396: Trouble in Paradise

Trouble in Paradise

The night in New York was far more interesting than the day. The sidewalks were filled with all kinds of people. Street musicians, artists, people walking hand in hand. A beautiful picture as long as one kept to the safe areas, otherwise one might chance upon the uglier side of the city with homeless people fighting one another for food. Dave enjoyed the atmosphere of life going around him. He understood that as long as he kept his head low, and moved with purpose, no one would pay any special attention to him. Especially with the hot dog, he was stuffing in his mouth right now.1

The people were all moving about minding their own business, and they left Dave alone. He was thankful for all the weirdness New York presented, it had muffled his presence well so that no one came rushing toward him yelling, "Skelly, let's take a selfie!"

Not that Dave would berate or stop anyone, he just wasn't used to being a people person. After his father had walked out on them he had spent most of his life alone, or in solitude. Sure he enjoyed his time together with Ralph, but his best buddy couldn't always be there and after Ralph left for college Dave enjoyed his privacy. The world may have developed an interest in the person behind Skelly but Dave would find it difficult to change old habits.

After getting enough fresh air, it was time to return so he walked back to his apartment. On the way, he debated against calling Lone to stay the night with him. The idea had crossed his mind more times than he would care to admit. She was a wonderful girl, and he was lucky to have trusted her the moment he chanced upon her. Unfortunately being all friendly all the time wouldn't yield him any progress in his relationship with Zoe. He knew that he had to take things to the next level, the only problem was the "How"?

Nearly all of Dave's relationships were flimsy one-night stands. The only real exception was his hateful Ex Anna, Dave hadn't stayed in a serious relationship ever since. He knew he had something precious, and he didn't want to ruin it by doing something too hasty. He didn't know what he would do if he messed up and Zoe would turn into "the one who got away", however, he understood that doing nothing at all would lead to the same outcome.

Dave took the elevator back to his apartment and was surprised to find someone waiting at the door. It was a womanly figure. She was peering through the peephole in Dave's door, hoping to see something or someone on the other side.

For a moment the possibility that the woman might be Zoe caused his heart to start beating faster, however, noticing her dark hair color made him aware of the real culprit before him

He coughed to make her aware of his presence."Ophidia, mind explaining what you are doing at my door?" Dave asked as he approached his own home

Ophidia, the new head of R&D of his company Sigma— no Skelectronics was the name right now thanks to Dave's personal appointing—

"Ah, Mr. Ruster, I-ahem, I was just..." Ophidia fumbled, fixing her hair and looking awkward after being caught red handed spying on Dave's door.

"Please don't fire me!" she begged apologetically with her head bowed down as she realized what she was doing was very wrong possibly even illegal.

Dave laughed and shook his head, "Relax, surely you must have come for something urgent on, seeing you still in your working clothes."

"Um, yeah." She nodded, then looking down on herself noticing that she was still in her unkempt work attire, she whispered "kinda". Her face turned red.

Dave had a bad premonition about where this was going but it would be rude to send her away now, so he bit the bullet and asked, "So, what can I help you with?"

"Um… when you came to the company…I, I didn't mean to say—"

Dave held his hand forward stopping Ophidia from further embarrassing herself, he heard enough to know what she was about to say, "If it's about the blow job, don't worry about it." Dave laughed and added: "I'm not that kind of guy, let's just pretend that never happened."

Ophidia almost slumped to the ground, sighing in relief, yet was there a glint of mild disappointment on her face?

Dave didn't pry instead he asked: "Is there anything else I need to know?" 

"No. Uh, wait I meant yes. I filed the project. Fenris has agreed to the budget and we should start producing prototypes by next week." Ophidia answered.

Dave didn't want to sound ignorant, "That's good. I'll check out the reports when I have the time." He smiled, went to the door, pressing on the print scanner and walked in. He had left the door wide open.

"What? Don't you wanna come in? I assure you it's much more beautiful from the inside?" Dave joked trying to lift her mood..

