Uninvolved (2 page)

Becka ate most of her breakfast in the ca
r
, saving her hash brown for last
.
It
was her favorite. When Becka
got home
,
she parked on the street. Their house only had a one
-
car garage
,
and Dave had claimed it f
or his one true love
:
his Chevy. Becka drove an old Corolla and wasn’t that worried about it now that summer was over. Once inside
,
she gulped down
a bottle of water and took
a shower. Dave
worked nights and was already asleep when she
got home
,
so after her shower
,
Becka
hung out
in her room. After taking a nap
,
Becka
took a moment to thank her bed for not being a piece
-
of
-
shit
,
uncomfortable sofa before forcing
herself to
get up and be productive
so that she wouldn’t screw up
being able to sleep that night.

Not having anything
to
do
,
Becka headed over to the mall. Arrowhead Mall, which Lucy referred to as AirHead
Mall
,
was just blocks from Becka's house. This was both a good and bad thing.
As Becka ambled from store to store
,
she thought about the superpower Lucy said she had.
Was it really a superpower to not let anyone get too close?

Awesome new outfit and poor until payday was how Becka spent most weeks. This trip was no different, Becka found a
had
-
to
-
have
dress on sale. Driving home
,
she was already
deciding
what shoes to pair it with for work the next day.

#

Monday morning again
,
Becka
groaned
to herself as she drove into work
.
She liked her job
,
and h
er daily commute from Peoria into th
e city of Phoe
nix was not bad
.
It
was nothing
the commutes her parents complained about back
E
ast.
It was just that Becka would have rather slept in that morning.
Becka
had relocated to Phoenix a
few years
back
to go to
the same college as Dave
. At first
,
the desert was so exotic and different from everything she had ever known
.
Now,
it just seemed dull and very, very brown.

Becka
still go
t homesick for the
E
ast
C
oast from time to time
.
She missed
the
changing seasons and the lush greenness of Virginia
.
One thing Phoenix had going for it though was the sky
.
It
just
felt so much bigger than the
sky
back home,
having
less hills and tall trees to block the view out.

Becka
pulled
her car
into her usual spot
in the
back of the
crowded parking lot
, turning down the volume of the radio before cutting off the engine
.
Becka was never at work early enough to capture one of the coveted shaded parking spots.
Becka
groaned
again
.
She
really
did not feel like being at work
.
She worked in the operation
s
center of
a
F
ortune 500 company
.
The
three-story
office building she worked in boasted many different departments and opportunities to advance
.
Becka
was really only interested in a paycheck
,
though
.
Spying her friend
Lucy
walking towards the building
,
Becka
quickly grabbed her purse and got out of her car.

"Luce
,
"
she called out to get her
attention.

Seeing her
,
Lucy turned and waited for
Becka
to
weave her way through the parked cars
to catch up.

"You look nicer than normal
.
Have
a job interview?" Lucy asked.

That was a standard
line of
question
ing
in their department every time someone dressed up
.
Their dress code was very lax in comparison to other departments in the building
.
Their department was also the low man on the totem pole versus the pay and career opportunities in other departments
.
People
were interviewing to get out all the time
.
Becka
,
on the
other hand
,
was content
.
Her
pay
check paid her bills
,
and she had money left over each month to shop and play
.
Besides,
her job was super easy.

"Nope
.
Just
a new dress
,
and
I felt like wearing it
,
"
Becka
said
,
grinning
.

Whenever
Becka
felt crappy
,
she would purposefully dress up to make herself feel better
.
There was nothing better than knowing she looked awesome to improve her mood
.
Today
,
she wore her new
fitted navy shirtdress with nude wedges
.
The
navy of the dress made her blue eyes pop
,
and she had taken the time to not only blow dry her
light brown
hair that morning but
to
also curl it
.
She was trying to
emulate Kate Middleton
today
.
Most mornings
,
she barely managed to dry her hair at all
, letting it air dry in the car on her drive in
.

"So what time did you end up taking Crystal home?"

"Don’t even get me started on her. Ugh, she was such a pain in my ass yesterday. We are never letting her drink that much again. She was almost comatose in my bathroom until like
three
."

"Oh my
G
od
,
that sucks!"

Once inside the building and n
earing her desk
,
Becka
froze
.
"W
hoa...
W
ho is that?" she
said looking in the direction of her normally not
-
dreamy
-
guy
-
i
nhabited row of cubicles
.

Lucy spun around to look.

Seeing the object of
Becka
's gaze
,
she
shrugged
.
He
was not her type
.
"Don't know
.
Maybe
he'
s on a tag."

"I'm going to ask him to go to lunch with us
,
"
Becka
said
,
still staring.

Lucy's mouth dropped
.
"You don't even know him."

Becka
could understand her concern
.
She
could not explain it
,
but she had never been more attracted
to anyone in her entire life
.
He wa
sn't even her
usual
type, Becka
normally went for tall
,
lanky guys while this guy
was more compact and muscular
.
She could almost see the definition of his ches
t through his gray polo shirt.

"I can't explain it
,
Luce, but
,
if he says yes
,
will you drive?"
Becka
pleaded.

Lucy agreed
.
She
knew
Becka
was a nervous driver and would freak out having to make conversation with this gu
y and concentrate on the road
at the same time
.
With that
,
Becka
grinned and marched str
aight over to her mystery man
to introduce
herself
.
His name was
Nate
,
and he was on a temporary assignmen
t, or tag
,
in
Becka
's department
,
where they sorted
and distributed
all
incoming mail.

Nate
normally worked in the
call center of their employer
.
Since Becka was one of the senior members of her
department
,
Nate
was assigned to sit with
her
to learn what their group did
.
Becka's cubicle was a tight squeeze to begin with
.
Adding
an extra chair and body was normally not a good thing
, but
,
in this case
,
Becka welcomed it
. They started with
Nate
watching
Becka as she worked
and
with her explaining each task as she perform
ed it
.
They
called it ghosting.

When they got settled at her desk
,
Becka checked him out
as discretely as possible from her vantage point
.
She could do her job on autopilot and keep peeking at him out of the corner of her eye.
Nate
was just so different from what
she would normally consider
attractive
.
He was good looking
,
but in a more clean cut, frat boy way
.
He probably didn’t even have any tattoos
.
He had short
,
sandy blonde hair and his body,
G
od, what was it? Normally she was turned off by muscular guy
s, but she found herself daydreaming of
running her hands over his broad chest and down his thick biceps.

"Becka?"

Oh crap
.
She
wasn’t even playing attention to what he was doing and completely missed whatever he had just said to her.

"Am I boring you?"
Nate
joked.

If he only knew
…

"Um, sorry
.
Just
zoned off there for a sec
.
I missed what you said
,
" Beck
a admitted
,
flushing.

The look
Nate
gave her in response made her wonder if he was onto her.

It was mid
-
morning by the time
Becka
worked up th
e courage to ask him to lunch
.
Nate
blinked
his hazel eyes
at her, maybe in surprise
,
but accepted
.
Beck
a
made a point to call Lucy from her desk to casually mention that
Nate
would be joining them for lunch. Becka could almost hear Lucy rolling her eyes through the phone.
Lucy met them by the exit and
,
after introductions were complete
,
they headed to
Lucy's
car.