#colin ritman x ofc

[waywardandwestward]

One Body (Chapter 1)

A Colin Ritman x OFC fanfic

"What you say or do doesn't matter; only feelings matter. If they could make me stop loving you that would be the real betrayal."  ~ George Orwell, 1984.

Warning(s): Nothing much, just minor swearing. Was not beta read.

A/N: Hello friends! It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything that I’ve written, mostly because of school and work, but I’m happy to say that my Thesis is done and I can focus on writing things for my own enjoyment again! I’m not sure how much more of this fic I’m going to write, especially because my focus is on finishing Let Me Be Your Shelter, but this concept has been in my head for days now and I needed to get it on paper so I could focus on other things. Depending on the response, I might write more!

It should also be noted that this takes place before the events of Bandersnatch. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1

Colin Ritman strolls lazily into the large office building with his hands in his pockets and an unlit cigarette dangling out of his mouth. His ears are covered by the headphones connected to his Walkman, which is currently playing nothing. He prefers to observe his surroundings without being intruded on by random people in the street or those chatting in the lobby.

When he lights his cigarette inside the elevator he gets a few looks from the men in suits next to him, to which he ignores by staring down at the pale Chucks he’s wearing on his feet. The elevator takes him up to his floor, and as he enters his work space, he’s a bit surprised to see the place completely empty.

Colin Ritman never cared very much about whether or not he was late for work. Given all the money he’s made for the company in the last year, his boss didn’t really seem to care much either. But, it did strike him as odd that he managed to arrive so early. In the last three years he’s been working for the company not once had arrived before anyone else. He shakes off the confusion rather quickly with another drag of cigarette and makes his way to his desk. He relaxes into his spin-style chair while he waits for his computer to boot up.

Just as his computer fully turns on, he finds himself falling into daze. Right as his eyes drift drift closed, he’s brought back to attention by the feeling of a tap on his left shoulder and the sound of a tiny cough.

“Excuse me?” The shy voice behind him says.

Colin spins the chair around to see a woman smiling courteously down at him. She stands hands together, playing with her mint painted fingernails until she feels the need to brush a strand of her curly brown hair out of her line of sight, and adjust her brown satchel hanging over her left shoulder. He pulls off his headphones and smashes his cigarette into the ash tray next to his computer. “I’m sorry to interrupt. I’m here for an interview with Mr. Thakur. I know I’m a little early, but I just wanted to make sure this was the right place….”

American, he notes as she continues on. Her face is round with soft features and the greenest eyes Colin had ever seen. She’s wearing a large lavender colored sweater with a white, collared blouse underneath. The sweater lays over a floral skirt, and she stands in a pair of brown oxfords with white socks that end at her calves. Her body is jittering. Drinks too much coffee, he observes. Moderately desperate, he assumes. “If you could just point me in the right direction, I’d really appreciate it.”

Too polite, he thinks.

“You don’t want to work here.”

She’s taken aback by his bluntness. “I don’t?”

“No, go home. He’s attempts to turn back to his desk, but she stops him.

“Hold on a second,” he raises an eyebrow up at her and than glances at the hand firmly placed on the back of his chair. “Sorry.” she lets go, but she keeps eye contact with him to make sure that he doesn’t turn around again. “This is one of the best game development companies in England-

“The world actually-” he corrects.

“Why wouldn’t I want to work here? You work here.”

“Yeah, well, never said I liked it,” Colin shrugs. “And, I’m not his type am I?”

“Excuse me?” Her forehead creases when she asks. He finally manages to turn his chair back fully to his computer this time. The young woman takes a second to compose herself, standing up taller and stiffening her back. “Look, I’ve dealt with plenty of jerks trying to get up my skirt before. I shouldn’t have to deal with it, but I do. Besides, who are you to say I don’t want this job?” Her hands have dropped to her side and Colin can’t help but notice that her voice has lowered an octave. The sudden change in demeanor almost made Colin turn around again. “You know? Don’t answer that, it’s irrelevant anyway. The fact is I need this job. I need it in order to graduate, so if you could please direct me to Mr. Typical-Boss-Man’s office, it would be greatly appreciated!” she ends her statement a little too sharply for Colin’s liking, but he does begin to feel that this stranger warrants his attention.

