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“Lila, I look fine,”I hissed as she pulled down the emerald green blouse she had carefully selected for me.
“Fine isn’t perfect,” she said, before moving on to my hair.
I swatted her hand away, knowing taming my messy waves would be a fruitless effort. “Lila, stop.”
She huffed and pulled her hands away before assessing me.
After she persuaded me to go out with Liam, the two of us shared a bottle of wine. This gave me the courage to finally text him and invite him to dinner Thursday.
Now that Thursday had finally arrived, I was a ball of nerves. Sure, we had that whole office-flirty vibes down, but what if it didn’t translate to the real world? What if we didn’t have anything to talk about?
Hopefully, these fears were unfounded, but as the clock ticked closer to five, my nerves continued to escalate.
“You swear this is going to be fine?” I asked Lila as we made eye contact in the mirror.
“I swear this is going to begreat,” she insisted.
If only I had about half her confidence. We left the bathroom and she squeezed my arm.
“In case I don’t see you before you leave, good luck. Text me from the bathroom if you start to panic.”
“I will,” I said.
I settled into my seat before opening my e-mail. I busied myself with answering a few questions and updating a report. I got so lost in work that I didn’t even notice someone leaning over my desk.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw Nathan standing there wearing a serious expression. He had barely approached my desk since that night.
“Hi,” I squeaked, cursing my voice for not sounding cooler.
“Hey,” he said, looking at my forehead.
After a beat of uncomfortable silence, I shifted in my seat. “Did you need something?”
“Um, right. That report. For the newest release. Is it done?”
Why had he come over here to ask me such a basic question? I emailed him the status of the report yesterday. He knew it would be ready by the end of the week.
“Not quite. Didn’t you see my email?” I asked, even though we both knew he had responded to it.
“Right, I just thought there might be an update.”
“Since yesterday afternoon?” I asked, perplexed. “Nope, the status is the same.”
“Good,” he muttered, running his fingers through his hair. He made no move to leave, and his entire demeanor had me completely confused.
“Was there anything else or—”
My sentence was cut off by Liam swinging around the corner and stopping at my desk. I wanted to shrink into the floor at the sight of the two of them standing next to each other. While Liam wasn’t particularly short, Nathan towered over him.
“Hey,” he said. “Almost ready to go? I figured we could get drinks before we hit up Pastellini—”
Nathan turned his attention from me to glower at Liam. “Charlie and I were discussing something,” he said, his tone much harsher than necessary.
Liam looked startled, as if he hadn’t initially noticed Nathan.
“Oh, sorry about that, boss. I can wait by the elevator if you’re almost ready.”
I forced a tight-lipped smile. “I’ll be right there.”
