The Friend I Needed

Three.

Three.

“Let me get this straight.” Her boss, Mr. Sebastian Grenier, a 31-year-old business man who had two master degrees on both architecture and interior designing looked at her with a neutral face rubbing his stubble with his right hand looking into her eyes, she simply smiled nervously trying not to shake.

“You want to take Friday off, so you can go help the teacher of your kid on their field trip, right?”

“Right.” She looked at him waiting for an answer when he suddenly smiled making her look a little confused as he usually kept a neutral face around everyone.

“Alright.”

“Alright?”

“Yeah.”

“Just that?” He looked at her frowning at her question.

“Do you want me to be an ass and say no or what do you expect?”

“No, nothing I just thought that you were going to need me on Friday as it was the day we were having breakfast with the Greekreen Co. CEO and director designer and architect in chief.”

He sighed at her statement, he was proud that one of his youngest designers was so bright and devoted to her job but also was always there and had time to spend with her kid, it wasn’t a causality that she had become a designer in chief a few months after she first arrived to his office asking for a job.

“Odette, it’s alright I’ll have Emerald to go to the reunion with me to write down everything that happens there and you’ll just have to leave another chief or a director in charge of your team work so the projects won’t be delayed.” He smiled to her softly allowing her to know that he was ok with this situation.

 “Just go take care of Gabriel, after all he only has you and he needs you more than I do here.”

“Thank you, Mr. Grenier.”

“You can call me Sebastian; you know?”

“That’d be unprofessional of me while being at work.” She smiled at him and stood up so she could leave. “Now if you excuse me, I have a meeting with my team for the new project with the remodeling of the museum of art in downtown and the final project it’s due next week. I’ll send you the details on Thursday.”

“Very well, please have your phone near you in case I need you for something.”

“Yes, sir.” She smiled walking to the door when he called back again.

“Oh, and Odette, please let Elizabeth know that I’ll cancel the appointment I have today at 11:20am, I have some other stuff to do as my brother needs me.” She smiled sheepishly at him knowing that he had been having problems with his little brother for years now.

“I’ll be on my way now and, try not to get too mad at him.” She winked making him chuckle and left the office.

“If only was that easy.”

…

“I’m going crazy.” Oddie frowned as she plopped down on her desk chair, it had been a long day at the office and she couldn’t wait for the time that she had to pick up Gabriel and go back home to Luca.

“Knock, knock.” Jack called from the office door with a smile on his face. “Ready for lunch, babe?” She gave him a tired look.

“It’s time already?” She looked at her wall clock and frowned, she had been inside the conference room with her team for hours and she hadn’t even noticed the time.

“Yup, so grab your handbag and let’s go.” He encouraged her with his bright smile. “Maya’s already waiting.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.”

She half smiled grabbing her stuff and followed him outside the building where Maya was already waiting with her own car ready to go.

“Maya, we could’ve taken my car I don’t mind driving.”

“I know you had a rough morning, darling.” Maya held her hand with a warm smile on her face. “Besides, I want to drive us all to my favorite place.”

Both Jack and Oddie smiled at the woman who looked as happy as a child who had eaten a lot of candy.

As they were seated in one of the tables of the small restaurant of French food, Oddie told them everything about the companionship with an elder’s thing and Jack couldn’t stop laughing at the situation his friend was in, considering she was the most incredibly unique woman he had ever known and to think of her being companion of a man who was the opposite of her, was just hilarious in his point of view.

“Can you please tell me why are you laughing so hard?” She asked rising an eyebrow completely confused at her friend’s behavior. “You already have tears running like rivers on your face and people are staring.”

She blushed at the attention that her table was receiving, Maya just smiled amused by the younger ones, she really did saw them as her own children.

“It’s just that you,” he put emphasis on ‘you’ looking straight at her confused eyes, “the most energetic, odd and stubborn woman I know, are telling me that you’ll have to spend quality time with the human version of grumpiness who also have anger management issues, it’s hard not to find amusement in that.”

He rested his back on the chair crossing his strong arms on his chest with a smirk on his lips, Oddie just stared at him with a slight frown.

