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By 11 o’clock, Raviga’s New Year’s Eve Party was in full swing. Monica had booked one of the classier, but economical at Laurie’s insistence, ballrooms in the Palo Alto area. The room was decorated with white and blue twinkle lights that created a soft glow around the room. Monica was nursing her second glass of red wine while watching her coworkers and numerous Ragiva funded start-ups awkwardly bop around to music played by an up-and-coming celebrity DJ. Monica had to pay extra for him to play music from the 80s and 90s on occasion, as it was the only way for her to cajole Laurie to this party. She at least seemed to be enjoying herself, swaying to the music while that snitch Evan tried to join her.
While she was watching a rather tipsy Richard and Jared being a bit affectionate on the dance floor and trying to figure out what was going on there, she caught a whiff of the unmistakable combination of weed and expensive cologne that is Erlich Bachmann. She really didn’t want to deal with him.
“Go away, Erlich,” she sighed.
“Why the fuck have you been avoiding me?” he responded.
Monica turned to look at him. “I have not been avoiding you,” the lie creeping into her voice, “Maybe all the pot you smoke has finally made you paranoid.”
Erlich scoffed, “I would know by now if pot made me paranoid. You’re avoiding my fucking question.”
“I’m not listening to this,” she said while turning away from him and heading in the opposite direction.
“Monica!” he brayed while running after her, “Admit it! You have been avoiding me since we -“
“Shh! Don’t let everyone hear you-“ she turned and slightly stumbled in her rush to quiet him. While she was able to catch herself, she came extremely close to spilling her wine. She looked around to see if they had attracted onlookers. Luckily, everyone was too drunk to notice their spat.
They stared each other down. Monica was the first to break. “Fine. You want to talk? Let’s talk. Follow me.” She strode to a supply closet just outside the main ballroom that one of the employees had pointed out to her when she first arrived at the venue. Erlich was close on her heels. When they both were in, she slammed the door.
“What do you want?” she snapped.
“I fucking said you have been avoiding me since that dumb holiday party that ass hat of a new CEO held-“
“I have not been avoiding you!” she interrupted.
“Yes you have!” he groaned, “We used to talk all the goddamn time and after that party you stopped talking to me. Just because you can’t fucking handle that we made out-“
“It was just a kiss! We were drunk! It means nothing!”
“Bullshit!” he snapped.
“I had to visit my family for the holidays. And they have no internet-“ she tried to work her way out of this.
“That’s a fucking lie and you know it,” Erlich snarled, “If you’re going to act like this, I’m leaving.” He barreled his way to the door and turned the handle. It wouldn’t move.
“Mother fuck.” He exclaimed after a few twists.
“What?” Monica sighed while rubbing her temples.
“It’s stuck.”
“What?!”
Erlich began throwing his weight against the door. There wasn’t enough room for him to run and add more force. It still wouldn’t budge. He ran his hand through his curls. “I can’t get it open.”
Monica shoved him out of the way, thinking this could be prank. She tried the door. Jiggling the handle. Hitting the door. Still nothing. “Fuck,” she muttered.
They both scrambled to find their phones. After a few moments, Monica realized she had left her clutch- with her phone inside- on a table at the party. Erlich eventually found his in an inner pocket of his sport coat. His face immediately fell when it looked at the screen. “Mother fuck. The battery is dead.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Monica groaned and collapsed on to a box. Erlich leaned against a wall.
“Well, we’re stuck here,” he muttered.
“Yeah, I got that Erlich,” Monica snapped.
“Jesus. Maybe you should go back to smoking if you are going to be like that.” Erlich plopped on to the floor with a sigh.
Neither of them spoke for several minutes and let the situation stew. The longer they didn’t talk, the more suffocating the air became. Erlich started examining the contents of the shelves around him and tossing them around. Eventually, he became bored by that activity and started pacing around like a trapped tiger at the zoo. Monica just sat in silence and played with her jewelry.
Monica was the first to break. “I was scared,” she whispered.
