CHAPTER 11: BAD WEATHER

Thursday, 4 October 2001

"Have you told her?"

"Huh?"

I stared dumbfounded at Jess.

"Chris. Have you told her you're not interested?"

"I haven't seen her this whole week." Which was true.

Chris had called a couple of times after that but each time, I had come up with some excuse: 'Sorry, I'm working late tonight.' 'Sorry, I've got recording.' 'Sorry, my dog died.' 'Sorry, my rabbit died.' 'Sorry, my goldfish died.' 'Sorry, my turtle died.' 'Sorry, my camel died.' I could have rattled on and on - a full listing of the animals on Noah's Ark - but I didn't have to. She stopped calling after a while.

Jess nodded and returned to staring at her computer screen. Then my curiosity got the better of me.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Jess asked.

"Why are you so concerned about whether or not I've told her?"

She shrugged. "I just don't think it's healthy for you to be mixing with people like her."

Huh? I frowned.

"Not healthy? People like her? What do you mean?"

Jess continued staring at the screen in front of her. "You know...people...like her. Those kind of people."

I knew what she was going on about now. People like her...she meant gay, lesbian. Jess didn't like the fact that Chris was lesbian. This was something new. I never knew Jess to be so...narrow minded?

"And what's wrong with people like her?" I persisted even though I knew from the tone of Jess' voice, she didn't want to discuss it further.

She was silent for a while. Then slowly she turned to look at me.

"She's lesbian. You aren't. So, why do you still want to hang out with her?"

"In the first place, I'm not hanging out with her. Secondly, so what if she's lesbian?"

She gave me an exasperated look. "Damn. Don't tell me you're becoming one too."

"Jess!" I yelled, a little upset at her remark. "I don't think it's any of our business what her sexual preferences are, nor do I think it's any of *your* business what *my* sexual preferences are."

"So, you are becoming one then," she said nonchalantly and returned to staring at her screen.

I sighed. "I don't think this conversation is getting anywhere."

I couldn't be bothered to explain and I was too tired to argue. Grabbing my mug, I walked out of the room and headed towards the pantry.

"Tea break?"

"Oh, hi Kev." I hadn't expected anyone else to be in there. "Uh, yea. Tea break."

"So..." he paused, as though trying to find the right words.

"What are you doing tonight? Do you want to go out for drinks?" I interrupted before he could say anything.

His face registered a look of surprise at my sudden invitation.

"S-Sure. I mean, I'm not doing anything tonight. Drinks sound great, yeah," he rattled.

I smiled and nodded. "Look for you after work, okay?" I told him before going back to my room.

I don't know why I had asked him out. All I knew was that I had desperately needed a drink then and he was the only one there to ask. If it wasn't for work, I would have probably grabbed him by the collar and dragged him out to the nearest pub with me there and then.

Jess wasn't in the room when I returned. There was a yellow post-it note stuck on my computer screen instead.

'Have an edit to go for.
Won't be back today.
J.'

I pulled it off and crushed it before chucking it into the bin. I guess it was a good thing that she had to go out. I doubt we were in the mood for each other today.

Who would have thought the mood forecast for today was BAD. But it was. Maybe it was the conversation I had with Jess this morning. Or maybe because I didn't have enough sleep from last night and now there's this horrible headache pounding on my head. Or maybe it was because of stupid anal clients giving stupid comments like, 'You can't start a sentence with 'and'. It's wrong.'
Dumb f***s, haven't they ever heard of creative licence? Then again, probably not cos they're dumb anyway. But what really irked me was when the stupid client management person came running up to me repeating every damn thing the client told him. I mean, *hello*! Use your brain, you idiot! You weren't paid to be a dog!

The visual picture then? Me picking him up like a little white mouse and biting his head off in one crunch.

Okay, I was in a horribly foul mood. I was prepared to to commit murder even. Beware those who crossed my path today.

It was 6.30 when Kev knocked on my door.

"It's happy hour!" he poked his head in and tapped at his watch.

Seeing his cheerful face did nothing to lighten up my mood. Although I was glad that the day was finally over.

We ended up at American Chillies in Bangsar. Beer was 8 bucks a mug and Gin and Tonic were 5 bucks a glass. Cheap was the keyword cos I wanted to drown out my current wicked mood.

Surprisingly I found Kev to be rather good company. He just sat there the whole time and listened to me ranting and bitching about what a shit day I had at work. Occasionally he would mutter some consoling words and would also join in with his own string of complaints. It wasn't long before we were laughing at the inadequacies of certain colleagues and debating whether or not they had slept their way to the top.

Mug after mug of beer. Glass after glass of Gin and Tonic.

By the time we left, I figured we were both pretty high.

"Can you drive? Why don't I drive you home instead?" Kev asked.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. I'm all right to drive."

"You sure?" he looked at me with concern.

"Yeah," I nodded. I was fine. Seriously. I was.

We stopped next to my car.

"Well then...goodnight. See you tomorrow," I told him as I press the button on my car key and deactivated the alarm.

"Here, let me," Kev reached for the handle of my car door just as I bent down to do the same.

Our heads knocked into each other. Before I could even say 'ouch', his lips were on mine.

Okay, I must admit I did enjoy it but I hastily pulled away all the same. This wasn't supposed to happen. It must have been all that alcohol.

"Umm..." I mumbled. "I-I-I'd better be going," I quickly opened the door and took refuge in my car.

"Errr...yea. Bye," Kev muttered.

I think I must have broken all world records getting out of that carpark.