You Had Me at Halo

Where are you?

There was still no answer and Holly felt a pang of worry worm through her. Why wasn’t he answering? As far as she could tell, answering back seemed to be one of Vince’s specialty subjects. This silence stuff was a bit… well…strange.

Seriously, Vince, could you please say something? Is it because of Amy? Because if it is then don’t worry about it. I completely understand that you didn’t want to talk to her. The girl’s horrible.

Then another thought occurred to her and Holly frowned. You’re not being silent because you did want to talk to her and were too embarrassed to do it in front of me were you? Oh man. This is awkward isn’t it? Just because I don’t like the girl, doesn’t mean you should feel bad about talking to her… though I’ve got to say I’m pleased the kissing never happened… but well… it’s your body. You should’ve just talked to her if you wanted to.

It’s a bit more complicated than that, Vince finally spoke and if it weren’t for the fact they were sharing a body, Holly would’ve almost hugged him.

You’re okay. I was worried about you. And, I guess I should apologize. I didn’t mean to screw things up for you. No wonder you’ve been so weird with me. I’ve been so caught up in my stuff that I didn’t really think it all through. It’s a bit of a mess, isn’t it?

Holly could feel Vince frowning. I know this isn’t your fault. But you’re right…it is a bit of a mess

It won’t be for much longer, Holly promised. And I’m sorry I’ve been so bossy, but soon as I’m gone you can talk to anyone you want. Kiss anyone you—

Holly, he cut her off with a gruff voice. It’s not like that.

Well, I’m sorry anyway.

You will be, Vince retorted.

W-what do you mean? Holly suddenly had an ominous vision that Vince might want to do more than just kiss Amy Jenkins. Which was fine since after all, Vince and Amy were both consenting adults and it was none of her business (despite the fact Vince could do a lot better). The thing was that she really, really didn’t want to be around for anything so…intimate.

I mean that we need to get back downstairs because you’re about to go to your first technical department team meeting. All I can do is apologize in advance.

Compared to the idea of being part of the most bizarre threesome in the world, the idea of a team meeting didn’t seem nearly so bad, and Holly, who had been planning to convince him to sneak back to look in Rochelle’s bag, found herself nodding in agreement. Fine, let’s go then. She just hoped Vince’s other colleagues weren’t quite so keen to kiss her.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“Vincent, so nice for you to join us,” a voice boomed out as soon as they pushed open the workshop doors. As part of Finance Operations, Holly didn’t venture to this end of the building very often and when she did, she always felt like she had stumbled into The Land That Time Forgot.

Gone was the plush corporate interior of the rest of the building and it was replaced by sterile looking chest high benches covered in wires, piles of paper and tools, with the occasional Lara Croft poster randomly pinned up around the place. Vince continued walking toward a group of guys who were sitting around a large table.

Holly recognized most of them from yesterday and though she still didn’t have a clue of their names, at least today Old Spice had replaced the gym sock smell. As for why they were all wearing novelty ties, well that was anyone’s guess.

Mickey Mouse tie stood up and scowled.

That’s my boss, Bob, Vince said in her head before unnecessarily adding. I don’t think he’s in a good mood.

Holly was starting to appreciate that Vince was a master in understatement. She stared at his boss and tried to imagine him thinking happy thoughts, but the way his blue eyes were narrowed, it wasn’t likely. He should probably watch that blood vessel as well. It didn’t look healthy.

“So.” The red-faced man folded his arms. “Are you going to tell me where you’ve been this morning? Or for that matter last night when you were meant to be here working on the software for the Laser account. We’re a team remember. Even when the hours are long, we pull together. I thought you understood that?”

“I do.” Vince assured him.

“So where were you then?”

Vince coughed and studied his hands. “Well I was at Holly Evan’s funeral, and then…it’s sort of hard to explain what happened next…”

Holly groaned. As far as lies went that was pretty lousy. Hadn’t he heard of the classics before? Food poisoning. Family emergency. Women’s problems…well perhaps not that last one, but the other two would’ve worked just fine.

“To be honest I thought as much, Vincent, but in future call me first to let me know.”

She almost choked in surprise when she saw Bob’s face soften. Even the blood vessel at the side of his temple stopped throbbing as he gave Vince a hearty thump on the shoulder. And what was it with all of this back patting?

“It won’t happen again,” Vince promised.

“Good,” his boss agreed before giving Vince a sympathetic smile. “I know yesterday’s funeral must’ve been tough on you. You and Holly Evans were old school friends, I believe.”

What?

This time Holly did start to choke which only resulted in more back patting.

What on earth did he say that for? She spluttered.

“Yes.” A sad smile tugged at Vince’s lips. “We were good friends. Very good friends.”

Vince! She yelped but he didn’t seem to notice as the four other technicians all started to stomp and holler in the most ridiculously way. What were they, teenagers? And to think that a moment ago she’d almost thought they weren’t so bad. A moment ago she’d thought Vince Murphy wasn’t so bad. She was obviously mistaken.

“Woohoo! Go Vince. You sly dog you!”

“Why didn’t you say something before, Stud? I thought she and Todd Harman had something going.”

“I think that’s quite enough,” Bob said, though he also had an impressed smile on his face. And with good reason, Holly thought mulishly, since it was obvious from the personality deficiencies of these computer technicians that their chances of getting real-life girlfriends were seriously low. “Now, how about we all get on with this meeting?”

Yes, and perhaps you could all stop talking a load of rubbish at the same time? Holly hissed in Vince’s head.

Oh, well if you want me to tell my boss the truth I’d be more than happy to. Though I don’t think you’d have much luck getting back to heaven if my body’s locked up in a mental institution.

Ooooh. Holly didn’t know if she was more annoyed at his lies, or at the fact he was right. What she did know was that Vince Murphy was one very irritating person. And the sooner this business was finished, the better.

Well? he said in a mild voice and she could tell by the tug of his lips that he was smiling.

Fine, she muttered as she turned her attention back to where Bob was now holding up some sort of gadget and explaining it was a new router. She narrowed her eyes and studied it intently. She had no idea what a router was of course, but at least it was better than listening to Vince snickering in her head.

* * *

For the next hour Holly, who had planned to spend her time working out how she could get access to