NOW THAT I HATE YOU LESS

CHAPTER 2: I AM ALARIC!

There are two things I love in life. One, Fridays, Two, Trading insults with Clumsy Nancy. Her name’s actually Nancy Gilbert, but I don’t even care. Nancy, she’s sarcastic, prickly and looks at me irritatingly like I’m the gum stuck to her shoe. But I find her interesting, to an extent. I love how she hates me, and I love how she knows that I love how she hates me. But I hate how audacious she is, how she tells me to shut up to my face. No sugarcoating, no fake smiles. This morning, she wore a coat that made her look like the dwarf from Game of Thrones. I don’t just get this girl. Sometimes, she's pretty dull; other times, she’s like the ‘terror’ in the popular line from GOT, ‘For the night is dark and full of TERRORS’.

Anyways, I love staring at her cause it upsets her, and that’s my favorite part of life, the days I live for. She catches me staring and walks up to me, and then hands me a glue stick. At first, I thought the iconic Clumsy Nancy was going to ask for help, but not until she opened her fraudulent mouth. ‘Here, glue your eyes back to their sockets. She says and moves back to her post. Iconic, I admit. I watch her move back to her computer with her face squeezed like a bag of burritos. I lean back in my chair, watching her evil fingers fly over the keyboard. My life is boring, all I do is work, play basketball in my free time, hit the gym and search the internet for some good insults and comebacks so I never run out of what to say and lose a fight to Nancy. I’d rather lick a dog’s puke.

“Alaric,” Steve calls from the next cubicle.

“Pancakes after work?”

I shrug, “Maybe.”

Steve is a chill person, one of those unproblematic guys who only care about eating and farting without making any sound.

The office is busy today. Phones ringing, printers printing, Nancy-Clumsying and answering calls with that professional tone that still sounds like she's annoyed. She doesn't look up at me once, which is annoying. Not like I want her attention or I like it.

Fine! I like it. But that’s just because I can’t annoy her without having her attention.

I remember the first week she joined the company. She dropped coffee on my shoes and didn't even apologise properly, she just said, "At least they're black, you can just pretend it's a new design." I want to call her ugly, but that would be a big lie.

"Hey, Ric."

I turn, it's Jeffery from the commercials department. "The boss wants to see your project team in five."

I nod as soon as he walks away, and I glance over at Nancy. She's already packing her notes into a folder. Sly b***h, always wants to be a step ahead of me.

We ended up walking to the boss's office at the same time; I made sure of that. I try to match her pace close enough for her to notice me, but she ignores me.

"You look tired, Clums. Not sleeping well, or is it just your face?"

"I'm not your mirror, Ric". She says and increases her pace.

I smirk at her comeback, I didn't expect her to escalate at this time of the day.

"You're learning, Clumsy Nancy," I say, stuffing both hands in my pockets as I keep up with her pace. "Soon, you'll be half as good as me".

She doesn't respond. Instead, she keeps her head high and walks faster, and I almost burst out laughing.

The hallway to the boss's office is packed with framed pictures of past projects, a reception desk and perfectly furnished rooms. Nancy glances at the designs as we pass. I know she loves designs. She's annoyingly good at her job.

We reach the metal door of the office at the same time, and I step ahead to hold it open for her. Not because I'm a gentleman, but because I want to see that disgusted look on her face when I pretend to be one.

She walks through without saying thank you, predictable.

Mr Gray was already seated at his sleek mahogany desk.

"Alaric, Nancy, welcome. Sit".

Nancy takes the chair farthest from me, but you can't take a man's dream from him. I pull my chair closer to her than necessary before sitting. I hear her sigh, and it warms my heart.

"I've assigned you both to work together as lead coordinators. I expect constant communication, shared responsibilities and no distractions whatsoever." The boss addressed us.

He throws us a glance.

"Yes, sir," Nancy says crisply, opening her file.

" Of course," I say, leaning back casually. "We make a good pair for the project, " I added.

Nancy gives me a burning look, the type that could dethrone a king.

"Your first client meeting is Monday morning. I want a detailed preliminary concept and timeline before then. Understood?"

We both nod.

The meeting lasts another fifteen minutes, most of which Clums spends scribbling notes while I mentally organise all the ways I'm going to annoy her during this project without breaking any rules.

When we left, I made sure to hold the door open for her. She closes the door and reopens it for herself, and it makes me laugh. We walked back to our department, and I decided to test the limit of her patience.

"So Clumsy, I was thinking we should have a team name. Something romantically professional. She looks at me, and I can see she's pissed. Okay, I should stop here. Looks like she's going to cry anytime soon.

Back at our desks. She immediately dives into her emails and I spin slowly in my chair, stylishly watching her. She's typing furiously. Either she's plotting my murder or she's writing to her future self about this day.

I lean over, "Want to grab lunch later to discuss strategy?"

"I'd rather eat glue," she fires immediately.

" Glue's not so filling," I say. "But it would organise some of your ideas."

She throws me a look that says I'm a stupid fool and returns to her work.