Cheers!

Brian picked Janie up from her apartment and he drove to wherever he planned on taking her to. There was a cooler in the backseat and some blankets.

"Where are we going?"

"Some place where it's quiet and you can see twinkling lights."

"Twinkling lights? Stars?"

"Yup."

The got to the Adirondack Public Observatory, "Here we are. We have to go inside first and we'll get to see the stars with their powerful telescope."

The two of them went into the building and sure enough someone directed them to go to the roof. Janie and Brian was the only couple there. There were some people there enjoying their night too. After an hour of looking at the stars, Brian took Janie to the next thing on their schedule. It was dark and cold now. Brian drove to the Adirondack State Park where he parked his car by the edge of a hill. He uncovered his convertible and grabbed the cooler behind them. He turned on the lights of the car and they pulled out the food and a small bottle of champagne from the cooler. "Open the glove compartment." He ordered Janie. She opened it to see two champagne glasses, she laughed.

"I'm trying to be classy here."

"No-no. I laughed because I feel like you got this all planned out."

"I did. I made this food last week."

"What?"

"No-no! I ate it last week and have to make it this week. I'm not gonna make you eat moldy food."

Janie softly laughed. "I should've let you finish your sentence."

"Tell me about it." Brian was pouring the champagne in the glasses. "Here." He handed her her glass. "Let's make a toast to you and Logan's break up. Cheers!"

Janie smiled and downed her champagne.

"I didn't bring that much, so you better ration your intake of champagne."

"I got it." And took a big bite out of her sandwich.

***

They sat there enjoying the light breeze under the blanket and watched as the night got even darker. They heard a crumpling noise in the bushes and that alerted them. "Oh god. The animals are coming out now."

"They probably smell your crumb sprinkled lips."

"What are you talking about? There's crumbs on me?"

"Yeah. Here let me get it." He swiped the crumbs off of Janie's mouth.

"Thanks." Just then Janie and Brian locked eyes with each other. He looked at her with alluring eyes. Janie looked away.

"I think we should go now. The roof is down and we don't know what will jump in here."

"Yeah." Brian started the car.

Returning the Goods

The next morning Janie went to check online about the Korean company and went back to them to remind them they have an appointment with Logan. They nodded and stood there welcoming the people walking by. Janie went back to the company to quickly type up her report. She went to the accounting branch and asked them to help her with the finance part of her report. They helped her a little, but Janie had to go to Morgan and ask her to get Julien's opinion. Janie finally got her report done and brought it down to Logan's office by 1:30pm.

Kristin greeted her, "Here to bring the report?" She glared at Janie. "Yeah."
"You can just give it to me." Kristin held her hand out. Logan's door suddenly opened.
"No. Give it here, Janie." She stepped over to him and handed it to him; he pulled her in the room with him.
"Seems like good work." he threw the folder on the sofa. He walked over to his desk, "Have a seat." He pointed to the chair in front.
"Why'd you throw my report?"
"Well, I'm expecting a good report anyway so do I have to look over it or something?"
"No, but shouldn't you leave it on your desk or something?"
"No. I'll be over there talking to those guys anyway so why leave it over here?"
Janie had no comment.
"So, I see you dropped off the $33,000 check and your dresses the other day to my office. Kristin asked what it was and I didn't know how to answer her. You see, you shouldn't have done that because it was kinda of a secret and now she knows."
"Well, I couldn't get a hold of Hunter so I dropped it off here."
"No-no."
"Well, it's too late now. Sorry for leaving it here. I didn't want to drive all the way to your home and drop it off."
"Fair enough. Why did you return those things anyway?"
"I feel like I didn't earn the $33,000 or those dresses. I seemed to have revealed and ruined things."
"As you should."
Janie pressed her lips together and rolled her eyes.
Logan smiled when he spotted her rolling her eyes.
There was a knock on the door and the guys of the Korean company came in to present their project to Logan. Janie went back to her desk.

