Lazy Boy - Chapter One

Ritter leaned back in his chair, drumming his fingers on the desk out of boredom. 40 minutes till he got off work. The ticking clock helped somewhat- 40 minutes, 60 seconds per minute. That'd be... 2400 ticks. He closed his eyes, letting the sounds in. Tick, tick, tick. Each one was another closer to the last. His breath slowly got into a rhythm, when suddenly, he felt a flick at the back of his eyes. His eyes shot open in surprise as he turned around. His expression settled back into its usual chilled-out manner, only with the hint of a smile on his lips. As always, there was a little glimmer in his pale blue eyes, but it seemed a bit brighter than usual.

Maria smiled, a little puff of air coming from her nose.

"Come on, Lazy Boy. It's just half an hour."

Ritter shuffled one of the papers on his desk. There was that nickname again. He'd earned it from his tendency to fall asleep at his desk and wait until the last possible second to turn his work in. He only managed to keep his job due to the sheer quality of his work. When he *was* awake, his eyes were always around 3/4 of the way open, with long blonde hair parted on either side of them and a lazy, playful smile. He glanced at her. She looked good today- warm coffee-colored eyes and soft brown skin, with her long black hair reaching past her ample breasts, slender waist, and down to her wide hips. His eyes darted back up to meet hers.

"40 minutes, actually. Well, 39 minutes and 11 seconds now."

She giggled, a hand on her side.

"There's no way you're actually counting like that."

He winked, his smile fading into an expression of faux-seriousness.

"Every second."

He put his hands behind his head, exhaling slowly as she rolled her eyes, despite having a big grin on her face.

"You're stupid."

He smiled.

"Maybe."

She tilted her head, the hand on her hip moving up to mess with her hair a bit.

"Oh yeah, I dunno if you heard, but that movie we were talking about the other day comes out in a few days..."

She drummed her fingers on the binder she was holding in her other hand. He raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah?"

She nodded, exhaling.

"Yeah, they're doin' this big event at the cineplex this Saturday, if you-"

She was cut off by a loud woman's voice.

"RITTER! Get in here!"

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Riight... one sec, Maria."

She nodded understandingly, with a reluctant, slightly forced smile.

"Iss cool. Make sure don't get fired, Lazy Boy."

He winked, getting up from his chair.

"Impossible. It's gotta be congratulations for how fantastic my last report is."

Her grin returned, and she exhaled a bit from her nose.

"You wish."

He walked off, sneakily tapping the back of her neck lightly with a finger. She instinctively slapped her neck before giggling.

"Estupido..."

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Ritter stepped in his boss's office. She was looking out the window into the parking lot.

"Hey, 'sup."

She turned around.

"Ritter. Close the door behind you."

He nodded slowly, closing it as she sat at the desk.

"Soo... what's this about, Jacquie?"

Jacquelyn exhaled, shaking her head a bit.

"You *do* know I'm your boss, right?"

Ritter smiled.

"Yup."

A hint of a smile formed at her lips for a second before she motioned to the chair across from her.

"Sit down. Don't worry, this'll be fast."

He nodded, pulling the chair out and lounging back. There was silence for a few seconds while she scrolled through her phone, looking for something. Tick, tick, tick. 1873 ticks left now. After a bit, Jacquelyn looked back up at him.

"Have you met my niece, Ritter?"

He shook his head.

"Nah."

She turned her phone around, showing a picture of a young, attractive black girl, probably in her early 20s, with dark hair in a ponytail, big brown doe eyes and a huge goofy grin. He nodded slowly.

"She's cute."

Jacquelyn smiled proudly.

"Yup. The thing is..."

Her smile slowly faded.

"Well, she's not very good around guys. We had a wedding coming up, and she was supposed to go with one of her friends... but something came up with her friend, and she can't come, so she needs an escort at the last second."

She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. Ritter scratched the side of his head for a bit. He knew where this was going.

"Riight... free food?"

Jacquelyn beamed, nodding.

"Free food."

Ritter tapped the table definitively.

"I'm there. When is it?"

