Washed
Right Out, Chapter Ten.
Prompts used: well that's a rough break, a snake in the grass.
"Kiss
you?" Riley's brain spun in circles,
like a hamster wheel on full tilt. "Dude!"
"What?"
Eren gave him what could have been a harmlessly innocent look,
but ended up looking more devious than he must have intended.
"I
can't kiss you. We're colleagues. And friends," Riley argued.
"And colleagues.
And did I mention sexual harassment in the workplace? And I have my
own issues to deal with without worrying about necking with you in an
open, public place like the lobby?"
Eren
bit his lip, trying to look innocent and coming off like a grown-ass
male Lolita figure, minus the shine of youth and the lip gloss.
"Believe me, I've considered all the above. Except the last
part." He squinted at Riley.
"Besides,"
Riley said, side-stepping the issue of Jonathan all together, "why
do you need me to kiss you downstairs today of all days, now of all
times—heck, why me?"
"Because
you're the one person in this place I trust most. Maybe even in my
entire life. And I need you."
The
look on Eren's face was more open and personal than Riley had ever
seen in the past four years they’d
worked
together. His dark hair looked to be at its thinnest, and Riley
wondered what Eren had been up to these past days that would break
open his cocksure shell of an ego.
"Well,
that's... something," Riley managed. "Sorry, you sort of
took me aback with that one."
"I
don't have time for you to be taken aback.
I
need your mouth so I can make my husband mad!"
"Well,
I mean if that's all you—wait, what?"
"He's
so—so—calm
about everything! Damn that Kibo, he makes me feel like a drama queen
just for having emotions!" Eren tugged on the skin of his thumb
with his mouth as he talked. "For once, I'd like to see him mad.
Jealous, even! And then I can finally get what I want!" The
flushed look on his face sealed the deal on what that would be.
In
five seconds, Eren had gone from sad little sheep to a sharp-fanged
snake in the grass. It would have
been admirable
if Riley didn't have his own personal snakes to contend with. Also,
he really didn't want to deal with Eren's easily excited libido
during work hours. It could get messy.
Riley
sighed. "Eren, I'm not going to do this. You can weirdly seduce
your husband on your own time. And I'm not kissing a man whose
regular breakfast is pickle
loaf
and garlic mayo—well,
it's true."
Eren
opened his mouth wide enough that his uvula almost stuck out. "My
mouth is clean!"
"Put
your mouth away, send Kibo a naughty text, and before you run
downstairs to take care of business, can I please get my SD card back
from yesterday?"
Eren
pouted. "All right." He stood up from the corner of Riley's
desk and brushed away non-existent dust from his seat. "But when
I come back, we're gonna have a talk."
"Sure,
sure." Riley turned back to his computer screen. He could hear
Eren stalk away to his own desk, rattling a neighbor's empty chair in
the process. Then his attention was stolen by the email piling up in
his inbox,
and the flow of people slowly filing in,
and eventually giving him more work to do.
That's
how Riley forgot about Eren,
and his promise of a talk,
until it was noon and they both happened to eat lunch at the same
time, in the same break room, at the same table. Of
course,
he thought. Unfortunately for him, his other office friends were on
the other side of the room, in deep congress with a slow working
vending machine.
Eren
was pointing a plastic spork at him menacingly and asking for one of
his crustless sandwich triangles. "Please?"
"Yeah,
sure." Riley pushed a sandwich across the table. "I hope
you're not allergic to canned tuna."
"I'm
only allergic to walnuts and clown make-up." Eren skewered the
sandwich with his spork and chewed on it like an oversized kebob.
"Now spill the details. Make it quick. I've got dick blemishes
to Photoshop out of our next issue,
and Sharon from the writing pool still doesn't have her copy turned
in, which is supposed to accompany said dicks."
Riley
blanched. "Okay, give me a minute and let me process all of that
info so I can eat with a clean mind." He bit into an orange
slice and let the juice smear across his bottom lip.
In
truth, he was stalling. Jonathan was not a part of his work life.
Most of his colleagues knew he’d
been
dating, but beyond that Riley had kept the personal and work spheres
separate—until
now.
Still,
it was nice to have friends on his side, friends who would naturally
turn against Jonathan with him. Despite Eren's fast mouth, he was
usually good at keeping sensitive details to himself. Yes, Riley
decided, polishing off the last orange slice, Eren was good to know.
So
Riley gave Eren the dirty details, excising the more personal points.
As he talked, he was incredibly grateful it was Friday,
and everyone was too busy with their weekend plans to pay them any
attention.
By
the time Riley came to the end of his story with the decision to file
a restraining order against his ex-boyfriend, the other man was
watching him with unmoving eyes. Half a sandwich was still hanging
off his spork, tuna smearing across the plastic white tines.
“That's
a rough break, dude.” Eren bit off a corner of bread and chewed it
slowly before adding, “So you want to make this creep disappear?
Count me in.”
Riley
stared as Eren make quick work of the remainder of his lunch. “You're
gonna what now?”
“I'm
in. I'll help you get rid of him.”
Here are my fellow bloggers who are also flashing this week:
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