13. EVERETT

My mood changed on the drop of a dime the moment I was in work around people and their problems. The only thing that got me through the week were Everett's text messages, often throughout the middle of the night, claiming he couldn't sleep, and asking me about what plans I had for him.

The biggest spot, daring to be picked in the office and bubbling under tension happened between Mark and Daniel. They avoided each other as much as possible, but since they were in the same building, they were close enough to leave snide remarks.

Zyber was a company that operated twenty-four-seven. I had a reputation for being a hard ass, what I said went, and as Wednesday evening crept upon the office space, I called a meeting for three, which turned out to fit four in a large meeting room with the swanky black leather seats. Myself, Mark, Daniel, and Sophie, wanting to make sure if my mediation didn't go over well, that she could offer up her customer service voice, which went from sweet to downright demonic when she was getting a point across.

I arrived first as one of the assistants was putting out a small selection of pastries. They always did when the meeting room was booked, but unlike the morning or afternoon, this was a small gathering, and my idea had been to hopefully sweeten them up with pastries.

"I don't know why I'm here," Daniel said, slumping into a chair. Second to arrive. He spun around in it and scoffed. "I'm working through the queue of security updates like I'm supposed to. Jeez. What's Mark putting in your head now?"

At the head of the table, I stayed quiet and stared my friend of thirty years down. I knew my glaring wouldn't have much effect, he'd seen me without all the icy smoke and mirrors. He knew I could be unserious and have fun, and that's probably why Mark hated having him around, I was different around Daniel.

Mark walked into the meeting room with a file pressed to his chest. "I'm not sure why this couldn't be done in the day," he said.

Sophie swiftly followed behind and closed the door. "Sorry, I'm late, I was dealing with a couple of last minute emails."

It was hard to keep a stern face when I was gearing up to meet Bryce and play princess and Daddy with him. "I'm not letting the two of you leave until you've sorted your shit out," I said in a calm tone. "I'm being serious. Daniel isn't here full-time, but even if he was here full-time, I'd expect the two of you to get on."

"He's a liability," Mark said.

Daniel spun around in his chair before standing. "I'm not sure what you mean by liability, but you have liability insurance, and enough money to cover it," he said, grabbing a croissant from the table flush against the wall. "I'm actually here to do what the work needs. You're here as a figurehead with a fancy title." He sat himself back in the chair and swung his legs up on the table.

"You disrespect everything," Mark snapped. "You're putting your feet up, you're—you're—you're messy, and you've been absolutely disrespectful to everyone and the process. Employment here isn't something you should feel entitled to, you should go through the proper channels to gain employment. And—and—and the whole thing of Everett giving you money out of his personal account for work you're doing at the company. It's wild."

I bit my teeth into my bottom lip. Mark had a point, and it was a massive grey area. All I wanted to do was force them into a common ground where they would stop creating tension and stressing me out. The only thing I wanted was Bryce, and the longer I stayed silent, the more they bickered, back and forth while Sophie's voice came into the mix on occasion.

"Enough!" I shouted. Standing, I placed my hands down on the table with a thump. "Daniel is temporary, but if he wanted something permanent, I wouldn't mind. Mark, you're practically my right hand, helping me make all of our plans happen, and I know Daniel can help with that. Daniel, we are not back in Boston, treat the company with respect. Please. Feet off the table." He immediately swept his feet off the table and rolled his eyes.

Sophie also stood. "I actually have a solution," she said, walking around the table. "Daniel needs an actual written contract, a freelancer agreement. Everett, I know you have a blind spot when it comes to Daniel, and Mark, you're going to give yourself a coronary if you keep stressing out. I'm not sure if you remember, but Daniel has gotten us out of many binds."

Two fingers on my neck, I felt my pulse attempt to break free from my skin. "Daniel doesn't like contracts."

"We need one," Sophie said. "And you have plans this evening. I'll deal with this, you go and get ready for your thing ."

I'd wanted to deal this was now. I didn't want to take all the stress of dealing with two friends fighting into my date night with Bryce.