"The 6th."

He looked up, thinking.

"This Saturday?"

Jacquelyn smiled.

"Told you it was last minute. I'm taking a page from your book."

Ritter stood up, slowly smiling and nodding.

"Feels good, doesn't it?"

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He stepped out of the office, closing the door behind him and immediately bumping into Kim, who gasped and dropped her papers.

"Shit, sorry."

They both picked the papers up for a bit, him handing her the ones he'd grabbed. She smiled awkwardly, brushing a strand of black hair behind her ear.

"It's fine... oh yeah, did you hear about Walter?"

Ritter raised an eyebrow.

"Nah, what happened?"

She frowned.

"He got caught selling pirated movies. Ended up getting 2 years in jail..."

He blinked a few times. What?

"Seriously? Who's replacing him?"

She tapped her foot nervously.

"Apparently a temp worker is coming in to fill the space for a while. Other than that... I have no idea."

Ritter nodded slowly. Who even sold pirated DVDs these days? Then again, Walter had always an old fashioned type of guy. He was 99% sure Walter had been a member of the Black Panthers back in the day.

"Sucks."

Kim nodded for a few seconds.

"Yeah... well... I guess you'll be working with me on the Anderson project from now on. Here, let me get you my number so we can coordinate a bit better."

As Ritter was taking his phone out, Maria walked up, glancing at both of them.

"Hey, Ritter. Kim."

Kim looked up for a second from adding her number to Ritter's phone.

"Maria."

Ritter smiled awkwardly. Those two never seemed to get along for some reason. In terms of appearance, they were almost polar opposites. Where Maria had dark brown skin, Kim was a pale Asian. Where Maria had long curly hair that went all the way down to her hips, Kim had short, straight black hair that reached her shoulders, and not an inch past. And in terms of their assets... where Kim could be described as "petite", Maria was "ample". Where Kim dressed fairly conservatively, Maria tended to wear dresses that were more... form fitting. His eyes darted from Maria's breasts back to her eyes stealthily.

"Hey, Maria."

Maria put a hand on her hip.

"So... what did she want to talk to you about?"

Kim handed his phone back, and he turned back to Maria.

"Oh, her niece needed a last-minute escort for some wedding thing."

Maria and Kim both looked incredulous. Maria leaned in.

"For real? How can she ask you to do that?"

Kim nodded, tapping her papers.

"Yeah, that's, like, abusing her powers as your boss."

Ritter raised an eyebrow. Why were they in sync right now of all times? He shrugged.

"Hey, free food. It's not a big deal. Besides, she was cute."

They huffed simultaneously. Maria shook her head.

"Whatever... by the way, like I was saying early, that movie thing we were talking about- they're doing a big event thing for it this Saturday. I was wondering if maybe you wanna go?"

Kim raised an eyebrow, tilting her head at Maria, who ignored her. Ritter rubbed the back of his neck.

"Ooh, sorry. That's actually when the wedding is."

Maria frowned.

"For real? That's so lame..."

Kim smiled, turning back to Ritter.

"So, anyway, now that you're on the Anderson project, we should probably get together so I can get you caught up. How's Sunday at 2:00 sound?"

He nodded absentmindedly. 322 ticks left.

"Sure, yeah..."

Kim beamed.

"Great! I'll text you in a bit with the location."

Maria looked over to her, her expression somewhere in between a polite forced smile and a sneer. Kim smiled back before looking back up at him.

"See you later, Ritter... Maria."

She spoke sweetly, except for that last word, before walking off. Ritter suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Just like that, back to feuding. Maria exhaled slowly, tapping her foot in annoyance. Ritter frowned.

"You'll have to enjoy the movie without me. Tell me how it was."

Maria glared at him.

"You're such an idiot sometimes."

She stomped off back to her desk. He sighed, walking over to his computer and shutting it off, stuffing his papers into his suitcase and waiting for the last few ticks. 3... 2... 1. The minute hand slid onto 5:00. He exhaled slowly. Just one more day till the weekend. Suddenly, his phone buzzed.