Midnight Ch. 03

No Sex until chapter 7 - VirtualAtheist

CHAPTER THREE

It was getting on for six o'clock and there only a few people wandering around on whatever business they were on. When I reached Building G5, I stood outside and looked at the double doors that were still wide open.

Don't ask me why, but I was suddenly quite scared. What did I think I was doing? I had no idea who he was and I was just inviting myself into his world. I knew that I had no business being on campus. That bus had passed three years ago when I had to drop out of school... But still, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I took a deep breath, steeled myself and marched in through the doors. A sign inside on the wall directed me to the offices of the various doctors and professors who worked here. Under the heading Palaeontology I found the name Dr N Smethwick with an arrow pointing down the corridor to the right.

I made my way along it until I reached an area that opened out with a desk with a computer sat on it and several doors leading into several offices, only one of which was open. I could see Dr N Smethwick inside. He had just tipped his briefcase on to the desk and was searching through the contents.

Before I could make my presence known, he glanced up at me as I held out his notebook.

Those eyes. Those fucking eyes!

I stammered slightly, "I... I think you're looking for this."

When he realised what I was holding, he sighed with relief, "Thank you."

I handed it to him and then looked around the office. To be honest it was in a right state. Books and papers were just dumped in piles all over the place with no rhyme or reason. There were a couple of large bookcases covering the far wall, but they too were just piled haphazardly with books. I could see a very old wooden clock high on the other wall. It had a large brass pendulum that swayed to and fro with a gentle tick tick tick. His desk had a computer on it, but it didn't look like he had ever turned it on and his in and out trays were piled with neatly typed pages of script, hastily scribbled notes and more than a few stubs of flight and train tickets.

As he skimmed over one of the pages in the notebook, I said, "You're not terribly organised."

He nodded, "I know. I suppose I should try and sort it all out, I just don't have the time."

"Being a Dr of Palaeontology is hard graft is it?"

He glanced up at me quite sharply, but his expression softened when he saw the grin on my face, "I need an assistant really. It's not just the University stuff. I work in the field as well."

I moved further into the office and glanced down at one of the papers on the desk, it was the first page of a treatise entitled, 'The Miocene Mammal Necrolestes Demonstrates The Survival Of A Mesezoic Nontherian Lineage Into The Late Cenezoic Of South America' whatever that meant.

"What's this?" I asked, pointing to the paper.

He glanced at it and said, "Oh that's a PhD paper. I was on the board for his defence of it... I keep meaning to file it. Just never have the time."

"I see."

I pointed to another pile of papers, "And these?"

"That's my script for a presentation tomorrow... Or at least part of it."

"Where's the rest?"

Once again he looked directly into my eyes, pinning me in place. His hand reached out and waved towards the computer on his desk, "Somewhere," he said, "In that fucking thing!"

I laughed, "I'm guessing that computers aren't your speciality."

He joined in with my laughter and replied, "Definitely not. Give me a dig site full of specimens over a computer any day."

The laughter stopped and an uneasy silence followed as we remained staring into each other's eyes. I don't know about him, but I simply couldn't look away. His eyes wouldn't let me.

I murmured, "Maybe..."

"Maybe what?"

"Maybe I could find it for you?"

"Feel free to try."

I sat at the desk and fired up the PC. Once it was booted up, I asked, "What's the talk about?"

"It's called the The Architecture of Ediacaran Fronds."

My brow furrowed, "Can you spell Eddie Karen for me?"

He did.

Then I used the Windows search feature to see if that would find the document. After a few minutes, it did. I said, "Got it. You seem to have placed it in the recycle bin. I've retrieved it back to My Documents and it's printing out now."

I smiled at him and he stared back thoughtfully. I got shivers down my spine again.

"What?" I asked eventually

He looked around the room and then returned his attention to me. He sat down opposite me and rested his elbows on the desk tapping the heels of his hands together rhythmically and gazed at me earnestly, "Tell me," he said, "If I asked you to sort this office out, what would you do?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean. If you had to organise this space, tell me what you'd do. Step by step."

