Part 2

-5-

"I'd like a Miller Lite," slurred Morgan at the waitress at Sharkey's.

"Morgan, that is the fifth one you have had," said Rafee. "Maybe you should slow down."

"You should have a drink," said Morgan. "It'll loosen you up a little bit."

"I told you I do not drink," said Rafee, tersely.

"You should. Maybe you'd lighten up and find a woman," said Morgan. She then broke out in giggles.

"Morgan..."

"You could ask me out," slurred Morgan. "I wouldn't say no. I've had a crush on you since I first saw you."

"You do not mean that," Rafee said. "You are drunk."

"Even though I was with Jeff, I still wanted you. You're much nicer to me than Jeff ever was."

"Maybe I should drive you home," said Rafee.

"Then you could come upstairs and have your way with me," Morgan slurred.

"Can you stay here. I am going to go pay our bill and take you home."

Rafee went to hunt down the waitress. She was at the bar getting Morgan's beer.

"My friend does not need the beer," said Rafee. "I would like to pay now."

"Okay," said the waitress with a wink and a smile.

Rafee handed the waitress two twenty-dollar bills.

"Keep the change," said Rafee.

Rafee went back to the table and held out his hand to Morgan.

"I am going to take you home, now," said Rafee.

"Goody!" squealed Morgan.

She shot up and embraced Rafee and kissed him soundly on the lips. Rafee fought the sheer euphoria he was feeling and fought his way out of her grip.

"Come on, Morgan," said Rafee and he led Morgan from the bar.

It took several tries for Morgan to get the directions to her apartment right. Eventually they showed up at her apartment. Rafee led her out of the car and to what she claimed was her apartment. Rafee wanted to be sure she actually had the right place. He sighed with relief when her key turned in the door.

"This is where I leave you," said Rafee.

"Oh come on," cooed Morgan. "Come on in and fuck my brains out."

"I must be going," said Rafee, fighting the urge to take Morgan up on her offer. Morgan was the most fun, most beautiful woman he had ever been in the presence of. He would have died for the chance to make love to her. He also knew that he couldn't just do it and leave her. He could never stay with her. One day he would be married to someone he had yet to meet.

Rafee walked down the hallway, trying to think of anything to suppress the erection he was sporting.

"Come back, Ralph," slurred Morgan. "Please?"

-6-

Monday morning, Rafee had a lot of code changes to make due to numerous errors that were found after deployment. He was happy with the load of work because it made it easier to avoid Morgan.

Morgan, however, sought him out at lunch time.

"Hi, Ralph," said Morgan, demurely.

"Hi, Morgan," Rafee replied.

"Um... we need to talk," said Morgan.

"I have a lot of changes to make for the 2.4 patch," said Rafee, still staring at his computer screen.

"I really don't care," said Morgan. "You're going to have a cigarette break now and we are going to talk."

Rafee had never heard Morgan be so aggressive. He grabbed his pack of cigarettes and lighter and then followed Morgan out the door.

"About Friday night..." started Morgan.

"I'm sorry I kissed you," blurted Rafee.

Rafee knew that it was her that kissed him. He just did not want Morgan to lose face.

"You are so sweet," said Morgan softly. "It was me who kissed you."

"I was wrong," Rafee said. "If you wish to file a complaint I will understand."

"It wasn't wrong," said Morgan. "It was actually kind of... wonderful."

Morgan looked away from Rafee, trying to hold back her tears.

"Your breakup has been very hard," said Rafee. "I do not want to make your situation any harder."

"Ralph... Rafee," said Morgan softly. Then she giggled. "I hate the name Ralph. Listen, you've made things better for me. You tried to help me by taking me out and having a good time. You could never make the situation worse."

"It will be worse for you if we kiss and be romantic," said Rafee nervously. This time it was him looking away from Morgan. He wanted nothing more in his life than a romance with Morgan. If it became too serious, however, he would only end up breaking her heart when he had to go back to Pakistan to get married. Rafee cared too much about Morgan to break her heart like that.

