Chips and Queso
The rest of the day went by quickly and without any issues.
Thankfully, my computer continued working and didn’t crash on me, and I was able to get most of my to-do list done.
At the end of our shift, Rachel and I grabbed our belongings and made our way down to our cars before going our separate ways.
Before I pulled out, I hit the voice command button in the car and called Emma.
“Tell me EVERYTHING?” She yelled down the line after two short rings.
“Oh, god, Emma.” I lay my forehead against the warm steering wheel, recounting the encounter with Spencer earlier.
Those beautiful blue eyes seemed to harbor a deep sadness I knew well.
The same lonely sadness I’ve seen reflected at me so many times.
“Where do I even start? His name is Spencer, and it feels fitting for him, ya know? Curly hair, those cute dark rimmed glasses. The man is even more gorgeous up close, too. I totally embarrassed myself stumbling over my words, and then I was staring at him. More than once! I was most certainly not the mysterious, aloof baddie I aim to be.” Groaning, I rubbed my temples, trying to expel the headache I could feel setting in.
Although I found him physically attractive and felt this pull, I didn’t know if I was ready.
What if I ended up hurt again? What if I found myself giving everything to someone who didn’t care?
Hell would freeze over before I would do that again.
I’ve spent too much time rebuilding my confidence and self-worth to let another person bring me down.
Not to forget that there was the teeny tiny fact that we worked together.
Shaking my head and sitting back against the seat, I listened to Emma’s voice filter back in.
“No, you did great, I’m sure. You’re a bad ass bitch, and I’m sure you had him hanging onto every word and movement, babe.” I couldn’t help but chuckle. Em always had a way to make me feel good about myself, one way or another.
“Maybe you’re right. It doesn’t matter, though, the conversation got cut off cause he got a phone call. Anyway, I wanted to see if you have any plans tonight? I feel like I need a girl's night with some Mexican food and Criminal Minds reruns. What do ya say?”
“You don’t gotta ask me twice. I’m always down to eat my weight in chips and queso. Everything okay though?”
“Yeah… I just need to get my shit together. After running into him again, it tripped me up some, ya know? It was like there was this current, this pull, and I don’t wanna do something stupid.”
“Oof yeah, that’s tough, but maybe it’ll work out, or it’ll be a passing crush. Want me to grab the food and head over?”
“No, I can stop on the way home. I haven’t checked traffic yet, so I don’t know if I’d be super late or not. What did you—” Emma cut me off mid ramble.
“Allie. You’re doing it again. I’m capable of getting us food since I’ll also be out and driving. You don’t have to do everything for everyone all the time.” I couldn’t see her face, but I knew she was rolling her eyes at me.
“I’m sorry, Ems. It’s a habit at this point to make life easier—”
“To make life easier on everyone else? Is that what you were going to say?” I scowled at the car screen even though she couldn’t see me.
“Let's try this again, shall we? Allie, would you like me to stop and grab food and head over?” Her voice was that of someone trying to gentle parent a grouchy toddler.
I shook my head and let out a sigh, my lips tipping up in a smile at the end of it. “That would be amazing. Would you care to let Dolly out, too?”
“Of course. I’ll let my sweet angel baby out, and then I’ll raid your house for pre-dinner snacks while we wait for you!” I could hear the faint jingle of her keys and bag in the background.
“I would expect nothing else. Love you, bye.”
“Love you, byyyeee!” Em drug out the word and chuckled before hopping off the phone.
Thankfully, traffic wasn’t bad at all, and it only took me twenty-five minutes to get home.
Once I got in and chatted with Em for a few minutes, I quickly went to take a shower.
We both had changed into pajamas before settling in to do our skincare.
I threw on yoga pants and an old band tee.
Emma opted for sweats that were too big and rolled up with a tee that said Live, Laugh, Lobotomy across the chest. I wasn’t sure where she found some of the shirts she wore, but they cracked me up every single time.
