Becca checked she had everything she needed in her hamper before she got in the elevator to head up to Luke's floor. She was wearing one of her best work dresses and had lunch for her and Luke, as well as a selection of muffins and treats for the office.
The main receptionist looked surprised to see her when she came out of the elevator. "Miss Swindell, I'm sorry, Derek's in a meeting right now," she said, sounding a little nervous.
"Oh, I'm not here for Derek, I'm here to have lunch with Luke," Becca corrected her. She wasn't sure if she appreciated being lied to or that she should appreciate the effort put into not wanting to embarrass her by potentially walking in on Derek and Gina.
"Luke?" the gatekeeper asked surprised. "Oh, well, he's free. Down that corridor and the 3rd office to the left off the main office area," she instructed.
"Thanks," the visitor smiled and headed down the corridor as instructed. She took a deep breath as she went through her hair a little, hoping she could help Luke make a good impression. Becca smiled again when a blonde woman at the desk in front of his office looked up and did a double take at her. "You must be Tris," she smiled.
"Which makes you Becca?" Tris asked as she stood up and shook the girl's hand. Her boss hadn't told her his pretend girlfriend would be coming by today. "I think he's just finishing up on a phone call," she said, nodding towards the office.
"That's okay. Muffin?" Becca said as she held the basket out to her, taking out the paper bag that held her and Luke's lunch.
"Oh yum," the secretary said as she took a peek and chose a triple chocolate muffin. "I think you'll be quite popular around here if you keep doing things like that," she advised her with a smile, making the visitor laugh.
"That was the idea. Now, what's the best way to hand these out?" the brunette asked, glancing around the office to get a feel for the layout. There were offices lining the outside with a wider open office in the middle. That's where most of the secretaries, and those that had only just joined the firm and were still learning, were sat. The senior partners had their offices and their secretaries on an upper level. "Do you reckon it would be okay to interrupt them?" Becca asked as she pointed up. Her fake boyfriend's secretary followed her finger.
"Should be, but make sure to check with their secretaries first," Tris advised her.
"Great," the visitor smiled and made her way up there first, wanting to make sure that they had the flavors they wanted. After all, they were the ones that she and Luke wanted to impress the most.
"Good luck," the blonde chuckled as she sat back down and started picking at her muffin.
"Tris... Becca's going to be stopping by for lunch, can you let me know when she gets here?" Luke asked as he headed out of his office, still reading what he'd just printed to check for typos.
"In that case, boss, Becca's here," his secretary answered with a chuckle, making him look up with a frown. "She arrived about ten minutes ago, and she's been schmoozing with the seniors for the past seven," Tris pointed towards the upstairs offices, where his 'girlfriend' was just handing over one of the muffins to the big man Mr. Allan Manka himself.
"Oh... right..." he said, sounding a little nervous all of a sudden, swallowing hard. He wasn't sure if he should join her or continue working. As if she knew, Becca looked up at that moment and gave him a smile when she noticed him looking. Luke gave a hesitant wave and smile back, hoping it wouldn't draw his boss's attention. When Mr. Manka noticed the exchange, he waved his employee to come up as well. "Oh shit, Mr. Manka wants me to come up," he said softly to his secretary, who had returned her attention back to her work already.
"You'd better go up there then," Tris said simply. "Good luck, you'll be fine," she added with an encouraging smile, holding her hand out for the papers that her boss was holding. Luke swallowed again before making his way across the floor and heading up the stairs slowly. He was surprised to hear her laughing with the top dog, as well as his longest serving senior partner Mr. Barry Diamond, who was a tough nut to crack. As far as he could remember, he'd only seen him laugh twice and both of those times were at an office party.
"Ah Mr. Shelton, glad you could join us," Mr. Manka started. "Your girlfriend here has very thoughtfully provided us with muffins," he said, gesturing to the brunette.
"Yes sir," Luke said nervously.
"But she used to be Mr. Smith's girlfriend," his boss continued curiously.
"Yes sir. I asked her on a date after they broke up."
They nervously waited for the main man to process that piece of information. "I know we've seen you at previous office parties, but never in the office before... what's changed?" Mr. Manka asked them now. There was obviously a reason why he was the boss and been able to turn the firm into a big success; he never missed a trick. His employee tried not to look panicked; that wasn't a question they'd prepared an answer for.
"Derek never wanted me to come by the office during working hours," Becca said calmly, which wasn't a lie. She'd offered a couple of times to pick him up for lunch or at the end of the day, but he never wanted her to. The two senior partners glanced over the edge of their upper level, where Derek happened to be stood by Gina's desk, his hand slowly caressing its way down her back.