"How could it be worse?" exclaimed Morgan. "You're such a wonderful man. You'd bring nothing but happiness into my life."

"Until I would have to go to Pakistan and get married," said Rafee softly.

Morgan bit her bottom lip in an effort to suppress her tears.

"It's a stupid custom, you know," cried Morgan.

Morgan hit Rafee in the chest hard enough to actually hurt.

"Stupid custom," she spat.

She was back inside before Rafee could form a response to her. Deep in his heart, Rafee knew she was right. If he defied his parents and married someone else, he would throw away everything in his life. His family would disown him. He would lose the inheritance of his father's business when he retired or passed on. He would lose his Mother's love, which he cherished above all. Most importantly, it was his belief that he would be risking his very soul in the eyes of Allah. He wasn't a devout follower of the faith, but, it still weighed heavily on his heart.

-7-

"What time is it?" asked Morgan as she continued to type away at her computer.

"Eight," said Rafee, formally. He had been treating her as formally as possible since their argument a week before. It was best for Morgan to not get any ideas. It killed Rafee because he thought of Morgan as a friend first.

"Christ, it's late," Morgan sighed. She ran her fingers through her long blonde tresses. She had taken her hair down an hour earlier in similar frustration.

"We need to get this done before we can go," pressed Rafee. He didn't want to take any breaks and end up socializing with Morgan. Actually, he did want to socialize. He just knew he couldn't.

"What's been wrong with you lately?" asked Morgan.

"Nothing. You need to input the test parameters."

"Look, if you're still upset about last week..."

"The test parameters..."

"Why are you being so stubborn?" exclaimed Morgan. She pounded her fist into the desk for emphasis.

"Morgan, I made it clear that..."

"Yeah, I know. Arranged marriage. How does that keep you from being my friend?"

"It is just better if we keep things at a business level," Rafee said formally.

"That isn't you Rafee. You know it isn't. I can see it in your eyes. The real Rafee is fun to be with. The real Rafee is always cracking jokes."

Rafee knew that Morgan had him dead to rights. He wanted to be himself around her. He just didn't want her getting any ideas that they could be romantic. Rafee couldn't even look at her.

"Look at me, Rafee," demanded Morgan.

She rolled her chair next to him and looked at him. Rafee nervously looked over at her. He could smell her minty breath and her floral perfume.

"You are my friend, Rafee. Please don't shut me out."

"But it is for the better," reasoned Rafee.

"What? To make me miserable is better?"

Morgan started to cry. Each tear that rolled down her cheek was a deep impact on Rafee's heart. His actions became impulse rather than thought out. He wrapped an arm around Morgan to comfort her and drew her close to him. Morgan stopped crying and returned the hug and melted into Rafee's body.

"I am sorry if I make you unhappy," said Rafee.

"I'm happy in your arms," purred Morgan.

She pulled back slightly and looked into Rafee's eyes. Rafee leaned in and brushed his lips on hers. She pressed her lips tightly to his. Rafee had a few girlfriends when he was a teenager, but none of their kisses ever made him feel so euphoric. Rafee sighed when Morgan slipped her tongue into his mouth. Rafee met her tongue with his, becoming completely entranced by her. Morgan slipped a hand between Rafee's legs and ran it over his hardness. Rafee nearly purred from the wonderful feelings she was giving him. That was until his big head kicked back in.

"STOP!" shouted Rafee, jumping back from her and to his feet.

"Rafee, please..."

"No, I cannot do this."

Rafee turned and ran out of the building, leaving Morgan to sob at her desk.

-8-

"Good morning, Stan," said Morgan as she walked into her cubicle at work. Stan was standing and talking to her neighbor at the time.

"What time were you here until?" asked Stan.

"Midnight. Ralph left at eight because he wasn't feeling good."

