CHAPTER 6 - Making New Friends

/THEO/

The guy chuckled, stepping closer. "Don't sweat it, newbie. Everyone does that at least once. I’m Jace, by the way. The weird looking girl is Maya."

“Huh? Did you just call me weird looking?” She glared at him. Jace seemed pleased to have gotten on her nerves.

I didn't want to get involved in their bickering. I mean, I had something more important to deal with right now.

"I'm Theo," I said, my heart still hammering. "Can it be fixed? Ms. Lesley needs these logs in twenty minutes."

"Step aside, Theo," Maya said, pulling up a chair next to mine and tapping rapidly on her tablet. "Jace, grab the backup files from the trash bin and restore them before Ms. Lesley checks the main network. We’ve got this.”

I watched in absolute awe as the two of them worked. Jace walked me through the software interface, explaining the shortcuts in simple terms that actually made sense, while Maya rerouted the data back to where it belonged. Within ten minutes, the red error message vanished, and the logs were perfectly organized.

"There," Maya said, dusting off her hands as she stood up. "Crisis averted. You’re officially initiated into the office nightmare."

"Thank you so much," I breathed, feeling a heavy weight lift off my chest. "Seriously, I thought I was done for."

"We Betas have to stick together in this place," Jace said with a easy-going grin. "The management here can be pretty intense.”

“Idiot,” Maya smacked him at the back. “Aren't majority of us Betas in the first place?”

These two seemed to enjoy bickering more than anything else.

“Actually…” I interrupted their squabble. “I'm an Omega, not a Beta,” I corrected.

“Really? You don't seem like one though,” Jace came closer, sniffing me which made me flinch.

“Haven't you heard of personal space or are you just a tactless idiot?” She pulled him away from me which I was grateful for. “Sorry, this idiot just says the first thing on his mind.”

“It's fine. I'm a Recessive Omega actually, that's why you must have confused me for a Beta,” I scratched the corner of my lips.

“There's no need to feel weird about it,” Maya said, completely unfazed by my revelation. I had never once been embarrassed or ashamed of being a recessive but that doesn't mean, recessives are received eagerly in social situations. After all, we're like defects.

“You guys don't come by often, do ya? I heard there's only a small percentage of recessive Omegas,” he rubbed his chin as he took a good look at me.

“You're creeping the newbie out, idiot,” she hit him with her fist curled up at the back of his head. “Once again, I apologize for his behavior. He can be creepy at times, but he doesn't have bad intentions.”

“Thank you,” I laughed, feeling completely relieved now that I wasn't in trouble.

“Come on, it’s past our lunch break. Let’s grab some food from the cafeteria," Maya reached out a hand to me which I took. “It's his treat,” she pointed at Jace.

“Eh? Why me, though?” He looked ready to cuss her out.

“As an apology to Theo for being all mouthy and nosy,” she shrugged and Jace found himself unable to go against it.

Sitting with Maya and Jace in the cafeteria, eating basic turkey sandwiches, was the best part of my day. Maya filled me in on all the office politics—who to avoid, which printer always jammed, and how Ms. Lesley was actually nice once you got used to her sharp tone. For the first time all day, I felt like I could actually do this.

By the time I finally unlocked the apartment door that evening, it was past 8:00 PM. My feet ached, my shoulders were tense, and my brain felt completely fried from the sheer volume of new information I’d absorbed.

The apartment was dark and quiet, and Lorcan’s door was shut as usual.

I kicked off my shoes, practically groaning in relief as my feet hit the cool wood floor. I dragged myself to the kitchen, poured a glass of water, and leaned against the counter. I was so exhausted I could barely think about making dinner, let alone cleaning up the few dishes I’d left in the sink from breakfast.

“Oh, did he do the dishes?” I blinked rapidly in disbelief as I stared at the clean sink and dishes. I tried to wrap my head around why he'd help me out as he didn't seem like the type to go out his way to help out.

There was only one conclusion, “had he come down with a cold?”