I managed to drag my eyes from his, which I freely admit was fucking difficult and looked around the room. I said, "Would I be allowed to use the area outside the office at all?"

"Temporarily I suppose, as long as you didn't inconvenience the other members of staff."

I rested my my elbows on the desk as well and placed my chin on my fists. I blew out heavily as I looked around. Before I could say anything he added, "Also, think about how you would fit an extra desk in here."

I giggled, "Do I have to stand on one foot as well?"

Once again I received that little smile, "No. But I'm interested in your thoughts."

"Right. First thing, I'd get all the books out of here and stack them against the wall outside the office so they didn't get in people's way. Then I'd collect all your papers up and stack them on your desk. Question. Are all of your documents on the PC or are some of them just paper copies?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, any that are on the PC can just be binned, unless you've made amendments in pen. No point gathering and sorting paper documents if I don't have to. Its just wasted effort."

"They're all on the computer, but I'm not sure where."

"Fine then. Make a note of the titles and try to find them on the PC. Once found, place them in your document directory if they aren't already there. Bin the hard copy, if not, keep the hard copy."

"Okay, what else?"

"Sort the books into alphabetical order and stack them on the bookshelves."

"What about my ticket stubs?"

"Do you need to account for them?"

"Yes. But there's no system in place. I use a company to look after my accounting, but I'm very behind with my returns at the moment."

"Okay, I would contact the company and find out when they last received your return. I'd need to know the yearly budget. Then I'd create a simple spreadsheet on Excel and start it from your total yearly minus your last return. Then I'd enter all of the costs for the tickets. Print off the costings for each complete month up to the current date and send it off to the accountants," I shrugged, "Then it'd be easy to keep up to date, as long as you entered the costings as and when."

"Suppose I need to be in Sydney, Australia from 1 November to 17 December. I fly business class and normally stay in three star accommodation where available. But I'll sleep anywhere if I have to."

I smiled, "The Internet is a wonderful thing. Loads of websites to book flights and hotels. They also allow you to price check so you get the best deal."

"What if I need a car to get about?"

"Car hire companies are on-line as well."

"Can you use Outlook? "

"Of course. I've just finished an MS Office course."

He stood up and paced up and down a couple of times, tapping the heels of his hand together as he walked. Then he stopped and said, "This is going to sound strange, but... Would you be willing to come back to my house?"

Shocked, I blurted out, "What?"

He looked at me and said, "It's not what you think, and I know it's... certainly unusual, but I have good reasons. I don't just work here, I work from home as well and that space needs sorting too. Trust me on this."

I'll admit, his request surprised me, and if I'm honest, going off to his place when I didn't even know his first name would be a fucking stupid thing to do... But... I have no idea why, I was seriously entertaining the idea. I can't explain it, but even after the short time I'd spent with him... I don't know... I got the same vibe from him as I did with Alan. I felt safe with him.

I gazed at him as he looked out of the window and then came to a decision, "Okay," I said, "I'll check it out."

He smiled at me and replied,"Good. You won't regret it."

"Couple of things though."

His brow furrowed, "What?"

"First, you need to tell me your name."

He laughed, "Sorry. I sometimes forget the social niceties. I'm Nathan."

"And I'm Manni."

"Charmed. And the second thing?"

"You have to promise I won't turn up in tomorrow's papers as the latest victim of the Hull Strangler."

His mouth opened and closed a couple of times before he grinned, "I promise. Besides, I've run out of rope, although I do have some spare boot laces I can use at a stretch."

He reached out a hand, "Deal?"

When we touched it was almost as though a shot of electricity had shot up my arm. His grip was firm, yet gentle and his skin felt surprisingly soft. I saw his eyes widen slightly and his hand trembled very slightly too, but he didn't say anything. And once again I found myself falling into his eyes.

I stammered, "D... Deal."

I didn't want to let go of his hand and simply held it until he gently pulled away and led me out of the building and over to his car. I was surprised to see that it was a BMW X5 and going by the plates it was only a couple of years old.

"Palaeontology pays well then," I said.

Nathan shrugged, "I get by."