"Hm yes..." Mr. Diamond said with a frown. Of course, he knew it happened a lot, lawyers dating their secretaries, but it was rare to see it so blatantly in front of him during the day. "Anyway, the muffins and the break are much appreciated, thank you for brightening up our day my dear," he returned his attention back to the young woman in front of him.
"You're welcome," she smiled now.
"I expect we'll see you at the office party?" Mr. Manka checked, intent on getting to know her better. He gave a satisfied nod when both Luke and Becca nodded. "Great. Feel free to hand more muffins out to others while Mr. Shelton finishes his brief before lunch," he told them before heading back into his office, making it clear that Luke wouldn't be heading out to lunch just yet.
"Of course, sir," Luke nodded in agreement, gently putting his hand on the small of his 'girlfriend's' back to guide her down to the main office. "Sounds like you made a good impression," he told her softly once they were on the stairs, away from where his boss could hear them.
"Hopefully," Becca smiled at him over her shoulder. "How long do you think you'll need to finish this brief he mentioned?" she asked.
"Twenty, maybe thirty minutes," he answered regretfully, wishing he could leave with her now.
"That's okay, I should be able to make a few more people happy with these in that time," she said, holding the basket up and making him laugh.
"Have fun," he wished her and headed into his office quickly to finish up as she continued making the rounds. Luke had never wanted to start his lunch break as much as he did now, but he knew he couldn't overly rush it as he might start making mistakes. True, Tris usually checked it for him, but he didn't want to cause her more work because he was eager to have lunch with his pretend girlfriend.
Becca made her way around the offices, as well as the secretaries and newbies in the middle, saving her ex and his secretary 'til last. She wished she could say that it was just chance there was his favorite blueberry muffin left at the end and that she hadn't saved it for him, but it had been in the back of her mind as she went round the others to save him one; she hated that she'd still felt the need to. "Here's a blueberry muffin," she said as she held it out to him. He wordlessly took it, not wanting to upset his secretary and new girlfriend by thanking his former girlfriend for remembering that was his favorite. "Gina, I didn't know what you liked, but there's a double chocolate one left," she said, trying to be nice as she put it down on her desk.
"Good shout," Gina smiled. "Thanks," she added.
"No problem," Becca nodded, gave them both a slightly uncomfortable smile and made to turn back towards Luke's office.
"Bexx," Derek said now as he followed her, having given his new girlfriend a comforting squeeze on her shoulder.
"Derek, I think maybe you need to start calling me Becca again," his ex said frankly. She didn't like how it felt so familiar and reminded her of when they were happy, or at least she thought they'd been. Whatever he'd been planning on saying, his face now turned a little frustrated as he decided against saying it.
"I don't remember you ever visiting me at the office, Becca," he said now.
"You never wanted me to," Becca said simply, trying her hardest not to rise to the occasion until she saw Gina in the background, trying not to be too obvious as she tried to hear what they were saying to each other. "Guess at least now I know why," she said, giving a nod towards his secretary and feeling the satisfaction of seeing him look embarrassed about his affair for the first time. She gave him one last meaningful look before turning back towards her pretend boyfriend's office, smiling a little relieved when she saw him in the door opening waiting for her. Purposefully she walked up to him and, catching him and everyone else watching by surprise, slid one arm around his neck as she kissed him. It didn't take him long to get over his surprise and start kissing her back, wrapping his arms around her waist as he pulled her back into his office. They heard a couple of whoops before he managed to close the door.
"What did I do to deserve that?" Luke asked softly, after he'd slowly drawn the kiss to a close but didn't let go of her. She took a deep breath before opening her eyes and leaning back a little. His blue eyes found her green, holding her stare as his thumbs gently rubbed her back.
"Derek tried to be annoyed about me never coming to the office before, even though he never wanted me to. Figured I'd really push his buttons," Becca said with a slight shrug, not letting go of him yet either, wanting to lean in for more. For the first time since they'd started this agreement, he wasn't sure what to make of her reasoning.
"Fair enough," he said, clearing his throat a little uncomfortably as he slowly let go of her and stepped away slightly. "So... lunch? Are we heading out somewhere?" he asked to change the subject, looking towards his desk to find his wallet.
"No... I brought some. I think Tris put it in here," the brunette said, looking around his office as well, to try to shake the weird feeling in the pit of her stomach that his reaction had evoked. She found it on the cabinet next to her little Christmas tree and brought it over to his desk.
"Oh, great, thanks," Luke said with a smile, realizing that this way they wouldn't have to do any pretending or acting but rumors would still start spreading about them being locked away in his office for an hour, especially after that kiss.
"Anytime," she smiled back, unpacking what she'd brought and handing him one of the tubs of Greek feta couscous salad.
