STRICTLY business [yeah right] ~Zane

[PETAL PAIX]

Excitement.

That’s was Petal was feeling right then. This feeling explained her frantic movements across her office for two hours. She darted to the filing cabinets to get some papers and darted to the trash can to throw some away. Her desk was finally spotless, only holding her laptop, and a fresh cup of coffee. Her third one to be precise. By now she had filed up her recycling bin and made three trips to empty out her trashcan in the dumpster. Her heels had long since been taken off.
Petal had made sure to dress professional. She was in a light purple button down blouse and a grey skirt. It made her look so serious-uck-but it also made her look professional. But, after the two hours of cleaning up, she really wished she was back in her dance clothes. After throwing away the last piece of junk, Petal collapse in her chair. “Shoo, I’m so glad that’s over with,” she said to the air. She started up her laptop and slipped back on her heels. They were black with little bows. Petal adored them but rarily wore them because she never dressed up to go to work. Now she had a reason to!

The excitement bubbled up in her again when she realize Zane would be here any minute. She couldn’t wait to meet him. She’d never met somebody from Germany! Petal could ask him so many questions! But she had to stay focused. He was coming to help her with managing her dance studio. Petal suddenly wondered if she should pay him. Hmmm… That was a tough one. He had offered. Petal frowned slightly. She didn’t really like money. It always ruined friendships. But it did make the world go round.

Her smile appeared again when she heard the door open. OH! It could be him. Okay, okay. Calm down Petal. Be cool; be professional. She took a deep breath and waited for him to come into view.

[PETAL PAIX]

When Petal first saw Zane something peculiar happened. Her heart jumped a little. She even felt those butterflies in her stomach like before she went on for a performance. She must be getting too excited. Petal took another deep breath and got up.

“Ah, hallo, Petal?”

“Yes that’s me. Hi Zane! It’s nice to meet you in person,” Petal said. She held her hand out and ignored her pounding heart. His voice held a wonderful accent. Petal just adored accents. She always loved guessing where the people were from by their accents. She already knew he was from Germany of course. Oh, maybe she could teach him so German! German was such an interesting language. Really powerful and strong. Oh, if she learned German, she and Zane could have conversations and no one would know what they were say. That would be so funny.

She smiled warmly and offered her seat. “You can place your books on my desk. I have my computer all set up with my list of students, their classes and dues. I try and keep organized,” Petal said chatting away while also getting a good look at Zane. He was handsome, her mom would say. Oh no, now she was thinking like her mom. Bleh. Actually her mom was an amazing lady but still she wanted to be Petal, not Petal’s mom.

Seeing she was standing aimlessly, Petal grabbed her stool from the corner and sat on it. She opened up on of his books and flipped through it. The amount of business jargin kind of overwhelmed Petal. She shut the book and decided to wait for Zane on that one.

Notes: Petal, you are so innocent :3
Outfit: simply business

[PETAL PAIX]

“Ze pleasare is mine,”

Petal barely noticed that Zane had held her hand longer than usual. She did notice, however, how her heart leaped into her throat when he touched her hand. His handshake was strong but gentle. She couldn’t really understand her reason for being so nervous. He looked like a nice guy. He was definitely different than most of the guys her age.

“It is not fery easy vhen joo are first starting oat, Vhat exactly vhere joo zinking zat joo vere needing help vith? Zis right here is fery organized, no?”

“Aw, thank you! I try,” Petal blushed a bit but quickly recovered. She leaned over him and clicked down the list. It went on forever and ever. “I was wondering if you knew of an easier way to put these in. It takes so long for my assisant and me to put these in and find them later,” Petal said. She tried to ignore how close she was to Zane. It wasn’t bothering her was it? Not really bothering, it just made her nervous. She stood up and busied herself with the coffee pot across the room. She poured herself a cup and looked over her shoulder. “Also, it kind of has to be easy to use. I’m not exactly a genius with computers. We didn’t have many where I lived,” Petal admitted weakly. She took a sip of her coffee and realized she didn’t offer Zane any.
“Would you like any coffee Zane?” she asked sweetly. Her nerves were going away but very slowly. Maybe she just got too excited. Wait, Petal never got too excited. This was such a mystery.

