Chapter 44 - Everybody Knows #3
Ethan dropped into the empty chair beside me.
"Did you get fired?"
I opened my water bottle.
"No."
"Shame."
I looked at him.
"You were hoping?"
"I was hoping to see what happens when someone finally fires you."
"I get another job."
"That's disappointingly normal."
"I could set something on fire first."
"There she is."
Maya looked at Ethan.
"She told Adrian to fire her."
Ethan turned slowly toward me.
"You did what?"
"It was contextual."
"What's the context in which telling the CEO to fire you becomes reasonable?"
"He was being annoying."
Ethan nodded.
"Understood."
Ben pointed his fork at him.
"You missed the diamond."
Ethan stopped.
"The what?"
I closed my eyes.
"Ben."
"What diamond?"
"There is no diamond."
"There was absolutely a diamond," Nicole said.
I looked at her.
"You too?"
She smiled.
Ethan looked around the table.
"I leave this side of the office alone for one morning."
"Angelica demanded a diamond from Adrian," Ben said.
"I did not demand a diamond."
Maya looked at me.
"You said you wanted something expensive. Probably a diamond."
"That is not a demand."
"You gave him terms."
"I was joking."
"Were you?" Ben asked.
"Yes."
Ethan looked at me.
"Did he agree?"
"No, obviously."
"Smart man."
I kicked his shoe under the table.
"Aww."
"Good."
He smiled.
And then his eyes shifted over my shoulder.
I didn't need to turn around.
I did anyway.
Adrian was walking past.
He looked at our table.
More specifically-
at Ethan sitting beside me.
Then at me.
I lifted one eyebrow.
He kept walking.
Ethan watched him disappear.
Then looked at me.
"What?"
"Nothing."
I stared at him.
He took a bite of his food.
"No. Absolutely not. Maya has already used up the office's daily allowance of 'nothing.'"
"I didn't say anything."
"You made a face."
"What face?"
"The face everyone keeps making around me."
Ben looked at Maya.
Maya looked at Nicole.
Nicole looked at Ethan.
I pointed around the table.
"See? That. Whatever that is."
"No idea what you're talking about," Maya said.
"You're all irritating."
Ethan reached for one of my fries.
I slapped his hand.
"Those are mine."
"You ate my MM."
"You brought me the MM's."
"And you kicked me."
"That was unrelated."
He stole the fry anyway.
I was deciding whether murder during lunch would violate company policy when Emma approached the table.
"Hey."
Everyone looked up.
"Hey," Maya said.
Emma smiled.
"Is anyone sitting here?"
There was one chair left.
"No," Nicole said. "Go ahead."
Emma sat down.
For the next few minutes, everything was normal.
Completely normal.
We talked about work.
Ben complained about a consultant.
Nicole complained about Ben complaining about the consultant.
Ethan stole another fry and nearly lost a finger.
Emma laughed.
She was easy to talk to.
That was the annoying part.
If she'd been horrible, this would've been much more convenient.
Instead, she was nice.
Funny, even.
Which made the strange little irritation sitting under my ribs feel increasingly unreasonable.
Then Adrian walked back through the office.
Emma's attention shifted immediately.
Tiny.
Probably invisible if you weren't looking for it.
Unfortunately, apparently I was.
She watched him until he disappeared into his office.
Then looked back at us.
"So... is he always like that?"
Ben swallowed.
"Like what?"
Emma hesitated.
"Quiet."
Five people looked at one another.
I concentrated very hard on my lunch.
Maya answered first.
"Pretty much."
"I can never tell if I'm bothering him."
"You'll know," Ben said.
Nicole laughed.
Emma smiled.
"No, seriously. I feel like every time I talk to him, I'm interrupting something."
"You probably are," I said.
The words came out before I thought about them.
Emma looked at me.
I immediately regretted speaking.
Not because it was rude.
It wasn't.
It was true.
Adrian was always doing something.
Emma nodded.
"Probably."
Then she smiled slightly.
"I just don't know how to talk to him yet."
Silence.
Not a bad silence.
Just-
interesting.
Ethan took another fry.
I didn't stop him this time.
Emma continued.
"He's easier with you."
My eyes lifted.
"With me?"
She nodded.
"All of you, obviously. You've known him longer. But especially you."
Nobody at the table moved.
Oh, fantastic.
I took a drink of water.
"We work together a lot."
"I know."
There was nothing strange in the way she said it.
No accusation.
No edge.
She was simply stating something she'd noticed.
Which somehow made it worse.
"He actually talks to you."
Ben suddenly became extremely interested in his food.
Maya looked down.
Nicole pressed her lips together.
Ethan looked at me.
I ignored all of them.
"He talks to everyone."
Emma laughed softly.
"No, he answers everyone."
My hand stopped around my water bottle.
