What You Need

The accounting firm had rented one of the best banquet halls that Boston had to offer to throw Brian’s retirement party. Crystal chandeliers hung from the high ceiling as the ceiling was painted with an intricate design. The waiters walked around carrying hors d'oeuvres and champagne for all the guests to enjoy. Lila was thankful that she wasn’t in charge of planning the event, or else she would have lost her mind.

She walked over to the place card table with her clutch placed between her arm and body. She sipped on her champagne as her eyes scanned for her name on one of the two tables that they had laid out. Once she found her name printed on a small, white card she smiled and picked it up to see which table she would be sitting at for the evening

From the corner of her eye, she could see George from human resources talking to Patrice. He looked bored with the conversation but was too polite to tell George otherwise. She could hear their conversation and already was bored of it herself. She figured she would go and save Patrice and try to earn a few brownie points with her new boss.

“Excuse me, I hate to interrupt but Brian needs to see Patrice for a moment.” Lila held her champagne glass with the same arm that held her clutch before linking her free arm with Patrice’s. Once she was finally able to tug him away, he followed her to the other side of the room.

“Why does Brian need to see me?” Patrice questioned as he looked around for Brian.

Letting go of his arm, Lila grabbed another champagne glass as a waiter walked by and handed it to Patrice. “He doesn’t need you. I could tell by the bored look on your face that you needed some saving.”

“And a life saver you are, Ms. Ganji,” he complimented with a smile, clinking his glass against hers.

He sipped his champagne as she eyed him up. If he was handsome before in a suit alone, she had no words to describe how good he looked in a tux. She knew that the girls from human resources were definitely going to be talking about how handsome he and Greg looked that evening since it was what they always did. The one thing that kept a smile on her face was the fact that she was getting the chance to work so closely with Patrice, not those other girls.

If he continued to look this handsome, she wouldn’t mind coming into work everyday.

She cleared her throat, “So, which table are you seated at?”

Patrice dug through his pockets in search of the card. He glanced down at it before turning it over to show her. “Table eight, what about you?”

“Table eight,” she grinned, showing off her card just as he did.

From the distance, he heard his name being called out. Looking at the front of the room, he could see Brian waving him over. “I guess that’s my cue. Do me a favor and save me a seat.”

She gave him a quick nod as he walked away to meet up with Brian. Seconds later, she felt a gentle tug on her wrist. Looking over, she could see how Rachel’s eyes were bugged out of her head as Lila sipped her champagne, giving her a questioning look.

“Are you going to look at me like that all night or are you going to actually say something?” Lila smirked, already knowing what was on her friend’s mind.

Rachel cleared her throat and pointed her finger in the area where Patrice was standing. “Who is that?”

“My new boss,” she grinned, somewhat proud of herself. She knew she had no choice in who her boss was going to be, but a part of her still felt good knowing that Rachel found her boss handsome.

“Please tell me he’s not with anyone!”

She gave her friend a shrug of the shoulders. “I’m pretty sure he came here alone. But I get to sit with him tonight so I’ll let you know if I find anything out.”

Rachel gave Lila a jealous look before the girls decided to get more champagne. While they waited for the speeches to start, the girl gossiped about the new girl that worked in Rachel’s department. They even had time to talk about how they were excited for the Beyoncé concert that was coming up in early July. By the time they came back from using the restroom, Daniel was up on stage asking everyone to be seated.

Patrice was already seated by the time Lila got to her seat. She sat next to him at the round table that was covered with a white linen cloth. The lights dimmed down as the spot light shined down on Daniel. He began his speech, thanking everyone for attending Brian’s retirement party. He made a few jokes, some of which were funny.

After a quick five minute speech, Daniel called Brian up to give his speech. The loud round of applause caused Patrice to lean in, to talk into Lila’s ear. “You were supposed to save me a seat.”

She turned her head and laughed quietly as the applause died down. She wanted to make sure they wouldn’t get in trouble for being a distraction. His face was a lot closer to hers than she imagined, but she didn’t mind it at all. “I’ll save you a seat next time I see you.”

