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“That damn error message keeps popping up every time I try to upload the photos for my presentation,” she hissed in a lowered voice. “The one Ithoughtyou gave me the fix for last night. Something about a certificate needing to be renewed, and my presentation is due in less than three hours.”
“I thought you wrote all the steps down and I’m sure that’s what’d it take. You didn’t finish uploading everything last night?”
“No,” she glanced around lowering her voice even more, so she wouldn’t get thrown out. “I had to wrap it up because I was tired, but I knew I had all morning today to work on it. I just hadn’t counted on still having issues.”
She left out, that her boyfriend had gotten up for water and after a few midnight kisses, that turned into so much more, this time she passed out with him.
“I’d walk you through it again, hon,” he said sounding a little too calm. “But I don’t have my laptop handy right now to do it remotely.” She heard him asking for another drink. “If you have time, I’m at the same Brazilian place we had lunch at on Saturday. Friends I’m waiting on won’t be here for at least another hour, if you want to come down, I can help you with it.”
Clenching her teeth, Xochitl glanced down at her watch.God damn it!Without further thought or other recourse, she threw all her things into her book bag and got up. “I’ll be there in a half hour.”
Within minutes she was running through the campus like a crazy woman, feeling completely exasperated. Of course, as soon as she was in her car, ready to turn it on, her phone rang, and it was Lex. Xochitl squeezed her eyes shut. No way would he not notice how anxious she was feeling, and she wasn’t about to outright lie to him. Not when she was so close to being done with this already. So, she sent it to voicemail and texted him instead.
Can’t answer, I’m in the lab and I’m this close to having this presentation ready. I’ll call you once I turn it in. Love you.
His response only made her feel even more guilty.
Got it. I was just missing hearing your voice. I’ll see you tonight. Looking forward to it, no matter how exhausting.??
Putting her phone down, she raced down to the restaurant Rigo was waiting for her at. Once again, she practically sprinted through the parking lot and met Rigo at the bar, where he had a drink waiting for her. Seriously? When she had to get this presentation set up and sent off to her professor in less than two hours now?
“You got it all set up, right?” he said pointing at her as she reached the bar area. “Just need to upload the media?”
“Yes,” she said pulling her laptop out. “But it keeps giving me that stupid error message.” She showed him as soon as she brought up the file. “This is the presentation. All I need is to be able to upload these graphics and pictures, so I can get it finished and sent off.”
“Have a seat, a drink, and take a deep breath. I’ll get this taken care of for you.”
Xochitl pretended to sip the dirty Martini she’d once upon a time mentioned to Rigo was one of her far and few in between, guilty pleasures. She still had to drive home. No way was she drinking the whole thing. Within fifteen minutes, Rigo said, “Voila! You’re welcome!”
Incredibly relieved she tapped away on the keyboard looking it over.Perfection. Now why didn’t this shit work when she was trying to put it together on her own? Not even caring anymore, she opened up her school app where she could submit the damn presentation and be done with this. Then she could call Lex and tell him about this because she wouldn’t even wait until she saw him. She needed to come clean and the sooner the better. She hit a few more keys and then finally hit submit. “Thank you, Jesus,” she said when she saw thesuccessfully sent,message.
“No,” Rigo said, holding up his glass of wine. “Thank you,Rigo.”
As relieved as she felt about finally being done with this, the anxiety about having to have this conversation with Lex just as soon as she got out of there, had Xochitl reaching for her Martini. “Thank you, Rigo. You saved me once again.”
“As always, it was my pleasure.” He clinked her glass and took a drink. “Proud of how important your schoolwork is to you. I’m just sorry my not making sure it’d all go smoothly for you on Saturday caused all this panic for you. My apologies, but it’s all good now though.” He held his drink up to her. “This calls for a little celebration. One thing about martinis was, as expensive as they were at bars, the amount they served you wasn’t much more than a shot. They just looked like a little more and fancier because of the glass they were served in, and the presentation with the olives and all. So, she downed what little was left.
“Better?” he asked when she was done, and she nodded glad it actually did calm her nerves a little. Because she was not looking forward to that inevitable conversation with Lex.
“Good. Now bring it here.” He set his glass down on the bar and opened his arms up.
Not wanting to make more of it that it was, she put her glass down on the bar, and gave into Rigo’s bearhug. Rolling her eyes, she refrained from pushing him away. He had after all just done her a huge favor. One she already knew he wouldn’t be charging her for. Normally even something like this would be beyond annoying, but she figured the least she could do was to thank him with a harmless hug. After today the only way Rigo would be in her life, was as the topic of a no doubt tense conversation she’d be having very soon. “You smell amazing,” he whispered into her ear as his embrace grew stronger, and she froze.
“Drinks at two in the afternoon on a Tuesday?” The sound of Gordo’s voice made Xochitl flinch before she had a chance to shove Rigo away. But she pulled away immediately and turned to Gordo, those intense Moreno eyes peering at her in question.
“I, uh had an assignment—”
“At a bar?” His brow went up as he took Rigo in then turned back to Xochitl. “You know when I talked to my brother last night, he said you two would be too busy with school and all to even get together for lunch before I headed home tonight.”
“I was, w-weare—” She stopped when he did a double take, and her heart nearly stopped the moment he zeroed in on Rigo again, and she knew he recognized him.
“I know you, asshole.” He turned back to Xochitl. “Pretty damn sure Lex doesn’t know you’re here having drinks with this fucking douche.” Xochitl gulped, turning back to a smug-looking Rigo, whoobviouslyknew exactly why Gordo was saying this, and she suddenly felt like a complete idiot. Had he purposely rigged her website so she’d have no choice but to stay in touch with him? Gordo turned back to Xochitl looking completely stunned.
“Boy, you better get your underage ass out of here before you get thrown out.” Rigo took a sip of his drink before adding. “You wouldn’t want that family of yours dealing with anymore scandalous stories going viral.”
“This wasn’t planned,” Xochitl said to Gordo. “I had—”
“Why lie now?” Xochitl’s head jerked in Rigo’s direction and glared at him stunned that he was doing this. “The jig is up, babe. Don’t make it worse by lying even more.”
