Days 2 Remember

FridayNext: Hello. I’m here for...
JonasTheSadist: I’m your trainer!
FridayNext: Oh god! Are you out of the nappy yet?
JonasTheSadist: Give me 20!
FridayNext: Sorry, don’t have any cash on me.
JonasTheSadist: Okay, let’s start all over.
FridayNext: Right.

Spidey: He didn’t say that at all.
FridayNext: He could have. It felt like it.
Spidey: But you were smiling when you came home today.
FridayNext: Of course. I had endured JonasTheSadist and his fitness Hell.

The limbs are not sore anymore and JonasTheSadist is actually rather sweet when he doesn’t scream out orders. The other day he politely asked me how I was progressing. Soaked in sweat from head to toe, I stood there, flabbergasted and insecure and slightly shy. I managed to rasp out “good” and “fun” and *giggling like a maniac*. He smiled and said “well done”. All I saw, however, was a pair of hot chocolate brown eyes and I immediately thought of Ace. Oh Ace. You suave and sophisticated man who’s lucky to spend every single day – or at least 5 days a week – with J-Man.

Which reminds me of The Day that J-Man Almost Proposed to me.

But before she drones on about the Happiest Day of her life, we better visit the boys because what’s been going on in their lives since we last heard from them?

Matt: Hey! We haven’t seen you for a while. What’s up?
Ken: Matt! Hey! Ha ha ha!
Matt: Amazing tick you got. Something wrong?
Ken: No. Nope! Not at all!
Matt: You’re the worst liar I’ve ever met.
Ken: Ha ha!
Spidey: Yo Ken. Thought you’d be locking up tonight. Wanna hang out?
Ken: Oh!
Matt: What the hell is wrong with you?
Spidey: Oh!
Matt: Oh what?!
Ken: I thought… Perhaps it would be best if we didn’t…
Spidey: Matt, Fri asked Ken out and he refused. She’s not mentioned it to anybody, I think. Not even Uni.
Matt: She asked you out?
Ken: I said no!
Matt: But she asked you out?
Spidey: Snap out of it. He said no, and the strange thing is that since then she’s been going to the gym. Voluntarily. So something good’s come out of it, bud.
Matt: How come I feel like I’ve been kicked in the teeth?
Spidey: Rather them than the stomach. So, hang with us?
Ken: Okay with you, Matt?
Matt: Sure. I guess I’ll get over being rejected again and again.
Spidey: There’re lots of women out there…
Matt: I was built to please her!
Ken: I don’t want to hear this!

Ace: It’s been quiet for days now.
J-Man: I’ve been working my butt off.
Ace: Yeah, we’re busy but in a good way. With work.
J-Man: Right. You’re not making any sense.
Ace: We’re so busy that I haven’t had time to update our blog.
J-Man: Mmmm.
Ace: We haven’t talked about…the evening.
J-Man: What evening?
Ace: The evening we spent at FridayNext’s.
J-Man: Oh.
Ace: Want to forget about it?
J-Man: I haven’t thought about it. I like Matt, Spidey and Ken.
Ace: Yeah.
J-Man: So what’s the problem?
Ace: It’s her place.
J-Man: She hasn’t emailed me at all since.
Ace: Exactly!
J-Man: But it’s just because she doesn’t have a project for us.
Ace: J…
J-Man: God, you’re right. She normally emails me several times a day.
Ace: Oh, speaking of the devil…
J-Man: She emailed you?
Ace: She’s asking us over for a meeting.
J-Man: Okay, that means she’s got work for us and that’s good.
Ace: I’m not sure I want to see her.
J-Man: It’s work. Of course you want to see her.

And then the day has arrived and I go all goofy and hyper and then sudden numbness falls from the sky and paralyse me but my heart goes berserk and nothing I say make sense. It’s bound to be awkward. It usually is. And I say all the wrong things, giggle at the most inappropriate moments. I wish they wouldn’t come over for a meeting. They should just stay away from my office for like ever!

TheBoss comes into my office and talks incessantly about something very uninteresting and I nod and smile and tune him out. It’s probably about architecture. Or an email. Whichever. He stands in my doorway and glances up and down the hallway. In mid-sentence he interrupts himself.

TheBoss: There they are! Welcome. Come in, come in, come in!

He leaves my office and practically runs to the boys and I stand in my office, out of breath, sweating and freezing, no clear head for hours. I can hear Ace greet TheBoss. I know I have to go into the conference room and act adult and professional (ha ha ha, Oscar for worst performance goes to…). I take an uneasy step towards the hallway but am interrupted by a face that looks into my office. I go red in my face, avert eye contact and try not to giggle like a crazy person.

J-Man: Hey Friday.
FridayNext: Hey.

He comes into my office and stands in the middle of the room. I try to make a joke that it’d be nice if he was a colleague and that we shared my office. I doubt all the words come out at a coherent pace. He reaches out his right hand to shake my hand, but because I’m too shy and awkward and ugly and old and fat and strange and weird and unprofessional and lots and lots of other negative words, I keep my head down and focus on no particular spot on the floor. The biggest surprise of the century then happens.

He spreads out his arms and scoops me into an embrace. I silently gasp – can one do that? – and all I hear is wedding bells.

Ace: It was a good meeting, don’t you think?
J-Man: I did a bad thing.
Ace: Don’t think anybody noticed. They all acted professional and interested.
J-Man: I kinda hugged her. Before the meeting.
Ace: *staring in disbelief at J-Man* Are you insane?
J-Man: It felt okay at the time. She looked a bit vulnerable.
Ace: You’ve opened Pandora’s Box!
J-Man: Yeah, it feels like it. But she’s basically professional and it’s okay to get a kooky email now and again.

The next day the post arrives at the FancyDesignAgency. No attention person. But it’s from…

Ace: You open it.
J-Man: You open it!
Ace: It’s for you, I bet.
J-Man: Could be for you. She promised to send you some material, right?
Ace: I forgot. Give me!
J-Man: What the hell is that?
Ace: Twenty balls of paper. And there’s a letter.
J-Man: What does it say?
Ace: It’s no fun to throw paper balls at J-Man when it’s long distance.
J-Man: Oh god.
Ace: They’re in different colours.
J-Man: Let me see…
Ace: *throwing four over* Hey, good velocity!
J-Man: Don’t aim for my head!
Ace: Sorry. Got carried away.
J-Man: This must be the strangest business correspondence anybody has ever sent.
Ace: What will she think of next?

But since that day she’s run out of ideas and she misses J-Man terribly.

Spidey: But you’ve got us!
FridayNext: Sorry. Not the same. And now…it’s time for bed. ‘Night.