What You Need

Out in Milan’s backyard, Patrice was enjoying himself as he caught up with some of his old friends. Milan was telling some story about a blind date he went on as he and Adam McQuaid listened. Adam was a shy and quiet guy, much like how Patrice was. Only Adam was much more awkward yet somehow still had a charm to him that the girls couldn’t resist. Once Adam a few drinks in him, his personality did a 180.

Adam laughed loudly, causing Milan and Patrice to laugh at his laugh. Patrice couldn’t believe how impressionable Adam was when he was drunk but loved hanging out with him nonetheless.

“Alright boys, I’m gonna get us some more drinks,” Adam said with a drunken smile.

“Be careful, Quaider. I don’t want to clean up your mess tonight,” Milan called out.

Patrice’s laughter calmed down. “God I forgot how fun he was when he’s drunk.”

“This is what you miss out on when you’re too busy working with Lila.”

All night he and Adam had been ribbing Patrice about how much he had been missing in the past few months. Adam even joked about how Patrice was never going to find a wife if he spent all his time working at the office.

10 minutes later Adam still hadn’t returned with their drinks so Milan and Patrice decided to check up on him. He wasn’t a sloppy drunk but he got distracted very easily. They walked around the group of people and found Adam approaching them with a few beers in hand.

“What the hell took you so long?”

Adam had a dopey smile on his face as he passed the beer bottles out. “I was spying on Ferry and this girl he’s talking to! Man, she’s so hot. If only I got to her first.”

Patrice had a bad feeling in his gut as the group went to find out who Andrew was talking to. He felt that same burning sensation in his chest that he felt earlier in the night and he hated it.

He watched as Andrew almost had Lila pressed up against the counter top. The sleeves of his sweater were rolled up to his elbows, showing off the tattoos he had on his arms. If she was impressed with Patrice’s one tattoo, he couldn’t imagine how she felt about all of Andrew’s.

She covered her mouth and let out a drunken giggle as Patrice and the rest of his friends entered the kitchen. Milan loudly cleared his throat, startling her and making her push Andrew away in the process. This was the second time that night where Milan had caught her up close and personal with one of his friends. Since he was drinking, he didn’t give it a second thought.

Milan excused himself and pulled Andrew away from Lila. She took this opportunity to refill her empty cup with another drink. And now that she was alone, Patrice took this as the perfect time to approach her while Andrew was distracted.

“See now you’re making me think that I’m going to be the one who gets to tell the embarrassing drunk stories at work,” he said as she put the cap back on the bottle of vodka.

She laughed at his joke, “Now you and I both know that you’re too much of a sweetheart to do that to me.”

“We’ll just see about that,” he teased.

Lila felt her heart do a little flip. The Patrice that she knew wouldn’t have teased her like that. She liked it more than she should have. His tone was light and playful and she just wanted more of it.

“Such a tease,” she said with a shake of the head. She wanted to see how far she could go before things got too uncomfortable for him. “Didn’t you know that it’s not nice to tease women?”

She tried to act nonchalantly as she drank from her cup. He only smirked at her inappropriate comment and took the cup from her as she was still drinking it. The alcohol dribbled down her chin as she and Patrice began laughing.

“You’ve had way too much to drink,” he said, watching as she licked her lips clean.

“I have not!”

He slid her cup as far as it could go without having to move his body. “I can tell by the look on your face.”

“What do you mean by the look on my face?” She scolded at him, shoving his muscular chest.

His chest was so tight and firm. She wanted to find another excuse to touch him but knew there was no way with all his friends around.

He tried to forget her comment as they spent the next few minutes talking and laughing with each other. Their short and flirty conversation was interrupted as Adam walked up to them, throwing his arm over both of their shoulders.

“Bergy, are you really trying to steal Ferry’s girl right in front of him?”

Lila scrunched up her nose as his beer breath hit her face. “I’m not anyone’s girl,” she removed his arm from her shoulders. She glanced up at Patrice before saying, “I’m going to find Rachel.”

Patrice only watched as Lila walked out of the kitchen with her held up high. Adam had a confused look on his face, wondering what he did wrong. By the way Andrew was talking about her, he made it seem like they were almost an item already. Since he was drunk, he quickly shook it off and didn’t notice the deathly glares that Patrice and Andrew were giving him.

Andrew then looked down at his watch and noticed that it was well past one in the morning. He decided to call it a night; he couldn’t remember the last time he was out this late with his friends. When he announced that he was leaving, his friends began teasing him for being an old man but he didn’t care. He was used to the old man jokes at this point.

After he said goodbye to his friends, they could see that he was on the prowl for Lila. She was somewhere in the living room, surrounded by the sea of people. She wasn’t with Rachel and was talking to another girl instead. Andrew politely interrupted their conversation so he could give Lila a proper goodbye.

“I’m glad I got to see you again,” Andrew said before leaning in to kiss her cheek. She gave him a bashful smile. “Hopefully I get to see you again soon.”

After they had chatted for a quick moment, she decided to go and find Patrice since Adam went back outside. She wasn’t sure where Rachel was and she wanted to see if she could get away with touching him again. She somehow managed to catch his eye as he was talking to a few guys that she didn’t recognize. Patrice excused himself when he realized that Lila was walking over to him. He needed to give her his full attention.

They met each other by the entrance of Milan’s backyard. She found herself standing closer to him than she meant to. If he said anything about it, she would just tell him it was because she couldn’t hear him. Her real excuse was that she simply liked standing that close to him.

