Observing the Boss (closed for Shmoe123 and myself)

[slippedhalo]

Everybody hated the manager, Leah Simmons.
The whole office talked behind her back. Her staunch professionalism turned to near bitchiness when the friendliness of her all male staff often got mistaken for come ons and sexual harrassment and she would turn on her ice-princess attitude.

It's David's second week of work. After the initial interviews he was quite taken with the beauty of his soon to be boss, Ms. Simmons but it was quickly quite apparent that she was not a very nice woman and as he fell into quick friendship with his co-workers, Sean, Anthony, Mike and Ken he learned that though Ms. Simmons caused all of them some wet dreams, not one of them actually liked her personality based on the way she treated them at work.

It turns out today is Ms. Simmon's birthday and not one of the workers bothered to act as if they remembered even though they knew fully well. David sees her sitting alone in the staff cafeteria and actually feels a little sorry for her. (That's where this begins)

 

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Leah Simmons
Age: 28

Phys desc: see link in my signature


IC:

After too many years of having to act tough to get to the top of the workforce, Leah has found it hard to find the balance between business and friendship. Her work having consumed all aspects of her life, she is now a workaholic with no personal life whatsoever and miserable for it.

For example, today is her birthday. Nobody remembers. It's just another day at the office to everyone else.

 

[schmoe_128]

David Jacobs

David Jacobs
6'-1"
200 lbs
Wavy dark hair
Green Eyes
toned body
Age: 29

All through his interview, David couldn't help but look at her. She was stunningly beautiful. Her long red hair cascaded past her shoulders and she had a body, wow did she have a body. He wondered if he'd be able to concentrate on work if she offered him a job, which she did. Actually, before he even left the building that day, she offered it to him.

He started work a week later and found that he fit in pretty well with the other guys around the office. At first he was a little miffed that they refered to her as "The Ice Queen". He couldn't understand it at first, she had seemed so friendly in his interview. But as he saw her at work, he understood. He decided to make it a personal challenge to get to know her, to try to break through that hard exterior to find out what made her tick.

IC:
David was walking through the cafeteria and saw her sitting alone. He gathered his nerve and walked to her "Ms. Simmons, I noticed on the company calendar that it's your birthday today. I just wanted to say happy birthday." he said with a smile. "You know, when I was growing up, I had a neighbor named Leah, if I remember right, her birthday is today too. Kind of ironic, isn't it?" he said, looking down at her as he stood by her table.

He knew the guys would give him a hard time about talking to her over his lunch break, but he didn't care. He had to start somwhere if he was going to get to know her.

 

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"Thank you, Jacobs." was Leah's curt reply, almost a knee-jerk reflex. But, then she realized that she had just been wishing someone would wish her a happy birthday and here the new guy had done just that. The least she could do in response was be a little bit friendly. It was lunchtime after all, they weren't on the clock.

She was surprised he'd mentioned a childhood friend with her same name adn birthdate. "What an interesting coincidence...how did you know my first name?" she asked, slightly defensive. She hoped he didn't think he could get away with calling her Leah now, even in off time she was still his boss and some lines just were not crossable in the workplace. He put his tray down across from her and she eyed it with uncertaintly, realizing he intended to join her. It was a public room she couldn't forbid him to sit there, and she did hate eating alone but...somehow it felt wrong for her to be seen fraternizing with her staff. She decided to let it go this time since he was new and it was her birthday after all.

 

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OOC: Let's pretend David had a nickname as a kid that everyone knew him by. This way his name would not have registered to her as familiar.

 

[schmoe_128]

OOC: works for me. Just need to come up with one....

IC:
David was a bit taken back by her curt reply but noticed her soften a bit as she agreed with the coincidene. "Well, for one, it was on the job offer sheet you gave me, plus some of the guys around the office have mentioned it. I appologize if I've crossed a line using it, I meant no offense." he said appologetically as he set his tray down ,looking at her to make sure it was ok for him to sit with her.

When she didn't object, he pulld the chair out and sat. "Um, if i may be so forward, Ms. Simmons, I'd actually prefer to be called David. Jacobs seems so impersonal. I had a nickname growing up, but I don't think a work place is the place for nick names." he said, smiling across at her, hoping he hadn't offended her by asking to be called David instead of Jacobs.

 

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Leah looked skeptical, "David..." then shrugged, "Ok, but...don't expect me to be shortening it to Dave or calling you by any nicknames anytime in the near or distant future." she said coldly, bringing her attention back to her salad and taking a bite as she checked the news headlines on her cellphone, trying to act as if it didn't matter to her one way or the other whether David sat across from her, despite the fact that deep down inside she was really glad for the company.

