Chapter 16 - There You Are
There were certain things a person should never do with her boss.
Arguing with him in front of half the office was probably one.
Calling him an asshole was definitely one.
Trying to steal his phone was questionable.
Crying while demanding that he explain his feelings for you was considerably worse.
And hugging him for an indeterminate amount of time afterward?
Yeah.
There was probably an HR presentation about that somewhere.
Unfortunately, none of those thoughts occurred to me until the following morning.
At approximately 7:14 a.m.
While I was standing in my bathroom.
Holding mascara.
Staring at myself in the mirror.
Remembering my face pressed against Adrian Vale's chest.
Again.
"Oh God."
I put the mascara down.
I'd cried.
In front of Adrian.
Not just cried.
I'd practically screamed at the man.
Why do you care?
If you don't like me, why do you care?
Why do you freeze too?
Then he'd hugged me.
And I'd-
I covered my face.
I'd hugged him back.
Tightly.
There had been fingers in hair.
Hands on backs.
Tears being wiped.
I'm not worth crying over.
Then I'd driven home and confidently decided that not only was I falling for Adrian Vale-
Adrian Vale was falling for me too.
Wonderful.
Fantastic.
Very normal employee behavior.
I picked up my mascara again.
Today I had to see him.
And somehow behave like a functioning adult.
There was coffee on my desk.
I stopped.
Same cup.
Same order.
Exactly the way I liked it.
But no Adrian.
I looked toward his office.
Door open.
Lights on.
He was already inside.
Head down.
Working.
I didn't peek.
I absolutely did not peek.
I merely confirmed his physical presence from a reasonable professional distance.
Then I sat down.
And drank the coffee.
At 9:22, Adrian came into our area.
I knew he was there before I looked up.
Which was irritating.
He stopped beside my desk.
"Ms. Stone."
Oh.
We were doing that.
"Mr. Vale."
His eyes met mine.
For one horrible second, my entire body remembered being wrapped around his.
Apparently my body had no professionalism whatsoever.
"The revised plans?"
"Already sent."
"I saw them. Change the spacing on the eastern screen."
I looked at the drawing.
I didn't agree.
Normally, that would've been the beginning of a ten-minute argument.
"Okay."
Adrian didn't move.
I looked up.
"Anything else?"
His eyes stayed on mine for a second.
"No."
"Okay."
He walked away.
Silence.
Then Ben slowly rolled his chair backward until his head appeared around the divider.
"Who are you?"
I kept typing.
"Busy."
"He told you to change something."
"Yes."
"And you said okay."
"That's generally how employment works, Ben."
"Not your employment."
I looked at him.
"Go away."
He slowly rolled himself back behind the divider.
"She's still in there."
I ignored him.
Mostly because I didn't have an answer.
The next morning, there was coffee on my desk again.
Adrian wasn't there.
The morning after that-
coffee.
No Adrian.
Apparently we had reached an arrangement.
He would continue caffeinating me.
I would continue pretending I didn't know who was doing it.
And neither of us would acknowledge that three nights ago I had cried into his shirt while he held me like he was afraid I'd disappear.
Healthy.
Very healthy.
Our conversations became painfully efficient.
"Ms. Stone, did you send the revisions?"
"Yes."
"Thank you."
"Of course."
"Ms. Stone, Claire needs the updated set."
"Already sent."
"Good."
"Anything else?"
"No."
"Okay."
No arguments.
No sarcasm.
No unnecessary office visits.
No Adrian appearing beside my desk with some suspiciously minor reason to speak to me.
He didn't call me into his office unless it was genuinely necessary.
I didn't wander into his.
I stopped checking whether he'd eaten.
He stopped giving me enough work to keep me there after everyone else had left.
And I didn't stay late.
We were doing exactly what he'd asked for.
Professional.
Completely, painfully professional.
By Wednesday, Daniel noticed.
Adrian had just finished reviewing something with me in one of the smaller conference rooms.
"This works."
"Okay."
"Send it to Claire."
"I will."
"Thank you."
"Of course."
I gathered my things and left.
Daniel was standing outside.
He waited until Adrian was far enough away.
"Did you two have a fight?"
I stopped.
"What?"
"You and Adrian."
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Daniel, we fight approximately four times a week. You're going to have to be more specific."
"That's my point."
I stared at him.
"You haven't fought all week."
Oh.
"Maybe I'm maturing."
Daniel looked genuinely concerned.
"Should we call someone?"
I shoved his shoulder as I passed.
"Go work."
Thursday morning.
Coffee.
Of course.
At eleven, Nicole leaned against the edge of my desk.
"Has Adrian been busy this week?"
"Adrian is always busy."
"No, I mean really busy."
I looked at her.
"Why?"
She shrugged.
