The cold war 18

Chapter 10 little miss popular

Walking into the kitchen the next morning, Ben could sense something was wrong as Elena and Irina who had been chatting away suddenly stopped to look at him, “Bunny, please sit down”, Elena announced.

Pulling up a chair, Ben joined the two women at the kitchen table, “this seems serious”, he quipped, “did I do something wrong”?

“No, nothing like that”, Irina said, reassuring him, “we just need to talk to you about something”.

“Oh, ok”, he replied yawning, “can I at least make a coffee first? I’m still half asleep”.

“I’ll make it”, Irina said, standing up and walking over towards the fancy coffee machine built into the wall.

“Bunny, last night, there was man, Danila, do you remember”? Elena asked in a very serious tone.

Ben shuddered as the memory of his interaction with Danila came back to him, “yes”, he replied pulling a face, “he kept following me around, who is he”?

“Not important”, Elena replied, “did you invite him”?

Ben thought for a second, “hmm… maybe, I don’t remember”, he replied, “Irina said to get fifty guests, so when only thirty agreed to come, I went into the computer and found some past clients, he might have been one of the names got from there”.

“Idiot”, Elena shouted slamming her hand on the table, making both Ben and Irina jump, “you should not have do this”.

“I’m... I'm sorry”, Ben said surprised by the sudden outburst, “I was just trying to use my initiative”.

At this moment, Irina returned with his coffee, placing the cup between his long red nailed fingers, “its ok, Mamulya, isn’t angry with you, she knows you were trying to help, and it’s my fault, I should have told you not to contact any of the older clients".

Elena nodded, “what did you talk to Danila about”?

“Erm… not much really”, Ben replied trying to think back, “he did most of the talking, I was just trying to be polite, and in the end, I was just trying to get away from him, there was something about him that frightened me, he had this really intense look in his eyes, and he kept staring at my body and licking his lips”.

“This not good”, Elena answered shaking her head, “Bunny, you stay away from that man, he is not good man, and if you do see him again, you tell me, understand”?

“Yes”, Ben replied, “trust me, I never want to see that creep ever again, that stare is going to haunt me forever”.

Elena looked into his eyes for a few seconds before nodding, “ok, good”, she said, “we do not talk of this no more”.

She then stood up walked around the table to kiss Irina on the forehead, before doing something that surprised Ben, she leaned down, and gave him a kiss on the same spot, “it was good party yesterday, good work, girls”, she said before walking out of the room.

Ben looked over towards Irina with a stunned look on his face, Irina just shrugged her shoulders, “exercise in 15 minutes, I’ll see you in the gym”, she announced before flashing him a smile and following her mother out of the room, leaving Ben to try and process what had just happened.

Two weeks later

Sat on the sofa in the office, Ben looked at the clock on the wall for the third time in as many minutes, Irina had gone out to fetch them some lunch and with his stomach growling it felt like she had been gone for hours.

Looking down at his phone to try and pass the time, he scrolled through his messages, stopping on one from Jake.

The message was asking him if he wanted to hang out but not knowing how to answer, Ben had just left the message sat there for the last few days.

After speaking at the house, the two friends had once again started messaging each other and had even met up on a few occasions. The first time for a coffee, and after getting over his initial nervousness, Ben had relaxed and enjoyed catching up with Jake.

After that, they had met up on two more occasions, the first being an interesting experience in the china town area.

Meeting up with Jake after work one evening, the pair had gone out for a meal, but this time Ben had felt a little self-conscious in his work clothes, making the encounter feel more awkward than the first, but that wasn’t the reason for his hesitance in replying to the message on his phone, that came from their third meeting.

Ben knew he should have known better than to accept the invitation to the house party, but Jake had always been a persuasive person, and after assuring him, he wouldn’t know anyone there, he had reluctantly agreed to go.

Being a party, Ben had made an effort to look good, and with Irina’s help he had dressed himself in a pair of her designer jeans, that he could now fit into, even if they were so tight, they felt feel painted on.

Along with the jeans, he had worn a low cut sparkly top, that showed off a lot of fake cleavage. Paired with a leather jacket and Irina’s favourite blocky ankle boots, he had to admit he looked good. Jake seemed to agree too, as he had treated him different that evening especially as the night went on and he drank more and more.

Ben had felt awkward all evening, tottering around the room, Jake's arm around his waist, as he was introduced to all his friends like he was his girlfriend especially as after nervously saying hello, he was left to stand awkwardly hanging off Jake’s arm as he talked to his friends.

Jake to his credit, had been the perfect gentleman all evening, no matter how drunk he got, in fact, he had actually been really caring and attentive, always checking in with Ben to see if he needed a drink or to check how he was feeling. Nice as the attention had been, it left Ben with some strange feelings, especially the way the night ended when Jake had walked him home.

After saying goodnight there was this moment, time had seemed to slow down as the two boys found themselves staring with their eyes locked, and at that moment, Ben was sure Jake was about to kiss him.

In the end, it came to nothing, as Jake turned away, but the thing that scared Ben most, was after a few drinks and the fun they'd had together that evening, at that moment, just for a brief second, Ben had actually wanted Jake to kiss him.

Back in the office, Ben's thoughts were interrupted by a loud knock as he quickly turned his head towards the door, his long hair, piled on top of his head, flopping around, and striking him lightly on the side of his cheek.

Jumping up off the sofa, he felt his feet angle themselves into a now-familiar arched position inside the new pair of Charlotte Olympia heels, he had recently purchased.

Who could it be? He wondered, no one had ever visited the office in all the time he had worked there. Perhaps it was Irina? Perhaps she had forgotten to take her key?

There was another loud knock on the door.

That must be it, she's back with lunch and doesn't have her key, he concluded, setting off loudly across the room on his designer heels, his mind still thinking about the message from Jake.

Unlocking the door, he grabbed the handle and swung open the door, “did you forget….”, Ben stopped mid-sentence, looking up into a familiar but terrifying face looking down at him.

“Hello gorgeous”, Danila announced in his deep gruff voice, “did you miss me”?

(See image 10.1)