Chapter 8
Chapter eight
Charlie
The elevator doors close behind me with a soft ping, and I lean against the wall, letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding. The ride up to my floor seems to take forever, my mind replaying the excruciating elevator moment with Sebastian over and over.
His stupid apologetic eyes. His stupid perfect jawline. His stupid attempt at small talk.
My apartment door is barely closed behind me when I hear my sister's distinct laugh echoing from my kitchen. Great. Just what I need after the day I've had. An audience.
"Charlie? That you?" She calls out.
"No, it's a burglar who happens to have keys," I mutter, kicking off my heels with more force than necessary.
I round the corner to the kitchen to find my sister and Lily arranging what looks like gourmet burgers on the counter.
The smell hits me immediately. Caramelized onions, garlic aioli, and the distinct blend of spices that can only be from Burger Battalion, the food truck that parks near the park on Mondays.
"I come bearing gifts!" Emily announces, waving a wrapped burger in my direction. "Double mushroom and swiss with extra aioli, just how you like it."
Lily gives me a gentle smile. "Rough day, love?"
"What gave it away? The scowl or the way I just assaulted my own shoes?"
"Both, plus the fact that you're home at a reasonable hour instead of working late like you usually do on Mondays." Lily slides a glass of wine my way. "Emergency provisions."
I take the wine gratefully, drinking half of it in one go. "Thanks."
"So," Emily says, arranging herself on one of the barstools, "before we dive into whatever crisis you’re going through, you have to hear about the absolute soap opera happening at my office."
I bite into my burger, the familiar comfort food momentarily distracting me from the disaster that is my professional life. "Hit me."
"Okay, so remember Brad from accounting?"
"The one with the collection of novelty ties?"
“No, that’s Daniel.”
I scrunch my brows. “Is he the guy who brings his lunch to work and leaves his trash in the break room?”
"That's the one.” She snaps her fingers at me. “Okay, so apparently, he's been having this secret thing with Vanessa from legal for months—"
"The one who brings her chihuahua to the office sometimes?"
"Yes! And they've been sneaking around, thinking nobody knows, but literally everyone knows because they're terrible at hiding it. Like, conference room make-out sessions with the blinds not fully closed, kind of terrible."
Lily laughs. "No subtlety at all."
"None. And today, the CEO walks in on them in the supply closet—"
"No," Lily gasps.
"Yes! And instead of firing them, he just says, 'I need those quarterly reports by five, and for God's sake, lock the door next time.'"
Despite my mood, I find myself smiling. "That's actually pretty chill of him."
"Right? Anyway, now they're the official office couple, and HR had to send out this incredibly awkward email about 'workplace relationships and appropriate behavior' without naming names, but everyone knows."
I take another large sip of wine, the irony of her story not lost on me.
"So," Emily continues, eyeing me suspiciously, "your turn. What's with the stress wrinkles and the wine chugging?"
I place my burger down carefully, arranging the words in my head. "I got a new coworker today."
"And? They're annoying? Incompetent? A mouth-breather?" Emily prompts.
"It's Sebastian."
The kitchen goes dead silent. Emily's burger stops halfway to her mouth. Lily's eyes widen to cartoon proportions.
"Sebastian who?" Emily asks slowly, though I can tell from her expression she already knows.
"Sebastian. From the bar. Sebastian from my bedroom. My one-night stand. That Sebastian."
"WHAT?" Emily's shriek could probably be heard across the street. "The hot guy you slept with on Friday is now your COWORKER?"
"Oh no, he’s not just my coworker. He's the new sports marketing consultant Amelia hired. The one she put on all of my big accounts so now I have to interact with him on a daily basis, oh and he’s in Dan’s old office right next to mine."
"Holy shit," Lily whispers. "That's—"
"A rom-com waiting to happen!" Emily interjects, practically bouncing on her stool.
"It's a nightmare," I correct her. "A complete professional nightmare."
"Wait, wait, wait." Emily holds up her hands. "Walk us through this. How did it happen? What did he say? What did YOU say?"
I sigh, grabbing the entire wine bottle and refilling my glass. "Amelia brought him into my office this morning for introductions. I nearly swallowed my tongue when I saw him. We both played it cool. Well, he played it cool. I probably looked like someone had hit me with a truck."
"And then?" Lily prompts.
"And then nothing. We said our pleasantries, I showed him his office, and sent him the project files."
"That's it?" Emily looks disappointed. "No dramatic confrontation? No thrown staplers?"
"It's a workplace, Em, not an episode of Rock of Love."
"Did he try to talk to you about... you know?" Lily asks, making a vague gesture that I assume represents our night together.
"He tried. I shut it down, multiple times. I told him we're keeping things strictly professional."
"And how'd he take that?" Emily leans forward, invested now.
"He seemed...frustrated." I remember the hurt in his eyes when I cut him off. "But he respected it. Mostly."
"Mostly?"
"He caught me in the elevator after work. He tried to make small talk."
Emily smirks. "And?"
"And nothing. I kept it professional. End of story."
Emily studies me for a moment, then narrows her eyes. "You're angry."
"I'm not—"
"Yes, you are. You're doing that thing with your jaw." She points accusingly at my face. "You're furious."
"Of course I'm angry," I snap, the emotion suddenly bubbling to the surface.
