Chapter 11
Patrick
Never before in my life have I not been able to concentrate on work. When I step foot into my office, it’s like my brain flips a switch and shifts into work mode. There is a significant amount of pride in the fact that I can work no matter the circumstance.
That is until now.
When I texted Ellie on Saturday to see if she could stop by ERI during lunch today, I didn’t realize it was going to derail my whole morning.
Greg didn’t give us a lot of notice with this whole company weekend thing, but he did send out an email with all the details on Friday night. I would have to imagine that he previously scheduled the email to be sent that night because he was definitely tipsy by the time we were leaving the bar.
The attention that should be on the spreadsheets in front of me is instead preparing for Ellie’s reaction to all of the options I’ve come up with for this company weekend.
If worse comes to worst and she isn’t comfortable with coming, I’m fine just hanging out with Wes and making the best of it.
Though I can’t lie, after spending happy hour with her, the weekend would be better if I had Ellie by my side.
The worry that happy hour was going to be stressful and awkward is long gone, and she pleasantly proved me wrong.
The more my mind lingers on that night, the more I find myself wanting to be around Ellie. It was nice having someone with me for once.
Not being able to stay focused is messing with me, but I’m sure that once I know her answer, I can get my mind on track. But, for now, I’m just going to do what I can.
Stopping by Debbie’s desk this morning was a necessity.
She needed to know that Ellie was coming for lunch and needed some direction to get to my desk.
Debbie is the hub of office gossip, so it shouldn’t have surprised me that she wanted to know everything about Ellie.
Trying to deter her many questions, I threw Wes under the bus, saying that I had to go back to my office to fix a mistake he made with the data algorithm.
I’m hoping that she won’t spread that around, but I seriously panicked when I realized that I couldn’t answer anything she asked.
There are so many gaps in my Ellie knowledge; I barely know anything more than where she works and her food preferences. I immediately went back to my desk and stuck a sticky note to my monitor for us to get back to later.
Watching Ellie sit in my office is odd to say the least. Well, not odd as in bad. It’s just different.
She is still wearing the clothes she had on at work when I saw her earlier this morning, but it’s hard to keep my eyes off of her.
I feel oblivious for not being aware of how pretty she was until now.
Her hair is pulled up in a messy bun again with those loose pieces framing her face.
Her oversized, black t-shirt is covering up her curves that I know are underneath.
Even like this, she lures me in. Her flushed cheeks.
Her freckles. Her bottom lip that she keeps biting as if she is nervous.
I was already on a phone call when Debbie brought her back, but I waved her in anyway.
She sat down in one of the chairs in front of my desk and pulled out her phone to look busy.
I would think that she is actually doing something, but seeing how she switched between four different apps, opening and closing them the second they get boring, I know she was not.
She is doing everything except for looking at me, and I’m amused.
When I hang up the phone, Ellie finally looks at me. “You sound very business-y on the phone. It’s…interesting.”
A small laugh escapes from me when she reuses the same silly word from the other night. The urge to tease her is too strong. “I don’t think business-y is a real word.”
“Semantics.” She shrugs while closing all the apps that she has been scrolling through.
“As long as the meaning can be understood it doesn’t matter if it’s a real word or not.
Anyways, that’s how new words get made up, right?
Spoken dialect allows for changes and interpretation all the time.
That’s why language is ever-changing and we don’t speak the same way as we used to one hundred, five hundred, a thousand years ago. ”
Being rendered speechless was not something I thought was going to happen today, but the more time I spend with Ellie, the more she surprises me.
It seems like she puts in a lot of effort to not reveal her true self, but when she has these slip ups, I can actually see her.
Under her hard surface, she is utterly captivating, and I am in awe.
“Wow, yeah. I never thought about it like that.”
When I stand up and make my way over to the door, she watches me curiously.
“Is it okay if I close this? I don’t really think it would be productive to our plans if someone were to eavesdrop.
I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable with me, so I’ll just—” There is a window looking into my office, so I swivel the blinds open before I close the door.
“I don’t need my coworkers to think there’s anything but eating going on in here.
” Ellie’s cheeks start to blush at the thought of what people might think.
“Not that there would be anything going on in here. I’m just going to shut up now. ”
Feeling slightly embarrassed, I sit down and grab Ellie’s Chipotle bowl out of the bag. I’m glad I remembered to get her order when I stopped by The Brew this morning. She gave me an incredulous look when I took out my notebook to write it down, but it was important to me that I get it right.
Removing me from my thoughts, Ellie shakes her bowl aggressively for at least a full minute, and I stare at her with an eyebrow raised.
“What?” When she notices me staring, she explains, “I do it to get the most ideal homogeneous mixture. It gives me the perfect bite every time. You should try it.”
She meticulously peels the lid off of her food to reveal a surprisingly well-mixed bowl.
There is no shame as she digs into her food, which makes me think that this is the first thing she has eaten today.
She was obviously joking when she said I should try her method, but I will always take the opportunity to tease her.
Lifting my bowl off the table, I theatrically shake it for thirty seconds.
Daggers shoot from her eyes, but I’m pretty sure they’re fake.
“You know, you should try to mock me less if you want any chance of your girlfriend showing up to your company weekend.” She crosses her arms and offers me a playful smile. “But I will let you know that I am available that weekend; although, I think I need some more convincing.”
I raise my hands up, accepting defeat. “You’re right, you’re right.”