He smiled at her before returning his attention to the man on stage. Brian thanked Daniel for the opportunity for working for such a well-named firm and for giving him the chance to make a name for himself. He even thanked Lila, and made her stand up as the crowd gave her a quick round of applause. Just when she thought the speeches were finished, Brian called Patrice up to introduce everyone to his replacement.

Of course, Patrice was his usual polite self and thanked Brian and Daniel for the opportunity to work with such a successful business. He kept his speech short before he wrapped things up so they could go on with their evening. He let out a heavy sigh once he returned to his seat.

“That was hell,” he groaned.

Lila laughed as he unbuttoned his tux jacket. “You didn’t curse or say anything offensive so I’d say it was a successful speech.”

“You’re only saying that to me because I’m your new boss,” he said as the waiters came around with their dinner.

As Lila suspected, the food was delicious but the rest of the party was boring. She and Patrice were surrounded by stuffy, older men and women who would give them a dirty glance every time she or Patrice would laugh. Their dry manner only encouraged them to misbehave even more. Once they were finished with their meal, they quickly left their table to get themselves another drink.

She wanted to strangle herself from the boredom that they had to endure as they talked to one of the men that worked close with Daniel. The night was still young, being that it was only nine o’clock. She wished she could leave but knew better. She had to stay at least another half hour so Brian wouldn’t be suspicious to why she wanted to leave so early.

When the older man finally walked away, she let out an over exaggerated sigh. “God, I thought he’d never leave!”

“Hopefully we won’t have to go to another company for a long time. Do you think we can sneak out of here without anyone noticing?”

She looked up at Patrice, surprised he would ever say such a thing. “I think we can if we hurry and run as fast as we can.”

Lila took a glance around the room, making sure she didn’t see neither Daniel nor Brian while they tried to make their escape. Once she told him that the coast was clear, she felt his hand on the small of her back as he guided her through the crowd. They both could see the door that seemed to be only a few feet away. Before she could even reach for the door knob, Brian approached them with a smile.

Patrice quickly removed his hand from Lila’s back as Brian stood there with a smile on his face.

“You two leaving so soon?” He sounded so surprised that two young people decided to leave the party so early.

Patrice kept his mouth shut, unsure of how he should respond. Lila looked up at him and tried to come up with a lie that would get them out of there.

“Yes, unfortunately Patrice and I both have to be at the office early tomorrow. The movers are coming in and they’re setting everything up for his new office. We just have to make sure everything is in order. Plus I plan on prepping him for his first meeting on Wednesday. I won’t have time to do it Monday or Tuesday.”

Brian said he understood and thanked the both of them for attending the party. He wished Patrice the best of luck before he finally walked away to join his wife. Lila and Patrice didn’t give it a second thought before they ran out the door.

Once stepping outside, she shivered as the cool Boston breeze touched her skin. She may have been a little cold but she was glad to finally get out of there. She knew that Monday morning she would get an earful from Rachel for ditching her.

“That was brutal,” he sighed as they walked down the steps of the banquet hall.

She nodded her head in agreement. “I’m just glad we got out of there before some of the girls from human resources got drunk. One look at you and they would’ve hit on you as soon as they got the chance.”

“Why would you say that?” He laughed. Even with the cool weather outside, he could feel the heat rise to his cheeks.

Lila smiled at him as they ended up taking their time walking to the parking lot. “Don’t act so humble, Patrice. We both know that you’re a handsome man. Oh, speaking of which, I have a few things you,” she said as she searched her clutch for his ID and company credit card.

He thanked her with a smile. “How did that remind you of my ID?”

“As soon as I saw your ID, it was the first thing I thought.” She said with a cute little shrug.

“Well if it means anything to you, you look beautiful tonight,” he told her with a smile. “Your eyes look exquisite tonight.”

Lila laughed loudly at his comment. Exquisite. Who even uses that word anymore? She didn’t care though. Despite her laughter, it was the nicest compliment she had ever received. Once they reached the parking lot, she gave him a nervous smile. It surprised him since she acted so confident all night.

