A Love Like No Other [MxM]

Chapter One

It was five minutes past nine. Eddie was late. He ran down the street with his bag strapped on while carefully holding a cup of unicorn latte. He was careful as he ran because though his beverage was covered, it could spill at any time and he didn’t want his first day at work to be in a coffee stained suit. It took him a couple of minutes and then he was in front of the twenty-five story building he is about to start working in. He said hi to the security outside and walked in, making his way to the receptionist. The ground floor itself was huge and it was occupied only by a dark haired woman with a placard with receptionist written on it, and her huge desk.

“Morning.” Eddie greeted, panting.

The woman behind the desk with a tight ponytail and lips as red as blood raised her brow at him. “How may I help you?”

“I’m new here and I got a text saying I should get my ID from the receptionist before coming up, I’m Eddie Blue Sharpe.” He says, resting his elbow on her desk. The woman frowned for a minute before looking down to search through a drawer.

“May I take a look at your national ID or license?” She asked, her tone anything but warm.

Though slightly taken aback by her behavior, Eddie pulled out his wallet from his pocket and passed her both his license and National ID. Eddie watched as she looked at both cards, she pulled open one her drawers and takes out what must be his ID. She must have been satisfied with them because she raised up her head and smiled as she gave him his ID.

“I’m sorry if I was rude. I have seen many weirdos come in here but any way, welcome to Sheridan Group.” She said, still smiling.

“Thank you.”

Eddie gave her a small nod before making his way to an elevator, he taps his ID against the scanner and the elevator pulled open. He got in and hit the button for the twentieth floor and waited. He checked his watch and sighed, it was nine twenty and he’s twenty minutes late. He was normally punctual and arrived everywhere he was needed to be twenty minutes early but the first cab he had taken this morning broke down, then there was traffic and he needed his morning latte.

There was a light ping and the doors pulled open onto a floor with a few rows of cubicles. Some people were moving around, phones were ringing and he could see people doing work in their stations. He looked around, noticing that most cubicles were plain, no pictures, just computers with a mug of something beside the keyboard. He stood there, not knowing where to go and was about to whistle or something to get people’s attention when a dark haired man in a crisp white shirt tucked into his grey pants made his way to him.

“New guy right?” he asked, voice laced with a strong Yorkshire accent.

“Yes. Hi, I’m Edward Sharpe.”

“I’m Noah Woolf. Welcome to Marketing division of Sheridan Group. The manager is not in right now but let me show you to your working space, you’re just right beside me.” Noah beamed. When he started to walk, Eddie followed him, he got a few stares along the way before he finally got to where Noah was standing.

“You get your own personal computer, make sure you have a password and then you’re good to go.” Noah said with a smile. Eddie dropped his bag on the chair and gently placed his latte on the table and looked around. A new start.

“Thank you.”

“Anytime, Eddie. Wait, can I call you that?”

“You can.”

The morning went smoothly and Eddie couldn’t be happier. Noah seemed like a truly nice guy, he made sure Eddie was comfortable and brought him up to date with projects they were working on. There was a meeting by eleven where the Manager, Samuel who funnily enough reminds Eddie of Mansard from Ground Floor, introduced Eddie to everyone. He got a few handshakes from a few people, he got a few waves but that was it since Noah already informed Samuel that he had already brought Eddie up to date. Samuel tells them that the boss needs to a file containing new ideas on how to reach out to the public, from each of them.

Eddie stared at the screen of his computer as he tried to come up with a marketing plan that would draw in more investors. He had spent the whole hour watching past commercials and look at past billboard adverts, there was an open notebook beside him filled with little comments about them. When he finally looked up he finds out one o’clock, half of his co-workers had already left for lunch.

He pulled out his phone from his pocket, feeling a bit sad and left out, and hit the speed-dial for Matty, who picked after three rings with a loud hello!

“Hey Matty.”

“Eddie! How’s it going? Are you alright? Do you need anything?” Matty asked, his voice full of worry and Eddie chuckled. He shook his head a little, perking up a little.

Matty had been his rock. He had helped Eddie send out his cv to several companies, had taken him to his interviews and had waited for him. His interview with Sheridan Group had been the worst, he had been so nervous. He had answered the questions he was asked and had felt the urgent urge to throw up afterwards. He had been pretty sure he wasn’t going to get the job, so he ran out of the board room and down the stairs till he was out of the building. He had been so shocked when he had gotten the call saying he had gotten the job. He had insisted on answering most of the questions Emmanuel from HR had asked him to come to the company to respond to. And now, here he was.

