A week passes by with nothing big going on, as my monday starts at the office I get a feeling someone is coming and with an uneasy stomach I go to ask Jack if we're expecting anyone to visit our office today but am interrupted by a knock at the door. We all look up to see who would be knocking at our office and not just come in, as i look up i see a familiar blue suit that Sam always wears and as i look up to see his face i get a smile on my face
"Hey Sam, what can we do for you?". Sam looks at me with an earnest face
"Can you look over some of my papers? I know you're not my editor but I would feel better getting it checked by you before submitting it" and get ready to agree but I get cut off by Jack
"I don't think that's a good idea. Hey Max is it true you know this guy?" I look at Jack with confusion and nod my head in reply
"Yeah we hangout in the employee lounge quite a bit, he is very kind" then I look at Sam and agree to help him. I stop what I am doing and go to follow him to his office. I look around his desk and regret coming as soon as I enter the room. I stare at his desk as I see a couple nude pictures of some women and a ton of documents "So you write for the men's special magazine?" I say with the most official voice I can so that he doesn't notice how uncomfortable I am. He nods his head and picks up his laptop
"Sorry about the mess I haven't had time to clean with my deadline coming up so anyway my article is a bit of a touchy subject and I needed some insight on how to word it" I walk over to look at the screen and start reading, I soon see that it's talking about how women feel about being put in magazines
"Well it's good that you came to me, I write about touchy subjects quite often" then I keep looking over his article and give him some pointers. When I finish giving him some advice I notice he has been taking notes
"Thank you this has really helped me a lot! Do you mind if I treat you to something after work today?" he says with an excited voice, I feel like I can't turn him down with that look of pure joy on his face so I go ahead and agree. When I finally walk back to my own office and enter the room Mark looks at me with a sinister smile on his face
"So how was it?" I looked at him with a smile
"It was fine thank you very much". I return to my desk and start working yet again not long after I finish my current article. I take a big stretch and yawn, then I start to pack my things and think about what I am going to do when I get home because I'm leaving a little earlier than the other guys. As I stand up Jack shouts out to me
"Hey, want to practice our swordsmanship again today?" I am about to agree to it when I remember I already agreed to go eat with Sam
"Sorry, can we hang out tomorrow? I already set some plans for tonight" he looks at me with a sad expression and nods then quickly darts his head to the right of me. I look over to see Sam standing next to me with a smile on his face
"Hey, you leaving too?" I nod my head and he continues
"Shall we go out to eat now then?'' I look up and nod while Jack gives Sam a rather rude look. I feel kind of guilty but I can't go back now
"Hey Jack, I promise tomorrow" then I give him a smile and walk out with Sam. When we finally reach the front door I stop for a second "Hey I have to make a quick call, can you wait outside for a moment?" he looks at me with a smile and walks out the door. I quickly dial Paul's number and he answers with a sorry tone
"Hey I am so sorry I couldn't bring you in this morning, I hope your not mad" I chuckle at his un bossly reaction
"Yeah your fine but listen I am going out for a bite to eat with Sam and I don't know when I will be home though it shouldn't take too long" There's silence on the other end of the line for a few moments then a sharp voice
"You know what article he writes don't you? Be careful and see you later" he hangs up the phone and I can't help thinking to myself how rude everyone is towards Sam just because he does the men's special magazine, I mean if he doesn't do it someone else would have to. Would they treat that person the same way? I start to walk out of the building and notice a sleek black car pull up in front of the building, the window starts to roll down revealing Sam's face with a smile he says for me to hop in. as I walk around the car i notice it looks almost exactly like Paul's car except for the color, this car is midnight black. When I reach the passenger side door I hop in beside him, I look over to see Sam looking more happy than usual, he suddenly speaks up with a quiet voice
"I'm so happy, it has been a long time since someone from work has been nice to me. I know it is because of the articles I am put in charge of but still it really hurts when they sat stuff like what they said today" as I'm listening to him speak I can't help but notice that his facial features are sharper than when they were at the office while we were at the office he seemed to look more soft and cuddly but now he looks like he is as sharp as a knife "Anyway, thank you for coming out with me today" I look at him in silence for a moment and finally decide on what I want to say
"What they say about you isn't true, they don't even know you so they have no right to drudge you. Even if you do write inappropriate articles that doesn't mean your a bad person, it just means your doing what needs to be done to make a living" as we are talking 15 minutes goes by in a flash, I start to look around and it seems we have gone pretty far away from the office
"Hey where are we headed?" Sam seems to sit up more straight giving him a more mature look
"I have a friend who owns a great little restaurant out here, he cooks the most amazing southern food so i like to support his small restaurant and eat there from time to time". I gasp with excitement and quickly sit up straight too
"Ooh yay! That sounds good, I haven't had any southern food since I moved here. I can't wait to try it, if it's good I might have to come back!" I start to laugh but Sam still has an anxious aura around him, I can't help but worry about him "Hey, you seem kind of off today. Is something bothering you?" he slightly turns his head towards me and glances over then quickly turns his attention back to the road. He stays silent for a minute and lets out a sigh as we come up to a small restaurant
