Lucky Coincidence // Stuart Twombly

XVII

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***

"It's getting closer and closer to the final challenge which will determine who of you will be guaranteed a full-time position here at Google," Lara spoke as she was watched by all the interns. "Your next challenge will be, Manning the Google Helpline. Something I did when I started working at Google. It is tough and you need a serious set of skills, but for those who make it through, a great number of points will be rewarded to your team. And since the race has become tight, I suggest you study up." 

The teams quickly got to work. This challenge was critical to determine who was going to win the program. This time, there was no way to go around it. The only way to win was to help each and every caller effectively. If even one of team member didn't do it correctly, the whole team could be dragged down with them. 

Everyone used the rest of their day to study for the challenge and not a single word was said. It was utter and complete silence. As Lara drove Stuart and herself home, he spent the entire car ride revising his notes and summaries. He occasionally asked her a question if he didn't understand something. 

Jace, Laura, Maddy, and baby Charlie came over for dinner that evening, but even then, Stuart didn't put his books away. Normally, Lara would've been irritated if he didn't even bother to look up from his book but now, she was actually proud that he was putting so much effort in this program.

It showed her that he was willing to work hard for something he wanted and she appreciated that a lot. 

After Jace and his family left, Stuart came up to his girlfriend. "Can you maybe help me out with this?" He asked. 

"Sure, what do you want me to do?" She replied. 

"Just give me a few situations." He reached to hand her the book but she sent him a knowing look. "Right, you know all of this," He quickly muttered, earning a soft giggle. "Okay, shoot." 

"Authorization failure with Google Drive," She said. 

"The permission has probably changed, you should request access," He answered after a few seconds of thought. 

"Very good. Chrome connectivity problems?" 

"Unselect proxy server for your LAN." 

Lara nodded approvingly as she thought of another situation. "What should I do if I'm locked out of my Google Wallet Account?" 

Stuart closed his eyes before he sighed. "I don't know." 

Lara smiled softly. "That's okay. You've got time to study. To get your access to your Google Wallet again, you should reinstate your account via the Google Support site," She said. 

He nodded. "Okay, got it. Give me another one." 

***

"I still don't understand why we're doing this," Stuart complained as he and his girlfriend sat in a fancy restaurant. 

"I already told you, I'm stalking Dana and Nick. She has never been on a date before so I wanna see how it goes." Lara replied, nonchalantly hiding behind her menu. 

Stuart sighed. "And you couldn't just... You know... Ask her tomorrow?" 

"Absolutely not, I want to see for myself." She quickly plastered an innocent smile on her lips as the waiter approached them. 

"Are you ready to order?" The young waiter asked. 

"Yes, absolutely. I'll have the goat cheese salad, please," Lara said, handing the waiter her menu. 

"I'll have the cheeseburger," Stuart ordered before turning to his girlfriend with a raised brow. Her eyes were fixated on the couple sitting a few tables away from them. "Lara." No reaction. "Lara." 

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Lara mumbled softly. 

"You're not even listening to me," He stated. 

"I totally agree," She continued. 

"You know, Billy's pretty hot, maybe I'll just go live with him," He shrugged jokingly, taking a sip of his beer. 

"Great idea, babe." 

"Tobi shitted on the bed and I didn't feel like cleaning up so you probably slept in his crap." 

"Mm-hm..." She nodded softly, never losing focus of the conversation.

"Lara, come on. You're being ridiculous," He stated. 

She averted her eyes to him. "Sorry, I just want to see her happy about something else than Google for a change," She huffed. 

"It's fine, I just wished it wasn't ruining my night," He shrugged lightly. She smiled softly and reached for his hand. He gladly intertwined his fingers with hers and rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. 

In the background, she could hear gleeful laughs coming from her Australian friend and Lara smiled to herself.

"Is it just me or is this food incredible?" She heard Nick say. 

"You're a liar," Dana stated, pointing the end of her spoon at him. 

"What? Why?" Nick retorted. 

"You were supposed to be an asshole, remember?" Dana said. "You were supposed to pack a decade of jerks and bad dates into one night." 

"Yes, now I remember," He nodded. 

"But so far, you've been totally fine." 

"Ah, you're right. I promised and I didn't deliver. You know what?" He raised his hand at the waitress passing by. "Can we get the check... Jennifer?" He asked her after intently looking at the necklace around her neck. 

"How did you know my...?" She mumbled.

"It says right here on this little necklace," He grinned boyishly. "And now that I have the name, how about that number? I'm just kidding." He laughed. "Or am I? You're so cute." Lara faced Stuart with a frown. He just waved it off and turned to the food that had arrived.

Dana gaped at him, suppressing her smile. "Did you just hit on the waitress?" She asked him. 

"I did, yes! The lady asked for a jerk and I'm trying to live up to my promise." He nodded proudly.

"I said ten years of assholes, you have some ground to cover," Dana said, taking a bite of her ice cream. 

"I think you've had enough dessert. I've been watching you eat all night." He took the edge of her plate and pulled it toward himself. "I'll take care of this. You have to watch your figure." 

Dana's jaw dropped. 

"You know what they say, a moment on the lips, forever on the hips. Oh, this is divine, you don't know what you're missing!" The check of their dinner was placed on the table. "Oh, here's something you're not missing, the check! I paid for the cab." He handed her the check.

"Oh, look at that! Jennifer, with a little heart and everything." Dana nodded approvingly at the check. 

"That's a great start, here." Nick raised his glass of wine and Dana followed his lead. "The night's still young, I'm taking you to some dog-fighting after this." He took her glass and poured her wine into his own glass. 

"Oh, that's amazing. Really," Dana laughed.