Her eyes stared at her screen unfocused, slowly blinking to try to stop them from getting too dry.
"You missus need to come out for lunch with us and explain everything," Clara's voice interrupted her non-productivity.
"You guys," Becca exclaimed surprised, ignoring the affronted looks from her colleagues at the interruption, as she jumped up to give her best friends a big hug each. "I thought you weren't back until the weekend," she said, wondering why they hadn't already planned to meet up together.
"Oh no, we only said that so that we didn't have to go back to work until Monday," Moira said with a chuckle, it being Friday today. "Come on, time for your lunch break," she added as she actually started getting her friend's coat from the back of her chair.
"Oh, twist my arm then," the brunette chuckled as she locked her computer and took her purse from her lockable drawer. "Janine, I'll be back in an hour," she told her colleague and headed out the office with her friends. "I'm so happy you're back," Becca said, hooking her arms through her friends' once they were outside and they could walk side-by-side.
"Us too. We seriously need to catch up," Clara said, holding up a photo of her and Luke by the Riverwalk from Becca's profile.
"I already told you everything," she promised, even as she thought that that was probably her favorite picture of the two of them and that she'd been so comfortable around him that night.
"That can't be everything," Moira reacted now, taking the phone and holding it closer to her friend's face, as if she just hadn't looked close enough. "I mean, look at you two," she said.
"Don't be silly. We have an agreement, like I said," Becca responded. "Anyway, where are we going?" she asked.
"Let's go Denny's. I've missed our American cuisine," Clara suggested, making the other two laugh. She was normally always complaining about the portion sizes and how greasy it could be, but two weeks in Brazil was apparently enough to cure her of that. At least for now.
They made their way over to Denny's and talked about the holiday as they looked over the menu and ordered. The day they'd sent Becca the picture of them at the Christ Redeemer statue they'd included that as part of a tour on Corcovado Mountain and Sugar Loaf Mountain. They'd also done a day's jeep tour of the Tijuco rainforest. They'd gone to the small islands Angra dos Reis and llha Grande, as well as Santa Teresa and Petropolis. The latter included the Imperial Museum and Crystal Palace, and the girls had upgraded their tour to include the Cervejaria Bohemia for some beer tasting. To Becca's disbelief they'd also gone hang gliding, having a couple of short movies they'd shot to prove it. They knew their friend wouldn't believe them otherwise. They'd also done a small cruise to Guanabara Bay and had a barbecue while there. The day after they did a day tour to Arraial do Cabo, which included diving, snorkeling and swimming as well as humpback whale watching. That was the activity that Becca was the most jealous of and lost herself in pouring over the pictures they'd taken while there.
Clara and Moira let her ask them questions and look at the photos until their food arrived, and that's when they decided to change the topic back to her.
"So... I know you say that you and Luke only have an agreement," the former started the change of topic, seeing her friend put her fork down without even taking a bite.
"We do have an agreement," Becca said.
"Fine, fair enough," Clara responded, holding her hands up in a conceding manner. "But be that as it may, we decided we still want to meet him."
"What, why?"
"Because you're spending a lot of time with him. And if it were a real relationship, what kind of friends would we be if we didn't want to vet him?" Moira pointed out. "It'll add some clout to your story," she added, "especially if Derek hears about it." When Becca had first told them about Derek, he'd sounded almost too perfect so they'd insisted on meeting him and properly grilled him the entire night. He'd even complained about it to his new girlfriend when they'd finally been alone that night.
"Hm.... fine," Becca conceded. "But at least let me warn him and check he's free. When were you hoping to put him through the Spanish inquisition?" she asked, making her friends chuckle. They'd admit they were bad, they didn't think they were that bad though.
"Well how about Saturday?" Moira asked, after exchanging looks with Clara. They'd pretty much kept their weekend free anyway to be able to catch up with their friend; they might as well use their time wisely to get to know her fake boyfriend.
"Okay, I'll ask him," she said. "But after I've eaten."
'Are you free on Saturday? x', Becca text him as they waited for the bill. She'd have to get back to work soon and her friends wanted to know now.
'I am. I was about to text you the same thing. I was thinking of going trampolining and then dinner. What do you think? x', she got back quite quickly.
"He wants to go trampolining," she told her friends out loud, seeing them look a little taken aback.
"Not really typical, but sure. Let's do it," Clara decided.
"Okay," Becca nodded, suddenly feeling a little nervous about the text she was about to send. 'Great, sounds good. Is there room for 2 more? Clara and Moira want to meet you (sorry!) x.'
It didn't take long before he texted back, 'Sure, the more the merrier! x.'