"This guy is one of my best friends and he can get a little rowdy so pay no mind to him or what he says" as he stops the car I look at the small lone building, it's got red painted brick walls and I notice how clean the outside of it is compared to the office building next door. I step out of the car with a smile on my face and next thing I know he is walking with me inside, as soon as we enter I hear someone shout
"Oh my! Samie! This is a nice surprise-" then the man cuts himself off mid sentence and stares at me with a judging look, I do my best not to be bothered by it and stand up tall just like Sam is doing. As soon as the man comes up to us from behind the kitchen he hugs Sam and then goes to hug me but I react like any sane person would and step back. Sam looks at the man and says
"Hey Chris, don't go hugging people you don't know" with a stern voice I've never heard him with. Then Chris looks at Sam with a curious expression
"Oh come on you never bring women here, why can't I touch her huh? Is it because you have a thing for her Mr businessman?" Just as he is saying that I step up and blurt out
"We're just friends and you shouldn't make fun of him like that" With the most rude voice I've ever used towards anyone. All of a sudden the two men burst out laughing at what I said and I can't help but be taken back by their sudden laughter, just then Sam speaks up
"Ah it's okay Max like I said he is my best friend, he does this a lot so you don't need to worry" Then the two men do a side hug and fist bump before Chris leads us over to our table. When we sit down across from each other in our booth we start to look at the menu, as soon as I see the words
"Biscuits and gravy" I let out a sigh of relief and looked at the options for it. I finally decided to be brave and chose the four count of biscuits when I looked up to see Sam still deciding. I quickly look over to his menu and point out the biscuits and gravy with my finger
"If you say it's good southern food that's got to be the best choice, right?" He seems to be contemplating my words and then calls over to Chris
"Hey. I will take the biscuit and gravy four count, I want extra white gravy and add sausage in it too" Then he pauses and looks at me to signal me to order. I look up at Chris
"I will take the same thing but can you add egg into the gravy?" He nods with a smile and walks off to the kitchen. I look back at Sam with a little regret
"I'm a huge biscuit and gravy fan" he laughs with uncertainty and looks back at me
"Can you eat that much food?'' I look at him with upset eyes and scoff at his remark and sarcastically
"Well excuse me if I like to eat". We both wait for our food to come and when it finally arrives I stare at the huge plate slathered in gravy and a huge smile comes across my face seeing how it looks like the same food I ate at home back in the other state. We start to eat in silence but towards the end of my plate I see Sam looking at me with astonishment
"So you really can eat a lot huh? And here i am full to the brim" I nod at him with confidence then look at his plate to see he has only finished two of the huge biscuits
"Well I guess you'll have leftovers!'' We both smile as I finish up my plate of food. I look outside and see it's already dark outside
"Wow we've been here a while" when I finish picking up my purse we head out to his car and start to drive back towards the office
"Hey do you mind just dropping me off at the office?" he stays silent for a moment then nods. As we pull up to the office I thank him and step out of the car, I pull out my phone and dial Paul's number as Sam speeds off into the night.
Paul finally picks up the phone with a panicked voice
"Hey how'd it go? Do you need me to come get you?" I laugh at his words as he practically spits them out
"Yeah I had Sam drop me off at the office, do you mind picking me up since it's gotten dark out?" he agrees and shows up five minutes later in his cherry red car, I wave over to him so he could see where I was and he skillfully pulled up to the building, as I open the door I sit inside with a plop onto the soft cushions
"Thank you for coming to get me, I really am grateful" on the short ride home we talk about how it went and he expresses his concerts for me hanging out with Sam but I just ignore them. When we walk up to the door of our house I notice someone sitting in our yard but Paul doesn't seem to care and continues walking
"Hey I'll meet you inside, give me a minute" he waves as if saying whatever and I quickly walk over to the person
"Excuse me sir, are you okay?" The man staring down at his lap as he sits cross legged on our lawn doesn't answer so I ask him again noticing he looks familiar. I can't tell who it is because it is so dark, I finally go to tap him on the shoulder and he grabs my hand and I see a smiling Jack sitting there staring up at me then he pulls me down to the ground and I land in his lap with a thud
"H-hey what are you-" then he suddenly hugs me from behind and starts to cry into my shoulder
"I was so worried about you, why did you have to go with him?" Not knowing how to answer I sit there in silence
"I don't like it when you leave me" then he pauses and hugs me tighter "I-I think I love you Max" And then Jack starts to cry even harder into my shoulder from behind. I sit there for a moment in shock then muster up the the courage to speak
"It's cold out here, why don't we step inside and talk?" and I take hold of one of his hands and pull him up from the ground, he wipes his pants off and follows when I pull his hand as I open the door to the house the light coming from inside blinds me for a minute but I've practically memorized the layout and continue to walk my way to the stairs, I squeeze my hand around his to comfort him. When we make our way to my room I set him down on my bed and as he just sits there in silence I pull the chair from my desk and sit beside my bed. We just sat there in silence for a while then I hear Jack starting to speak up
"I don't like to feel my emotions, I just make jokes at everything but I just couldn't laugh this off." then he pauses for a moment to think. I leave my chair to sit next to him on my bed and start to rub his back in support