Taking a big bite of my perfectly mixed concoction, I try not to let any emotions show as I move to my computer to look up the email from Greg with all the details because, fuck, she was right. This is the most perfectly balanced bite of a burrito bowl I’ve ever had in my life.
Keeping my pleasure to myself, I take another bite and swivel my monitor, so Ellie can see the email from Greg. “Okay, let’s discuss the logistics before you decide to abandon me because I’m such a mean boyfriend.”
We go through the attachment quickly, and I explain what I know.
After finishing with the basics, I move on to the part that I fear will make her back out of our deal.
“So, there’s no way I can book us separate rooms without it being suspicious, but I can get a room with two beds?
I totally understand if you’re not comfortable with that, and like I said at happy hour, I am more than fine with going alone.
I just want you to know everything before you make a decision. ”
When she takes a moment to think about what I just asked, it makes me wish I knew what was going on in her head. That’s something I need to work on as we get to know each other better. Once I can read her body language, I can get a better grip on figuring her out.
She squints her eyes at me as I take another bite of my food, trying to pretend like I’m keeping my cool. “Hmmm, okay, but Nick knows where I am at all times! And if you kill me, you will be the first one they suspect! It’s always the boyfriend.”
It all comes out in quick succession, and I’m barely able to catch what she says.
Her stare is intense as she watches my every move.
It’s interesting how this is the second time she’s brought up me murdering her, but if that were a real fear, I imagine she wouldn’t be okay willing to spend the night with me.
I know I shouldn’t be a sarcastic asshole, but every reaction I’ve gotten out of her so far makes it so hard for me to rein myself in.
Drawing out my actions, I reach across my desk into the cup of writing utensils and fish one out.
The click of the pen is loud when I cross off the phone call that I just finished off of my to-do list. It is just far enough away that Ellie cannot actually read what it says.
“Okay, I will take murdering Ellie off the weekend checklist.”
A small gasp escapes her lips, and I do my best to suppress my smirk.
“I don’t appreciate your sass.” She says firmly.
“Actually, I think you do.” I throw back at her, and this time I don’t hold back my smile.
She lets out a huff. “Okay, what else?”
“Greg shared an itinerary for the whole weekend, so let’s go through the plans.
” I scroll down, so she can see what I’m talking about.
“He scheduled us a half-day on that Friday, so we have time to get to the hotel. It’s about three hours away, so I was thinking we could drive together.
You know, helping the environment or whatever.
That is, if you are still interested in coming with me? ”
She takes a moment to chew the bite of food while mulling over what I just said. “Hmmm, that sounds reasonable. I get off at 12:30 on Friday, so the timing works.”
“Awesome. It looks like there is just check-in and a casual dinner Friday night, so it should be pretty chill.”
“I can handle that. What about Saturday?”
I look down the list. “Saturday, there’s a breakfast, company picnic with various activities in the early afternoon, optional spa sessions, and dinner. How does that sound?”
“I would like to offer a proposition.” Having no idea what she is about to say, I nod for her to continue. “What if we skip the spa sessions so that I can have some time to get my reading for my class done?”
There is no reason to be dramatic other than the fact that I now have the incessant desire to annoy Ellie any chance I get, so I take an extra second to think about it before responding. “I am willing to accept your proposition.”
She grins while steepling her fingers. “Good, good.”
“Okay, it looks like Saturday night’s dinner has a dress code.” The print is small, so I have to squint to read it. “It’s semi-formal. Do you have anything that could work for that? Fuck. I mean. God, I’m sorry. I don’t want to assume—”
Stumbling over my words is something that I rarely do, and on top of that, my face starts turning red.
Ellie lets out a snicker. “Oh, my. I’ve never seen you so flustered before!
You’re kinda cute when you’re embarrassed—” She trails off, but her smile is so big it makes me think that she enjoys watching me suffer.
“Yes, I have something that could work for the occasion. Honestly though, it’s a fair assumption to make.
Most of the time you see me, I’m seriously bumming it, but believe it or not, I do like dressing up from time to time.
I don’t get much of a chance anymore, so that should be kinda fun.
” I see a sparkle in her eyes like she’s looking forward to getting dolled up. “Anything on Sunday?”
“Sunday is just breakfast and check out at 11. I can get you home by 3?”
“That sounds perfect.”
“There is one last thing. When I told my receptionist you were coming, she asked two whole questions about you before I managed to change the subject, and I had no idea how to answer. Actually, the same thing happened at the happy hour when I was talking to some coworkers. So, I was wondering if you would be able to meet up at some point in the next week? We can learn some basic information about each other and get more comfortable? Just in case we’re caught alone at the company weekend.
It would be embarrassing to be tripped up when someone asks what your last name is, and I don’t know what to say. ”
“Oh yeah, that makes a lot of sense, and it’s Brooks by the way.”
“Ellie Brooks, nice to formally meet you.” Reaching out my hand to shake hers, she takes it, pretending to be business-y.
There’s an intensity to our touch that reminds me of our kiss inside the bar.
I feel embarrassed that my mind goes to a kiss just from a handshake, but now that I know how her lips taste, it takes everything in me not to act on those feelings again. “Patrick Murphy.”
She clears her throat and pulls her hand back, bringing me back to reality. “Uhhh, does Wednesday work for our mutual interrogation? It’s the only night I have free.”
Her voice is timid, and I’m left wondering if she felt what I just did. “Sure, I can do Wednesday. Pick a place, and I’ll meet you there.”
When Ellie leaves my office, I find myself even more distracted than I was this morning.