When I got Chloe from Whit’s office, she was visibly flustered. Whit was being his weird self which means he was playing at something. Whit has a knack for getting people all confused, and I can only imagine what game he’s playing with Chloe. Chloe and I get to my office and I take a seat at my desk. I open my email and show it to her.
“So, what we have here is all of our contacts,” I explain. “This is a list that’s been shared with everyone working here. What I need you to do is go through it and organize everyone into sub-lists. The sub-lists have already been made and all the contacts have short descriptions, so just place them accordingly. Someone can be in more than one list. After you’re done with the list, our executive assistant has sent you a general template for a letter we’ll be sending out to one of the sub-lists. You’ll just make sure to personalize all of them and we’ll be sending them out tomorrow. If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask.”
“Okay. Is that it?”
She still seems frazzled and I don’t want to further push her over, so I leave things be for now. “Yeah. That’s everything. I’ll check on you in an hour or so.”
Chloe nods and leaves my office. Her current state has me worried, so I go back to Whit’s office to ask him what’s going on. He’s in the same spot I left him in, doing whatever he is doing on his desktop. He doesn’t even look up when I enter, talking to me without looking at me.
“I have a feeling that you’re here to ask me a question about Chloe?” There’s a smugness about Whit that – if someone didn’t know him – could be taken for cockiness or dismissiveness. Really, it’s his way of being. Most of what he says is laced with a subtle humor and it can take some time to get used to.
“Yeah, I was wondering if something happened between you two. She’s a little flustered and I’m guessing you had something to do with that.” I make sure to not let my statement sound like an accusation. Even if it did, Whit wouldn’t take offense. We know one another so well that we can read each other like books.
Whit finally looks up at me, leaning back in his seat. He laces his fingers, resting his pointer fingers on his nose. “Something did happen. We had a little heart to heart. Apparently, she’s very bored with the internship. She’s only really doing it to please Jack.” That was something I had already guessed, but I didn’t expect her to tell either one of us about it.
“Why did she tell you?”
Whit shrugs, “I asked.”
Looks like it was that simple. Whit is a lot more forward than I am and it tends to work out for him. He gets the information he needs a lot quicker. I’m trying to adapt his habits, but it is hard to change.
“Fair enough.”
“I also may have implied I wanted to sleep with her. That could be part of it, maybe.” Whit slaps his desk and laughs at himself. I’m not surprised or disappointed at the admission. When I came to get Chloe, I had an agenda. Mine might be a little more aggressive than just implying, but now I know Whit’s resolve is slipping, just like mine.
“You’re an asshole, sometimes.”
“At least it’s only sometimes,” he replies.
I laugh and leave him to finish his work, going into the reception area to see how Chloe’s doing. She stops working when I approach her desk, her demeanor greatly changed from earlier. She’s more relaxed and a lot more focused.
“Hi, Zane.”
“Hey, Chloe. How are the email lists coming?”
She takes a glance at her screen and looks pleased. “It’s going well. It’s not complicated work. I was actually about to take a quick break and get some water?” She makes it a question like she wants my permission which I give because why not? I nod. She stands up and I follow her over to the cooler. I wait while she gets herself a drink and while she’s sipping on her water, I ask her what I’ve been waiting to ask for the whole day.
“I came out here because I wanted to invite you to dinner tonight.”
She stops drinking her water but doesn’t say anything. Her eyes look up at me from under her lashes, her expression staying pretty neutral.
“There is one condition though.” I continue.
She brings the cup down from her lips and half-smiles. “What is it?”
“You can’t tell Whit. He’ll hone his way in and I was hoping it could be just the two of us.”
She lets out a light and breathy laugh. It sounds amused, not mocking which is good news. “You’re making it sound like a date.”
I feel like she’s flirting with me, so I take a few steps closer, taking a leap. I lightly squeeze her butt which makes her squeal. She almost drops her water which makes her start giggling. I love the sudden energy.
“Maybe because it is a date,” I tell her.
The giggles die down and the shock of the moment fades away. Chloe’s energy goes from giddy to nervous and I’m worried I may have made a mistake. She’s biting her lip, obviously contemplating my proposal. After a few seconds, she hesitantly nods, and relief sweeps through me.
“I’ll pick you up at 7?”
“That works.” Her smile is reassuring.
I rub her upper arm softly and say one last thing, “I’ll text you the other details.”
I go back to my office and ruminating on what just happened. I know I made the decision to push forward this morning, but actually doing it was something else. I’m still a little shocked that it worked. Chloe seemed really nervous and I’m hoping it’s because she’s attracted to me. I made it very clear that tonight is a date and she accepted which means that there’s something going on, plus she didn’t smack me when I squeezed her butt. That’s a good sign.
The more I think about this upcoming date, the more emotions come up. I was emboldened to ask her out because of my conversation with Whit which makes me think about the promise we made with one another. Neither one of us was sticking to it, but he hadn’t fully crossed the line. I’m the first and I completely went behind his back. I value our friendship so much, but I want Chloe so much and I don’t want to end up subtly resenting my friend because he held me back. I’m worried he could start feeling that way, especially because I did this shady thing. Given Whit’s personality, I know he won’t actually hate me, but it doesn’t make me feel any less deceitful…
It doesn’t matter how I feel because I went ahead and asked her out and I can’t cancel now. I don’t want to do that to Chloe… or myself. Anyway, it’s just dinner. Dinner is so harmless. And if I avoid the mistakes from our lunch, it’ll be a harmless little meal… the liar said to himself. I know I want to eat her and not the food.