 

[schmoe_128]

David was a bit shocked at her coldness. He realized where she had gotten the “Ice Queen” nickname among his coworkers. “No, Ms. Simmons, David will work just fine. I didn’t like my nickname growing up anyway. My dad gave it to me when I was a toddler and it seemed to stick. I had really curly hair, so he started calling me Curly. When the rest of my family picked it up, my friends in school did too. I didn’t get rid of it until I went to college.” He said, wondering if she was paying any attention to him or if he was having a one sided conversation.

 

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Leah wasn't listening to David's blabbering on about his childhood. Her's was rather terrible. No, actually, it had been pretty good until she was about seven. In the same summer her best friend (the little boy next door) had moved away and her father left her mother, abandoning her in the process. To make ends meet her depressed mother took in a long series of borders, some better than others, many who ended up becoming her mother's abusive boyfriends. Leah learned quickly how to stay out of the way, and try to be invisable lest the temper of the flavor of the month flare up and get taken out on her. This is when she started over-achieving in school and with afterschool jobs, it was a way to succeed, to get the approval she needed, and most importantly, a route by which she could get herself independent and out of her mother's house as soon as possible. Leah ran away and emancipated herself at 16. She never looked back and had to grow cold and tough in order to survive. Childhood memories for her were something to be avoided, not all warm and fuzzy.

 

[schmoe_128]

He said, looking at her, realizing she was basically ignoring him, but continued on anyway “Actually, quite a few people started calling me Curly Jake, using an abbreviation of my last name along with it. Actually, that started with my neighbor Leah. Some of the neighborhood kids picked it up and it carried on. In high school some of the guys just called me Jake, which was better.”

 

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Upon hearing the phrase, 'Curly Jake' Leah looked up, pulled from her reverie, her eyes wide with wonder. "What did you just say?" she asked softly, listening as David repeated himself.

She gathered her things furiously and stood to go, her face red with anger, "Who put you up to this? Was it Ken? Mr. Kenobi next door? Who told you those things about me?" she asked accusingly, then turned on her heels and walked bruskly away. She wasn't sure if she could fire David for using information from her childhood to ruffle her feathers but she would certainly find out what she could do to prevent him from ever talking to her that way again. In a hasty huff she was out of the cafeteria and back to her office, slamming the door behind her.

 

[schmoe_128]

David was about to stop her protests when she got up and stormed from the cafeteria. He picked up his tray and set it on the counter on his way out the door after her. “Ms. Simmons, wait, ple….” He got out as the door to her office slammed he knocked a couple of times. “Please Ms. Simmons, nobody put me up to anything. Honest.” He said through the door, trying to figure out what was going on. Then it hit him. “My god, it couldn’t be… she couldn’t be” he thought to himself.

He tried the knob, opening the door slightly “Ms Sim… Leah, I AM Curly Jake.”

 

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She was sitting at her desk, trying to wipe away the tears that had begun when she'd closed the door behind her and compose herself when the sound of the doorknob turning caused her to look up, still feeling raw and vulnerable, her emotional core exposed.

She rose to stop him but he had entered the room, closing the door quietly behind him, “Ms Sim… Leah, I AM Curly Jake.” he said softly.

Leah shook her head, afraid to look at him and see the similarities to her childhood friend and first love, even more afraid it was some trick. "This is a really cruel joke." she breathed through her tears. "I don't know what you want from me but you can't just come in here and pretend to be the friend I lost as a child. That's not fair." she stated, trying with all her might to control the tears still streaming down her face.

 

[schmoe_128]

David walked slowly towards her desk as she talked. “Leah, this is no joke, I don’t want anything from you. I don’t know if I am the same Curly Jake you’re referring to, but I think it’s a little to coincidental that two people named Leah with the same birth date would know a little curly haired kid nicknamed Curly Jake. I was born in Van Nuys. When I was 8, my family moved to Anaheim when my dad took a different job. I lost contact with all my friends and we never went back to the old neighborhood. A few years later, he was transferred to Dallas so by the time I was old enough to go back there myself, I was to far away.” He said as he looked at her. “I don’t know what else I can say to make you believe me, but I’m not playing any jokes on you.” he said, offering her his hand kerchief

 

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At this point Leah couldn't control nor hide her emotions and burst intofull on tears. "Curly Jake...I've missed you so much." she whispered between hiccups. "My life just got worse and worse after you moved. You knew my address and phone number...when you never contacted me again I thought you had forgotten about me."

She sat on the edge of her desk holding herself as she wept. "That same summer my father left...I started to think everyone I loved would leave me...and they have." she managed to say before more crying made it impossible for speech any longer.

 

[schmoe_128]

David walked to her, standing in front of her. “Leah, I have never forgotten you. When we first moved, my parents wouldn’t let me call you, and you know I was never much of a letter writer. I know it’s not an excuse, but it’s the truth. By the time I decided to try to contact you, my mind told me you had probably moved, or moved on.”

