Better with you

Chapter 17

Alexis' pov

Once we left, we went to the bar to get a drink. Ray told me that he was really impressed with me. He said that yhe guy from before is a real deal, and it was such a great thing to have him on our side.
"Thank you so much, Alexis." He said. When I told him about the guy putting his hand on my thigh and everything else, he was shook.

"He did what?"He said he would've beat up the guy if he knew earlier. He didn't like that I let the guy keep his hand on my thigh. I tried to tell him that it was okay and I had it under control.

He told me he feels positive about the company now. He said he had been disturbed about it for a long time.
"Let's celebrate with a drink." He had said before we went to the bar. I liked that even though he didn't win the award, he had something to celebrate.

We ordered our drinks and made a toast once they arrived.
"To, the unpredictable." I said, and we cheered.
"Truly." He responded to the toast.

Amidst all this I didn't realise how good his blazer felt. It saved me from the cold, and it also smelled like him which was so goood. It made me feel weak every time I got a whiff of it.

I don't know what came upon me after gulping the drink, but I hugged him. Maybe I just wanted to make him feel okay about the loss. To my surprise, he hugged me back. It felt really nice, but we broke apart in a couple of seconds.

"Thank you for being there. You have no idea how much it means to me." He said. His words were so genuine, and had so much weight to it. It felt like they were coming from a personal space.
"I'm glad I was there." I said.

I had to visit the restroom, so I excused myself. When I was on my way there, I heard some people talking shit about Ray.

"Oh yeah, I heard he threw out his father." One guy said.
"I heard that too. He disowned his dad after becoming the CEO. He's such a prick." Another one said.
"Julia was right, he's good for nothing." The first guy said. I realised that these were the "rumours" that Ray was talking about this morning. It made my blood boil, but I chose to ignore it because they were not worth it.

When I got back from the washroom, they were still at it. I couldn't ignore anymore. These guys didn't even look half as successful as Ray is.

I purposely bumped into one of the guys.
"I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking." I said.
"It's alright. You can just buy me a drink." The guy I bumped into winked at me.
"Oh but.. I don't know you. Where do you work?"
"We work at IMZ." They said. I had some knowledge about bigger companies and IMZ wasn't one of them.

"Oh, I never heard of it. I work at TA Enterprises." I said.
"It's a really great company!" The other guy said.
"Yeah really amazing." His friend added.
"Yeah, it really is. Especially because my boss actually loves his father and takes really good care of him, and my day's pay is probably more than what y'all make in a week." They looked at each other and then at me. Embarrassment was all over their faces.

"Pity yourselves." I said before leaving.

My whole perception of Ray had changed. I used to think he's arrogant, but he has always just been so pressured into keeping the image of his company, that he had become that kind of a person. He was just very focused. I understand him way more now, because I myself was a workaholic. I felt bad that he didn't have friends.

Even though there were times when I was annoyed by him, or may even have disliked him, I had grown to appreciate him. Apart from what we had between us, he was super hardworking, and caring, and even though he would never admit it, he was loving. I started to connect with him.