[chapter six]
Disclaimer: If you've heard of
them, I don't own them. Everything else is mine, so no stealing, pretty please.
;-)
**
"Hi."
"Hi."
"C'mon in." Chad said, glancing around his house one last time to ensure he had gotten everything in closets and under beds that up until 20 minutes ago had been all over his house. Papers, clothes, empty food bags - it was all hidden now. No reason to let Mia think he was a complete slob.
"Thanks. Faye said you need some help loading software and setting up a network connection." Mia said shyly, setting down her bag.
"Uh, yeah. I guess. Can you do that?" Chad asked uncertainly. He knew less about computers than he liked to admit, so he was going to have to trust whatever Faye and Mia said.
"Sure." Mia said. "Just as soon as you point me towards your computer."
Chad blushed a little then lead her to his small office. "Here it is. Do you want anything? Drink?" He asked, not sure what computer-fixers expected during house calls.
"Nope. I'm good." Mia said softly, examining the CPU. "Thanks."
Chad stood behind her, shoving his hands in his pockets and rocking back on his heels several times. Mia had the sweetest little voice - and he noted that her pants were much closer fitting than last time, though the rest of her was engulfed in an enormous Spartans sweatshirt.
"Okay." Chad answered.
"Um…" Mia said, looking over her shoulder. "You don't have to stay, or anything. I'm just going to, um, work on this."
"Okay." Chad repeated, sitting down behind her anyway. Several minutes of silence stretched between them as Mia examined his operating system and Chad tried to watch what she was doing. "So…uh…Mia. What's your last name?"
"Maxwell." She said distractedly, pushing a lock of hair out of her eyes as she squinted at the screen. "What's this scp.exe file?" She asked, pointing to a window on the screen.
Chad stood up to stand behind her and take a closer look. Damn, she smelled good. "Uh… I don't know." He admitted, embarrassed.
Mia looked over for a moment, smiling at him, before ducking back to look at the monitor again. "You have a lot of games on here. It's eating up a ton of your RAM."
Chad nodded but said nothing. Ram? The animal or the truck?
"Oh. OH." Mia said, her cheeks flushing red as she rapidly closed a window, but not before Chad caught a glance of a completely nude woman on his screen. "Sorry." Mia muttered.
"That wasn't mine!" Chad screeched. "Jimmie sent that to me!"
Mia glanced at him, but said nothing.
"Been doing this long?" Chad ventured, desperate to make conversation, and to erase the image of the woman on his screen.
"Long enough." Mia answered, pushing up her glasses. "You…you want my credentials?" She asked seriously. People often wanted a resume before they ever let her set foot in front of their computers.
Chad was about to say no when a thought occurred to him. If he said yes, he might found out more about this girl. "Uh, yeah." He said, sitting down again.
Mia swiveled around to face him, her eyes not quite meeting his. "I graduated from USC Berkeley with degrees in computer science and computer information systems, and a minor in informatics. I came to South Carolina to work for a growing agriculture conglomerate, a worked for a few dot.coms after that, and then I began freelancing as a computer specialist so I would have more flexibility in what I wanted to do. On the side I design websites for people, work on code, fix problems and freelance for some of the teams in town. I'm certified in repair, and I work quickly. I don't believe in taking a long time just so I can charge more." She paused and finally looked at him. "Any other questions?" She asked timidly.
"Wow." Chad said. "How old are you?" He asked without thinking.
"27." She murmured. "Even though I look about 12." She smiled slightly and Chad grinned. He could see why people would think that, with her tiny stature and baggy clothes.
"Cool." He said instead, suddenly aware that he was interrupting her. "Uh, I guess I'll go. Just shout whenever you're done, or if you need anything. I have…" He thought for a moment, mentally visualizing his fridge. "…well, water and beer. And maybe a packet of Kool-Aid."
Mia giggled a little as she turned back to the screen. "I never drink on the job. The sugar makes me jittery." She teased, not looking at him.
Chad could only smile to himself as he quietly left the room.
**
"Um…Mr. Knaus? I'm finished." Mia called from the front hallway.
Chad emerged from the family room with a broad grin. "Mr. Knaus. Please. Just call me Chad. It's all done?" He asked, gesturing towards his office and Mia nodded.
"Yeah. I went ahead and defragged your hard drive and compressed some files, so it should run faster too. But yeah, everything you needed should be working just fine now." Mia explained.
"Awesome! Uh, what do I owe you?" Chad asked, patting his back pocket for his wallet before Mia held up a hand.
"Don't worry about it. I'll send you a bill in the mail with everything I did itemized on it." Mia said hastily. "If you have any questions about it, let me know."
"Do you have a business card or anything? I tend to…uh…I might need a little computer help in the future." He stammered, aware of his woefully lacking computer skills.
Mia nodded and dug around in her messenger bag for a stack of business cards. "Here you go. Let me know if you have questions. Thanks." She said, hitching up her bag and turning to go.
"Thank you." Chad echoed, hustling around her to get the door before opening it for her. Mia looked up at him questioningly for a moment, then with a shy smile disappeared out the door.
Chad stood for a moment staring at her tasteful business card.
That girl has the prettiest smile
I've ever seen, he thought to himself, turning the card over and over in his
hands.