Colin sighs and thinks about apologizing for a moment, but figures after her meeting with Thakur, he’ll never see her again. Whatever job she’s going after, he knows his boss won’t give it to her. Even if she is his type. “It’s that room there,” he points to the open room exposed by glass windows. “There’s a couple of chairs if you want to...” he points out.

She nods and sits down across the room by Thakur’s door. Colin moves back to his work just as a few of his co-workers begin to arrive and set up at their own stations. He can still see her though, waiting for Thakur. She’s twiddling her fingers and the strap on her satchel, evolving back into the seemingly shy woman he’d seen the moment she’d tapped his shoulder. He does his best ignore her, but his eyes can’t help but drift away from his work.

“Well, shit,” he says to himself. Stupid Conscience.  He walks over to her.

The young man hovers over her and she realizes how tall and almost intimidating the man is. Almost. His bleached hair and pin-striped jeans gave the sense that he cared somewhat about his appearance, or at least his aesthetic, and yet the way his body slouched over and the way his glasses slipped down the ridge of his nose made her wonder if he cared about anything at all. “For the record, I wasn’t trying to be controlling, or tell you what do. I was just trying to warn you.”

“Is that an apology?” she asks. He’s surprised she didn’t come off more offended. Instead she just seems curious.

“I don’t know,” he replies honestly. “I’m not really the “I’m sorry’ type. Sorry means regret, and I don’t particularly believe in regret. I just wanted to clarify.”

“Clarification noted, although I don’t know if I agree that apologies are the same thing as regrets,” she says. “And I appreciate the warning. I just don’t love it when people tell me what I want, especially when their complete strangers.”

“That wasn’t the intention. Then again, maybe I’m just a arse, and it was, I don’t know. In any case,” he breathes in, “Fresh start,” He sticks one hand in his pocket reaches out the other one. “I’m Colin.”

“Colin Ritman?” she asks taking his hand. He nods with a pierced lip. “I had a feeling. Your reputation precedes you.” There’s a small smirk creeping up the side of her mouth.

“I wasn’t aware I had a reputation, outside of the list of games I created.”

“An artist is reflected in his work,” she replies. “That and I have a friend who used to work here. He talked about you all the time.”

He hums and then says, “Good things?”

“Weird things.”

“That’s not surprising.”

“No, it’s not.”

Colin tilts his head at the response, both curious and amused by the playful look she has in her eye.

“Colin!” Mohan Thakur’s large voice booms through the office. He strides up to the pair. “How are you, mate?” Colin replies with another quick pierce of the lips. and a slow head nod  His eyes stray toward his new friend giving her a wink that this was the man that she’d been waiting to see. “Who’s your friend, here?” She immediately understood what Colin had been insinuating about his boss earlier. Mr. Thakur’s eyes linger just a little too long over her body as he speaks.

“This is…” Colin freezes when he realizes he never caught her name.

“Lilith,” she replies to both of them. “Lilith Carlina.”

“Lilith, this is Mohan Thakur,” Colin says.

“Well, what brings you by...” his eyes are still lower than they should be, but the young woman shrugs it off, “...Lilith?”

She’s not sure if she should squint her eyes in confusion or roll them at his obvious crude behavior. In order to come off professional she chooses the former. “I had an interview set up for this morning. About the internship.”

“The internship?” It’s Colin who chooses to roll his eyes at his boss. “Right! See, this is why we need an intern. So I have someone else to remember my meetings for me.” Lilith attempts to laugh along politely while Colin slowly backs himself away from the conversation, giving the young woman a small wave as he does so. She does the same for him.

“Why don’t you step through my office here, and we can have a chat,” the older man says opening the door. Lilith can feel his eyes watching her as she steps through the door frame. She’s grateful that this room is completely transparent.

