Chandler
CHANDLER
W hat the actual fuck? What the fuck did I just see? My mind is racing as I walk toward the front doors of the building, and I hear Angela tell me to have a good lunch, but I don’t respond to her. Once I’m outside, I head straight to my car, trying to hide my erection behind my briefcase. What kind of person watches porn at work? I get in and turn on the engine. But I don’t move. I’m too stunned to drive anywhere. She was watching porn. Hardcore Porn. And I caught her. Fuck. How long has she been doing that? I’ve always thought Samantha was sexy, but walking in on that was the hottest thing I've ever seen, hands down.
I was already a little on edge this morning when she walked into work wearing that white shirt that shows off her black bra underneath. I knew something was off about her today, but that was the last thing I expected to see, and then there was her pretty much undressing me with her eyes before I left for lunch. The fact that I just caught her watching a woman get pounded on a desk is… God… Fuck.
I take a breath and try to think of anything else, anyone else, but she’s the only thing I can seem to think about right now. I’ve always liked her feisty side, but today, I saw a different Samantha. A Samantha who watches porn at her desk at work. Hardcore porn.
I lay my head back on the headrest and look up at the car ceiling, replaying the image over and over again. I wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t caught her. I hear a knock on my passenger side window, and when I turn my head, Samantha is standing by my passenger door. I expect her to turn and go back into the building or say some smart-ass remark, but she doesn’t. Instead, she opens the passenger door and climbs in the car before slamming it shut and locking it. I stare at her for a minute, taking in the sight of her flushed cheeks, her hair slightly out of place from the wind, her eyes on everything but me. Neither of us says anything, and I let the fact she's now sitting next to me in my car sink in.
I study her intently for a moment before I blurt out. "What the fuck, Sam?”
She ignores me and glances around the parking lot before she finally turns to face me and says, "So, about what you saw…”
“Yeah," I say, still dumbfounded. "I saw a lot! I had no idea you were so deprived of dick that you had to start watching porn at work.”
I know I’m being a jerk, but my mind is going to a lot of dirty places right now, and I need her to leave. By the look on her face, I can tell the jab I made got to her, but she still doesn’t move. “Sam, get out of my car.”
She shakes her head. “Nope. Just let me explain.”
Of course, she wants to explain why she was watching porn at work. What other reason would there be?
“Other than the usual reason why people watch porn?” I watch her face turn bright red, and she places her hands over her face and groans.
“I don’t need you to explain. There’s only one reason you’d be watching porn at work, and I really think you should get out of my car.”
She doesn’t. She sighs and runs her fingers through her long, dark hair. “Are you going to tell anybody?”
The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind that she could get fired for what I just saw her doing. And now she’s looking at me with the same eyes she used to defile her desk. I could use this to my advantage. I think back to when I’d make Sam get me lunch every Tuesday when she first started. She was brand new to the office, and all she knew was that she had to report to me. It started out as a joke, but after Ken told her that we were partners, that stopped. And then she started stealing my lunch, so I had to start going home to eat. I miss being catered to.
“Well," I say and give her a sly smile, looking at her up and down. “There is something.”
Her eyes widen.
“I’m not doing..." she pauses. "I mean, if you promise you won’t say anything, I guess I can, but you know we could lose our jobs.”
I quirk an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”
“Weren’t you suggesting that we…”
“Suggesting what?” I ask. Where is she going with this?
“Um..” She looks down at her skirt and then back at me, her eyes moving from my eyes to my lips. Oh. Oh!
“I’m not asking you to sleep with me to keep your secret, Sam!”
“Well, what else was I supposed to think?”
“Oh, I don’t know! Maybe that I’m not going to commit a fucking crime by asking you to sleep with me to keep your perverted little secret! ”
“You were giving me the eyes.”
“Eyes?”
“Oh, don’t play dumb. You were totally thinking about it!”
“Was I?”
“Were you?”
Most definitely, but she doesn’t need to know that.
