Yes. I likeit.
“So here he is, the famous Connor,” Carrie says, stepping forward, turning the attention of the whole group in the process. “We finally meet in real life.”
He accepts this compliment with a smile, and I watch in detached horror as his eyes quickly scan down her body and right back up again. “And you are?”
“Carrie,” she says, holding her hand out to Connor. “It’s me you talked to about Annie’s role transfer.”
“Of course,” he says, extending his own in return. “I thought I recognized your voice. Nice to meet you in person. You look just like your emails.”
Carrie is simplydelightedthat Connor’s aware of who she is, shyly tucking her hair behind her ear as she thanks him for smuggling me onto their team.
“It’s definitely you who did me the favor,” he says. “Thanks again for helping sort all that out.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” she says. Highly suggestively, I might add. Her voice drops about four octaves.
There’s a martial light in her eye that fills me with misgiving, a feeling that only intensifies the longer she hangs around. Carrie is extremely good-looking, attractive in a way that defiesclassification. She appeals to everyone. Rarely, however, does anyone appeal toher.
My roommate Sam often jokes that she’s in Manhattan’s top 2 percent of singles, not just because she’s hot but also because she’s fun and smart and—most importantly—just a little bit rude. If she sets her sights on Connor he won’t stand a chance. My stomach lurches at the thought. She’s supposed to go out withBen!
Alex from my old team summons me from across the room, and I move off reluctantly, leaving Carrie with the guys.
“Hey-o,” Alex says, giving me a high five. He’s so tall I practically have to jump to reachit.
“What’s the verdict from Product?” I ask him. “The dashboard’s pretty good, right?”
Andy joins the circle just as I say this. “Annie has truly crossed over to the dark side. You’re really drinking the data team Kool-Aid.”
“Are they the dark side? I wasn’t aware ofit.”
“She’s lost to us,” Alex laughs, a hand on his heart. “Taskio claims another good woman.”
“Never,” I promise. “Jotter forever.”
But I look over at my new team when I say it, not ready to admit that secretly, I like it so much better in DatStrat than I ever did in Product, or at Jotter. It feels disloyal to even thinkit.
Connor is still in conversation with Carrie. Considering how hard I had to convince her just to attend this thing, she’s acting awfully interested in it now. While I watch them, Connor turns his head toward me. I point a thumb toward the door. He nods.
“I have to go,” I say. With a promise to Alex that I’ll crash the next Product stand-up, I start heading toward the elevators.
Carrie hangs back.
“You failed to mention how hot Connor is,” she says, sliding up beside me. “I thought you said he was a dork.”
I bristle. “He is a dork.”
“Your definition of dork and mine must be very different.”
There’s no time for anything else, since we catch up with the boys then, all piling into the elevator, riding together until we get to Carrie’s floor.
Connor tells Carrie it was nice to meet her. I tell her to hurry, that the elevator doors are closing. He raises an eyebrow at me as the five of us continue onward, which I do my best to ignore.
“Here’s one,” John says with a snap of his fingers. “Would you rather spend an hour alone at the bottom of the ocean, or an hour alone in deep space?”
—
I spend the rest of the day in a state of flustered agitation, confused about why the thought of Carrie prowling around Connor makes me want to scratch my best friend’s eyes out. But having slept on it, I’ve mellowed considerably. It was childish to assume they’d be interested in each other romantically.Of coursethey’d be curious about one another: they’ve each heard stories of the other from me. And wasn’t she flirting with Ben just as much yesterday, when I introduced them? I decide that she was.
See. Everything’s fine!