“You make it sound like if it was mission impossible or something like that.” She kept eating her food while drinking water in a fancy glass at which she frowned. “Why do I have to drink water from such a thing? Is it magically going to turn into wine or something?”

She literally held the glass close to her face and adjusted her glasses to see the water better amusing her two friends who couldn’t stop laughing at her odds, at this she looked back at them with a smile that soon turned into a wide one letting her laughter to be heard.

“No wonder why you attract people to you, sweetheart.” Maya spoke after a few minutes of laughter catching both Jack and Oddie’s attention.

“Why is that?” She asked still smiling.

“Your odds are what makes most of us happier every day, it’s a good unusual form of making some people’s day brighter.” Oddie couldn’t help but blush and smile wider, Jack smiled and winked at her agreeing to Maya’s statement.

She was just happy to have such good friends around her.

…

“By the way, Jack.” Oddie spoke as they were back at the office in the 15th floor where they both worked, he stopped in the hallway that lead to his office that was not that far from hers. “You’re coming to my house to celebrate thanksgiving this year, right? You promised me last year that this time you would.”

That was true, as Jack couldn’t attend last year’s thanksgiving dinner at her home because his family suddenly came to visit him, he promised that next time he would accompany all of her friends and family, he smiled resting his hand on her shoulder squeezing a little bit.

“Of course, I would never miss it.” He smirked at her letting her shoulder go and walking to his office. “See you later, babe.”

“Try not to murder your teammates.” She called jokingly receiving from her friend a hand sign of a pistol pointed at his head pulling the ‘trigger’, she knew very well how hard it was to handle his team considering they were young and stupid and some were old and know-it-all kind of people.

She smiled again and entered her office to keep on working on her upcoming project which was producing her exhaustion in a higher level but it was coming out to be a success if she managed to get the authorization of the directors and the final sign on the official document of the client she was working with.

It was a lot of work to do by herself as chief but if she succeeded on this she was going to be ascended to Director of the designing department in the company and that would assure more income for her family.

As the day went by working on her computer designing and writing official documents and what-not, it was already time to go pick up her little pumpkin from school.

She saved all her work in her USB and turned the equipment off while grabbing her stuff and heading to the door and elevator to finally leave. Right before the door closed her boss ran inside the elevator smiling at her, she could tell he was tired and that he’s day was far from over.

“Going to pick up Gabe, uh?” He broke the silence catching her attention rather quickly.

“Yeah, he’ll be out in 10 minutes so I better hurry and get there soon before I get in trouble.”

“Sally will give you an earful of how you must be responsible and be on time again, uh?” He smirked at his designer in chief, he couldn’t help but notice how cute she looked with her thin rimmed glasses that made her eyes look bigger and cuter.

“Well in all honesty, that’d be Gabriel.” She smiled embarrassedly at him, it was quite uncommon to hear a woman saying her kid was the one who scolded and not the other way around. “He’s more mature than he looks like.”

 Sebastian laughed hard at this causing a distressed look on Odette’s face, apparently today was a laughing day for her as everyone had laughed or chuckled with her odds.

“I can’t believe he’s the one scolding you. What kind of mother gets scolded by her own child?” He asked still chuckling fixing his tie. “Well, at least in my case I am the one who scolds my little brother for all the ruckus he causes.”

He sighed forgetting to smile at all, Oddie just looked down with a calm face but still, a small frown adorning her features. Right, she hadn’t told him the whole truth about Gabriel and her.

“Oh, by the way.” She looked up at him again waiting for what was next to come. “Have you heard anything about Gabriel’s father?”

“Not really.”

That was true, she hadn’t gotten any letters from Oliver in a while and she was starting to get worried as ever since he left to serve in the middle east a few years back, he had made a routine to send her and Gabriel a letter and a picture and he got the same back at him every two months, but it had been almost 4 months without any single letter or picture from him.

“He must be busy, after all he was ascended to a higher rank so that means more work and less time for letters.”

“Well, I just hope he comes back for the sake of Gabriel’s happiness.”