Notes: So cute :3
Outfit: simply business

[/quote]

[PETAL PAIX]

“Vell, vhat voult be easiest voult be for joo to get a new softvare. Zere are tifferent kint out zere, ant it voult be easiet for joo to go to ze store ant take a look at vhat is zere. Ant then make joor pick. Zis is somezing zat I coult help joo vith, but joo neet to be making ze choice for vhat sount like joo voult like ze most. Vhat joo feel like joo voult be ze most comfortable vith, ja?”

Petal nodded at Zane’s words. Her smile now had to be forced. She really had no idea what he was talking about. Where was Janie when she needed her? Janie knew all about this computer stuff. Did he say softvare? Oh he meant software... what was that? Was it softer than hardware? How could anything in a computer be soft? It’s all made out of hard plastic and metal! This computer stuff was nonsense.

“One thing zat joo voult vant, basing off vhat joo hafe tolt me, voult be a program vith automatic alphabeting. Ant joo vould vant one zat vould allow joo to edit zis all by person, vhich most softvares hafe,”

“Well that does sound nice. I’d definitely want that type of... software on my computer,” Petal said trying out the word. The people who invented computers needed to realize that regular people don’t understand their technical talk. Why didn’t they just call “software” aids? Oh, that probably wouldn’t go over too well. Petal giggled internally and let her coffee take effect. Her genuine smile came back. She poured Zane some coffee and handed to him.

“Careful, it’s a bit hot. Sugar? Honey?” she asked. Petal liked her coffee black but Janie thought she needed more sugar than coffee in her cup. It was silly. Nevertheless she kept some sugar and anything else sweet around.

“You probably should come with me though considering I have no idea what you said in the first half of that,” she admitted. Petal giggled behind her coffee cup and her cheeks reddened. She had no idea what was making her so giddy. Maybe it was the caffeine.

notes: Yeah, Petal... the caffeine is making you giddy >.> XD

[PETAL PAIX]

Petal watched Zane pull his laptop out of a bag. She remember when she first saw the laptop. It slightly confused her how all of that stuff could happen in a really tiny space. Back home, her computers were desktops and they were huuuuge. Petal did her first splurge to buy her nice little laptop. It may have taken her awhile to learn how to use it but it was totally worth it.

“I hafe this one, Joo can play arount viz it, if joo wish. Just let me open ze rest of zem so joo can see them all,”

“This is awesome!” Petal typed in a few things in the little boxes of one of the programs and watch them automatically organize themselves. She held a child-like look of awe as she tried the other ones. She found she liked the second one the best. All the software was amazing!

“I like my coffee black, thank joo.”

“Oh really?” Petal looked up from the computer and smiled. “Me too!”

She played around with the programs a bit more and then turned the computer so that they could both see it. “This one works the best! Thanks for showing me them. That was a lot easier!” she exclaimed. She gave him a quick hug and then realized how unprofessional that probably was. Petal was still getting used to the whole handshake thing. It seemed so dry! Why couldn’t professional people hug to say thanks? Well, it probably would look silly if two guys in suits hugged each other. But she and Zane weren’t in suits or holding briefcases. So it was okay right?

“So,” Petal said excitedly, “What do we do now?”

Notes: aw, she hugged him x3
Outfit: simply business

[PETAL PAIX]

“Zat one is my faforite, too. It is a fery nice program, ja?”

“Yes, it is,” Petal said nodding. It had everything she needed. It was also easy to use. She’d definitely find this a lot easier than her other program. Now how to get it on her computer. She looked up at Zane to ask him a question when he started talking again.

“Vell. Joo just neet to buy ze program ant zen joo vill be set, ja. Vell. Efter joo install it to joor laptop.”