"Yeah, he called in sick this morning," said Stan. "I hope he's okay."

Morgan flipped on her computer and thought about Rafee. He really wasn't sick last night. She had just said that to Stan to cover for him leaving early. The fact that Rafee called in sick troubled her. She knew he was probably trying to avoid her.

"Stan, do you need me today?" asked Morgan.

"You were here so late the last few nights. If you want to go, go ahead."

"Thanks, Stan," said Morgan. "I looked at my monitor and I just felt I couldn't look at it anymore."

Stan chuckled. "Yeah, I know the feeling. I've been there many times. Go home and rest. You've earned it."

Morgan flipped her computer back off and flew back to her car. She knew were Rafee lived based on the descriptions of his house in previous conversations. She just hoped she was right. It took her ten minutes to get to his house, her heart pounding harder and harder as she got closer.

She pulled in front of a green stucco house on the corner of a busy intersection. She got out of the car and nervously approached the house.

She rang the doorbell. No answer.

She rang again, her heart nearing ripping out of her chest. No answer.

She knocked. She heard footsteps. Her heart was ready to burst from her chest.

What little relief that it was the right house when she saw Rafee was replaced with even more nervousness seeing him again.

"What are you doing here?" asked Rafee. He sounded angry.

"I wanted to check on you," Morgan replied. "I was worried about you after last night."

'I am fine," said Rafee. "You can return to work now."

"Fine enough to call into work sick?" asked Morgan, her raise in heart rate now from anger instead of nervousness.

"That is none of your affair," said Rafee. "Please, leave now."

"I'm not leaving," Morgan yelled. "I want to talk about what happened between us last night."

"There is nothing to talk about," said Rafee, moving to close the door.

Morgan opened the screen door and placed herself so he couldn't close the door. "There is, Rafee. You and I shared something very special last night.

"It was a mistake. It should have never happened," said Rafee. He looked steamed.

"So, you don't have any feelings for me? You were just using me to get a kiss?"

"I didn't say that," Rafee said, turning defensive.

"Well, if it was a mistake, then you were just using me," said Morgan. She knew he would crack soon. He wanted him to expose his true feelings for her, not those given to him by his culture.

"Do you want to know why it was a mistake?" demanded Rafee.

"Because you were using me?"

"Because, I LOVE YOU!" shouted Rafee. "Are you happy, now?"

"That isn't a mistake, Rafee," said Morgan, softening her voice considerably.

"It is when I have to get married to someone else in a few years," said Rafee. "I do not want to hurt you by leaving you when that time comes."

"You would hurt me more if you didn't give me those few years," said Morgan, tears now streaming down her cheeks.

"And what about me?" asked Rafee. "I too will have a broken heart when I return to Pakistan."

"I know its cliché, but, it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved before."

Rafee sighed and stepped back, letting Morgan in.

Morgan was taken back by the Spartan appearance of his home. He didn't have a lot of furniture, although the furniture he did have was the best money could buy.

"Would you like something to drink?" asked Rafee.

"Do you have soda?"

"Diet Coke?"

"Please?"

Rafee went to the refrigerator and pulled out a can of Diet Coke and opened it for her.

"Thank you," said Morgan, taking the Coke from him.

"Why me?" asked Rafee. "I mean, you are a very pretty young woman. What would you see in a simple Pakistani man like myself?"

"Lot's of things," said Morgan. "You make me laugh. You care about me and about others around you. You are very kind. You are also very handsome."

"I do not think I am handsome," said Rafee.

"You are the very definition of tall, dark and handsome," Morgan said with a girlish giggle.

"You make me feel very special," said Rafee. "You listen to stories about me and are actually interested in what I have to say. You do not judge me because I am Islamic and from Pakistan. You are also very pretty."

"Thanks," said Morgan demurely.

"So now what happens?" asked Rafee.

"Well, we are both at your house and have an excuse to be away from work. I say we spend the day together and see what happens."