DECEPTION: THE PACT

CHAPTER VI

"That parking space is open," I tell Natalie, pointing to an empty parking space. We decided to take her car since mine was practically out of gasoline.

And yes, I told you it's as hard as finding the right amount of sugar to put in your coffee.

"Right." She turns her steering wheel, but a red Mustang cuts in front of us and takes the parking space. Nat throws her hand to honk the horn, but I grab her hand.

"I bet we can find another parking spot, just drive straight," I try to convince Natalie.

"No way, Bro. I want to see who this beep is."

I smile at her, proud that she refrained herself from cursing. Don't worry, we're still working on it.

We wait about ten hours (aka one minute) until the"beep" (as Nat likes to call it) exits the car.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is when I met Prince Charming...

Haha, just kidding!

It's this guy, walking like twenty miles per hour while trying to balance his phone, a cup of coffee, and his laptop in one hand. Okay, that's overdoing it. He's not that robotic.

Because manages to drop all three of them.

Natalie blows up in laughter right next to me, but I just roll my eyes, opening the car door.

"Go find a parking spot while I help this unfortunate soul out," I tell Natalie before closing the door. "Meet me in the front."

"You should be a nun, Brooke. Helping the unfortunate," Nat laughs, rolling down her window.

I just roll my eyes.

Nat zooms away to resume her search while I steadily walk toward this guy. His hair is ruffled and his cardigan and jeans are stained from the coffee. His MacBook lies in a sad state along with his phone. I can tell he is frustrated by the way he is clutching at his wavy hair. Yikes.

"Need some help?" I offer, grabbing his laptop and phone from the ground along with his coffee mug. Thank God it's plastic.

"Um," he looks up at me, kind of confused.

"I'm not going to steal your shattered laptop and phone, if that's what you're worried about," I laugh. "Your mug, however," I continue, examining it, "I might take. It sure is durable."

He laughs it off, shaking his head as if to clear something.

"Thank you," he says a bit awkwardly as we walk towards the building. "Do you work at BC?"

"Yup and today is my first day!" I exclaim with a little too much excitement.

Okay, I might sound like a preschooler going to school for the first time, but hey, who cares?

"Welcome to the BC family," he says attempting to give me a fist bump. Does he not bother to grab his stuff back? It's heavy! And plus, he just quoted what Wyatt told me when I got the job. Is it part of their script?

"What department are you going to work in?" he continues.

"TEDD," I answer. "The Technological and Enterprise..."

" Development Department," he finishes me off. "Ya, I work there too. What's your name?"

"Brooke Atwood," I answer awkwardly. That was abrupt. "And you are?"

"Martin Nelson."

I gulp and halt my steps.

Martin Nelson?

I must look like I'm going to faint.

"Are you okay?" he asks, a little offended. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No," I tell him, handing him his belongings. "I need some fresh air."

"Um, we are in the fresh air?" he suggests looking at the sky. "Really, am I related to your long lost ex or something?"

"No, I've never had a boyfriend," I say.

He looks really surprised, but masks it with his "sincerity." I mean, guys have asked, but as I've mentioned, it's part of my pact with Nat. And the pact sticks until we both undo the oath together. The oath is there because we don't want history to repeat itself.

Now that I'm done with my thought rant...

"Look, my friend's waiting for me," I say, pointing at Nat who is on her phone in the lobby. "We work in the same department. I'll talk to you later about it."

"No worries. Thanks for helping me out there."

"Anytime."

When I get to the lobby, Nat steps to sync with me.

"So, was the 'unfortunate soul' as charming as he looks?" asks Nat, wiggling her eyebrows.

If you only knew who he was...

"Shut up," I retort as I press the button for the elevator to open. "It's my first day at BC and you're bombarding me with guy talk, Nat."

She just rolls her eyes. Why is this elevator taking so long?

"Look who's here," I hear a familiar voice say behind us.

I turn around and see Wyatt in a ButexCorp T-shirt and jeans, smiling a little too much for my taste.

"Wait," I tell Nat loud enough for Wyatt to hear. "If the CEO's son is wearing a tee and jeans, then why are we wearing formal? This is sooo not what I signed up for."

"This outfit," Nat says, pointing to my clothes, "is anything but formal. Might barely make it to the sub-casual category."

Exactly what I knew Nat would say. Wyatt won't resist agreeing with her.

As I had planned would happen, Wyatt and Nat share an exaggerated fist bump, but what they don't realize is that I've zoomed into the elevator and pressed the floor I'm going to, without them noticing.

I can only imagine their faces.

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