Retaliation

Logan came the second day of the convention to speak about Anderson Inc. and how the company evolved to become more technology oriented. After the presentation the whole group joined together at a cafe outside of the convention center. Janie and Jake sat next together and chatted. Tom was practically best friends with the other two guys from the engineering department. The coffees were on Logan because he wanted to treat them. But he sat with Kristin.
"So did everybody see any good companies?" Logan asked.
The engineering guys shared and Tom talked about the companies him and Janie looked at. The business group didn't have any input but they garnered the money information from the companies.
"What about you, Janie?" Logan asked. "Any companies stood out for you?"
"Well, Tom already went over it. I thought those companies were good. Like the ... one had this great idea of ... And the Korean company that came over to get global attention, I think they stood out to me."
"Good good."
"You'll be in charge of talking to that Korean company then. Tomorrow find out what they are really about and tell them to come to our company for a meeting with me. Make a general report and have it to me by 2:00pm. I think I have a free time slot at 2:30pm, is that correct Ms. Kristin?"
"Yes." she validated. And that was that, Logan stood up and left.
"But I'm not in charge of that." Janie mumbled. "Eddie is." Tom looked at Janie with wide eyes.
"I'll help you." Jake reassured her.
"He just want to get me back for being caught by his aunt." Janie thought.
"It's okay." Janie told Jake. She stood up and walked back to the convention. She was determined to get it done as soon as possible.
She went back in and went to look for the Korean company. Tom called for Janie. He was already standing at the table and talking to them. He jotted everything down and Janie asked questions. The two of them went back to the company and Janie saved everything Tom wrote down on her computer so she could write the report tomorrow morning.

Astoria

Tom and the other two guys chatted. Jake was quiet and would sometimes glance over at Janie. Janie took this chance and tried to talk to him. "So what do you actually do at work, Jake?"
"I should ask you that." Jake replied.
"I take care of files and filing them. I enter in data and organize it. Sorting and stuff. I hate having to explain my job to people. They normally don't get it and I have to try to make it easier for them to understand."
"Don't worry. I understand."
"Right, you are pretty smart yourself, eh?"
"Yup. I'm into tech stuff too that's why they invited me to come here."
"Everyone should in this day and age, right?"
"Yeah. So,  are you the only girl in the work place?"
"Fortunately, there's another girl working with me so it's not bad. I have some company. She's not here because she didn't want to come."
"Ah. Well, you're the only girl here minus the secretary."
"Seems so."
"You're the office girl but I never seem to see you around."
"Well, I never have to deliver anything to the engineer department so that's why you never see me."
"I should give you something to deliver to us then. We're a fun group. We have some females with us."
"Oh, I should stop by during my deliveries then."
"Yeah, you should. We make cool things."
"Like what?"
"We were making ... the other day. We had to solve a problem for ... company and it's awesome. You should stop by."
"Yeah, I'll be sure to."
"By the way, where do you live?"
"Oh, I live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn."
"Where the hipsters are? Must be kinda far to get to work."
"I guess. I like the neighborhood. What about you?"
"Astoria, Queens. Closer to Manhattan."
"It must be easy breezy for you to get to work."
"I wasn't originally from New York though. I'm from Pennsylvania actually. I just recently moved here for work."
"Oh really? I'm from Virginia. My friend persuaded me to move here. She didn't like it in Virginia so she made me come up here with her. How long have you been here?"
"5 months."
"Oh. That's why I've never seen you. I've been here for a year and a half now."

Tom the Wingman

Janie and Tom went to the bar to grab a drink after hearing all that information they needed to rest and review.

"Hey, there he is."

"Who?"

"Jake the Redhead."

Janie turned around. She caught him looking at her again. They made eye contact, finally.

"Go talk to him."

"Why would I?"

"I'll call him over."

"No!"

"What I want to make friends too."

"Hey!" Tom waved his arms. The whole group of engineers looked at Tom. "Wanna join us?" Tom looked at Janie. The group walked over and sat at the bar with them. They all introduced themselves and finally Jake introduced himself to Tom and Janie. "His name is Jake." Janie thought.

"Never seen you guys at work." Tom started.