The drive only took a few minutes as we travelled just a mile or so from the university to his house on Hall Road. It was at the Cottingham Road end, and a much nicer area than where Hall Road terminated at Orchard Park. We pulled into the drive of a rather smart three bedroomed semi-detached house and he led me inside.

I sat down on a small sofa in his lounge and looked around. The room was separated from the dining room by a wide arch bisecting the space at the halfway point. The front of the room was dominated by a large wooden desk sat in front of the bay window. It too was smothered in notes, papers and textbooks as well as a top end Apple Mac.

Although there was a fireplace, it had been blocked off as the house was centrally heated. The dining room had a simple wooden dining table with four chairs and the entire place was in just the same state as his office at the university.

I watched as he rummaged through various documents and papers on the desk, when he looked over his shoulder and asked, "Would you like a drink?"

I realised I was actually quite thirsty and asked if he had any fruit juice. Nathan wandered into the kitchen at the back of the house and shouted through, "I've got orange and grapefruit."

"No pineapple? Ah well, orange please."

After he'd supplied me with my drink, he sat down on the office chair in front of his desk and said, "Right Manni, have a look around and tell me what you'd do to sort this place out."

I looked around and said, "I have absolutely no idea."

Nathan gazed at me quizzically, "Why do you say that?"

"Well for one thing, is this a living room or an office?"

He grinned, "It's supposed to be a living space. I rather planned on using one of the bedrooms as an office, but it's just as much of a state up there. I just never seem to have the time to sort my life out."

As he was talking, he switched on the Mac and shuffled a few papers around on the desk.

I stood up and positioned myself behind him, I leaned down to look at the Mac, "Ooh! Shiny!"

Without thinking, I placed my hand on his shoulder and once again felt a shiver down my spine.

He turned his head towards me and we looked each other in the face once again. We were only inches apart and my nostrils filled with the scent of his aftershave and it was intoxicating. I'll be honest, it took all of my resolve not to kiss him. I blinked and then quickly stood up straight, slipping my hand back to my side, "Sorry," I murmured, embarrassed.

He looked at the papers on his desk, almost as though he was afraid to look at me and said, "No problem."

Suddenly, he spun round and fixed his hypnotic gaze upon me once again,"Tell you what, I'll give you the quick tour and then you can see what's what."

"Okay."

He led me upstairs and showed me the second bedroom, it had a double bed in it along with the usual furniture, but there were also several cardboard boxes piled in there filled with books, files and a few other things. He didn't show me the master bedroom, "Nothing in there you need to see," he explained, "It's just a bedroom."

Then he showed me the single room at the front. It contained a couple of four drawer filing cabinets, both of which were battered, bruised and empty, and several more cardboard boxes full of palaeontology shit.

"Right," I said, "I've seen enough."

We headed back downstairs and I took up residence on his sofa once again. This time though, he settled down on the sofa next to me, but positioned himself at the other end, leaving a large gap between us. He stretched out his legs and crossed them at the ankles, then put his hands behind his head and said, "So? What would you do?"

I took a sip of my drink and gathered my thoughts. I made sure not to look at him as I knew that would just set me off thinking about kissing him again. Besides, those eyes of his seemed to be able to drive all rational thought straight out of my head, "Okay. I can see that you don't have a telly, so clearly this room would be best suited as an office. For one thing, that room upstairs is far too small for you. What with all the reference material you have. I would use the upstairs room as a box room, but I would keep the filing cabinets in there."

I pointed into the dining room, "I'd reorganise that area into a lounge/dining area. With only one person living here, I don't suppose you need any more space. This room... Get a few bookcases in. Tall ones to maximise the storage space and then sort all your books in order."

"Anything else?"

I looked at the Mac, "Is that connected to the University?"

"Yes. I've got WiFi and the University uses an online document sharing system."

"Do you spend a lot of time traipsing about?"

His brow crinkled, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you spend a lot of time in the countryside doing palaeontology stuff? Digging up dinosaurs and whatnot."

He smiled indulgently and his eyes sparkled, "Yes I suppose I do."

"Then you should get an iPad, one with a mobile connection. You'd have access to all your info from anywhere."

"Anything else?"

I looked around, "Yes. These walls could do with a coat of paint, and when did you last hoover your carpets?"

