Chapter 35
NOVA woke me up again the next morning, informing me that Jay was waiting outside. I felt much less frantic this time, and a little more excited.
I couldn’t get the look on his face out of my head.
When I’d almost turned him down, he’d really looked like I was tearing his heart out of his chest, and I was eager to see him again and make it up to him.
When I opened the door, I sighed in relief to find him smiling at me in his usual good-natured way, with another bag that smelled like heaven and two fresh coffees.
“Morning, Milo,” he said, his cheeks turning slightly pink as he handed me the tray of coffees. “Got you a latte this time.”
“Thanks,” I said, accepting the coffee and moving aside so he could come in.
Today’s meal consisted of breakfast sandwiches on freshly baked everything bagels, and Jay helped himself to plates like he did the day before.
I set the coffees down on the island before choosing the cup that said ‘Milo <3’ on it and taking a sip.
Damn.
He was right. The lattes were good.
“This is delicious.” I hummed, taking another tasty sip, and Jay beamed.
“Yeah? You like it?”
“Mhmm.” I gave him a shy smile. “So good.”
He bit his lip as he watched me bite into the bagel next, and I stifled a moan.
“Milo…” His eyes were strangely dark, and he looked like he was debating whether or not he should say something.
“Yeah? What is it?” I asked, in between bites.
“Milo, about last night—”
My eyes widened, and I shook my head, holding a hand up to cut him off.
“Jay, don’t worry about it. Nothing happened. I’m sorry I was so unprofessional, it won’t happen again.”
He frowned and spun his coffee in his hands.
“We weren’t in a professional setting. I don’t want you to have to be professional with me on your time off.
I know I’m your boss, but if we’re spending time together off the clock, I don’t want you to be constantly worried about being…
professional,” he said, wincing as if the words pained him to say. “Milo, I want us to be—”
“Friends, I know. I want to be your friend too, Jay,” I reassured him. He looked almost put out by my statement.
“Right…” He eyed me skeptically, the perplexed look on his face deepening. “So the other day, when we were testing the manipulator and the NeuroGlyphs said you had a cru–”
“Arghh! Stop!” I cried, dropping my bagel in horror. My cheeks turned red hot, and I buried my face in my hands.
Omgomgomgomg! I was freaking mortified!
He had seen my thoughts!
“I’m sorry!” I whimpered into my hands. Strong fingers wrapped around my wrists, and Jay tugged my hands away from my face.
He towered over me, and his woodsy scent enveloped my senses, causing my already frantically beating heart to speed up to a canter.
“Shh, shh, it’s okay, Milo, you don’t have to be embarrassed.”
“But I am! I’m so sorry you saw that. I don’t want to make things weird. I want to be friends, and I also care about this job. I don’t want to mess everything up like I always do!”
To my horror, my eyes began to sting, and Jay’s concerned face blurred with tears.
He looked distraught, and he let go of my wrists. Cupping my face gently, he used his thumbs to wipe away one of the tears that slid down my face.
“You’re not messing anything up, Milo,” he said softly, and I sniffled, still absolutely mortified.
“It feels like I am,” I whispered, and his face crumpled at how upset I was.
“Look, I’m sorry I brought it up. Let’s forget about it, okay? Please don’t cry.”
“I’m trying not to,” I whimpered, being fully serious. My throat was burning from how hard I was trying to keep the tears at bay. This was even more humiliating than the time I ate concrete in front of him.
He gave me a warm smile, and he gently wiped away one more tear.
“You’re cute when you cry, too.” He smirked, and I huffed out a surprised laugh, swatting him on the shoulder.
“Stop saying things like that. It’s not helping with my… predicament.”
He handed me a napkin to wipe away the rest of my anxiety-induced tears, raising an amused eyebrow.
“Your predicament?”
“Yeah. You know. The thing we’re never mentioning again. My predicament.”
His eyes widened in understanding, and he chuckled.
“Well, we wouldn’t want to exacerbate your predicament, would we?” Though he was looking at me like he wanted nothing more than to exacerbate the shit out of it.
“No. No we do not. We want to be friends who work really hard on memory manipulation and play cozy games together.”
He nodded, his eyes shining.
“Okay, Milo,” he hummed softly. “We can do that.”