He smiled down at her, he was not very happy with Oliver’s relationship with Oddie but if that meant smiles on the kid then he was fine, even though he never really asked much about her personal life as he respected her lack of talks about it, she never mentioned more than she needed and he was ok with that.

Kind of.

“Yeah.” She knew the aura in the elevator was starting to be awkward so the moment the doors opened on the first floor she let go the breath she didn´t even noticed she was holding in. “I gotta go, pumpkin needs me in less than 5 minutes so I gotta be fast.”

He knew she was not very comfortable with the conversation so he mentally slapped himself, that was the last thing he wanted so he just smiled and waved as she literally ran in heels to the reception desk to checkout and then fled to the crystal doors to get to her car and leave.

“You know.” Maya’s voice caught his attention, Jack was standing in front of her desk as he had just checked out and was ready to leave. “There are many ways to reach her.”

She gave him a look that he could not read at all so she just continued.

“I have no idea of what happened inside that elevator, but whatever it was I’m just going to tell you to not ask her more than you need to know. If she wants to tell something about her, she’ll share it but other than that she’ll keep quiet because that’s how she is. She doesn’t like to announce her personal life as if it was something good to gossip around.”

She gave him a hard look making him swallow in worry, that woman was scary when she wanted to, Maya checked out herself and walked around the desk to hold Jack’s awaiting arm to accompany her to the parking lot.

“Darling, do not pressure her, because you won’t like what will come out of it if you do push her buttons.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He managed to say, he knew he messed up asking so much but he was just curious about her, he meant no harm.

“Have a good day and tell that brother of yours that he better stop messing around or he’ll have an earful from me that he won’t like.”

In all the years she had been working for his family he knew she meant business by that statement and he knew that warning was going to get into his brother’s thick skull as they both had been victims of Maya’s scolding before, and it was not something nice at all.

“Have a good day as well, Maya.” He looked at Jack who just smiled at him. “Take care, Jack.”

“You too, boss.” They both left leaving a thinking Sebastian in the reception, he needed to play his cards better but first, he needed to bail his brother out of the police department again.

…

“Please, I’m begging you on my knees.” Gabriel spoke from the kitchen’s island stool, his plate of cream of wheat and fruit in front of him as well as his apple juice. “Hurry up, I don’t want to be late I told this was important for me.”

 He scolded her again as she calmly walked around drinking her cup of coffee and grabbing her black medium sized backpack purse and filling it with her phone, wallet and other stuff, she looked up at him rising one eyebrow.

“I don’t see you on your knees, pumpkin.”

She put her mug down and fixed her hair in a high ponytail with a few strands of her hair falling on the sides of her face as always, she had already done her makeup still surprising Gabriel with her skills with the winged black eyeliner she did on her eyes and the way she applied eyeshadow so naturally it looked doll-like.

He frowned at her as she calmly grabbed her gray zipper hoodie to put it on top of her navy blue long sleeved shirt.

“Honey, we still have time and don’t dare tell me to hurry up when you haven’t even finished your breakfast.”

“I can be done in a minute.” He mumbled eating his food in silence and a little faster, it was Friday so of course it was important to him as he was finally going to be able to enter the firehouse and see the museum they had.

“Eat and when you’re done brush your teeth and get in the car.” She put the car keys on the island next to his plate so when he was done he could go get inside the car.

“Where are you going?”

“To give Luca breakfast and to brush my teeth.” She washed her plate and mug fast drying her hands on her blue jeans, it was amusing for Gabriel to see her in jeans and converse as she dressed so professionally every day for work, he could only see her this casual when they were home being lazy or going out on weekends.

“Hurry up, Mister I-want-to-be-earlier-to-the-firehouse.” She mocked walking out the kitchen making him frown once more.

“Earlier? What are you talking about, witch?” He tried to speak with his mouth filled with fruit and cream of wheat, Oddie just pointed to the clock hanging on the kitchen’s wall and went to feed Luca who was happy to see his plate full again as Gabriel saw the clock, he blushed confirming that it was in fact earlier than he thought, 40 minutes earlier.

