Chereads / Friends with Benefits / Chapter 3 - Coexistence

Chapter 3 - Coexistence

That beginning of the week had gone well until he ran into the bad temper of that jet, and his mood did not improve after a few days. He did not have many ideas to do as activities for children and looking for ideas was of no use to him if he did not have the point of view of the other person who was going to be in charge of advertising most of the event. It was already Thursday afternoon and he was in the company office looking out over the city.

He didn't really like having to work there, it made him feel, somehow, superior to others. But his father always liked offices like that, which is why he gave him that one.

He had put aside his daily obligations to focus on the charity event, but remembering that woman made his blood boil. He couldn't believe someone made him so upset.

During the first days of the week he decided to look for her, even under the stones. She even got her phone number, but after the first call she just kept hanging up her calls and ignored her messages. She could even swear she had blocked it, and didn't even know where she lived to go looking for her by force.

The vibrating of his phone brought him out of his thoughts and he noticed the name that gave the caller ID. It was his best friend.

-. Hello brother! –The brunette spoke happily– How was your week?

-. From the kick, how are you doing?

-. Tomorrow night I have to go to work - his friend worked as a computer scientist, although he also liked to vary a little and therefore he changed jobs from time to time - What has made you so bad that you tell me that you had a bad week ?

-. "What" No friend, "Who." Do you remember Rose leaving last week to support a friend who had been dumped? –His friend answered affirmatively on the other side– Well, it turns out that that girl's name is Emma and she works in my parents' company.

-. Go old man! But that's not such a bad thing that it makes you bitter all week.

-. That's not what bothers me, what bothers me is that the very crazy woman gave me a low blow. Very low And for no reason! -His friend on the other side burst into laughter at the story of the chestnut tree.

-. Dude, you must have done something stupid for her to react like this. At first glance it doesn't look like it but she is temperamental, although I don't think she insulted or hit you for no apparent reason.

-. I did not do anything! She defended herself. We were talking like decent people when suddenly she hit me for no apparent reason.

-. Wow ... You leave me speechless brother, do I really hit you just for that?

-. I don't understand women old man, and now I'm here frustrated because we're supposed to be working together and she refuses to talk to me. And I'm so pissed off at her that I want my revenge.

-. Hitting women is wrong

-. I don't need to hit a woman to get revenge.

-. There you go with your dirty tricks.

-. This is important and I am amazed at how unprofessional that girl has.

-. And why don't you go and look for her at her house?

-. Nino ... I don't know where he lives - he was exasperated by that.

He was on the line waiting for his friend to answer him, and he even called him a couple of times but he would not answer. He checked the phone to verify that the call was still online but suddenly the call was terminated by his friend, causing Lucas to sigh in resignation at the sight of another unsuccessful day.

He walked over to his desk and took his things to go home. On Saturday a truck would arrive with his belongings to finally move out of his parents' house. Not that it bothered him to be with them, on the contrary, but he felt that he should give them their space and return to their independence, although it was also because he did not want to have his mother behind him in case he took a girl home.

When he was finally inside the elevator, his phone vibrated twice with the notification of two new messages. One of them was from his friend Nino.

Child

Brother! Rose gave me Emma's address. I ask you please not to do something crazy or I will not be able to prevent my dear girlfriend from going to claim your balls.

Without thinking about it, he ran to his car to get to the house of that pretty-figure witch as soon as possible.

* * *

Emma did not live very far as she thought, the truth is that she could have arrived as soon as possible. Along the way she could feel that euphoria that she had finally found her prey, but on the other hand there was also that voice of reason that asked her to be patient and that she will try to make it happen with her in order to carry out that important work well for his parents and who, for the first time in his life, had yielded to him.

That woman had no idea how important that job was to him to be like a spoiled child to disappear for a whole week.

When he got to the small apartment complex where, according to his best friend's message, the jet lived, he felt a little less heavy. He approached building number 3, finding himself unable to enter due to the magnetic key that it clearly did not possess and he could not call Emma because much less would he want to go down to open it. He stayed a few minutes standing in front of the building's entrance looking for a good solution, although the doorman was not even there to ask for a ransom. He pulled out his phone to start calling the jet crazy until she answered him or he would have to resort to yelling his name until he got out.

I didn't want to go to those extremes but I couldn't find many solutions at the time.