Erlich looked up from pacing, confused. “What?”
Monica took a deep breath and repeated herself, “I was ignoring you because I was scared.”
“Why? Am I that repulsive to you? No one can live up to your fucking little-miss-perfect standards!”
“Because I could lose my job if we get involved, Erlich!” she exclaimed.
He stopped in his tracks. “Seriously? You can get fired?” Having heard the risks, his voice suddenly became much softer.
“I’m pretty sure. We aren’t supposed to date people from the companies we invest in. It’s a no fraternization rule.”
“But I don’t work for Pied Piper. I own ten percent of it-” Monica laughed, but Erlich barreled on, “So it wouldn’t count!”
“Erlich,” she groaned, “I don’t know.”
Erlich looked into her eyes, “You can at least try. Stand up for yourself. Look at me,” he said gesturing to himself, “I’m a selfish piece of shit, but I get what I want. And it makes me happy. And if I personally have to tell Laurie Bream to go fuck herself so we can date, I will.”
“I’d like to see you try,” Monica flirtatiously joked.
“Maybe she’ll get so hot and bothered by my bad boy nature, you’ll lose me to her,” he joked back, “Older women can’t get enough of me.”
“Oh, I guess I’ll have to watch out then.” They could vaguely hear people start the countdown to midnight. The sexual tension between them thickened.
20…
Erlich moved to sit next to her.
15…
They stared each other down.
10…
Erlich waggled his eyebrows at her.
7…
Monica snorted.
5…4…3…2…1…
Erlich leaned over and gave Monica a claiming kiss. When they parted, Monica whispered, “Happy New Year, Erlich.” Erlich repeated the sentiment.
Suddenly, the doorknob started moving. Monica quickly stood up so that if someone like Evan or Laurie found them, she’d have a better chance of defending herself. If that made her weak, so be it.
The newly opened door revealed Richard and Jared heavily making out. While Monica was trying to process what she was seeing, Erlich stood up and gave a loud cough, alerting the couple to their presence. When the two men noticed their friends, Richard transformed into a drunken, stuttering mess. Jared, however, seemed much more relaxed than he would if he was found in this position sober.
“H-h-hey guys. What are you doing here?” Richard asked, wide-eyed. Monica was trying to hold back her giggles.
Erlich stood at his full height and crossed his arms, “We were having a serious conversation. Weren’t we?” Monica schooled her expression to nod seriously, but kept quiet to keep the dam of laughter from breaking. Richard was clearly uncomfortable.
“We can leave if you want,” Richard half-heartedly offered. Jared gave a small whine, which made Monica crack a smile.
“No, no, no,” Erlich responded, really having fun messing with his tenants, “We’ll leave. You two crazy kids have fun. And because I know you poor souls won’t have one,” Erlich reached for his wallet, “Here is a condom. Stay safe.” He handed the condom to Richard, who refused to meet his friend’s eyes. “Thanks,” he muttered. Having successfully made his friend uncomfortable, Erlich ushered Monica out of the supply closest with a final “Have Fun!” thrown over his shoulder.
Once the door was shut and they were halfway down the hallway, the couple burst out laughing. Monica wiped tears from her eyes. “Oh my god, Erlich, I thought Richard was going to puke,” she chortled.
“Well, there’s stuff to clean it up in there if he does,” Erlich casually responded.
A thought came to Monica, “Wait. Shouldn’t we have told them about the door?”
“They’ll be fine. If not, we’ll open the door before we leave,” Erlich shrugged, “Being stuck in there for a few hours won’t kill them.” Monica gave a noise of acknowledgment.
They took a few more steps. Erlich turned to look at her. “Want to make up for all the drinking we lost while we were trapped in there?” he asked.
Monica smiled, “I thought you’d never ask.”
Tomorrow they can figure out what they are to each other and how to deal with Laurie’s rules, but tonight they are going just spend the time they have with each other. And make fun of Richard and Jared when they let them out.