"A second date," Daniel said. "Is this the first time you've moved past the first date?"

"If you do what Sophie asks, I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow," I said.

Mark opened a file on the table. "Who do I go over this with?" he asked. "He's been attempting to go over my head with some of the developers and tech staff. He's not the boss, or in charge. He needs to understand the chain of command."

"Agreed," I said.

"And with that," Sophie said. "I'm going to go over your head right now and tell you to go enjoy your evening. I'm serious, Everett."

I appreciated her help with it, but I didn't want to have everyone know all of my business, even if I considered them all friends. And Sophie was using that friendship to her advantage and getting me to leave. "I will go," I said. "But I'm only leaving because I know you'll do a better job than me. And I made someone a promise." Sophie was actually a great choice of mediator between the two, they couldn't use their friendship as a tactic like they could with me.

Before I left, Mark and Daniel had tried getting my attention but a single snap of Sophie's fingers were enough to quiet them both. It was sudden, even catching me off guard. But the moment I was out of the office, I knew I'd be seeing Bryce.

— Get yourself ready. I'm going to get a car to come pick you up. I messaged.

— I've been ready for ages! He sent back.

— Is it presumptuous if I bring an overnight back?

That was nice to hear. I'd been preparing for his visit the moment I left his apartment on Monday evening. I'd bought a lot of new things for him, and was hoping I wasn't going overboard or coming on too strong with it all.

— Please. Bring whatever you want. Maybe not so much glitter though.

—I'm going to double the glitter now!

There was something exciting about the way he was a whirlwind of color and sparkles coming into my life. But I was worried he'd find my apartment lacking. It wasn't exactly little princess friendly, but I'd made a couple of accommodations for his stay.

Between getting to my apartment and Bryce's arrival, there was about thirty minutes. It wasn't a lot of time to get ready, but it was certainly enough time to open a bottle of red wine, decant it and let it breath long enough to get the full body of flavors out. After the day I'd had, wine was a requirement. And Bryce was a necessity.

I poured two glasses of wine, ready for him.

My nerves were on edge as I waited. It was exhilarating, feeling nervous like this again. I hadn't been this antsy since I was in my twenties, pitching to intelligence services to utilize my company's tech. After the first success, the product practically sold itself. People came to me in droves.

The notification of his arrival dinged on my phone. I waited by the front door for him with one foot out in the hallway and wine in both hands. As I waited, I felt slightly silly. He might not have even wanted wine. He might've preferred a soft drink. And before I could stop myself, the elevator dinged.

Bryce was dressed in my suit, the one I'd left behind for him, the one I didn't mind if he'd kept. A large rucksack swinging on a shoulder as I ran toward me. "I've missed you," he said, pausing in front of me. "I—"

"I made a mistake."

"What?" the word came softly from his mouth.

"The wine," I said quickly. "I should've left them inside. I really want to hug you."

Bryce pressed a hand to his chest and gasped. "You gotta speak all your thoughts at once because you worried me then."

"I've had a bit of a day at work. I need your warm ice melting energy around me," I said, still holding both glasses of wine awkwardly. "And I didn't even ask if you wanted wine."

He took one of the glasses. "If it's anything like that wine you got in the restaurant, then yes, I'll take one."

And with a hand free, I was able to embrace him in a hug. A nice, long hug where I was able to inhale a mixture of our colognes together from his body and the remnants from my suit. "I've needed this," I told him. "And now, I'm going to warn you about my place."

"Warn me?" he asked, pulling his head back to look at me. "You're scaring me." He giggled.

"If you just come in, you'll see," I said, with an arm around his side. I led him into my apartment. Observing his reactions as I led him down the hallway into the living room, his bottom lip dropped slightly. "I hope you're not going to judge me too harshly." I didn't know what exactly it was he was reacting to. "But I will say, please don't touch the art. It's the only rule I have."

Bryce stumbled over his words. "Is this really your apartment? It looks like an art gallery. And if it is, I'd like a blank canvas and some paints so I can contribute to it. Even though I'm not the most artistic, I just think I could do something similar."

