Chapter 45 - Just Friends #2
"You've all gotten so used to it that you don't even hear yourselves."
That shut them up.
For approximately three seconds.
Then Nicole shrugged.
"Maybe."
Emma looked at me.
And this time there was no accusation in her expression.
Just something quieter.
Something that looked a little too much like disappointment.
Then it changed.
Not into anger.
Frustration.
Real frustration.
Emma looked at Maya.
Then Nicole.
Then Ben.
"You really don't see it."
Nobody answered.
"No." She shook her head. "You actually don't."
"See what?" I asked.
"All of it."
Her voice had changed.
Not louder exactly.
Just less careful.
"The site."
My stomach tightened.
"What about it?"
Emma looked at me.
"I was there too."
Oh.
The others went quiet.
"I was standing right there when it happened. We were all in the same place."
I remembered.
The sound.
The movement.
Adrian shouting my name.
His hands on me.
The way he'd held me afterward.
Emma swallowed.
"He ran to you."
Nobody said anything.
"He didn't even look at me."
"Emma-"
"No, I'm not saying he should've saved me instead."
Her answer came quickly.
"I know what happened. You were closer. You were in danger."
She paused.
"But afterward?"
Oh.
"He held you."
My chest tightened.
"For a long time."
I didn't answer.
Emma's voice became quieter.
"I was standing there too, Angelica."
There was no accusation in it.
That somehow made it worse.
"I was scared too. Everyone was. But he didn't even notice me. He didn't notice anybody."
Her eyes met mine.
"He was holding you like-"
She stopped herself.
Maya lowered her coffee.
Emma shook her head.
"I don't even know."
I did.
Unfortunately.
I almost didn't get to you.
But you did.
You got to me.
Emma continued before I could think about that too long.
"And then there's the coffee."
Ben glanced at me.
I said nothing.
"He gets your coffee every morning."
"Not every-"
Emma looked at me.
I stopped.
Fine.
Pretty much every morning.
"And he knows exactly what you drink."
Nobody tried to explain that one.
Apparently they were learning.
"I saw your coffee cup in his car."
I remembered.
The day of the accident.
Emma had seen it sitting there before we'd even left the site.
"And your Demodog," she continued.
Oh God.
"And your bracelet."
Oh.
"And your Spotify was connected to his car."
Ben slowly turned toward me.
I pointed at him without looking.
"Don't."
"I didn't say anything."
"You were going to."
"I absolutely was."
"Don't."
Emma stared at us.
"See?"
I looked back at her.
"What?"
"This."
She gestured between all of us.
"I tell you your things are in your CEO's car and everybody's reaction is apparently to make jokes."
Nicole frowned slightly.
"Well, we've known about some of that."
"Of course you have."
Emma laughed once.
There wasn't much humor in it.
"Of course that's normal too."
Maya opened her mouth.
Emma held up a hand.
"No. Wait."
Maya actually stopped.
Emma looked at me again.
"Halloween."
Oh no.
"I asked him to dance."
I knew that.
"He said no."
I knew that too.
"He told me he doesn't dance."
Nobody moved.
Emma's expression tightened.
"And then you held out your hand."
My stomach did something deeply unhelpful.
"He took it immediately."
Silence.
"He didn't hesitate."
I remembered that too.
My hand between us.
Adrian looking at it.
Then his hand closing around mine.
Emma continued.
"And he danced with you."
I tried to find something to say.
Nothing useful appeared.
"I didn't force him."
"I know."
"He could've said no."
"I know."
"That is literally my point."
Oh.
Maya looked down.
Nicole suddenly seemed considerably less interested in defending anything.
Emma wasn't finished.
"You eat together in his office."
"That happens because-"
"You had two lunch boxes."
I stopped.
She remembered that.
Of course she remembered that.
"You walk into his office whenever you want."
"I don't walk in whenever I want."
"You don't even knock."
I paused.
Emma stared at me.
"You just walk inside."
Three people looked at me.
I glared at them.
"Stop doing that."
Maya looked away.
Emma continued.
"You close the door."