-. Good afternoon… –a woman spoke behind Lucas's back. Turning around, he found a woman no taller than him with red hair, probably painted with dye, and dressed in white pants, a dark blue shirt, and a gray shirt. He looked good and didn't seem much older than his mother. At his side you could see a small figure that I did not hesitate for a second to hide behind mother's legs - Can I help you with something?

-. Good afternoon, excuse me, I'm trying to get an answer to go up.

-. Are you coming to visit someone? She asked a little more relaxed.

At first he thought it might be some madman trying to enter the building, but this young man looked nice.

-. Who are you coming to see? She asked this time curiously and for some strange reason it seemed to Lucas that this lady would be a reporter, because of the way she asks her actions.

-. Emma I don't know if you know her. She and me…

-. Ah! You are her boyfriend right? –The girl began to speak, gaining the attention of both– Emma had told me that she has a boyfriend.

-. You are right maria

As soon as the woman finished saying it, she took out her key, more excited than it had arrived and opened the door for Lucas, her and their daughter. The journey to the elevator did not take a minute, but for Lucas it seemed like hours due to the mountain of questions that the lady had released about her alleged relationship with Emma Linares.

-. How long have you been together? Are they about to get married or are you just preparing the surprise? Did you come to pay him a surprise visit? It must be a surprise date because everyone in the building knows her and we know how careless she is when answering her cell phone. Although I find it strange that he did not give you a copy of the key as his friend. Maybe they're in a fight and you want to come reconcile with her? ...

It was as if that woman had automatically put up a sign that says "I'm the gossiping neighbor", which really annoyed her because she didn't get along very well with people like that and worst of all, she couldn't even defend herself. She would be completely insane if her profession was not to be a reporter, because the position suited her like a glove.

As soon as the elevator arrived the three of them entered and the brunette was still bombarded with uncontrolled questions which he did not have time to answer.

-. She lives on the 4th floor. Her apartment is 4B –she said suddenly as soon as the elevator reached the 3rd floor– Here we stay. Good luck with Emma –he finally said to say goodbye to Lucas, relaxing him a lot.

No matter how long you have to live, dealing with reporters or nosy people was not your thing. That's why it took so long to find a residential community where you didn't have to interact a lot with your neighbors. When the elevator doors opened they welcomed him to the floor of the happy girl. He took a little look around and came across the door to 4B. This one didn't have any bars, luckily for her, so she approached and rang the bell hoping that the witch would quickly open the door. But after several attempts, no one opened the door.

Desperate, he was about to bang on the door, possibly knocking it down when it suddenly swung open. This was dressed in a somewhat thin pink sweater and white shorts that were fabulous. They attracted his attention so much that he couldn't help looking the girl up and down. In short, she had a good body, one capable of drawing a lot of attention and even more so if she is dressed that way.

-. Laura, if you already have keys, no, why… –he said as he finished opening the door and took off his headphones so that he could later see the person who was playing so insistently, but when he did so, he was left speechless when he realized who it was. that person.

Of all the possible people who could disturb at seven in the afternoon it had to be precisely that man who had not seen all week.

Emma was about to close the door again, if she could get there it means that she can also leave without her opening it, but Lucas also expected that reaction from her, and before she could fulfill her mission, Lucas He interposed at the door so he couldn't close it.

-. I need to talk to you –he declared. Emma was tempted to just slam the door in his face, but she certainly had to talk to him as well to finish her job.

She glared at him for a few seconds and then opened the door and, to his surprise, giving him space as a sign to enter his rooms. You could see that the apartment was not very big, but it was very organized and white was one of the predominant colors in the place.

The living room connected directly to the living room and on the left side I could see the small kitchen. I also get to see a corridor where you could see four doors, possibly where the bathroom and bedrooms would be located. He took the audacity to sit on the couch as Emma disappeared into the kitchen for a moment. Silence was awkward but he had to find some way to fix it.

-. I'm sorry, "Emma said suddenly, pulling him out of her thoughts. She had placed a cup of coffee on the small table near the sofa and sat not far from him. "From the blow," she clarified.

-. I'm sorry too, "he replied, taking the cup of coffee." Are you not going to drink?

-. It is not one of my favorite drinks.

-. You don't like it but you have coffee in your apartment. Isn't that contradictory?

-. My best friend likes it very much, and when she comes she prepares it just for her. That's why I have.