He was probably right. Most of the art was abstract color splashes. "I'll make a note of that."

"And this view!" he walked over to the window, dropping his rucksack on the floor. "Oh my god. I need to take pictures of this. Are you sure this is really your apartment?" He pulled his phone out of the suit pocket, like he'd been wearing it his entire life.

I sipped on my wine and watched. The way Bryce moved in my suit, a little too big for him. I wanted to rip it off his body and ravish him. "You want me to take a picture of you with the view in the back?"

"Yes, please. I am shook." He looked around, placing his glass on a white coffee table. "You have any coasters? Or is this an art installation?"

"I'll be honest with you. I've never used this table. I should have coasters, but I don't."

"I don't want to be mean, but that's wild," he said. "I mean, you work a lot, and you've got a reputation as someone who doesn't do much else, so I understand a little."

I stared at him and his face flushing pink. "I suppose that's one of the reasons it doesn't get used. I'd say another reason is because I usually eat and drink in the dining room."

His jaw grew even more slack. "Uh, yes, let's continue the tour. Well, picture first."

I took the pictures for him as he posed with all different types of faces. "You don't have to keep wearing my suit."

"Don't I look good in it though?" he asked, popping the collars of the shirt.

One more picture snapped for good measure and posterity. "You're adorable. But I might have soothing else for you to change into."

"You do?"

"Of course. I tried my best to get you all the things you needed for the best six or seventh date ever," I told him.

"You don't have to buy me anything," he said. "I brought all the things I needed to play."

"Princesses need to be treated like princesses." I nodded, slowly, looking him up and down. "And more toys equals more fun, right?"

"Right," he giggled.

That was exactly what I'd wanted to hear. "Are you ready to continue the tour?"

"Yes!" Bryce jumped around as he came to me. "But first, I need to show off the pictures you took." He took his phone and looked through them, giggling to himself. "This suit is serving all types of corporate slay."

"Serving what?"

"Corporate slay," he said. "You know, like it's giving fancy day job with a 401k."

I didn't completely understand what he was saying. Isolated, I knew the words, but together, it was like he was speaking a foreign tongue. "And that's a good thing, I hope."

"Yes," he said. "It also kind of looks like I'm a tourist. They're gonna think I'm at another restaurant or something."

"Speaking of, have you eaten yet?"

"No, I've been nervous and excited all day, too much actually, so I've had like four coffees."

His behavior was making a little more sense, no food and a stomach full of coffee."Then maybe no wine until I've put a little food in you," I said. "It's one of the surprises. And I hope you like it."

I continued the tour of my apartment with Bryce snapping pictures of every room. Everything he saw was a revelation. And there I'd been thinking he'd hate my place. We ended the tour in the kitchen, where I revealed to him food I'd bought for the occasion, and if he hated it, there was a quick solution on my phone.

"You're gonna have to turn around for this part," I instructed.

"A surprise!" he laughed. "Or do you just wanna see how good my ass looks in your clothes?"

"Can't it be both?"

"It absolutely can be." He turned around to a window with a view to the rooftop of another building.

"And no peaking in the reflection either."

I'd had to deep dive a couple websites in order to fully formulate what I assumed my sweet little princess would want for dinner. It wasn't me idea of dinner, at least not a dinner I'd have made for myself in the last fifteen years, but it was certainly food I'd had as a kid. From the freezer, potatoes shaped in the form of circles with smiley face hole and chicken tenders. I'd also managed to find tinned spaghetti in tomato sauce in princess shapes; tiaras, stars, bows, and castles. Alongside it, a choice of fruit juices.

"You can look now," I said.

He didn't say a word.

"You hate it, that's fine. We can order in. Or I can show you what else I have in. I just—"

"I love it," he said. "Ok. I should probably get changed because being in a suit and having all these princess feelings is all types of wrong."

"Then let me tell you about another surprise I have. Remember how I got you nice blue dress all scuffed. I bought you a new one."

"Shut the front door!"

He was exactly what was required after a day like today. He was the relief my soul required.