Chapter 45 - Just Friends
That evening, I dropped Adrian home and went back to my apartment.
He'd tried to convince me to stay.
Not because he needed me there.
Apparently because it was practical.
"If you stay, you won't have to drive all the way back here in the morning."
"I know how distance works."
"Then you understand my point."
"I understand that you're trying to get me to stay at your house again."
A pause.
"It's practical."
"Goodnight, Adrian."
He'd looked annoyed.
I left anyway.
Because he was better now.
Completely better.
I didn't have a reason to stay at Adrian's penthouse anymore.
It wasn't like we were a couple who could casually spend the night at each other's places whenever it was convenient.
Obviously not.
So I went home.
And this morning, I drove all the way back to Sunny Isles Beach and picked him up.
Which was apparently much more reasonable.
I chose not to examine that.
We walked into Vale Architecture together a little after seven-thirty.
Nobody cared.
That was the weird part.
Months ago, Adrian Vale walking into the office beside me would've earned at least three suspicious looks, one raised eyebrow from Maya, and probably some kind of commentary from Ben.
Now?
Nothing.
Nicole looked up, saw us, and went back to whatever she was doing.
Ben was talking to Maya near my desk.
Maya glanced over once.
That was it.
Apparently everyone had collectively accepted that Adrian and I occasionally arrived together now.
Which was-
Fine.
Completely fine.
Normal, even.
Except Emma.
Emma saw us almost immediately.
And came over.
Of course she did.
"Good morning, Adrian."
"Good morning."
"Good morning, Angelica."
"Good morning, Emma."
Adrian was already starting toward his office when she spoke again.
"Adrian?"
He stopped.
"Yes?"
"I saw your car in the parking lot this morning."
Adrian looked at her.
"Yeah?"
"But you're just coming in now."
"Oh. I rode Candy yesterday."
Emma blinked.
"What?"
"Candy. Angelica's car." He nodded toward me. "So she picked me up this morning."
"Oh."
That was all she said.
Adrian continued toward his office.
I headed for my desk.
Emma followed me.
Of course.
Maya, Nicole, and Ben were standing nearby, apparently discussing something on Nicole's tablet.
Emma stopped beside my desk.
Then looked toward them.
"He called her car by name."
I put my bag down.
"I heard that."
Emma looked at me.
"Her name is Candy. What else is he supposed to call her?"
She opened her mouth.
I paused.
Then-
"Are you surprised when he calls you Emma?"
Maya made a suspicious sound that might have been a cough.
Emma frowned.
"That's not what I said."
"Then what did you say?"
"I said he doesn't look like someone who would call a car by a name."
Oh.
Well.
That was true.
I couldn't defend him there.
"Yeah," I admitted. "He's not like that."
Ben nodded solemnly.
"Definitely not."
I ignored him.
"But somehow he calls Candy Candy."
"That's what I was saying."
I looked at Emma.
"What?"
She hesitated.
Then-
"That he's different with you."
Something in her voice made Maya look up properly.
I stared at Emma.
"What do you mean?"
Emma looked toward Adrian's office.
He was already behind his desk, looking at his computer.
Then back at me.
"Yesterday."
Oh.
Yesterday.
"You told him to leave your desk."
Ben continued looking at Nicole's tablet.
Nicole continued looking at the tablet too.
Maya took a sip of coffee.
Nobody seemed particularly interested.
Which meant everybody was listening.
"I tell him to leave my desk all the time."
Emma stared at me.
"I know."
That made me pause.
She continued.
"You told him to move."
"Yes."
"You refused to do what he asked."
"I disagreed with him."
"You said you weren't doing it."
"I wasn't."
Ben looked up.
"You did."
I pointed at him.
"Nobody asked you."
He looked back down.
Emma kept going.
"You argued with him in front of everyone."
"Yes."
"For a long time."
"It was an architectural disagreement."
"You told him he'd have to bribe you."
Nicole's mouth twitched.
I narrowed my eyes.
"Were you taking notes?"
"No." Emma shook her head. "That's not what I mean."
"Then what do you mean?"
"He wasn't angry."
I frowned.
"He was arguing with me."
"No. I mean angry."
I looked at her.
Emma seemed genuinely confused.
Not accusing.
Not even irritated.
Just-
Overwhelmed.
"You told him to leave you alone. You told him to move away from your desk. You refused to do something he directly asked you to do. You argued with him in front of the entire office."
Maya leaned against the edge of my desk.
"Yeah."
Emma looked at her.
Maya shrugged.
"She does that."
"Constantly," Ben added.
Nicole nodded.
"Pretty much."
Emma stared at all three of them.
Then at me.
"And he just-"
She stopped.
"What?" I asked.
"He argued back."
"Yes?"
"But he wasn't mad."
"No."