The silence was uncomfortable. Both Emma and Lucas didn't know what else to say.

Emma was nervous to talk to Lucas again, not only because of the incident last Monday but because right now he was at home. It was an awkward situation and she had no idea how to get rid of that awkward silence that only made her more and more nervous.

-. You don't like answering messages or calls? –Asked his opposite suddenly.

-. Because what you say?

-. I've been trying to contact you all week.

-. Sometimes I forget that I have to check that device, I entertain myself a lot –he said pointing to the headphones that she finished taking off to put them aside together with her player– And what did you want to talk about?

-. I need your help to make the report. Your ideas and mine must be related to each other, if you want to attract the public to participate during the event. Attracting their attention is paramount, but to attract them I need advertising to highlight the events that will take place.

-. Seem right. The truth is that I have a couple of ideas… –Emma got up quickly from the sofa and ran to one of the rooms, after a few seconds she returned with a tablet, a folder and a pencil in her hand. What surprised him the most, though, was that she sat very animatedly close to him. That left him a lot, mostly because he still couldn't take his eyes off the girl's body. I just prayed that nothing awkward would ever happen again.

-. What ideas do you have? He asked to get out of his thoughts a bit.

-. I was thinking that you could make announcements for social networks, images that can be shared and that were entertaining, after all the event is mostly for children. So I thought it would be great to focus on the background. This should be from the activity to be carried out.

Lucas liked his idea, but in order to carry it out they would have to agree on the activities to be carried out. They debated for a while which would be the best option, even Emma had to get up to find her computer to be able to write down all the ideas and then be able to write the report. Lucas believed that having a kermesis was much better than doing activities throughout the city.

-. I think it is much better. It would be an event just as big, with the difference that it would only be concentrated in a single space. It could be divided into various areas and positions for collection. An area for all the food stalls, one for activities such as: obstacle course, climbing a wall, an egg race, among many others, and a third area where stalls of items such as jewelry, shirts, and for that special guests can have a place to take pictures with the children.

"From my perspective, it is a much more exciting activity than having small scattered events. It would be to combine everything in one.

-. It seems like a great idea to me but you would have to seek the support of many people, and I highly doubt that some merchants want to contribute to the company without making a profit.

-. That's where the trick is dear Emma. We are not going to charge for setting up the booth, we will simply charge a certain percentage to give to charity. Many people will accept not only for participating in the company's charity event, but will also take the opportunity to advertise and sell their products without having to give a large sum for the establishment. That attracts them. That is what will help us attract merchants for the food and merchandise area.

-. You've been thinking about this for a long time, haven't you?

-. Yes. I've been wanting to take care of the collection for a long time.

-. I think that with all this we can move people. We would only have to know who the special guests are to place them in the game stands. That is much more attractive than being in the other areas, at least in the advertising part.

-. I agree. Although you could also draw various scenes in an animated way, it will also be required to take some photos and record commercials for it.

-. I am not an expert in commercials, but I have some points that would be important to highlight.

-. That would be of great help, because you would only have to discuss your ideas a bit with the people in charge of the commercials and everything would be almost ready.

Time seemed to fly by without them noticing. Emma already had more than 7 sheets with the ideas that had been discussed that day, it was only necessary to organize it and communicate with some people or acquaintances of both who could also help.

-. Do you think Emily likes our ideas?

-. She is not as closed as you think. He likes to change things to make it more fun, although he does not like to be failed. So, for the moment, we will be safe if we can present a good project. After all, four months fly by.

-. And we also have to think about what will be done for casino night.

-. How can we divide these tasks?

-. What do you think if we offer to take care of the kermes and my mother with another team take care of the collection for the night? It would be a good way to distribute the work.

-. Sounds good to me, it would be another of our proposals. Although I also think we should have the help of an organizer. After all, the two of us will be taking care of other matters to always be on the lookout. On the other hand, if we add an event organizer to the team, it would be better. You would take care of all the negotiations for the stands and the necessary permits, I will take care of the advertising part together with the company team and, the other person could be in charge of finding what is necessary for the stands, decoration, etc. .

-. It would be a good idea. This way we would share the duties and nothing would be accumulated.

-. I will present it in our proposal.

It seems that things were turning out much better than I thought before coming to the department. Lucas's cell phone began to vibrate, catching his attention. He apologized to Emma for a moment while checking his friend's messages.