Nathan laughed out loud. His teeth were pearly white and even. I found myself strangely gratified that I had made him laugh. What was it about this man? Why did I find myself so eager to gain his approval?

His laughter died down and then he said, "Manni. I like you. Tell me, you've done the MS Office courses. Any others?"

I nodded, "I've done a shorthand and a typing course and I've just about completed a basic bookkeeping course."

"Ideal. Do you want a job?"

I was startled, "What?"

He gazed at his hands briefly as he tapped the heels together, I was beginning to understand that this was his habit when deep in thought, eventually he said, "I'm not sure why, after all I barely know you, but... We seem to click. I need an EA and I think you would be ideal."

"EA?"

"Executive assistant."

"You want me to be your secretary?"

"No, I'm offering you the job of my executive assistant. It's more than just a secretary. The money's better too."

"Why are you doing this?"

Once again his eyes held me in place like I was a butterfly pinned down in display case, "Honestly? I'm not sure. It's just... There's something about you," he glanced up at the ceiling and I could move again, he continued, "That sounded way too creepy," his eyes sparkled as he returned his attention to me, "Wasn't meant to I assure you."

I thought about it briefly. This was incredible! Could it be that my luck was changing for the better at fucking last?

Could this be the escape from the dead end of being a barmaid and a cafe assistant? I glanced around the room and thought about the state of his office at the university.

Sure, it was a massive amount of work to sort out the shitty state he'd got himself into, but once I sorted that out... How difficult could it be?

I looked at him, "Okay. I'd love to. Thank you."

He gave me a beaming smile and my nipples became as hard as bullets.

What the fuck?!?

Nathan said, "I have to be in York all day tomorrow, but maybe you could be here tomorrow evening at say...Eight? We'll need to do some paperwork and then we can have a proper chat about what'll be expected of you. Okay?"

Still confused about how he was turning me on so much with just a smile, I could only nod my agreement and murmur, "Eight PM."

We made our goodbyes and I left the house. I stood in the street and thought about catching the bus home, but my nipples were still fucking hard. I rubbed the front of my jeans surreptitiously and could feel that my panties were soaking. I was so fucking horny it was unreal.

"Fuck it!" I said to myself, "Looks like Steve's getting lucky tonight."

Decision made, I set off towards Steve's house, it wasn't all that far from here. As I arrived there, I saw the side gate was open and I could hear loud voices coming from his back garden. I made my way down the path and entered through the open gate, before I came around the corner of the house, I heard a drunken sounding voice say, "Oi Steve. You still shagging that fat nigger?"

I froze. The blood in my veins turned to ice.

I heard Steve's voice respond, "No need for that sort of talk... And yes I am if you must know. At least when I can't get a decent bird."

"Ha! Braver man than me. It must be like fucking an African elephant."

I was mortified. I knew that Steve wasn't my boyfriend, but I thought he was at least my friend. I felt the tears well up in my eyes. I was so... disappointed. So hurt that he could be party to jokes like that at my expense. I'd been in such a good mood, so happy, so fucking horny. But not now.

FUCK!

FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!

I wanted to rush into the garden and give that utter bastard a piece of my mind. But I didn't. I simply turned around and walked away to the bus stop to go home.

I cried myself to sleep that night. It should have been such a happy day and Steve had fucking ruined it!

I was still in a bad mood when I woke up the next morning. I hadn't slept well and was feeling very tired. Still, I thought to myself, at least I had the new job to look forward to. That was at least a bright spot in my life. An opportunity to try and drag myself out of the shitty place I was stuck in.

I got to the cafe and let them know I was handing my notice in. The manager couldn't care less about me working off the rest of the week, so she just told me to work my shift and then bugger off. There were always students looking for part time work.

Suited me.

I also rang Romeo's and told them not to expect me back there. Same story. This new job working for Nathan was my golden opportunity and I wasn't going to waste it. It looked like I was burning my bridges, but I really couldn't give a fuck. They were both dead end jobs and I was sick of them. I needed a challenge, I needed to be stretched and being Nathan's EA seemed like just the ticket.