She pushed her hair out of her face as they slowly approached her car. “You know you’re very sweet for someone who’s supposed to keep it professional with me.”

“Well, we don’t work with each other yet,” the playful smile on his face almost matched hers. “Goodnight, Lila. Be ready for me Monday morning.”

The first two weeks of Patrice’s new job was hell. It was April and that meant that taxes were due soon and everyone was rushing to make sure things were finished in time. They still had another week and a half before things would finally die down at work and he couldn’t wait for that day to arrive.

It was eight o’clock on a Friday night and many people were still busy at work, Patrice and Lila included. They were currently in one of the conference rooms since the tables were big enough for all the paper work to be spread out. Greg and Kevin, who had the same job as Rachel, were both busy at work with Patrice and Lila.

“We’re finished with these files, so they can go back in the cabinet,” Lila carefully handed over a stack of files over to Greg’s secretary, Marie.

Greg looked up from the file he was working on and caught Marie’s attention. “When you’re done putting those files away go home and be with your new baby.”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind staying to help out.”

“Go before I fire you,” Greg said without a second thought. Marie glanced over at Lila before dashing out the conference room. Both girls knew Greg wasn’t serious but they learned to not step over their boundaries when he felt stressed.

Lila walked back to her seat which was next to Patrice’s. She glanced over at him as she reached for the Chinese takeout that they had ordered earlier in the night. She used the wooden chopsticks to feed herself a helping of lo mien as her eyes slowly gazed over to him again.

“Don’t think about leaving early, I still need you here,” Patrice glanced at her as he felt her eyes on him once more. Greg and Kevin laughed quietly before everyone continued to do their work.

As badly as she wanted to go home, she wouldn’t leave him hanging high and dry during his first tax season. She was just curious to see if he would at least offer because Brian never did. Focusing back on her work, she kicked off her heels and tossed them to the side so she could be a little more comfortable while she worked.

The four of them worked for another forty five minutes before they decided to call it a night. Patrice helped Lila carry some of the files back to the file room as Greg and Kevin went straight home. Once the elevator opened up to the 44th floor, Lila led the way to the file room. She stepped to the side to let Patrice put the files into the cabinets where she found herself glancing at his arm muscles.

His arms were wrapped in a crisp, white button down shirt. It hugged his biceps nicely but wasn’t too tight where it looked like it was a size too small. She quickly walked away and hoped that he didn’t notice that she was staring. She was pretty sure he caught her a few times since he started working at the firm.

She locked up the file room before they walked back to their desks to get ready to go home for the night. She put on her light weight jacket as Patrice exited his office with a tired look on his face.

“So what are your plans for this weekend?” Lila curiously asked, walking alongside him as they walked towards the elevator.

“Nothing really,” he replied as he put on his suit jacket. “I’m just going to catch up on Game of Thrones and some sleep. What about you?”

Lila’s face cracked into a smile as he pressed the down button of the elevator. He could feel her eyes on him as he waited for her response and the elevator. “You watch Game of Thrones too?”

In her opinion, Game of Thrones was one of the best shows she had ever seen. To a lot of people that she knew, it looked boring and they wouldn’t consider giving it a chance. He was the first person she had met that was also interested in the show. As if she really needed another reason to adore him.

“I do, it’s probably my favorite show. I was really busy with work when season two first came out so I bought it on DVD the other day.”

She laughed quietly, “You’re in for a treat this season. Just wait and see what happens with the Starks.”

He gave her an unamused look as they stood in the elevator. She promised she wouldn’t say anything else about the show so he could enjoy it all on his own. They walked together to the parking lot and before walking to his own car, he gave her a heartwarming smile and wished her goodnight.

He kept a careful eye on her as she walked towards her car that was parked about 10 spaces down. She had a cute little strut which always seemed to put a smile on his face whenever they were in the office. The innocent swing of her hips sometimes made him wish that they didn’t work with each other.