"He's barely been over here."
My fingers stopped over my keyboard.
Only for a second.
"Maybe he finally discovered email."
Nicole laughed.
I didn't.
Because she was right.
He hadn't been around.
And neither had I.
We had somehow managed to work in the same building while avoiding every unnecessary second of each other's existence.
I should've been relieved.
Instead, the entire office felt wrong.
The worst moment came Friday afternoon.
We were reviewing material options as a team.
Adrian stood at the end of the conference table.
"We'll keep the original material."
I looked at the sample.
He was wrong.
He knew I thought he was wrong.
I knew he knew.
Everyone else apparently knew too, because Ben looked at me.
Daniel looked at me.
Even Maya glanced sideways.
They were waiting.
Normally, I would've already started explaining exactly why Adrian Vale was wrong.
Instead-
"Okay."
Adrian's eyes came to mine.
Silence.
"Okay?" he repeated.
"Yes."
Something moved in his jaw.
"Fine."
"Fine."
The meeting continued.
When Adrian finally left, nobody spoke for approximately three seconds.
Then Ben turned toward me.
"No."
I looked at him.
"What?"
"I don't like this."
"You don't like what?"
"Whatever this is."
Daniel nodded.
"It's unsettling."
"I agreed with my boss."
Ben pointed toward the door Adrian had just walked through.
"Last month you told that man his design looked like a luxury prison."
"It did."
"There she is," Daniel said.
"Shut up."
Ben leaned closer.
"Seriously. Did something happen?"
"No."
"Because he's being weird too."
That got my attention.
"How?"
Ben gave me a look.
"Angel. He hasn't called you into his office seventeen times a day. He hasn't stood at your desk arguing with you. You haven't threatened his architecture once. He leaves you alone. You agree with everything he says."
He paused.
"It's creepy."
"Maybe we've developed a healthy professional relationship."
Three people stared at me.
I looked around.
"What?"
Maya slowly shook her head.
"Nothing."
That evening, at five-thirty, I was finishing one last thing when Adrian walked past.
He stopped.
"Ms. Stone."
I looked up.
"Yes?"
"That can wait until tomorrow."
"I'm almost finished."
"Tomorrow is fine."
I stared at him.
He stared back.
"Okay."
A pause.
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Mr. Vale."
He walked away.
I returned to my screen.
Nobody around me was typing.
I slowly looked up.
Ben, Nicole and Daniel were all staring at me.
"What?"
Ben looked toward Adrian.
Then at me.
"Nothing."
"Ben."
"I'm just wondering whether we entered a different timeline."
Nicole frowned.
"He told her to go home."
Daniel nodded.
"And she didn't argue."
"I hate all of you."
I packed my bag and left.
I did not look toward Adrian's office.
Not once.
Monday morning marked one week.
Seven days since Adrian had held me.
Seven days since I'd held him back.
Seven mornings of coffee.
Seven days of almost nothing else.
I was beginning to think we could continue like this indefinitely.
Apparently Maya disagreed.
She cornered me shortly after lunch.
"What happened between you two?"
I looked up.
"Which two?"
She stared at me.
"Adrian and you."
"Nothing."
"Why don't you guys talk anymore?"
"What do you mean? We talk every day."
"Not like before. Now you only talk about work."
"We always talked about work."
Her expression went completely flat.
"Angel."
"Maya."
"Angel, I'm not stupid."
"I didn't say you were."
"The way you talked to Adrian-and the things that man let you get away with? If anybody else did one-tenth of that, they'd probably be fired on the spot."
I opened my mouth.
She held up a hand.
"No. You know it. Everybody in this office knows it."
"Maya-"
"You argue with Adrian. Adrian Vale. And he lets you."
"He argues back."
"That is not helping your case."
I sighed.
"He sends you coffee."
My eyes flicked toward the cup beside my computer.
Maya followed them.
"Every morning, apparently."
"Maya-"
"And it's not just the coffee. Think about it, Angel. This man barely has a conversation with anyone in this office unless it's about work. But with you? He talks. He stands at your desk arguing with you over absolutely nothing. He notices what you're doing-he even asks you for food."
I sighed.
"That happened twice."
Maya stared at me.
"The fact that you can say twice is exactly my point."
"The second time he practically invited himself."
"Thank you for strengthening my argument."
I rolled my eyes.
"And then there's the way he looks at you."
My stomach tightened.
"Maya."
"And the way you look at him."
I looked away.
"You can deny it all you want, but I watched you when you thought he was married."
I went quiet.
"You were devastated, Angel."
"I wasn't-"
"You were."
Her voice softened.
"And when you found out he was divorced?"
I said nothing.
"You looked like somebody gave you oxygen back."
That was annoyingly dramatic.