The room takes up practically a third of the office space and seems to double as the team meeting areal, for at one side of the room there is a large table, while at the other side there is a desk and a couch. “Go ahead and take a seat in front of the desk, yeah?”

She does as he suggests, crossing her legs as she makes it into the chair. Thakur takes his seat behind the desk. “So, where are you from, Lilith?”

“Kansas,” she replies.

“Oh,” Thakur draws out. “Well, you don’t sound it.”

What is a person from Kansas supposed to sound like? She thinks to say, but doesn’t. Again, she tries to keep herself composed. “My mom’s from New York and my dad’s from Michigan so…”There’s an awkward pause for a moment before Lilith decides to take control of the interview. “Look, about the job-”

“Yes, the job,” he pulls a pen out of a holder on his desk. “What makes someone like you interested in game design?”

Oh, here we go with the “someone like you” bull shit. she straightens up and makes sure that her hands which are now tightened into tense fists are hidden out of Mr. Thakur’s view..”My major is in computer studies, and about halfway through my sophomore year my roommate and I got a bit obsessed with Pitfall! and that’s when I realized game design was my calling.”

“Interesting,” he said. “What made you want to study in England?”

“Actually, I went NYU for most of my academic career. But I thought for my last semester I’d go exploring. I’m a part of a study abroad program.”

“Really?!” his false enthusiasm was beginning to grate on Lilith’s nerves.

“That’s why I’m here. One of my requirements is that I need to intern at a company that falls under the same focus as my career path.”

“I see,” the man sighs. “Well, unfortunately there’s not much I can do for you.”

Lilith’s pupils flared, “What? But I thought you said-”

“Our budget’s capped I’m afraid.”

“It’s a non-paid internship.”

“All the spots are full.”

“But you said-”

“Look,” he stops playing with his pen folds his hands and leans into the center of the desk. “You seem like a very nice woman. But, the spots are full. And if I’m being honest, I’m a bit worried you might be a distraction.”

“A distraction for who?!” she snaps. His words make her blood boil, but she sucks in a deep breath and quiets her voice. “You haven’t even looked at my resume.” She grabs her satchel and pulls out the sheet with her listed qualifications. “Just give it a skim, please.”

Thakur receives the paper in hand and takes a minute to reads it over. “This is good,” his eyes still on the paper. “Really good.”

“I know,” she says with confidence. “Please, reconsider.”

His eyes peer over top of the resume, drifting back and forth between it and her. He chews his bottom lip in thought before saying, “There is one part time position open. It’s not an internship, but I’ll still give you the hours you need order to finish school.”

“I’ll take it!” she says quickly with a tiny glimmer of hope growing in her eyes.

His face cringes, “You’ll probably want to hear what it is first.”

“What is it?”

“We have one job left open in the budget. It’s an assistant’s job.”

“An assistant? For you?” she says, praying it’s not so.

“I wish, but no, I’m all sorted,” he replies. This is the same man who forgot we had a meeting this morning, isn’t it? Lilith questions to herself. “It’s for one of our senior developers.”

“Oh!” her voice peaks. “That sounds perfect. I can get the hours I need for school, get paid, and gain actual experience from someone in the field I want to work in.”

“Yeah, but this guy doesn’t really like having assistance. Claims he’s a ‘lone wolf’.”

Lilith’s eyes close and she nods in understanding. “Colin Ritman.”

“Yes,” Thakur says. “It seems his reputation precedes him.”Lilith laughs to herself hearing her own words spoken back to her.

“So, are you in, or out?” Thakur asks.  “It’s your choice.”

[waywardandwestward]

One Body Masterlist

“What you say or do doesn’t matter; only feelings matter. If they could make me stop loving you that would be the real betrayal.”  ~ George Orwell, 1984.

Chapter 1

More chapters coming soon! (Sometime late January) 

I’ve had a couple of people ask to be tagged in future chapters. If you’d also like to be tagged let me know, and I’ll add you to the list!