“I’m fine. I got here about twenty minutes late though and now I have to come up with an idea for marketing a product.”

“Aw.” Matty coo. “It’s taking your mind off things though, isn’t it?”

Eddie hadn’t noticed until Matty had mentioned it and maybe his best friend was right. Not once had he thought about Ben and it felt good, to be honest. He hasn’t been apart from Matty for so long and it’s also another reason as to why he called him.

“It is.”

“If anyone gives you trouble, just tell me.”

Eddie laughed. “What are you gonna do? Whine until they give up or pinch them until they apologize?”

He heard Matty harrumph. “I’ll have you know that my methods work.”

Eddie laughed and looked at the monitor of his computer, he almost jumped out of his seat when he felt something on his shoulder. He spun around to see who wanted to give him a heart attack. Noah gave him a sheepish smile that Eddie returned.

“Hey Matty, I’ll call you back alright?”

“You better or you’ll eat lumpy mashed potatoes for dinner.” Matty demanded before he ends the call. Eddie grimaced at the threat as he pulled his phone away from his ear. He pushed it back into his pocket before looking at Noah who was standing there with two bags from Subway. Eddie motioned for him to have a seat.

“You didn’t leave for lunch, so I got you a sandwich and a coke, I wasn’t sure of what you liked.” Noah chimed, placing a white paper bag on the table.

“Thank you. I got lost in the work and I forgot the time, I guess.”

“It’s fine. You looked consumed in it and I wanted to get you something.”

Eddie opened the bag, a smile on his face because he had made a friend on the first day at work and he couldn’t stop smiling. He pulled out the sandwich and the cup of coke and placed them on the table. Noah stayed with him during lunch, they talked about work and went through Eddie’s idea, and Eddie told him that he didn’t know who the CEO was or what he looked like and it made Noah burst into loud laughter that echoed in the office. Eddie found out that Noah was a really bubbly, his natural hair colour was blonde not the chestnut colour he was sporting, he has been working here for three years and the pay was really good. When lunch was over Noah goes back to his work station while Eddie went back to watching the commercials, feeling happy.

By five Eddie was done, he had sent his file with his ideas to Samuel’s office and was packed and ready to leave.

“Eddie.” Noah called.

Eddie looked up from his bag. “Yeah?”

“Do you need a ride home?”

“Yeah but I can get a cab just down the street.” Eddie replied, unconsciously playing with the zipper of his bag.

“How about I give you a ride?”

“Thank you but I’m alright. Maybe tomorrow.”

“I’ll hold you to it then.”

Eddie took the elevator down, waved goodbye to the receptionist, Alison and the security outside. The entire day had felt so surreal and it had distracted him from the pain. He slowly walked down the street until he got a cab. He gave the cabbie his address and relaxed his pose in his seat, the radio was playing a song about someone taking a pill in Ibiza and it made him sigh.

The drive home took a couple of minutes. He pulled his keys from the bag and opened the door. The house was quiet and there was no smell of something being cooked, Matty wasn’t home. Eddie fell into the chair and laid down on it, staring at the ceiling while doing so. He reached into his pocket and took out this phone that had started ringing, Samuel’s name flashing on the screen. It was then that Eddie realized he hadn’t asked Noah for his number and he made a mental note to do so tomorrow.

“Edward.” Samuel said when Eddie picked the call.

“Yes sir?”

“Call me Samuel please.” Samuel says. “I am calling because out of the ideas submitted to the board, the CEO chose yours, he says it fresh and he wants to see you in his office tomorrow at ten o’clock sharp.”

“Are you sure it was mine he chose?” Eddie asked, shell shocked.

“How many Edward Blue Sharpe do we have in our building?”

“Okay.”

“Good job, Edward. I’ll see you tomorrow.” and that’s the end of the phone call. He let his phone drop to ground and focused back on the ceiling. His idea got picked, not just by anyone but by the CEO. Were they that good? He wondered who the man was. Since Sheridan Group was a worldwide group with hotels all over Europe and Asia, Eddie thinks the man should be about fifty. He knew he should google the man, he knows he should get information about the man he was meant to meet the next day but he’s tired, a little bit hungry and in need of a cuddle. He doesn’t remember falling asleep but he woke up to Matty shaking him awake, telling him to get up and eat. He shoved a bowl of Spaghetti into Eddie’s hands and sat down beside him. He slowly ate his food while Matty told him about his day. He tells Matty about the Noah, his coworker and new friend and the news that Samuel had told him.

Matty pulled him in for a hug, the man’s long straight hair tickling his nose. “I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now tell me about that Noah lad, he sounds nice.”