Colin Palmer - Steven. Crazy on You

At work the next day Steven was in early and, as usual, Kate was there, always one of the first. Steven had not slept well and was too preoccupied to notice Kate. She startled him.

“Good Morning Steven, did it go well?”

“Huh, sorry?”

He looked up at her as if she was some magician that had somehow just appeared beside him.

“Work last night at Monicas’, that’s what you said…”

“Oh yeah great” Steven grasped the line of the conversation “it went okay but we probably didn’t achieve what we wanted to” he lied. Maybe that wasn’t so far from the truth he thought.

“Look, about tonight, we didn’t finish, so we might be working again tonight. Yeah I know it’s Friday and we were going to the drive-in, but let’s have lunch today and I’ll tell you all about it okay?”

She couldn’t hide her disappointment but she replied brightly enough.

“Lunch is fine, I’ll come get you”.

“NO!” He said it so harshly that she visibly jumped. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you, it’s just well, I don’t know when I’ll be going so can you just flex a bit until I come get you?”

“Sure Steven, anytime is fine, unless Mr Wellesley has me doing some dictation in the office or something”.

She was backing away as she spoke, and Steven saw she was uncomfortable. She turned and almost ran back to the office. He watched her disappear and then realized that, whatever Monica and Diane had done to him last night, meant that he and Kate were never going to do anything other than pass pleasantries in the office, and that, he would explain to her at lunch. But maybe that is exactly what they wanted him to do, so no goddammit, he wasn’t going to change his life to suit a couple of dykes. He got up out of his chair and went to follow Kate, but Wellesley arrived and waved at Steven as he went into the office. Steven waved back and sat back heavily into his chair again. “Lunch time I’ll tell her” he said softly to his monitor. It hummed back at him.

Monica said nothing to Steven at all on her arrival at work, in fact, it seemed to Steven that she treated him exactly the same as the first couple of weeks that he had started there. Harry was different though, and he had obviously told Marc as well as. They were both eager to hear how it had gone the night before.

“So, spill the beans” Harry said when Monica drifted off for a coffee.

Marcs’ eyes were lit up looking at him as well, obviously dying to hear something juicy.

“Nothing happened at all” Steven said.

“Bullshit, look at you man!” said Harry. “You look like you’ve just been through World War Three, so come on and don’t spare the details”.

“Honest, absolutely nothing happened, I just drank a little too much wine and I feel like shit so just lay off will ya?”

The quiet fury in his voice convinced them both to leave well enough alone. None of them passed a word between each other all morning, even though Mon was the most ‘normal’ of them all. At about one o’clock, Steven stood up and stretched, and told them he was going to grab a bite to eat with Kate. Monica didn’t even look up from her monitor but he knew she was watching him as he wandered over to Kate, who sat looking at him approaching as if World War 3 was about to start.

“Ready?” was all Steven offered her.

She bit her bottom lip and just nodded and began to stand. They ate at a small coffee shop overlooking the river. Steven surprised himself by having no interest in sharing idle chit chat laced with his normal sexual innuendo. He heard Kate prattle on about the office and Mr Wellesley, all the time primly eating her sandwich and drinking her lemon squash and using her napkin after every bite or sip. His eyes casually followed the napkin as she returned it to her lap one time and realized that the table top was glass. She placed her napkin neatly onto her left thigh, and Steven suddenly recognized that her could see up her skirt, just glimpsing her knickers through the tinted glass tabletop. He recalled what Monica had said to him about staying away from Kate and his decision became automatic. Under the pretense of looking at his hands on the edge of the table, Steven focused through the glass to Kates crotch.

“Kate?” He hesitated, studying her shiny red panties, only just barely visible between her closed thighs. He looked up at her face then and nearly changed his mind but pussy was pussy he thought. “Why don’t we still go out tonight? That double feature is on at the drive-in and I still want to see it and I would be privileged if you would accompany me. And I guess I’d be using you ‘coz you have a car and I don’t but I really would like to do it with you.” He used the ambiguity knowing she wouldn’t understand it anyway but if she was that naive that she couldn’t see his ulterior motive, that wasn’t his problem.

“I don’t know Steven. My Mum usually doesn’t like me going out alone” but her voice betrayed her real desire. She really wanted to go out with him, if only to know that SHE could go out with a guy like Steven.

“Okay, I understand. Why don’t you just tell her that you’re meeting a group of us from work or something, and that we are having a farewell drink for somebody?”

She was shaking her head before he was even finished.

“I can’t lie to her like that”.

“Alright then, some other time” Steven looked at her crotch again “well, we had better get back to work”.

“I… I think if I tell her, maybe, that I’m going to a girlfriends’ place, well, that may be okay” she said slowly. “It wouldn’t be so much of a lie would it?”

She looked so serious that Steven stood up, placed some money on the table to cover the check, and then grasped her hand to help her up from the chair. He got a better glimpse as she swiveled in the chair to get up and then he placed his arm around her waist.

“It will be our little secret, if that’s the way you want it?” and he led her from the cafe, his fingers playing with the waistband of her skirt.

The afternoon dragged, not because the quartet weren’t productive, just that conversation was virtually nonexistent. Only once was Mon and Steven alone for a few seconds, just before knock off time.

She hissed at him.

“Are you going out with her?”

“Kate? NO! Gimme a break will you? I remember what you said, and stop acting the jealous bitch will you ‘coz it confuses me.” She stared at him seriously and he couldn’t resist being sarcastic. “Confused, because I don’t know if you are jealous over her, or me”. With that he stood up, switched off his terminal and walked away.

Steven waited at the roadside and saw Kates little orange Honda come around the corner. He had a pillow and a light blanket tucked under one arm, and a bottle of coke in his hand. He saw her face through the windshield as she pulled in beside him, and could see her almost glowing features as if she had just won lotto or something. He waved hi at her and opened the door. He threw the pillow and blanket into the back seat and then jumped into the front, placing the coke at his feet so it wouldn’t roll around. He turned and grasped the seat belt, and then turned back. She was still looking at him, all smiles and radiant.

“I did it” she said, “I told mum I was just going out with Debbie from work and she didn’t say anything!”

She almost sang it in triumph.

“Good for you” Steven said.

He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. She blushed and turned away immediately.

“What was that for?” she said quietly.

“Just saying congratulations, that’s all”.

“I… we’d better go” she said, moving the shifter to low and accelerating away.