“I mean, you’re not… You,” She pauses, her eyes narrowing in on me as she gives me a once over. “I know you want something in return.”
“What are you talking about?”
She scoffs. “I’m talking about the fact that you just saw me watching something highly inappropriate at work, and you seem way too cool about it.”
“Never said I was cool about it," I say, shaking my head.
"Okay," she says. "And will you stop calling me a pervert? I still think you were trying to use it to get into my pants."
"Trust me, Sam. If I wanted to get into your pants, I wouldn't need to blackmail you."
"You wish." She rolls her eyes.
"Do I?" She looks out of the passenger side window. "Because you followed me out here after I caught you watching 'that highly inappropriate thing.'" I point out, using air quotes. She's quiet for a moment.
“I don’t believe you, "
“And why’s that?”
“Because you like to act all cocky and like you're the hottest thing in the room, and like any woman would be lucky to have you," she says. I go to speak again, but she cuts me off., "And you’re an asshole.”
She’s not completely wrong about me being an asshole, but I have no idea where she got the notion that I sleep around. I guess I can't blame her for being suspicious. I mean, I guess I do get around, but it’s not like a weekly thing, more like an every other week thing .
"Are you sure you're not the one wanting to sleep with me?"
"Most definitely not," she says, but the way her face reddens when she looks away from me makes me think otherwise.
"Then why did you follow me out here?"
The awkward silence is back, and I look at her up and down, her skirt laid over her perfectly long legs, her white shirt tucked in slightly, and her black bra that I can see through her shirt. Fuck. I need to go for a drive or take a long, cold shower. “Get out of my car. If you’re so worried about it, take the rest of the day off or something. I’ll cover for you.”
“Okay, something is seriously wrong with you today.”
“Something's wrong with me? I just caught you doing something that could get you fired from your job, and then you got into my car and called me an asshole. I saw you flip me off when I left for lunch earlier, by the way!” She lets out a long, drawn-out sigh.
“And then you accuse me of wanting to sleep with you to keep it a secret. Is this some fantasy of yours or something?”
She doesn't reply, only bites her bottom lip, a nervous habit of hers I’ve come acquainted with, and I swallow. Because even though I’ve seen her do that a thousand times, I imagine making her bite her lip for different reasons. I need to stop thinking about this right now. I don’t know if I can finish working today with her ten feet away from me.
“Listen," she starts and looks at her hands in her lap. “My friend, Penny. She has this weird thing where she likes to send me porn.”
I blink a few times. What the hell? Do girls do that? I have to work with her knowing that she receives emails of porn from her friend at random. I am so fucked.
“What? Why does she send you porn? ”
She looks at me sheepishly. “It’s a long story.”
This is so fucking weird. “Okay. Okay, whatever. You and your friend have weird fetishes, I get it. Would you get out of my car now? Just take the rest of the day off. I’ll finish the reports and see you on Monday.” I say.
“Fine," she says. “But I’m only leaving early because I don’t know if I can show my face around the office today.”
“Wonder why," I say. I watch her nostrils flare and notice that her eyes are darker than I remember,
a pool of dark greens, flecks of brown and gold.
"I'm getting out of your car now," she says.
"Okay," I say. But she doesn’t move.
I glance down at her lips, slightly parted as she glares at me and painted a shade of maroon. The air thickens, and I swallow, feeling a lump in my throat. I wonder what she would do if I leaned in and kissed her right now, if she would give in and allow me to graze my teeth over her bottom lip. I watch her face, and I can tell, without a doubt, that she’s thinking the same thing. I’m not sure if it’s what I just saw her doing in our office or if it’s the tension that’s been building up since we met that makes the desire to kiss her so strong. I don’t move, and neither does she. We look at each other, and the silence is only adding fuel to the fire. Her eyes flick to my lips again, and before either one of us does anything we may or may not regret, she gets out of my car and slams the door shut. I watch as she smooths her skirt and can’t help but stare at her ass when she walks toward the building until she disappears around the corner. What the fucking fuck.