More Weirdness for Alex

Alex tried to get focused on his work. He definitely didn't need Jeffery breathing down his neck again. But he couldn't help but keep thinking about what Jeffery said... or at least what he thought he said. Finally catching a break while waiting for some code to compile, he peeked over the edge of his cubicle to the one next door. His co-worker Dan was looking over some spreadsheet. He looked up and saw his officemate.

"Hey Alex, what's up?" he greeted in a friendly tone.

"Have you noticed anything odd about Jeffery lately?"

"What, is he riding you too hard again?"

Alex chuckled, "Well, yeah. But that's not new. He was yelling at me about the email server, but all of a sudden he calmed down. And then I think he called me... 'babe'."

"'Babe'?" Dan asked.

"Yeah! It was weird. Then he just walked back to his office."

Dan blinked a few times, seeming to process what Alex had told him.

"So what?" Dan said.

"Huh? So he called me 'babe'! Isn't that weird?"

"What's weird about that?" Dan asked incredulously. "I mean I guess it's one of the tamer pet names he has for you."

"Pet names?! What are you talking about?"

Dan suddenly looked annoyed. "Listen, honey, I've got a lot of work to do. Why don't you go fetch me a fresh cup of coffee, ok?" He handed his empty coffee mug to Alex, who just stared dumbfounded and sank back to his cubicle. He wanted to snap back at Dan, but he was just too confused. Why the hell did he call him 'honey,' and why was he suddenly ordering him around?

But getting that coffee sounded like a good idea. He grabbed his own mug and made his way to the break room, trying to figure out what was going on. As he was filling the mugs he suddenly felt something cold bounce against his neck. He whipped his head around, only to feel the same bouncing even faster. What the hell was that?

He turned towards the microwave and found his reflection in the glass door. Something shiny was glinting just under his ears. He reached up and gave a quick tug. "Ow!" he leaned in closer - were those... earrings??