“I’m sorry about what happened in the kitchen earlier. Adam is normally a nice guy.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” she said with an assuring smile. “Do you think you can help me get my jacket? I tried getting it earlier but I can’t reach the key.”

“Even with those heels you’re still not tell enough, huh?” He gave her a playful smirk, “follow me.”

Patrice slipped his hand into hers to guide her to Milan’s bedroom. He didn’t know what possessed him to grab her hand but he was glad he did so. Her hand was soft and delicate in his. When he felt her hand squeeze his, he smiled before they walked up the stairs.

They didn’t let go of each other’s as they walked down the long hallway of Milan’s home. Lila would be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy the view. The Patrice she was used to was so quiet and liked to blend in with the crowd. The guy she knew from the office wouldn’t hold her hand or let her stand so close to him.

Her lips faltered into a little frown as he let go of her hand to unlock the door. As soon as she walked in the bedroom she noticed that all of Rachel’s things were gone. She figured that she snuck out with a guy.

“Are you gonna head out now?”

“I think so. I’m hungry and there’s leftovers at home with my name all over it,” she chuckled. “Plus I have a few episodes left of season three of Dexter that I want to finish.”

“That series was pretty good but I was really disappointed with the series finale.”

She gave him an unamused look, making him laugh sarcastically. She was making fun of him from the time where they learned that they both watched Game of Thrones and he didn’t want her to spoil anything.

“You’re not supposed to make fun of me,” he tried to say with a serious tone.

She tossed her head back and giggled at his pathetic attempt. She playfully shoved his chest and pulled out her cellphone to call a cab company. She really had no reason to shove him, she just wanted an excuse to touch him before she left. While she wrapped things up with the cab company, she and Patrice walked back downstairs where the party was being held. Patrice could spot Milan across the room looking cozy with a girl who was attending the party.

“Okay I’m going to get going. The cab will be here in half an hour and I’m just gonna wait out front.”

“I’ll wait with you.”

His gesture made her smile brightly at him. He would do all the gentlemanly things in the world if it made her smile at him like that again. She asked him to wait a moment so she could thank Milan for the invite to the party. He pointed to the direction where Milan was and watched as she walked away.

She gave Milan a hug and thanked him for a fun evening before she and Patrice walked outside. They sat side by side one another as they took a seat on the cold cement steps. She took off her heels and placed them on the step below her, wiggling her toes in the process.

With Patrice, she didn’t mind that they didn’t talk much whenever they were in each other’s presence. His company was comforting enough. After a few minutes of listening to the crickets chip, she gave him a nudge to get his attention.

“You know, you didn’t have to wait out here with me. You’d be having a lot more fun if you were inside with your friends.”

“I want to be out here,” he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “What am I going to do if something happens to you? I can’t get another secretary.”

Lila rolled her eyes as she leaned back into the steps. Her elbows rested on the step above her, making the material of her shirt stretch across her chest. “Please, I’m easily replaceable,” she scoffed.

He glanced down at her chest, admiring the shape of her breasts before moving his eyes up to her face. He was thankful that she was looking up at the stars and that she didn’t catch him staring. He knew he should’ve checked to see if she was looking away first. “Trust me, you’re not replaceable,” he said firmly. “You know me better than I know myself.”

“It’s my job,” she laughed quietly. She was surprised that he sounded so sincere. There was still so much that they didn’t know about each other and there he was, acting like he knew her for years. Her eyes slowly tore away from the stars so she could look at him. She felt her cheeks warm up as she saw that he was already staring at her. “You have a crazy job and I’m there to make it easier on you,” she said softly.

He could tell that the alcohol in her system was already wearing off. She wasn’t in the same flirtatious mood that she was in earlier yet he could still feel something as she spoke to him. And the crazy thing was that she could feel it too. He could slowly feel their bodies moving closer to one another.

They felt like they were back at the bar with how closely they were sitting next to each other. Their environment was surprisingly quiet despite that there was a party going on only a few feet away. There was no need for them to sit so closely to one another but it felt so good. Their thighs were firmly pressed against one another and she could feel the warmth of his body through the material of their jeans.

“You look good tonight.”

“I know,” he found himself smirking. “I saw you looking at me through the mirror while we were in Milan’s room.”

She was suddenly thankful that it was so dark outside. He couldn’t see her pink cheeks. “Just take the damn compliment.”

“You know, you look pretty great yourself.”

“Do my eyes look exquisite?” She batted her eyelashes at him.

“Don’t make fun of me,” he said as she laughed. “I didn’t know what to say!”

They were both referring to the night of Brian’s retirement party. He suddenly felt like an idiot for saying the word exquisite. People didn’t use that word often and he felt like he was trying to make himself sound smarter than he really was.

“You could’ve just said that they looked pretty like a normal person.”

“The word pretty isn’t good enough.”

Lila smiled at the flattering comment. Patrice was always so well-mannered and had nothing but nice things to say about people. As much as she hated to admit it, but Patrice was the literal definition of the perfect gentleman. She never thought perfect people existed but with every action and word he spoke he was proving her wrong.

Before they knew it, the cab was pulling up in front of Milan’s house. Lila quickly put her heels back on as Patrice stood up from the steps. She wrapped her arms around his neck and give him a gentle hug. She only meant to give him a brief hug but she was surprised when she felt his arms wrap around her body.

He didn’t give her one of those limp, awkward hugs like you would give if forced to hug a distant relative. The hug he gave her made her feel safe and important. Everything just felt, right.

“Thanks for waiting with me, boss,” Lila managed to croak out. “I’ll see you Monday morning.”

Patrice’s lips pulled into a sweet smile, giving her the urge to kiss him.