The Pull

Chapter 8

No. Now what?? I had had as much as I could take of Ben Campbell this close to my crotch. I needed a change of underwear and a good run with my vibrator tonight to get him out of my system. I also had a bruised ego and wanted to lick my wounds in peace. But most of all, I needed some distance to collect my thoughts and feelings. I was feeling so confused my head was spinning. Ben turned, facing me.

"You need to tell me what the hell happened."

No. Anything but that.

"W-what do you mean?" I could hear the falseness in my voice, but I had no idea what to tell him. Oh, you mean the part when I, totally out of the blue, called you a man-whore and kicked you out after you'd just made me orgasm for like a gazillion times? Hahaha, that was just me thinking it's bad to be happy!

"Why did you throw me out? What did I do wrong?" He seriously wasn't letting it go. I took a deep breath.

"Look, I was a total asshat for doing that. You did nothing wrong. I said some horrible things and I'm truly sorry for that. But trust me when I say everything is fine. We are fine." He looked at me with a stern face.

"That's not what I asked."

"Ben..."

"I know you weren't fine because I could see it on your face, Puck. So, I'll ask you one more time: why did you tell me to leave?" His emphasis on the 'why' really left me no room to deliberately misinterpret. Sweat was starting to pool at my lower back and my heart was racing so fast a heart attack was surely on its way any second. Maybe that would be for the best.

"Ben. Please don't make me do this." The words slipped over my lips without my consent, but they made him flinch. He watched me intensely, and then sighed. When he spoke again his voice was soft.

"I don't want to force you. I won't. I'm not letting it go either, but I respect your wish. Just... if, or whenever, you would like to tell me some day, I will listen. Ok?" I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding in.

"Ok."

"Well, I guess it's about time for that tour, don't you?" he said and stood up. We then proceeded to walk around the office in a lot of awkwardness. And I mean a lot. So much awkwardness we could swim in it. By the time we reached the rest of the team I was a puddle of stress and anxiety.

"Guys, this is Puck. She's our new CD. She comes with an impressive resume, and I think she will bring a lot of great ideas to the table." I felt honoured by his words and glanced at him. He was, however, very much not looking at me. Yeah, everything is fine. We're fine. Fiiiiiiine.

A cheeky looking guy in his late twenties rose to his feet.

"Puck? I thought your name was Tamara?" He smiled at me.

"Um, no. That was a misunderstanding. Definitely Puck."

"Cool, cool. I'm Oberon. Welcome to Papercut, Puck!" He offered his hand, but I just stared at him. Then I cocked an eyebrow.

"Sure you are. And let me guess; you are Titania. You must be Lysander, you are Hermia, and you my friend, are certainly Snug." I pointed at each and every one of them. Everyone but 'Oberon' looked utterly confused, but I could hear Ben's soft chuckle behind me. God, I loved that sound. "If you thought you were being the OG there, Obi Wan, I must disappoint you. I've gotten Shakespeare jokes all my life." I smirked.

"Seriously Will, you're gonna scare her off before she gives us a chance and I've seen her portfolio – she's awesome," 'Titania' muttered and kicked Will in the shin.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, Puck. I really love your name," Oberon-Will said while sucking in air through his teeth for the pain.

"Thanks. I really love yours too," I said with a cool face.

'Titania' got on her feet, and I noticed she was about as tall as me, which wasn't that usual given I'm five foot ten. I liked her already.

"Will is a dork, but he is harmless. You are most welcome, Puck," she said. "I'm Lane, I do our editing and script supervising."

One by one they introduced themselves. Lysander turned out to be Shiloh, our copywriter. Hermia was Lou, a graphic designer. Snug was also a graphic designer, and his name was Tyrone. And Will with the cheeky smile did animations, Ben was our project manager, and I was now the Creative Director. This was turning out to be a solid team. That is, if I didn't count the fact that I had let one of the team members fuck me with his mouth. And his penis.

It can't all be roses and rainbows and bubble farts, I guess.

When lunchtime arrived, I realized I was famished. Having a three-hour ride on an emotional rollercoaster apparently demanded it's energy. Ben steered me back to Simon's office, but when we stepped in, Simon wasn't there.

"You can wait here, I'll go see if I can find him," Ben said and turned to leave when Simon entered the door. He had a peculiar look on his face.

"Ah, there you are. I'm afraid I am going to have to sit this one over, Tamara."

"Puck." Ben looked at me while correcting Simon.

"What?" Simon looked utterly confused and I cringed. This name thing had gotten such enormous proportions.

"Her name is Puck, not Tamara."

"Oh... ok. Is that right?" Simon looked at me.

"Yes. Actually, they're both my names. Tamara Puck Bower. But everyone calls me Puck."

"Excellent. Puck it is. However, I still must call a rain check. We have some difficulties with a client I must attend to. Ben here will of course accompany you to lunch now, and you and I can do lunch next week to make up for it. I'm really sorry about this, I hope you still know I am thrilled to have you onboard." Simon looked apologetic, but I was not sporting the pale face because he stood me up.

Lunch, alone with Benjamin fucking Campbell?

"Not to worry, Mr West. I can get myself a sandwich by the coffeeshop I passed down the street." I hoped the sheer panic I was feeling wasn't shining through.

"Nonsense. Ben, you'll take her to the Vietnamese place, right? It's amazing. You don't want to miss it. And if you really want a sandwich, they have the most amazing Banh Mi."

Fuck. There was no getting out of this one. But, hey. Upside was I loved Vietnamese food, and by now I was so hungry I'd soon be chewing off an arm. Preferably not my own as I quite liked them attached to the rest of my body. I forced a smile.

"Sounds great. Thank you." I glanced at Ben, who was staring at Simon. Then he collected himself and looked at me.

"Shall we?"

Yes. I guess we shall.