Well.
That was annoyingly accurate.
Emma looked toward Adrian's office again.
"With you, he actually talks."
Nobody said anything.
Because what exactly were we supposed to say to that?
Yes, Emma, we've noticed?
Yes, Emma, apparently the emotionally constipated CEO has developed one preferred human?
Absolutely not.
I put my water down.
"He argues with me."
"Constantly," Ben said.
I pointed at him.
"Thank you."
"That wasn't a defense."
"It was enough of one."
Emma smiled.
"I know. I heard you two this morning."
Of course she had.
The entire building had probably heard us.
She looked at me.
"But that's what I mean."
I frowned.
"What?"
"He argues with you."
"Yes."
"He doesn't do that with me."
I stared at her.
Why did she sound disappointed about that?
Maya made a tiny movement across the table.
Emma shook her head.
"Never mind. That sounded weird."
"A little," Ethan said.
She laughed.
"I just mean-he doesn't really give me anything to work with."
Ben looked like he was about to say something.
Nicole kicked him under the table.
His mouth closed.
Good woman.
Emma glanced toward Adrian's office one more time.
Then back at her lunch.
"I'll figure him out eventually."
Something in my stomach tightened.
Tiny.
Stupid.
Completely unnecessary.
I picked up my fork.
"Good luck."
Maya looked at me.
I didn't look back.
At one-fifteen, I opened the alternate Solara file.
Only to look at it.
That distinction mattered.
I was not working on it.
I simply wanted to confirm that Adrian's idea was still stupid.
It was.
Mostly.
I shifted the arrival approach three feet east.
Just experimentally.
Then I adjusted the canopy.
Not because Adrian told me to.
Because I needed evidence.
Ten minutes later, Maya rolled her chair toward me.
I immediately minimized the window.
She stopped.
I looked at her.
She looked at me.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Go away."
"I didn't say anything."
"You were about to."
She smiled.
"Is that the alternate?"
"No."
"Okay."
"It's not."
"I believe you."
"You don't."
"Not even slightly."
I turned back to my computer.
She rolled away.
I reopened the file.
The shifted approach wasn't terrible.
I hated that.
I adjusted the canopy again.
Still not terrible.
I hated that more.
Then a shadow fell across my desk.
I looked up.
Adrian.
He looked at my screen.
Then at me.
I immediately clicked back to the original plan.
His eyes returned to mine.
Neither of us spoke.
Then-
"Working hard?"
I narrowed my eyes.
"Go away."
His mouth moved.
Barely.
"I didn't say anything."
"You were about to."
"Was I?"
"Yes."
He glanced at my monitor.
"Interesting."
"Leave."
He turned.
"Tomorrow."
"I hate you."
"No, you don't."
He kept walking.
My hand froze on the mouse.
For half a second, I forgot how to breathe.
Adrian didn't turn around.
He just kept walking toward his office like he hadn't said anything unusual at all.
And then I noticed Emma.
She was standing a few desks away with a folder in her hand.
Completely still.
Her eyes followed Adrian for a second.
Then came back to me.
There was something different in her expression now.
Not anger.
Not even jealousy, exactly.
More like she was trying to fit what she'd just heard into everything she'd seen since she started working here.
I hate you.
No, you don't.
He hadn't hesitated.
Hadn't smiled.
Hadn't asked.
He'd simply said it like it was something he knew.
Emma looked toward Adrian's office again.
Then at me.
And for the first time, I wondered if she was beginning to understand why everyone else kept making those faces.
Beside me, Maya had gone completely still.
I slowly looked at her.
She slowly looked at me.
Neither of us said a word.
When I glanced back, Emma was still standing there.
Then she lowered her eyes to the folder in her hands and finally walked back to her desk.
Maya turned back to her computer.
So did I.
Apparently there were some things even she knew better than to comment on.
By four-thirty, I had finished the alternate entrance.
This was not an admission of defeat.
It was professional responsibility.
There was a difference.
A very important difference.
I stared at both versions side by side on my screen.
The original was better.
Obviously.
The alternate was-
I leaned closer.
Annoyingly good.
Not better.
Just good enough that I could no longer call Adrian's idea stupid without technically lying.
Which was deeply inconvenient.
Maya rolled her chair over.
"Finished?"
"No."
She looked at the screen.
"Looks finished."
"That's because you don't understand architecture."
"I work at an architecture firm."
"Administrative proximity doesn't count."
She laughed.
I zoomed into the alternate.
"I hate it."
"Which means?"
"Exactly what I said."
"Does Adrian know?"
"No."
"Are you going to tell him?"
"No."
She looked at me.
I looked at her.
She waited.
I sighed.
"Yes."
"Thought so."
I saved the file.
"I'm going to show him this before I decide I hate it again."
"You don't hate it."