“Oh well.” He finished and washed his plate and glass running to the bathroom, he petted Luca’s head which was buried on his own plate.

When he was done he grabbed his brown leather jacket and put it on top of his blue and gray stripped long sleeved shirt, he fixed his converse’s laces and grabbed the car keys from the kitchen island and his backpack leaving the house to open the car door for Oddie first and then climbing in the copilot seat waiting for her to come out.

“Hey, you forgot this.” She gave him his blue baseball cap as she entered the car and turned the ignition on putting her backpack bag in the backseat. “Blue is fine, right?”

He had a collection of different colored caps that Oliver had sent over the three years he had been away from home and Gabriel got used to wear one daily but always paired up with his clothes.

“Yeah, blue is right.” He fixed it up on his head and smiled at her. “Can you please take me to school now?” She chuckled at his behavior.

“If only you were this happy to go to school all the time.” She drove around to get to the school as they were all going to leave in the school bus.

“I get bored at school, I already know most of the things they teach either way.” He shrugged his shoulders, Oddie rolled her eyes at his statement.

‘He’s so much like you, Oliver.’

And she was right, he was the livid image of his father with the same eyes and genius brain but Oddie’s carefree and calm personality with some stubborn and savage perks from Oliver.

“Maybe you shouldn’t read books from colleges libraries that much and start worrying more about your own level, you’re not even in junior high yet and already know things about college classes.”

“Well, you once told me that the only limit in learning new stuff everyday was my own curiosity and how far I wanted to explode my brain's knowledge.” She frowned taking in a deep breath.

‘For goodness sake, Oliver! He’s so much like you that it’s scarier than funnier, he uses my words against me just like you always have done.’

She gave him a serious look which he answered with a cute smile showing his small dimples that he knew melted her insides.

“You really have to take everything I say so literally, don’t you?”

“Well, you’re my mother and my role model.” She tightened her grip on the steering wheel trying not to strangle him and not crush him with a hug at the same time. “Besides, dad once told me that if I take everything you told me literally I would get on your nerves and do his job while he was gone.”

Her face turned red, of course Oliver had something to do with this all, she parked the car in the school’s parking lot and gave him a sickly sweet and very dangerous smile making him gulp in fear, he was going to get a piece of hell again and he knew it.

“Get out before I strangle you right here and make you run 30 laps around the school building.” His eyes went wide as a beach ball; she was a crazy witch indeed.

“Why do you always want to make me run? Is that the only kind of punishment you know?” Her smile got wider and shivers went down all of his body, he was dealing with the devil itself.

“Be happy I never get violent or anything close to that, now go to Sally before I actually make you run.” He kissed her cheek and ran like a headless chicken to the other side of the parking lot where Sally was talking to the parents of her students who were dropping them off in front of the school gates.

“Oh, good morning Gabriel.” She smiled at the kid but frowned confused as he was running faster than usual, gently hiding behind her. “Everything alright there?”

She tilted her head to the side still very confused, confusion that was quickly replaced with knowledge when she saw the murderous look on Oddie’s face as she walked calmly to her friend.

“What did you do, Gabe?”

“I did what my dad told me to.” He looked at his teacher innocently, she couldn’t help but smile at this. Oliver couldn’t help it at all, even when far he was messing with poor Odette.

“Get in the bus, now.”

He happily did as he was told running inside and sitting in the middle all by himself, he didn’t have actual real friends because he thought they only wanted to befriend him because of Oddie’s beauty, they always asked about her in behalf of their single fathers, which of course annoyed him, so he talked to only a few kids.

“Good morning, Odette.” Sally greeted her best friend with a sweet smile that was returned instantly.

“Morning, Sally.” She looked at the other parents and smiled at them, receiving a smile back. “Good morning, everyone.”

They answered back and she couldn’t help but notice how the fathers stared at her and Sally. Sure, they were very attractive women and all but it was annoying to get this kind of attention.

 “So Sally, when are we leaving?”

“When the perv decides to get out of his comfy warm car.” They both looked at Mr. Peterson who was chilling calmly inside his car talking on the phone, it was the very start of October so the weather was colder but not enough to freeze to death. “He’s so annoying; I can’t believe they paired me up with him to go on this trip.”