“Okay! Can I buy it online?” Petal wasn’t fond of walking into Best Buy or any other computer stores. There’s a bunch of stuff in there that she didn’t understand. It was like an illiterate person walking into a library. Although if Zane came with her maybe he could translate so to speak. Speaking of translating... “So how long have you been living in the US?” Petal asked randomly in the silence.She took another sip of her coffee and smiled at Zane. “I mean if you don’t mind me asking...”

There was something about Zane that caught Petal’s eye. It wasn’t the same kind of something like Clarissa. It was a different something. She was really almost giddy around him. Like just being near him pulled the stress away from her. It was nice and made Petal want to give him another hug. Although she’d probably embarrass him some more. He looked kind of cute with he’s cheeks all red. The face he made too was adorable. Petal almost felt her cheeks redden from thinking about him like this when he was right there.

Notes: petalsocuteandinnocent x3
Outfit: simply business

[PETAL PAIX]

“Ja, it can be bought on ze internet.”

“Awesome!” Petal smiled. She let Zane take over the computer and get her to the page. Best Buy! That’s where she got her laptop! The guys there had been really nice and helpful when she found herself lost in the sea of technology that she never knew existed. There were little rectangles that you could touch and they would play music! She later found out they were called iPods. She bought the phone version and Janie and her had a fun time figuring out how to use it.

She nodded to Zane and entered her information. She went through the steps. trying to focus on it but all she could think about was how nice and patient was being with her. He was such a sweety! The thought made her smile. When she finally finished typing in everything she silently cheered when it said the package would be sent in three days.

“Oh, no. I really do not mint zat joo asked. I hafe been lifing here for foar years now,”

“Wow only four years? Did you know English before you came here? If not, you’re a really fast learner! It took me forever to learn french for Ballet and they say English is even harder than that as a second language!” She spoke quickly and closed her laptop. Her face turned serious and she switched to her polite smile.

“Well, Zane, I’d love to hire you to help me manage my business. I’ve only got one other person helping me out and she’s only a little better at tech stuff than me. We negotiate a pay if you want to. I’ll need a number from you though.” The last sentence didn’t sound as professional as Petal would have liked but oh well. She and Zane could be friends and co-workers too right?

Notes: Petal fails at being serious lol
Outfit: simply business

[PETAL PAIX]

Petal bit her lip. “I should learn Spanish. Maybe I could take it as an elective or something,” she said thinking out loud. It was really hard to think in her head with him talking. Not that it was annoying or anything; quite the opposite. It was... distracting in a good sense. Petal could with a lot of blushing, admit that she’d love to hear Zane talk all day.

And now her face was slightly red. Oh boy, was she glad for her complexion. You’d have to be looking at her really closely to notice the small red tinge. She’d seen some of her friend blush and they looked like they were sunburnt!

“I voult be fery much happy to eccept jour offer. I am greatly appreciating it!”

She looked down for a notepad and found her sunflower one. She was trying to hide her excitement for him accepting but she was nearly skipping around her desk to find a pen. “I can do that! We should meet again and I can give you my list. Maybe somewhere a bit less, on location. It can get a bit busy in here sometimes. Especially in the next few weeks,” Petal suggested. She shrugged scribbling down a little note on her pad to remind her and smiled as he handed her his number. “I’ll call you soon.” she said with promise in her voice. There was something about Zane that made her not want to let him down.

“Ms. Petal,” said a small voice. Petal turned and saw one of her students in the door.

“Oh my! Is it class time already? I’ll be there in ten minutes,” she said quickly.

The girl nodded giving Petal a curious look before closing the door. Petal spun around. “I didn’t realize how much time had passed. You’re free to finish your coffee in the lounge if you’d like but I have to go.” Giving him a half smile, she grabbed her bag and headed towards the girls locker room. Oh goodness, she was late.

notes;; grrrrl she so naive