Jason's POV.
"Hey man, could you help me get a cup of coffee and a cheese burger on the way back?" I asked without taking my eyes off the screen I was monitoring closely to avoid mixing up the letters and numbers for the password of a software I was working on. One error entered into the password would result in the whole computers on this particular floor automatically shutting down, it was a programmed protection protocol- to avoid hackers from outside the company being able to hack in successfully.
Once the file opened successfully, I glanced up at a quiet Jeremy who still remained in the same position he was in a few minutes ago while staring at me with raised eyebrows. Jeremy was a tall and fierce looking guy who was almost six foot five with enough muscles on his shoulders, pecs and biceps to make strangers hesitate before approaching him for the first time.
"What?" I demanded with a tiny sigh and my shoulders lifted in a defensive stance because I knew just what he was going to stay next, he'd been saying those same words to me some time after we started working together and grew closer.
We met in an elevator, a few weeks after I started working here, after a year of having dinner together sometimes, randomly texting on Facebook and dutifully dropping a like and comment on each other's facebook's posts- we finally got promoted on the same day to work with the main team–the main team of the company were the only ones who works on the top floor of the whole twenty five story building.
And along the way, we became best friends.
"You know that could wait, right?" Jeremy started to say, his hands placed on his lower hips while he jutted his chin out and his feet wide apart to give him a snobbish kind of look, only the look doesn't affect or bother me anymore like it used to do when we just started working together.
"No, this actually can't. This is like a really important file I need to go through and extract part one hundred and forty four for one of the heads to, you know..." I trailed off, my fingers moving across the mouse button smoothly until the exact page I was looking for showed up.
"That's the same thing you say everyday, Jason, every fucking day." Jeremy whipped his phone out of his pocket when it quietly beeped once.
"Jezz man, you didn't need to curse, y'know." I argued while typing, already knowing what was going to come out from Jeremy's mouth anyways since we've had this conversation countless times.
"I absolutely did, Jason. I'm going to go get our coffees and buggers, you stay here; spending all your late nights and lunch time on work which can perfectly wait."
"I promise you I'll try to stop doing this, I just can't help but you know... try to finish everything once I start. I love doing this kind of work." I tried defending myself while shrugging a little. Jeremy only rolled his eyes which was still glued to the screen of his phone before muttering loudly for me to hear just fine, "Yeah, yeah. You've said this so many times."
"I mean it this time," I continued while rounding up and closing the file I opened some minutes ago before double checking to confirm that it was indeed properly secured.
"Since you like this job so much, why don't you ever help me do some of my work?" Jeremy tutted.
I pushed myself out of my seat and headed towards the nearest photocopy machine before tugging it open and placing the first sheet in.
"Stop sounding like you hate this job, I remember how obsessed and in love you were with it when we started working together.
Jeremy pocketed his phone and buttoned up the cuffs of his black shirt as he replied, "I love this job, I still do... but everyone deserves a break, especially you. You work way too much. You're always the first to resume here in the whole team of thirty adults, if I don't almost drag you against your will, you'd stay in late when everyone has left for home to try getting more work done. That's not how it's supposed to be."
I breathed out a sigh, Jeremy just won't understand, it's not like we're the same or anything. The photocopy machine beeped and I popped the lid open to take the printed sheet out before putting in another bare one.
"Look Jeremy," I started to say but Jeremy cut me off by raising a finger up and rolling his brown eyes around. "I get it, I get it. We're not the same person blah blah blah, I've heard that a lot too."
I felt my cheeks reddened in embarrassment due to how small Jeremy was making me feel by telling me the same stuff almost everyday. Jeremy was naturally bossy and would sometimes give off the vibe of a bully or a snub with the way he addresses most things but I know he isn't.
Jeremy has never bullied or bosses me around, well except whenever he shuts down my system for me and drags me by my suit lapels on some evenings whenever he feels I've had enough work for the day, which was totally for my own good, so that definitely doesn't count.
"You might want to head down to lunch, Jordie... you have just fifteen minutes left from the lunch break." I called out over my shoulder as I thumbed the photocopy machine open and switched papers while arranging the printed sheets in a white file.
"Don't call me that, ew." Jeremy threw over his shoulders as he made his way out of the office.
I breathed out a long sigh as I watched the door slid shut. Jeremy can be too much sometimes- maybe most times.
Once I was finally done with printing out all the information I got from the secured file on the computer, I transferred everything on paper and photocopied them into three more parts as requested by the company heads.
Once I was back in my seat, I cracked my knuckles and unbuttoned the first two buttons of my shirt before powering up my system. I stared intently at the codes scattered on the face of the screen which I was to sort out and arrange in order to hack into the supposed system of a drug dealer suspect.
Yeap, this was what I enjoyed doing most; hacking.