The Voices You Hear

... when the rush almost ruins

She ran up to him when they met at the lobby that night before going to dinner. It had been a day full of numbers for her, yet her mind drifted to thoughts of him and being with him at the end of the day. When before she didn't mind staying behind while her officemates couldn't wait to log out, she now surprises them when she gets out of the door way ahead of the rest. They suspected a guy is involved, but they never expected her to exude this certain glow. They've seen her former boyfriend but she was never like this, so they were more than curious to meet the new man causing her to avoid added work beyond what she is actually tasked to do.

He gave her a quick peck on the lips, almost lifting her up as he wrapped his arms around her. He would have twirled her around if not for the throng of employees who were not shying away from looking at this display of affection publicly. Some were smiling, others were openly rolling their eyes, while others stopped and stared, as if waiting for more daring action. She pushed away slightly, holding on to his arms and smiled at this gorgeous specimen before her.

"Hey you."

"Hey yourself. How was your day?"

"Getting better. Hi there, Bel."

"Hello, dearie. You look so fresh, like a whole day hasn't passed."

"Thank you, Bel, you always say the nicest things. Uhh..." She glanced sideways, tapped his chest pocket, before saying in a lower voice. "...and Bic? Did she behave?"

"Girl, you would not believe..."

"Oh, she was on her best behavior, actually. She was silent most of the day, weren't you now, Bic?"

"Hmm...I sure was. Mallows and I are best buddies, now. That's why he offered to take me with him back to his place so I could meet this fidgety remote kid. Right, Mallows?"

"I didn't exactly say that..."

"Hey Maine girl, you know over lunch, he and his boss met with..."

"On second thought, it would be nice for Remy and Bic to finally meet. Don't you think so, love?"

"Well, Bic seems eager to meet Remy, so, go ahead, take Bic with you. It'll give me more quiet time at home."

"Oh but you'll miss me so much, girl. I'll give you a quick catch up on what happened to me today."

"I'll deal with you later, Bic. My ears are for my boyfriend first. So what happened with your lunch meeting? Did you get the account?"

"I'm kind of hungry, love, where do you want to have dinner? You love ramen, right? There's a nice Japanese restaurant on the other side of Parker building. Let's try that."

"Now that you mentioned it, ooh, I'd love some spicy ramen."

A loud snort was heard, making him tap his chest a little hard. "Ow!"

"Bic? You want to stay in my bag for awhile? You might bleed ink on Richard's shirt."

"It's fine, love, I kinda like having Bic near to my heart. We bonded nicely today, didn't we now, Bic?"

"Yeah. We definitely bonded. Like glue. Like a firm grip of a hand on his arms. If I had hands and fingers and red nails to actually hold his arms, but yeah, we bonded real well."

She was beginning to sense something more sarcastic in the pen's tone, but pushed the thought aside since Bic's always been sarcastic. She laced her fingers with his and tugged at him, leading him to the doors to leave the building.

"Well, I'm glad you two bonded, but I think we better go to that Japanese place you were saying. I hope it's not too full, I will really get cranky if I don't get my ramen soon enouh. Shall we?"

She didn't notice that his ears were getting red, and that he was almost gritting his teeth. The pen kept silent for most of the way to the restaurant, and he prayed that it would stay that way.