He put his hand on her shoulder as he listened to her talk about her life after they had been separated. “I’m so sorry. I wish I had tried to keep in contact with you.” He said softly and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him, letting her sob into his chest.

 

[slippedhalo]

For the first time in what felt like eons Leah let herself be vulnerable and rested her head against David as she wept out her sadness.

 

[schmoe_128]

David softly rubbed her hair as she wept into him. Unsure of what to say or do, he just held her. The smell of her hair drifting to his nose, he inhaled deeply. He hadn’t entirely forgotten her, but the memories of her were fading, until now. It all came rushing back to him, the sadness he had felt when they moved away, how much he had missed her.

“I missed you too Leah. I was a sad little boy for a long time after we moved. To the point my parents were concerned.” he said softly, barely audible over her sobs. “But we’ve found each other again. I’d like to know what you’ve been doing, get to know you again. I still miss you.” he said as he moved her chin to look into her eyes.

 

[slippedhalo]

Leah looked up at her new employee...no, at her friend Curly Jake, remembering they had been each other's first experiment in kissing, they'd played doctor and nurse several times...she nearly laughed at the terribly embarrassing memory of his mother catching them in the pantry of her kitchen as he was trying to shove a carrot up her ass...just to see what would happen. They were so little, it was still very innocent. But now...as she looked at him the attraction she felt was not the same crush she'd had as a little girl, this was very adult and intense. She wanted to taste his lips. Leaning forward subtly, slowly, Leah closed her eyes and brushed her lips against his, holding the kiss just long enough to feel his warmth but then pulling away to see his reaction.

 

[schmoe_128]

David flinched a little in surprise as Leah’s lips brushed his. He moaned softly as she pulled back, their eyes meeting. The kiss brought memories rushing back into his mind, bringing a smile to his face. He softly cupped her cheeks in his hands, pulling her mouth to his, kissing her deeper. The heat of it sending a small shiver down his spine.

He couldn’t help but wonder what would have been if his parents hadn’t moved. Would they have been lovers, would they have married, would they have drifted apart? “I have so many questions, so many things I want to tell you, but not here. I want to take you out for diner tonight.” He said after their kiss broke.

 

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"Hmm." smiled Leah as she leaned close to David, "Dinner, that sounds nice. It sounds..." looking up out of the corner of her eye she caught the sight of several of her employees returning from their lunch breaks through the blinds of her office door. "...sounds...innappropriate." she finished, pulling away self-consciously, "I'm sorry, David...I mean. No, I can't date you. I'm your boss. That wouldn't be right." she said backing away to create as much distance between him and herself as possible.

 

[schmoe_128]

David was a little shocked at her sudden coldness “Inappropriate? Why? Just dinner, Leah, to catch up. Please, I couldn’t stand it if we couldn’t at least be friends, or at least try to be friends. After all these years…..” he cut himself off before he said to much. “Well, the offer stands if you change your mind.” He said and turned to walk from her office., stopping just short of the door, he turned and looked at her again. “Leah, I’ve never stopped loving you…” he said and walked out.

He went back to his desk and tried to concentrate on his work. Every time his phone rang, he hoped it would be her asking him into her office. No luck. The afternoon draged by, a couple of times, he almost went back to her on his own, but decidd not to push her.

 

[slippedhalo]

Leah had decided to spend the rest of the working day in her office, keeping her distance from the workers, especially from David. He just stirred up too many feelings in her, things that could lead to behavior others would judge her for, and vulnerability...she'd fought to get herself to this place in her life, emotionally and with her career, both strong. It was remarkable how one run in with her first love could unravel all of that in minutes.

At five o clock it was time to go. Leah purposely waited until she saw the room outside of her door clear out before leaving. Looking in her bag to fish out her keys as she waled, she stepped into the elevator blindly to find that just as the doors shut and she looked up she was face to face with David again. It was a long, awkward moment before she felt she should explain. "David...I have had a hard time climbing to to top of this field. People are just lurking around every corner, waiting for me to make a mistake just once so they can stab me in the back. An in-office romance could cost me my career. Do you understand?"

 

[schmoe_128]

David’s heart skipped a beat as he stood in the elevator and Leah walked in, not noticing him. She looked at him, a look of shock flashing across her face. He listened intently as she explained her earlier change in attitude.

“I understand that Leah. Right now, I’m not asking for a romance, just diner to catch up, just as friends, nothing more. Please.” He said, not taking his eyes from her

 

[slippedhalo]

She wanted to be strong enough to tell him no but one look in his eyes and she felt weak. "Ok...just dinner...just friends. Where and when?" she asked.