The Older Man Part II

Chapter 5

Here Comes Trouble

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CHEYENNE'S POINT OF VIEW

It had been two weeks since I began working at Evans & Partners. I met a decent amount of people who worked here, and each one of them was nice. Since working here, I had grown closest to Jade and Elijah.

Elijah quickly became a big brother to me. He reminded me of my own brother, Jude, who I rarely saw since he lived on the other side of the country with his girlfriend. We kept up contact while he was in college and after he graduated, and despite having a good relationship with them, I felt closer to Elijah.

Every day I walked into work, I would be greeted by Elijah's glowing smile and morning enthusiasm. We would occasionally engage in small talk if I got there a bit earlier than I was meant to. It would be the highlight of my day to talk with him.

And Jade reminded me of a less bold Thalia. Thalia had her own life in college and was occupied a lot with that, but since she still lived in Illinois, we could see each other on occasion. 

Jade and I were growing to be very close friends. Since Jade worked with clients of her own, we didn't see each other too often but when we did, you'd never guess that we spent time apart. We would immediately talk and catch up with each other over lunch.

From my first day here to present day, Jade and I shared a lunch break and we always sat together, talking about the latest news in the world and in the company.

Today was Monday, and she was out sick with the flu, which meant that I was going to be sitting by myself during my lunch break. 

I was a bit bummed out because it felt like those times when I was a little kid and my best friend didn't show up to school. It was boring and almost intolerable without them there, but I made the best of it.

After taking care of the final things I had to do before my lunch break, I grabbed my phone and headed into the breakroom.

When I walked through the doorway, I saw a few other people already sitting in there that I recognized. I wasn't close enough to any of them to call one of them a friend, though.

I grabbed the lunch Vincent had prepared for me out of one of the refrigerators before taking a seat at an empty table.

I didn't know exactly what he made for me. He only told me that there was an extra surprise in my bag. It confused yet intrigued me. When I unzipped my lunch bag, I smiled when I saw a slice of strawberry cheesecake sitting in a plastic container.

This must've been the extra surprise he was talking about, I smiled to myself.

Vincent was the better cook between the two of us. I knew a few good recipes, but he was a genius in the kitchen. He told me once before that he had never made cheesecake and wanted to perfect a recipe for me since he knew that it was my favorite dessert. He had finally mastered a recipe in time for my birthday last year, and I fell completely in love with it.

He rarely made it since it took a lot of preparation and time to make, so this was a special treat.

I emptied my lunch bag of the strawberry cheesecake, a container of teriyaki chicken and rice leftovers from last night, and a sparkling water.