Ophidia fumbled a bit more then nodded and walked after Dave. Her mind was racing, Dave could clearly see that. But he didn't say anything, instead he opened the fridge and took out a bottle of wine. He went to the round table in the living room and sat with the wine bottle and two glasses.

Ophidia was unsure of what was going on, so she kept calm and quiet like a docile lamb following the wolf into his nest. Her mind was racing with all kinds of ideas. Some, however, didn't seem so bad at the moment.

Ophidia shook her head to stop her wild fantasies and asked, "What's the occasion?"

"Your promotion, of course. Now cheer up, you aren't your usual self. I may be your boss now, but I'd much rather prefer the you I met in the elevator, than the nervous person before me. If you need to, take it as the first 'order' of the boss who gave you your promotion." Dave said in a wide grin. Ophidia laughed and took the glass from him as soon as he finished filling hers.

Dave took his own glass and the two began drinking and chatting. Ophidia talked mostly about work, the company and the new responsibilities after her sudden promotion. Dave listened, he didn't know most of what she was talking about and he wasn't about to pretend he did, so he asked a lot of questions. Questions that if anyone were to hear them would mistake them from coming from an intern instead of the CEO of a company.

Nevertheless, Ophidia happily provided. She answered each of his questions to the best of her ability and explained more about stuff he didn't fully understand. The two continued talking and drinking until eventually, Ophidia took a look at the time.

"It's getting late, I need to go," she said with a hint of regret in her voice.

"Yeah, sure go ahead. Next time you want to visit, please knock" Dave teased her.

"Could I…" Ophidia hesitated, her face turned a bit red. Dave thought it was the alcohol.

"Yeah?"

"I need to use the loo," she admitted in an awkward voice.

Dave laughed, did people still call toilets the loo?

"No problem, it's upstairs," Dave pointed to the stairs.

"Thank you," she said and walked toward the upper floor of the penthouse.

Dave didn't mind her going, since he planned to go to sleep early. Tomorrow would be the third round of the Clash of Gods event. He needed to have enough sleep to stay ready and prepared for the upcoming fight.

Dave remembered that he had also promised Desmond, AKA Swingem to visit his gym. He certainly could use the exercise and who knew, maybe he could pick up a trick or two which would help him as Skelly.

Out of nowhere his phone rang stopping his line of thoughts.

It was Zoe, "Supp," Dave answered the call, his mood instantly improving.

"Hellooo," Zoe's cooing voice sounded from the other side of the phone. Dave smiled to himself like a schoolboy. It's been ages since he talked to a girl he liked this late.

"Hey, Z, whatcha up to?"

"Not much, I was out. Are you home right now?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah,"

"I didn't wake you up, did I?" Zoe asked. Dave thought she was considerate. He had already mentioned that he needed to sleep for the event.

"No, I was still up," Dave replied.

"What are you doing right now?" she asked, her voice sounded a bit… woozy. Was she drunk?

"I'm—" Dave's words were cut short when Ophidia's own voice sounded from upstairs, "Whoa, that's big!"

Dave's mind almost stopped, nearly dropping his cellphone, he actually forgot about Ophidian still being in his apartment.

"Big?! What's big?! WAIT, is that a girl I hear in your apartment?!" Zoe's drowsy voice turned sharper.

Dave's words were tangled in his mouth, it was probably the alcohol, but he was sure it wouldn't be just that. Dave was genuinely confused about his sudden situation and didn't know what to say before his brain automatically confirmed "Um, yes."

After a moment of silence, "I'm coming over! Don't even think about going anywhere!" then she hung up.

Dave's mind finally snapped back to reality, "Ah shit!"

"What's wrong?" Ophidia asked as she came down. "Sorry about that, but daaamn your bathroom is just huge. It's pretty much as big as my entire bedroom."

Dave facepalmed himself, "I think I'm in trouble." He said as he laughed. He didn't know how he was going to explain this and given Zoe's driving style, she would be here any minute now.

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