Child

Brother! Did you manage to talk to Emma?

I was going to answer him but it was better, and more fun, to leave him with the intrigue for a while. As soon as he looked at the time on the clock it showed that it was 11:47 pm. Time had flown by since I arrived at the jet department. It was too late.

-. It's too late! –Said her partner– I didn't think we would extend so much.

-. Neither do I, although I think that happens to us for not having planned during the rest of the week.

-. You're right. Since it's late, do you want me to buy you something to eat?

-. Safe? It's too late.

-. Don't worry, I can make something simple and quick for both of us. What do you think of a hot dog?

Before that proposal Lucas could not help laughing a little.

-. Okay miss "I prepare gringo food", I just hope you prepare them well.

Emma went into the kitchen to start cooking while Lucas was alone in the living room again. Although the place did not appear to be very large, it seemed pleasant. Walk around the room looking at the photos that were nearby, in many of them you could see Emma with various groups of friends, and even in some photos she could distinguish the girlfriend from her friend. In each photo he looked happy, and one in particular caught his attention.

In it was a little Emma, ​​apparently five years old, along with a young couple. The man looked somewhat burly with a bushy mustache, he had the same hair color as Emma, ​​as was his skin tone. Next to him was a woman a little shorter than him with hair not so dark with his opposite and with amber eyes, like Emma's.

They were his parents.

He put the frame back in its place, getting rid of that feeling of having touched something foreign and headed towards the kitchen to see the girl take various things out of the refrigerator.

-. Do you want me to help you with something? His interruption took her completely out of her thoughts, she took out everything she was going to use and deposited them on the counter that stood between the kitchen and the living room.

-. Actually yes. I need you to cut the onion into thin layers and the cabbage, even if you're not going to cut much of it.

He left him the spade board, a knife, and what to cut. He filled the nearby hoya with water and then set it up to heat it up and then take out a frying pan and add a little oil to also set it up over low heat. Lucas was stunned for a few seconds with the girl, after coming out of his daydreams he began to sting what the girl had left him. Once the onions were ready, Emma passed over and removed them to put them in the pan.

He tried by all means not to pay too much attention to what she was doing, mostly so as not to entertain himself too much and for her to notice it.

In less time than she thought Emma had already put the breads, sauces and golden onions on the counter. He was done with the cabbage so he put it aside as soon as the jet came back with the cooked sausages.

-. Ready? Now you can prepare yours as you like - I indicate in what indicated the ingredients of the bar.

-. I thought you'd have your dinner list?

-. Sometimes it is better for people to serve themselves what they like.

* * *

Dinner was enjoyable and the rest of the afternoon was too, to Lucas's surprise. Their first meeting had not been the best in the world, but now he could remove the nickname of "witch" from the girl who trampled his pride for a few seconds. Thinking about it bothered him a bit, but just thinking about how entertaining it was to spend hours with her without any inconvenience improved his mood.

Once he had finished eating laughing, Emma accompanied him downstairs to open the door for him so that he could go home.

-. By the way, who opened you when you arrived? They don't usually open up around here to strangers.

-. One of your neighbors opened the door for me, the one with a girl. You could say she's the gossipy lady in the building.

-. I think you're talking about Mrs. Jeannelly. If you are somewhat enthusiastic? But your daughter is a sweetheart, I take care of her from time to time.

-. Yes, thanks to the little girl, that lady thinks I'm your boyfriend.

-. What?

-. Yes, the lady let me pass with her as soon as the girl said that. So if a rumor starts to spread that you have a handsome boyfriend, it's not my fault.

-. This is incredible! - I scream annoyed - Now that lady will question me about it, she is worse than my best friend.

- . I hope you can but that you can fix that - Lucas replied after holding back his laughter a bit - Anyway you can solve it, I don't think it will come too often to support the hypothesis of that lady.

- . You're right, but I would still rather avoid meeting her, interrogations are not my thing.

- . I understand you, by chance she is a reporter?

- . How do you know?

- . Intuition.

They had already reached the door of the building and Emma opened the door to simply wave goodbye. Lucas, stayed a couple of second more next to the door of his car as he watched the jet go. The truth is that he had spent a very entertaining night in her company, and he liked me a lot more now that he could deal with her a little. Perhaps that day seemed to be the beginning of a good coexistence.