Becoming First Lead

i - life

"Alex," I hear my name being called out from a sweet voice . A voice that melts my heart everytime she comes to the office .

I smile warmly at the beauty standing before me, "Aria," I reply back .

"Warren and I are going to lunch, did you and Jasmine want to join us?" She asks. And then I'm back to my reality . The reality in which she married Warren . In which they share a beautiful baby boy together, one that I spoil .

"Sure thing, let me just see if Jasmine is free," I answer.

Jasmine. My personal assistant and life saver through the better part of last year. She came to us when things were heating up between Warren and Aria. She also came to me when I needed a distraction. No, I hadn't been sleeping with her , although half of the department wishes they did . No , she helped me navigate my way through the corporate life . I think of her as my sherpa in this world.

She and Aria have also become closer friends . So I get to see Aria a bit more often because she has more people to visit apart from her husband.

I reach over to the phone to buzz her, "Jaz, can you come in?"

I only wait a second before she opens the door to my office , "what's up?"

"Aria invited us to lunch today , are you free?" I ask .

"Sounds good, let me grab my bag," and so goes my typical week. We all have lunch together once or twice every other week to catch up . It's mostly for the women to see each other in the middle of the day.

We leave the office and head around the corner to the diner close by . We're regulars and so are our orders. As soon as the staff sees us they nod and begin making our meals.

"How's Jax doing?" I ask Aria , trying to keep up to date on my nephew.

"He's great. Teething, so he's a bit cranky," she says.

"Oh that's terrible," Jasmine says , "I know that the pain is new for babies."

"That's why I insist on rubbing a little whiskey on the gums to help with the pain," Aria says, surprising me and earning a warning glance from Warren.

"You can't give a baby liquor," he lectures.

"Why not? They used to prescribe cocaine to patients back in the day . This would be controlled, besides lots of people used to do this on their babies anyway," she argues.

"My child will not become an alcoholic at a young age," he says back.

They continue to volley their banter back and forth until I decide to speak up , "I don't see anything wrong with Aria's method," I back her up . "She's not trying to booze him up . Besides, doesn't tylenol have a little alcohol in there?"

She crosses her arms at him and gives the cutest face of 'I told you so' that I have ever seen . "See, Alex agrees. It would only be a little bit on my finger, not enough to even taste. And it would be right on the gums. I read all about it on some website," she tries to explain.

Warren shakes his head and then glares at me, "of course he would agree. But it's still a no."

I hold up my hands to surrender . I don't want to become the reason for any fighting between the two . Not that they fight often BUT I know their "fights" are excuses for "make up sex" . One time they made up a reason to fight and I accidentally walked in on them in his office during their make up . I don't think I'd like to have an encore performance in which I see my brother's bare ass again.

Have I moved on from Aria? I've tried very hard . I've told myself and reminded myself that she's with Warren. That she's with her rightful partner . The pain has subsided quite a bit but that longing dullingly still stands.