Chapter 3 - a change of heart?

The next morning Red awoke, he was groggy, he didn't sleep well, his head spun until the small hours processing the news from the previous night. The beer had left a mild hangover. He didn't feel like showering this morning. He was apprehensive about going to the office. What if he saw Carla. Would he freeze up and imagine the pictures he saw. What if she needed help again? What if she brought food to him? What if...?

He tried to stop thinking and got dressed. He was running late again after lying in too long and knew it would be a tougher cycle today. He grabbed and drank a glass of cool tap water to try and compensate the mild dehydration and got on the bike.

At work, he locked up the bike and quickly walked to the front door, he was feeling more clammy, out of breath and rosy from the ride today, his hair slightly matted. He wished there was a shower facility at the office today to refresh himself, but would have to make do with deodorant and a change of clothes.

On his way to the desk, he remembered he needed breakfast again and had to stop at the vending machine. Once again, energy bar and black coffee... He paused." Carla spotted this yesterday, that's why she brought me food". He put another coin in the machine and got a pack of crisps too. He picked up his breakfast and hurried to his desk. He didn't look around, but saw Carla out of the corner of his eye. He tried not to acknowledge her and get on with work.

He booted up a blank spreadsheet and started transcribing hand written notes from a quantity surveyor subcontractor... "at least it will be a dull day" he mused and quietly had his coffee.

Lunchtime came and the majority of the workers bearded out the door. He saw Carla giggling and talking to her supervisor. "Shes talking to Jerry, he's pretty big, she must be flirting with him, weirdo." ... He then minimised his spreadsheets and opened the online edition of the local newspaper to read. He bored quickly of it and went back to his data.

A few hours after lunch an email popped up... "Hi Red. I'm such an idiot, can you come over and bring my toolbar back? I've tried to search the internet already, but the official forum is crap. Lol. Carla."... Red stalled... "act like you haven't read it yet and go over later when you can pull yourself together." He waited quarter of an hour and replied "Hi. Will be over in a mo, just want to finish something first. Red." He ducked behind his monitor and took a deep breath, then went over.

"Hey! You came, great!" she chirped up.

"Yeah, so what's the issue here?" Red knelt next to Carla and opened up the Opera Tools program. For some reason, Red noticed the smell of Carlas perfume, it was mild, subtle, but sweet. He liked it. He coughed a little, involuntarily. "well... It's menu, options, display settings, interface.... Ah! Missing plug in." He stood up. "I have them on a USB hang on."

"Oh thanks! I'm so sorry about that, easy fix?"

"Yes, copy and paste a few files to the C drive and good to go." And walked back over to his desk. He felt flustered, he noticed her perfume and liked it. That confused him, he was supposed to be freaked out by her, but he felt excited. Worse still, the sweet smell reminded him that he skipped lunch.

He returned with the flash drive, Carla smiled politely. Red ducked under the desk to plug it in. As he put it in, he could feel a sharp sensation of hunger. Bending over must have stimulated his stomach and it let out a slow, long grumble. He felt himself blush. She must have heard that. There was no time to think, just get up and act like nothing happened. He darted to the mouse and without looking at Carla copied the plug ins over.

"Were you too busy for lunch? Wow, sorry for calling you away" she said apologetically. He had really hoped she wouldn't have noticed... But she's probably trained herself to hear peoples stomachs.

"Erm no" He lied "I brought a sandwich from home." He smiled furtively.

She winked and opened her drawer. Inside was a pack of colourful ring doughnuts "take one, it's good to share." She passed a glazed pink one over to Red.

"Wow, thanks." He said and forced a smile back, politely taking it.

"Always welcome! Keeps me on your good side, whenever I mess up the work!"

Red wandered back to his desk. He hopes he wasn't blushing. What would he do with the doughnut? He didn't want to eat it, but he couldn't throw it away. It seemed like a genuinely nice gesture and not a creepy ploy to feed him. Sitting down, slumped behind the monitor, he wondered why he really did feel weird about her today. It was his fault for looking into her private life the night before and she's been nothing but friendly to him ... And she smells nice... He paused in his thoughts... Really? Her scent?... No it's nothing.

Quarter of an hour later, Red had eaten the doughnut. It was nice, the sugary high was exactly what he needed for his energy levels, he felt better and more focused on work again. Soon it was time to leave, from there he stalled for a few minutes so Carla could leave first, he then picked up his bike and rode home.

Red had cycled via the corner shop. He picked up another pack of beers and a frozen pizza. He was too tired this evening to run and really was in no mood for cooking. He stuffed it in the oven... "yuck. carbs and cheese... Back to normal tomorrow" he thought.

He put on the television and grabbed the pizza and a beer... Just the one tonight. "christ, I'm bored.". He took out his phone "one new email."... "LinkedIn" "Carla Tiree has accepted your connection request." He opened up the page. She had endorsed all his skills. "wow, she must do that for everyone. Okay, enough of her tonight." And went back to his dinner.

Later on, Red was still awake. He had drifted onto his third beer of the night and was watching trashy court room reality TV. The stern looking female judge was chastising a man with a missing tooth for stealing a neighbours mailbox. Red was tipsy now and pretty sick of the show. He rubbed his eyes and opened his phone again. The browser was left open on the Feedist Life page. "woah. Glad I didn't open my browser at work." He then notice in the top corner "you have 4 notifications." "eh, maybe this is the beer working" he thought as he clicked the notifications. "Four people liked your picture. Click here to see." "Hah! I didn't know I was so popular". He clicked on the link. "DaisyFeeder, FatGuyStuffer, CarlaFFA1983, BadBoyPiggy"... His heart skipped. "Carla? She saw? Oh can users tell whos been reading their profile?" He felt like he had been found out, she could see he stalked her. "it's ok. No face, no location. She won't know it's me." A compulsive feeling ran through him... He had to check if she had written about the real him again. "ok, I cant read her profile... Where is the thread going to be?" he went to the forum link and a roller down the list. "introductions" "meet ups" "kink"... "urgh, no"... "IRL encounters". Maybe? He clicked and scrolled. Third thread "feeder subterfuge" "recent message today, 20:47. CarlaFFA1983." He saw she posted again tonight... Not long ago.

"lol a guy at work obviously skipped breakfast so I gave him a huge muffin. He looked bemused cause he's into exercise, but he still ate it! Bless him, I should keep an eye on him." CarlaFFA1983

"Haha! You are naughty, it's fun to see the fitness freaks take the bait! I bring cookies every Friday and they're always gone." GainerSofi90

"Omg! I should do that... See if I can fatten up the whole office! That would be too obvious *wink face* I gave this guy a doughnut today for fixing my computer... That's twice he's accepted now! Think I can give him something every day or would he notice?" CarlaFFA1983.

Red finished the updated comments. He was very confused. "she likes me? She writes about me?" He stared at the screen in disbelief. Not at the massage, but at himself. He clicked "reply"

"maybe you should break the computer tomorrow. I bet he would come over. Who could resist your cakes? Lol." FatFreddie

Shocked at himself, he dropped the phone and shut it down. He went to get a glass of water, he felt hot and flustered. He then set his alarm clock and went to sleep.