The Pull

Chapter 10

Two weeks into the job, I had to admit: this team was fricking awesome. As predicted, Lane and I made fast friends. With her came Shiloh, kind of like a package deal, and I had no complaints about that. In fact, I really cared for Shiloh. Being a trans man I sensed he knew a bit about the feelings I had on being outside of the heterosexual norm. It wasn't the same as being forced to live in society in the wrong body with everyone to see, but that same society bundled us together under the same LGBTQ+ umbrella. It was nice to have him close, even if we hadn't discussed it. Even though he didn't even know, it made me feel less... unnormal. Lane introduced me to table tennis night, that occurred every other Friday. Basically, it meant those who felt like it stayed after work and spent the evening having takeout, drinking beer, playing video games, and most important of all: we all enrolled in the big table tennis tournament. The rules were a bit confusing, but I gathered as much as it was all about getting points. We played each other after a system I would never understand, and different wins got you different number of points. Beat someone who had won a lot: higher points. The more you won, the better players you got to meet. At the Christmas party the winner would be named, and prizes would be handed out. I completely sucked at table tennis so getting any prizes was out of the question, but I loved being part of this work family. With my brother and Emma being the only family I had, this probably meant more to me than most.

There was only one big, fat problem: I spent most of my days sitting opposite from sex-in-a-suit. It var unnerving, it had me on edge and to be honest: it was kind of eating at my self-esteem. Ben was so. Fucking. Professional. It was insulting. He wasn't rude or anything, just... distanced.

"Are you doing Table Tennis Night, Puck?" Lanes' head popped in the door and both me and Ben looked up from our screens. This was the first time today we had actually been alone in our shared room, and I was thankful for that. I had been up to my neck in a project for an organization that worked with distributing menstrual products in development countries, and I really needed to do it justice. Being around Ben made it hard, as he chewed on my focus abilities.

"Oh, crap, was it this Friday? I completely forgot," I said, thinking of the after-work drinks I had planned with Ezra tonight. "I'm meeting my brother. Sorry."

"Bring him." Ben's voice made me jump in my seat.

"What?" I said like an idiot.

"Bring him to Table Tennis Night. It's not uncommon to bring a friend or a partner." Ben's eyes didn't leave the screen while he spoke, he didn't even stop typing. Yet it had been the first non-job-related thing he'd said to me in almost a week, so I guess it was progress.

"Oh. Ok, I'll ask him. Thanks, Ben."

"Mhm." Ok, his stiffness was starting to get to me. I felt irritation bubble in my chest like a burp got stuck and decided I'd give him one more week. Next week, he and I would be working together non-stop on a project, and I would not be able to 'bring stuff to the table', as he had put it, if he was going to be all Moody Moodyson every time I stepped into the room. He had told me to stay, to take the job. He owed it to me to at least try to make it work.

"Are you staying for Table Tennis Night?" I asked him once we were alone again.

"No, probably not. I don't participate in the tournament."

"Well, you don't have to, do you? There's no rule saying you can't hang out and not play table tennis." He stopped typing and looked at me from over our screens. There was still something distant in his eyes, but I could see more. He looked sad, almost.

"I guess there's no rule, no. Would you like me there?"

Wow. Did he just ask me that?!

"Um, sure. I mean, it's supposed to be good for company morale when management participate in things like these, right?" I decided not to take the bait. He had been treating me like the irritating cousin from the countryside for two weeks, I sure as hell wasn't feeding his ego. He answered by looking down on his screen again.