“Yeah, I feel ya.” Oddie sighed tucking her hands inside her hoodies pockets keeping her hands warm. “I’ll get inside the bus; how many kids are we taking?” Sally looked at her list before answering.

“18.”

“Alright, I’ll count how many we have already.”

“Thanks, Oddie.”

She smiled and got inside greeting the bus driver Jesse.

“Morning, Mr. Douglas.” She walked to stand in front of the hallway between both roads of seats counting the kids.

“Good morning, sugar.” He smiled brightly at her, he always called her sweet names saying she was worth every single word. “How’s life threating you?”

“As usual, I can only hope that it changes a little bit to add more excitement to it.” She answered him and then peeked at the door to call out for Sally. “We got 16 kids so far, what about the other two? We’re leaving soon, aren’t we?”

“The 17th just arrived.” She answered ushering the little girl into the bus. “Just one more, if he doesn’t come in 5 minutes then we’re leaving, I told them to be on time.”

“Alright.” Oddie got back inside to keep talking to Jesse, who winked mockingly. “What?” She tilted her head to the side in curiosity written all over her face, he just chuckled at that.

“Maybe sooner than you think, life will bring certain spark your way that no matter how hard you fight it, it’ll come into your life to stay for a while maybe even for the rest of your days.” She laughed softly at his words.

“Sometimes the way you talk scares me a little bit.” She looked at him with a pretty toothy smile showing white teeth to him. “Maybe you should be the one with the ‘witch’ nickname, not me.”

“You’re the only one who fits that nickname perfectly though.” Gabriel spoke from his seat getting a murderous look from Oddie.

“That’s it, 20 laps around the house when we get back home.” His smile went away and his face turned pale.

“I love you.” He tried to bribe her with his cute face and smile but that was useless now, she was serious and he knew there was no way out of it now.

“Seriously, it’s scary how identical he is with Oliver.” Sally spoke beside her catching her attention, the last kid walked into the bus to look for a seat and both woman sat down in the front one right behind Jesse.

“I know, it’s obvious they’re father and son.”

“Well, let’s get going before Mr. Peterson makes another excuse to stay here longer.” Sally sighed as Jesse happily complied, Oddie gave her an odd look “He’s not very fond of the idea of us going to the firehouse.”

“I thought this field trip had been planned a few weeks back for the interest of showing kids how firefighters protected the city and all that stuff.” Oddie frowned remembering her conversation with Gabriel about it. “If my memory does not fail me, Mr. Peterson was the second teacher apart from you that fought for the permission to go.”

“Yeah well, the problem is not the kids going.” She looked back to the other bus that held Mr. Peterson’s class and himself inside and furrowed her eyebrows, he was glued to the front window looking as much as he could to both of them, the disgust evident in Oddie’s eyes. “The problem is us going.”

“Us?” Oddie looked at her friend confused. “As in you and me?”

“Yup, he’s not happy with the idea of you and I being so close to men who are younger, stronger and definitely way more handsome than him.”

“So, he’s just being a possessive jerk with us who are not even remotely close belong to him in any possible and impossible way, right?” She heard gasps and looked at the kids who tried not to laugh at her statement of Mr. Peterson being a jerk, no one in Sally’s class really liked the guy. “Kids, you did not hear these words from me, am I clear?”

“Yes, ma’am.” They nodded smiling.

“But it is ridiculous, why would he care if we actually get to talk more than business with the firefighters?”

“He still thinks he has a chance with any of us and more now that he found out that you and Oliver are not married.”

“What? But how did he found out? I mean, I never really answer that question to anyone. I promised him not to say a thing until he got back.”

“I don’t know, the only ones in school who know the situation are the principal, the secretary, the janitor, Jesse and myself and you know you can trust all of us.” Sally sighed rubbing her temples in frustration. “I need coffee.”

“That makes two of us, blondie.” They both laughed at each other, it was too early in the morning to be talking about the jerk riding in the bus behind them.