"Oh, we're like hermits. Never really leave the office unless work is over."

"Ah. I have to go to different floors all the time to fix computers or show people how to use it. I can't believe people still don't know how to use the computer at this day and age. Janie sometimes leaves the office. She's the office girl."

"Office girl?"

"Yeah, we give her papers and flash drives and she delivers them to the right place. That's not her real job though."
"Interesting." Jake said.

Redhead Engineerer

Janie texted Brian as soon as she got home. "Sorry about today. There won't be any scheduling problems. I cut it off with Logan."
"Sounds good. How about next weekend?"
"Great!"
"Wear comfy clothes."
"Got it."
***
Janie had to go to a convention at work that week. Her IT team came to TechCrunch Disrupt to look at start up businesses. Anderson Inc. was a company that helped technology related ideas come alive. The company would fund the start up business and in turn give Anderson Inc. some of the profit. Going to Disrupt was a good way to talk to people who are new.

The group consisted of 10 people including Janie. A mixture of business, engineering, and IT coming together and looking for good ideas. Logan's secretary, Kristin, told the group their schedule. As Kristin was talking and handing out lanyards, Janie noticed a guy staring at her. She made a quick glance to make sure he was actually looking at her. He looked away quickly as to not get caught by Janie. "Alright. Everyone got it?" Kristin asked. "Yes." the group answered and dispersed. Janie stuck by Tom the whole time. He worked with her on the IT floor. He was tall, lanky, and a science nerd that stumbled upon information technology. Janie and Tom had a thing but nothing serious because there was a no dating between coworkers rule in the workplace.
"I noticed that redhead guy eyeing you."
"Who?"
"The one from the engineering department."
"The tall redhead?"
"Yeah. The one as tall as me."
"Engineering department, eh?"
"Pretty smart guy."
"Must be. You know anything about him?"
"Not really. I just know that he's in the engineering department because his tag said so."
"And I thought you knew something about him."
"I do. His name is Jake."
"You saw his lanyard, didn't you?"
"No. Someone called his name."
"Oh my god." Janie punched Tom's arm. He laughed and rubbed the spot she punched.
"Let's hear what these people have to say." Tom guided Janie to a table.

John Hancock

"Explain to me this whole ordeal." Aunt Crystal crossed her arms.
"This relationship is only contractual, Aunt." Logan pleaded. "There are no strings attached. Strictly business."
"And why is that? Why did you choose this poor girl?"
Hunter interjected. "Because I chose her. She was the best candidate. You understand that Logan has been a womanizer, if you please, and she is the most innocent candidate to make the shareholders think otherwise about him."
"But if you let him have a fake relationship like that he could still carry on with his bad habits. That girl that waited for him outside! Those shareholders were there they could've noticed her!"
"I know. I am sorry. That was my mistake." Logan apologized.
"But that still does not account for this girl's tears. What is your name, sweetheart?"
"Janie. And you don't have to tell him anything. Please don't actually. We could end this now. I don't want to cause problems for you. I was thinking of quitting this whole deal, Hunter."
"We still have to take care of this problem, Janie. I am one of the big shareholders of this company and I want things to be clear and honest. I don't want this contract relationship business. It will be worse if the other holders find out that you lied to them. You two need to obliterate the contract and start a real relationship. If not Logan has to find someone else that he truly likes. But this young lady has some honest thoughts that she doesn't want to tell you so I will keep it at that. You two work that out and Hunter, you report to me tomorrow what the conclusion is." Aunt Crystal stood up and left Logan's home. Hunter told a security guard to take her home.

"Okay. $33,000 will go into your bank account, Janie by tomorrow night. If you two sign this contract you'll be done."
The two of them signed the papers and Janie stood up to leave.
"What was the honest thought that Aunt Crystal was talking about?" Logan asked.
"Nothing."
"You sure you don't want to tell me?"
"Yeah. Good night. Sorry, for causing all this ruckus. I shouldn't have went to the bathroom."
"Oh yeah, did you go into the bathroom and cried?"
"Maybe."
Janie walked out fast before Logan could catch her.