"So We Meet Again"
by C. Athens
Rated PG-13
Chapter One
Stepping out of the elevator Dave Nelson quickly scanned the newsroom, letting out a relieved sigh when he saw that he was the first one there that morning. It’s not that he didn’t love his family at WNYX but the truth was that he was actually happy he could at least have a few minutes to relax before he was unknowingly and unwillingly hurled into the wacky hijinx that ensued on floor 14 daily.
Dave let a stress-free smile cross his lips as he strolled over to his office door. He was going to toss his briefcase onto the desk, grab his favorite mug, fill it to the brim with piping hot coffee, and sit back in his chair as he waited for the serene atmosphere to come crashing down around him. Of course things in Dave Nelson’s life never went according to plan and as soon as he had pushed the door open he was greeted with something that literally made him stop dead in his tracks and stare in both shock and amazement.
There sitting in HIS chair with their feet propped up on HIS desk was a man that Dave thought he would never see again; Jake Thomas or J.T. as he preferred to be called by friends and family.
“Jake?” Dave asked out loud to himself.
“Dave, it’s been a while.” A huge pearly white grin spread across J.T.’s handsome face as he stood up from the chair and walked around the desk, pulling Dave into a hearty bear hug. “Wow you haven’t changed one bit man.” He said as he released him and put him back down onto the floor.
“Jake?” Dave repeated unable to snap out of his current state of surprise. “Wha…wha…what are you doing here?” He finally managed to ask after a few silent seconds.
“Well I was in town on a business trip and last time I spoke with your mother she said you were living in New York so I thought I would go ahead and look up my old buddy.”
“Great, great, that’s just great.” Dave said hoping that his voice didn’t show any signs of the resentment that he was feeling at the moment.
You see when it came to Jake Thomas Dave didn’t exactly consider him his “buddy”. In Fact J.T. was probably the person that he despised most in the entire universe. They had grown up next door to each other in Wisconsin, graduated high school together, and went to the same college. Everyone who knew the both of them had always considered them to be the best of friends but the truth was that Jake was constantly stealing everything from Dave and doing whatever he could to keep him down; and there were also the little things like J.T. being handsome, and brilliant, and getting everything he ever wanted. He thought that he had finally lost him for good when Jake started up his own publishing company and moved half way around the world to Japan but it seemed as though fate had a cruel sense of humor.
“So wow look at you pal.” He roughly slapped Dave on the back causing him to flinch. “The News Director at the #2 news station in NYC. Way to go.”
“Yeah… so how long are you going to be in the city for?” Dave asked desperately hoping that it was only a few days.
“Well the business part of my little trip should only take about a day and a half at the most but I figured since I’m here I’d hang out with my old friend and catch up.”
“Oh really. Well, yeah that ah… sounds like fun but you know I’m really busy and things have been so hectic around here lately and…”
Before Dave could throw out another excuse Lisa came into the office carrying a stack of papers. As soon as this happened he really wished that he could turn back time and lock the door because right when Jake caught sight of Lisa that all too familiar look came over his face; he was most definitely interested in Lisa and it immediately caused Dave to feel sick to his stomach.
“Hey Dave I have an editorial that I need you to look over.”
“Oh uh sure.” He mumbled out, a bit flustered, as he took the papers from her.
There was an awkward silence in the room for a moment before J.T. broke it just like Dave knew he would. “So Dave are you going to introduce me to this lovely creature or what?”
Dave watched as Lisa blushed and looked down at the floor bashfully. Sucking in a deep regretful breath Dave answered. “Lisa this is Jake Thomas an old :cough: friend of mine from Wisconsin. Jake this is Lisa Miller.”
“Lisa Miller it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He said as he walked over to her and kissed her hand.
Dave was secretly glad he hadn’t eaten any breakfast that morning because he was sure that if he had it would be all over the floor by now.
“Nice to meet you too, Jake.”
“Please call me J.T.”
“Ok it’s nice to meet you J.T.”
“Well Lisa Miller I usually don’t do this but anyone who works for Dave and is as beautiful as you deserves to have me buy them a cup of coffee. What do you say? There’s this great little café right around the corner. We’ll be back in no time and I’m sure Dave here wouldn’t mind.” He slapped Dave on the back again.
“Um, well, yeah, sure, that would be great.”
“Fantastic. Shall we?” Jake threaded his arm through Lisa’s and led her out of the office.
As soon as they were out of sight Dave let out an exasperated sigh and shouted out, “Son of a bitch!”
He had only been around Jake for five minutes and already he had charmed Lisa and whisked her away. His Lisa! Jake was stealing HIS Lisa! Dave thought about that for a moment and stepped back remembering that he had broken up with Lisa only three month ago so why did he care so much. Collapsing down into his chair Dave let his head fall harshly down onto the desk knowing that this was definitely going to be one loooooooooong week.
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