"And then you did the alternate entrance anyway."
I crossed my arms.
"Unfortunately."
"And then at the end of the day, you left together."
"Yes."
"You drove him home."
"Yes."
"And then you picked him up this morning."
"Yes."
Emma stared at me.
I stared back.
"What?"
Her eyes moved between me and Adrian's office again.
"Do none of you think that's weird?"
"No," Maya said.
Immediately.
Emma looked at her.
Maya took another sip of coffee.
Ben shook his head.
Nicole said, "Not really."
Emma looked genuinely stunned.
I was beginning to feel like I'd walked into the middle of an interrogation without being informed.
"Okay," I said. "What exactly are we talking about?"
Emma looked at me.
"He treats you differently."
There it was again.
I opened my mouth.
She kept going.
"I've seen him correct people. I've seen him disagree with people. I've seen him get irritated with people."
"So have I."
"I've seen him get irritated with me."
I didn't say anything.
"But with you-"
She stopped.
Her expression changed slightly.
Not angry.
Something quieter.
"You can say almost anything to him."
"That is absolutely not true."
Maya made another suspicious noise.
I looked at her.
She became deeply interested in her coffee.
Emma continued.
"You told him you hated him yesterday."
Oh.
That.
"And he said, 'No, you don't.'"
Nobody said anything.
For approximately two seconds.
Then Ben nodded.
"Yeah."
Emma looked at him.
"Yeah?"
"What?"
"You heard that?"
"We were all here."
"And nobody thought that was strange?"
Ben considered it.
"No."
Emma stared at him.
Nicole finally looked up from the tablet.
"It would've been stranger if he'd believed her."
I turned toward her.
"Excuse me?"
Nicole smiled.
"Nothing."
Emma's eyes came back to me.
"You don't see it?"
I suddenly didn't like where this conversation was going.
"See what?"
"The way he is with you."
I looked toward the glass section of Adrian's office.
He was sitting behind his desk.
Working.
Completely unaware that five people were currently discussing his personality approximately thirty feet away.
"I've known him longer than you have."
"I know."
"We work together constantly."
"I know."
"We're friends."
The word came easier now than it once would've.
Emma's expression shifted again.
"I know."
"Then why is any of this strange?"
She stared at me.
"Because none of it sounds like friendship."
Oh.
Maya straightened slightly.
I frowned. "What does that mean?"
Emma looked around at the others as though somebody-anybody-might understand what she was trying to say.
Nicole did.
She just apparently disagreed.
"It is normal," Nicole said.
Emma turned to her. "How?"
Nicole shrugged. "They always argue."
"Exactly."
"And then they stop arguing."
"Yes."
"And then they go somewhere together."
Emma stared at her.
Nicole looked confused by the confusion.
"What?"
"That doesn't sound strange to you?"
"No."
"Yesterday she told him to get away from her desk."
Maya nodded. "He was annoying her."
"He's her boss."
"So?"
Emma blinked.
Maya continued, perfectly seriously. "If he's annoying her, she tells him he's annoying her."
"And he just accepts that?"
"Usually he argues about whether he's actually annoying," Ben said.
I pointed at him. "Because he is."
"See?" Ben said to Emma.
Emma looked even more confused.
"That doesn't help."
"I thought it did."
Nicole laughed.
Emma looked at me again.
"And when you told him you hated him-"
"I was annoyed."
"Exactly," Nicole said. "That's why it would've been stranger if he believed her."
Emma turned toward her.
"Why?"
Nicole paused.
Like the answer was obvious.
"Because she doesn't hate him."
"I know she doesn't hate him."
"Then why would Adrian believe her?"
Emma stared at Nicole.
Then at Maya.
Then at Ben.
Nobody seemed to understand why she was struggling with this.
Which somehow made her struggle harder.
"So he just knows when she doesn't mean something?"
"Pretty much," Maya said.
Emma's eyebrows went up.
Maya seemed to realize that hadn't helped.
"He knows her."
"That is what I'm saying."
"Oh."
Maya went quiet.
Emma looked almost vindicated for half a second.
Then she looked at me again.
"You can tell him to get away from your desk. You can refuse to do something he tells you to do. You can tell him you hate him, and he tells you that you don't. You argue for half the day, then leave work together. You drive him home. You pick him up the next morning. He calls your car Candy."
I opened my mouth.
Nothing came out.
Emma looked at the other three.
"And all of you think this is normal?"
"Yes," Maya said.
"Pretty much," Nicole said.
Ben nodded. "For them."
Emma froze.
Then pointed at him.
"For them."
Ben frowned.
"Yeah."
"That is literally what I'm saying."
"Oh."
Ben thought about it.
Then-
"Okay, I see how that sounded."
Maya started laughing.
I rubbed my forehead.
Emma looked from one person to another.