay," I reply.

"You're a smart guy, but you've got to stop overworking yourself." He leans into my ear. "Don't tell my boss that I'm encouraging you to work less. Remember: as long as you're not doing anything wrong, we have no right to fire you."

That's uplifting. And the fact that he finally goes away is even more uplifting.

I check up on my boyfriend, because I'm heading to the printer in that direction anyway. "Are you annoyed?" I ask, since he hasn't said anything yet after he went back to his desk. He's sulking like a toddler.

"Yeah, obviously. I just want to love you in peace, you know..." he lights himself a cigarette, and shoves his keyboard out of the way, to put the ashtray in its place.

I react immediately, and steal his cigarette, before rubbing it against the ashtray to put it out. "You said you would stop smoking!" I notice that he's already finished his lollipop. "Just... have some candy, if anything..."

He holds his arms up in the air, waiting for me to pick him up. I hug him, and slowly lift him up, struggling like hell. "You're heavy," I blurt out, in a surpressed voice.

"Where are you going..?" He asks.

"The printer. Are you coming with me?"

"Yeah..." My boyfriend hugs my waist, crushing my organs, and releases me so I can walk to the printer comfortably. He follows, like a puppy.

I approach the big, plastic box, with absolutely no idea how to utilise it. "Help me get this thing going, please."

"You just push the button," he yawns.

"Which button?" I groan, "Where are the buttons?"

"On your shirt~" he gently pushes me against the printer with my torso facing his, hovering over me slightly, but I unfortunately happen to be literally at work, and squeeze his cheeks, startling him away from me. "Shhh! What are you doing?!" I whisper.

He pouts, with his face still in my grip. Did he come to work drunk, or something?

...Well, either way, his face looks stupid, and it's really getting on my nerves, so...

I look around to see if anyone is nearby, and quickly steal a kiss from him, but instead of calming down, it fires him up more. What have I done...

He hugs me and starts playfully nuzzling my chest, chuckling quietly along the way. Somehow it's cute, but we are at work, and he has to control himself, otherwise we'll get another day off... or week... or month... or eternity. But this time, unpaid!

The voices of the other employees that I hear coming from the hallway behind the wall spike my paranoia, and I shove his face out of the way right in time before they come in. I sigh in relief.

"So, will you tell me how this thing works?"

✂