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It’s loud in here, hard to concentrate. A lot different than my lab and the mountain. Need to focus. How am I going to address the kiss?
Tapping my thighs, I keep my eyes on his desk. Quinn has a few papers spread about. From the looks of it, he has to file his own reports. He probably shouldn’t leave those out for people to see, especially those like me.
Abandoning my chair, I move around his desk and sit in his chair. It’s far more comfortable. First I’ll clean up his desk and then I’ll think about my phrasing. Once I start collecting the papers, I notice his computer is turned on. He’s got game icons that catch my attention.
“Minesweeper, really?”
I jump at the sound of the deep voice and when I blink, my eyes feel dry. How long have I been staring at the screen? Minutes? The computer tells me it’s been an hour.
“It’s, um, good for the brain,” I offer up before closing the half-finished game. “Hello.”
Quinn’s staring down at me with confusion written all over his face. Right, I’m technically not supposed to be here, not in his seat or here in the building. Not unless there’s something wrong.
“I’ve actually come to talk to you,” I explain as I abandon his seat and escape back to the other one. “But if you’re busy, I can always wait.”
I won’t drag this out past today. I swear I won’t run away either.
“If it’s about your research-”
“No, not about that,” I interrupt. My cheeks are already feeling hot. I can’t say why I’m here, not with others being here within a listening distance. I don’t want to embarrass Quinn in front of his coworkers.
His chair creaks as he leans back. When he rubs his eyes, it feels like a heavy weight is filling my stomach. “I’ve got another hour to go. Are you willing to wait that long?”
Nodding, I try to settle in my chair. Reaching forward, I steal the miniature Rubik’s cube off his desk and start twisting. I don’t even know how to solve one of these things.
“You’re fidgeting,” he points out before looking at his desk. “Did you clean my workspace?”
“Yes.” I’m always like this when I’m nervous. “I didn’t want to look at your reports, so I just stacked them up and set them beneath your files there.”
He grunts, moving to collect what I put away. When he gets to work filling out a new report, I continue twisting and turning.
I can’t get even one side to be a solid color.
“You aren’t here to give me a final date, are you?” Despite his attention being on his work, the question still comes out.
“I still have weeks left. Another two or three if I have to guess. If it keeps raining us out, then it could be longer.” I shrug my shoulders. “Not why I’m here.”
Another grunt and more scribbles. I don’t mean to look but Quinn has terrible handwriting.
He doesn’t ask any other questions, and his face doesn’t give me much to work with either. When I get one side entirely covered in yellow after twenty minutes and gasp, he does look up momentarily and makes me feel a little silly for getting so excited.
Time passes and Quinn shuts off his computer. “Need to hand these off and then I’ll be ready.”
“Okay, sure. I’ll go ahead and wait outside then.” Standing up myself, I abandon the cube and grab my umbrella. “Take your time.”
Please, take all the time possible.
Quinn
Melanie is here to reject me. No matter how many times I try to figure out why she’d go out of her way to come see me with such hesitance about her, this is the only outcome I can come up with.
I’ve left her waiting outside in the rain, but I don’t have the courage to quicken my steps.
When Ryder passes me, he doesn’t stop to tell me that Melanie’s requested someone else. Hell, I at least expect him to ask me why I didn’t mention kissing the poor woman and loving it as much as I had.
Instead, he wishes me a good night and that’s that.
When I leave the building, I find her standing out with a polka-dotted umbrella. Her shoes are wet from her standing in a puddle. Does she realize how she looks right now?
