“You went out longer than your rash lasted?” I teased, making him grab the plate with my half-eaten dinner, ignoring my protests.
“No food for you if you’re going to be mean.” He put the plate on the counter and sat back down. “Listen, girls love that kind of challenge. She agreed to be friends with you. Friends help each other out, right? Think about it. Take her out a few times, pretending to need some help with small talk.”
I took a shaky drink of lemonade. “You can’t be serious. I’ll just invite her to dinner as my friend and get to know each other better that way.” His idea was causing my stomach to churn.
“You’re missing the point. As afriend, you can’t pretend to hold her hand or look longingly in her eyes. Tell her you need to practice. Dude, it’s a brilliant plan. You just need some time for it to percolate. Put it through your rigid hypothesis, Niko. I’m telling you, it’ll work.”
I wanted to smack his smug face, but the niggling thought of whether this could work didn’t leave me for days.
The next week,after a particularly challenging day in the lab, I ran into Leyla and Jaz in the break room. Still not convinced Jazwouldn’t bring up the Siri incident, I tried to stay out of her way and ignore her knowing grin.
Praying for her silence, I waited for Leyla to finish at the coffee maker. When she looked over her shoulder and saw me, she said, “Oh, hey, you. Heard about the mishap earlier. Figured out what was wrong?”
Side-eyeing Jaz, I answered, “Yes, it was a calibration issue, not structural. We’re making good progress.”
“I knew you and the team would figure it out. Think you’ll meet this week’s goals, then?”
“I do. Just need some caffeine before heading back in.” I hoped it came off lightheartedly.
She chuckled and turned, her cup in her hand. “I’ll get out of your way, then. See you at the meeting at four.”
When she started to walk out of the room, Jaz asked loudly, “Niko, did you askSirifor help with the calibrations? I’ve heard she’s very informative.”
My face flushed crimson as I turned my back on Leyla, who had stopped at the door and asked, “Jaz, what are you even talking about?”
“Nothing,” she sang, grabbing a donut. “Nothing at all.”
I didn’t relax until I heard both sets of footsteps leave. Between Jaz and Mike, I felt like my well-ordered life before joining Earth Organix was all but gone, and I’d entered some kind of romantic comedy.
Deciding to ignore my friend’s harebrained idea, I was going to get up the nerve to ask Leyla to lunch. A regular lunch, not some fake dating coach nightmare.
As our last meeting ended and everyone filed out, I took my chance and walked over to Leyla, who was packing up her things. Grateful that things hadn’t been too awkward around each other after our conversation a few days back, I felt a lunch invitation would be appropriate.
“Hey, listen. I’d like to take you to lunch tomorrow,” I asked, fisting my hands at my sides to keep me grounded.
“Is that a demand or an invitation?” she asked, not looking at me.
“Ah, sorry. It’s an invitation.”
She looked up, her hair swinging with the motion, and I almost got lost in those eyes again. “Oh, well, my noon phone conference got canceled, so, yeah, I’m free.” Her friendly smile put me at ease. This would work. I just needed to get her out of the friend zone, little by little.
“Great. You choose the place, and I’ll stop by your office a few minutes before. We can go together,” I offered, hoping that wasn’t too far. I held my breath until she answered.
“You’ve got a date,” she said breezily, then froze and stuttered, “I mean, a lunch pal. A friendly lunch, eh, you’ve got it.”
That was odd. She sounded as nervous as I was, but that didn’t make sense.
“Yes. Okay. See you then.” I power-walked out of the office, elated that she’d said yes.
The next day,Leyla and I were eating lunch at a little café known for its homemade potpies. Our conversation was easy, despite my nervousness. When I lagged, she easily took up the slack, talking about her family and sharing funny stories about Jaz. Hearing what she and Jaz put Luke and Sofia through to get them together both impressed and terrified me.
“Needless to say, Jaz isn’t someone I’d want to be caught in a dark alley with,” Leyla joked. I made a mental note to never get on that woman’s bad side.
“So what about you? What do you do when you’re not working?” I asked, taking another bite of the buttery crust.
“Oh, well, work pretty much consumes all my time right now. I’ve only been CEO for a couple of years, and even though some days feel like a week, it’s gone by so quickly. I feel like I’m playing catch-up most of the time,” she answered before sipping her matcha tea.
“For what it’s worth, I think you’re an amazing leader. When I learned at UCSD that you were pursuing a double major in scienceandbusiness, I thought it was statistically improbable that you could handle that workload. But you not only succeeded, you did so with grace. I honestly don’t know if I could’ve done it.”