After we finished slathering on our serums and moisturizers, we both grabbed all the blankets and set up on the sectional with Dolly in between us, and started our show.
“Let me tell you, every person on the team could get it,” I said in between bites. “Like, why is everyone so attractive?”
“Right? The men and the women, all ten out of ten, immediate smash,” Emma said while munching on her chips and queso. “Hey! Now you have a real-life Spencer if you play your cards right!”
“You don’t think it’s a bad idea since we work for the same company?” I asked while I fished out some more chips from the bag.
“I mean, why would it? You two don’t even work in the same area, and you wouldn’t have the same boss or anything.
That’s typically the rule, but I also understand if something happened, you’d have the risk of still seeing him when you had to go in.
I don’t see why, if an opportunity did come up, you shouldn’t climb that man like a tree. ”
“Oh my good god, Emma, I swear.” I launched my pillow at her face, causing both of us to break out into a fit of laughter. Since it was Friday and neither one of us had plans, Emma stayed over with me.
Emma Lewis and I were going on sixteen years of friendship, and she was like my other half.
We had been there for each other through so much in life, like my parents getting divorced, dealing with bullies in high school, her going through a divorce, and learning to live life on her own for the first time. I couldn’t imagine life without her.
We settled into bed, and both absently scrolled on our phones. I was posting some of the selfies we took tonight when a notification popped up. Spencer_Parker followed you.
“AGH! Look!” I shrieked and practically threw the phone at Emma, who barely caught it before it smacked into her face.
“Oh my god, what’s wrong!” Her eyes were wide as she frantically snatched the phone up, reading over what was on the screen.
“Look, the notification!” Shoving the phone closer to her face before burying my face in the covers like an embarrassed teenager. My heart was going a million miles a minute, and my hands were clammy. Why are my hands clammy?
Cheese and rice, pull yourself together, woman.
“Ooh, he followed you. Well, did you follow him back?” Emma smirked as she scrolled through his page before looking over at me.
I shot up in bed, flinging my arms out wide in disbelief.
“No, I didn’t follow him back. Do I follow him back?
Why do I feel like I’m in middle school all over again and overthinking every little thing?
I’m even getting butterflies in my stomach.
I am an almost thirty-year-old woman. WHY am I getting butterflies!
” I scrunched my nose up because, honestly, what the fuck.
“Girl, I love you, but you’re getting in your own head again.
Take a deep breath, and here I did it for you.
It looks like he doesn’t share much or follow too many people either.
Probably why I couldn’t find him earlier when I tried to look him up.
” Emma reached out to pat my hand in her own show of comfort.
Throwing myself back against the pillows, I yanked the covers over my face.
“Of course, you already tried to do your investigation. Well, that could be a good thing, I mean, not everyone is big on social media, so that’s okay.
Gah, I hate that I didn’t really get to talk more to him today.
Em, he was even more attractive in person.
He had the prettiest blue eyes, the smoothest voice, and he even had glasses!
Gave him a total hot nerdy vibe, and you know that’s my type.
” She pulled the covers down as I was talking, and I peered at her out of the corner of my eyes.
“Who knows, maybe you’ll get lucky and get another shot. At least the other day, he didn’t do the weird thing and come to interrupt your sets. That always gives me the ick, like we’re working out, please don’t interrupt me to make small talk and hit on me.”
“Small talk in general gives me the ick.”
“You can say that again. Feel better now that your mini freak-out is over?”
“Yeah, I do, thanks Em. Thanks for not judging me whenever my brain decides to go off the rails. I love you.”
“I love you too, girl, and it’s no problem. Now let's get some sleep so you can make me breakfast in the morning. ”
“Yes, dear.” I laughed and rolled over and got back on my phone.
No other notifications, so either he didn’t mean to follow me or maybe didn’t realize he had.
Either way, it was a step; I just wasn’t sure in which direction.
Exhaustion hit me quickly, so I plugged my phone in and drifted off to sleep, thinking of the most beautiful ocean eyes.