"He slept with me, snuck out before dawn like I had bed bugs or something, and now he shows up at my workplace expecting.
.. what? A warm welcome? A second chance?
For me to be okay with having to see his stupid face every day? "
"And you're sure it's just anger?" Emily raises an eyebrow.
"What else would it be?"
"Hurt," Lily offers softly. "Embarrassment. Attraction you don't want to feel."
"I am not attracted to him," I say too quickly.
Emily snorts. "Right. And Lil's the Queen of England."
"I'm serious! Whatever chemistry we had died the moment he walked out that door without so much as a 'thanks for the orgasms' because I gave as much as I received."
"But you can't deny it was good chemistry," Emily presses. "Like, face-melting, toe-curling chemistry. You literally texted me that it was the best sex of your life."
My cheeks burn. "That was the tequila talking."
"The tequila was long out of your system by the time you sent that text before you headed to mom and dads for breakfast."
I push my plate away, suddenly not hungry. "It doesn't matter how good it was. It was a mistake. One I won't be repeating."
"But what if—"
"There are no what-ifs, Em. He's my coworker now. That's it. Professional boundaries."
She studies me for a long moment. "You know what I think?"
"No, but I'm sure you're going to tell me."
"I think you're not just angry he left. You're angry that you like him. That for a minute there, you let yourself believe it could be something."
Her words hit too close to home, and I feel a lump forming in my throat. "That's not—"
"Charlie." Her voice softens. "It's okay to admit he hurt your feelings. It's okay to be disappointed."
I stare down at my wine glass. "Fine. He hurt my feelings and I guess I was... disappointed. I thought we had a connection. Clearly, I was wrong."
"Or maybe he got scared," Lily suggests.
I look up at her. "Scared of what?"
"The same thing you're scared of. Being hurt again."
I scoff. "Please. He's not scared of anything. You should've seen him today, all confidence and charm, like the whole thing was just some funny coincidence."
"And you know this based on your extensive five-minute interaction where you refused to let him speak?" Emily raises an eyebrow.
"Bitch, whose side are you on?" I squeak out.
She laughs. "Yours, always. But that doesn't mean I can't call you on your bullshit."
I glare at her, but she doesn't back down.
"Look," she continues, "I'm not saying you should date the guy. I'm not even saying you should forgive him. But maybe there's more to the story than 'he's a jerk who used you for sex.'"
"Like what?"
"I don't know! Maybe he had an emergency. Maybe he panicked. Maybe he's terrible at morning-afters. The point is, you've decided on a narrative without all the facts."
"The fact is he left while I was asleep" I say firmly.
"Yes, and that was a dick move. No argument there." Emily leans forward. "But Charlie, I know you. You're not just angry about that. You're angry because you let your guard down for a night, and now you feel exposed."
Damn it, I hate how well she knows me sometimes. "So what if I am?"
"So nothing. Feel what you feel. But don't pretend it's just about him being unprofessional when it's really about you being afraid of facing those feelings again."
The three of us sit in silence for a moment, her words hanging in the air between us.
"Fine, what am I supposed to do?" I finally ask, hating how small my voice sounds. "I still have to work with him. Every day."
Lily reaches over and squeezes my hand. "You do what you always do. You're professional, you're focused, and you're brill at your job."
"And maybe," Emily adds gently, "you give yourself permission to be human about it. You don't have to pretend it doesn't affect you."
I take another sip of wine, letting their words sink in. "I just... I don't want to be that person, you know? The one who gets all emotional over a one-night stand that apparently meant nothing."
"But it did mean something to you," Emily says. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be this upset."
I close my eyes briefly. "I hate that you're right."
"I usually am." She grins, breaking the tension. "It's my special talent."
"So what now?" Lily asks.
I straighten my shoulders, finding my resolve. "Now, I go to work tomorrow. I do my job. I treat him like any other colleague."
"And if he tries to talk to you about that night again?"
I pause, considering. "Then I listen. Once. He gets one chance to explain, and then we move forward professionally. That's it."
Emily nods, looking satisfied. "That's fair."
"But I'm not expecting anything," I add quickly. "This isn't some romantic comedy where we end up together after a series of cute misunderstandings."
"Of course not," Emily agrees, though the glint in her eye tells me she's not entirely convinced.
I pick up my burger again, suddenly ravenous now that the weight of my day has been shared. "Enough about my disaster. Lily, how was your day?"
Her face lights up. "My day was actually phenomenal! The publishing house got the rights to this incredible fantasy manuscript. We're talking potential bestseller material."
She leans forward, practically vibrating with enthusiasm. "The author is this twenty-something woman from Leeds who's never been traditionally published before, and I get to be the junior editor assigned to her! Me! Three months in!"
"That's amazing, Lil," I say, genuinely happy.
"The story's about a librarian who discovers she can physically enter book worlds." Her hands gesture wildly as she speaks. "The worldbuilding is stellar and the way she describes what happens when book characters become aware they're being observed... it's properly mind-bending."
Emily raises her glass. "To Lily, the literary genius whisperer!"
Lily blushes. "I'm just so chuffed they trusted me with this. My boss said my editorial notes were 'insightful beyond my experience level.'"
I feel a pang of envy at her uncomplicated work joy, but push it aside. "When do you start working with the author?"
"Tomorrow! We have our first Zoom call, and I'm terrified I'll say something daft."