"For work."
"Sometimes."
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"It means sometimes you're working. Sometimes you're arguing. Sometimes you're eating. Sometimes you're just in there."
I had no idea how to respond to that.
"And he comes to your desk constantly."
"He's working."
"So is everyone else."
"He's the CEO."
"Exactly."
I stared at her.
That argument had apparently betrayed me too.
Emma took a breath.
"And Monday morning."
I already knew I wasn't going to like this.
"You took him downstairs for breakfast."
"He hadn't eaten."
"I know."
There it was again.
That maddening I know.
"You knew he hadn't eaten."
"He told me."
"And then you told him he needed to eat."
"Yes."
"And he went with you."
"Yes."
Emma looked at the others.
Nobody said anything.
She laughed softly.
"Is that normal too?"
Maya hesitated.
That was the first time she'd hesitated.
Then-
"For them?"
Emma threw both hands up.
"Oh my God."
Ben started laughing.
Even Nicole did.
Emma stared at them.
"No. Seriously. Listen to yourselves."
"We are," Nicole said.
"And you don't hear it?"
Nicole's smile faded slightly.
Emma looked at me again.
"He gets your coffee. Your things are in his car. Your music is connected to his car. He comes to your desk for things he could call you about. You walk into his office like it belongs to you. You tell him what to do. He listens to you.
You fight with him in front of everyone and neither of you cares. You leave together. You arrive together."
She paused.
"And when something almost happened to you, I watched Adrian Vale completely lose control."
Nobody joked now.
Emma's voice dropped.
"I've never seen him look like that."
Neither had I.
Not before that day.
"He held you for five minutes."
"Probably not exactly five-"
"Angelica."
I stopped.
Right.
Not the point.
Emma looked exhausted now.
Like she'd been collecting these things for days and had finally run out of places to put them.
"And yesterday I asked all of you about it."
Her eyes moved across Maya, Nicole, and Ben.
"And every single one of you acted like I was the weird one for noticing."
Maya's expression softened.
"We didn't think you were weird."
"Then what do you think?"
Nobody answered immediately.
Emma looked at me.
"I like him."
There it was.
Simple.
No drama.
No embarrassment.
Just true.
"I know."
"And I've been trying to talk to him."
I stayed quiet.
"I've been trying to figure out what he likes. What he'll talk about. How to get him to stay in a conversation with me for longer than thirty seconds."
Something twisted uncomfortably in my chest.
"And then I watch you tell him to get away from your desk."
Oh.
"And he stands there arguing with you."
Nobody said anything.
"You don't try."
That one hit harder than everything else.
Emma's eyes dropped for a second.
Then came back to mine.
"You don't have to."
I didn't know what to say.
Because she wasn't wrong.
Emma looked toward Adrian's office.
"He already wants to be around you."
Silence.
Then she looked back at the others.
"So no."
Her voice was quieter now.
"I don't think any of this is normal."
Nobody told her it was this time.
Around ten, Emma got up from her desk.
I noticed because she walked directly toward Adrian's office.
She reached the door.
Stopped.
Looked inside.
Then came back.
I didn't think much of it.
Half an hour later, she did it again.
This time she stood there slightly longer before returning.
A few minutes later, she appeared beside my desk.
"Where's Adrian?"
I looked up.
"I don't know."
Emma stared at me.
"What?"
"I don't know."
"He's not in his office."
"I gathered that."
"Where did he go?"
I shrugged. "Maybe another department. Or another section."
"He's been gone for half an hour."
"Then I don't know."
Emma didn't move.
I went back to my screen.
She was still there.
I looked up again.
"What?"
"You really don't know?"
"No."
Her eyebrows went up.
"Is it possible for Adrian to disappear for half an hour and you not know where he is?"
I stared at her.
"Yes."
Beside me, Maya looked up.
"Actually, that's a fair question."
I turned toward her.
"What?"
Maya shrugged. "Usually you know."
"I do not."
"You usually do."
"Why would I know where Adrian is every second of the day?"
"You knew he was in the conference room Tuesday."
"Because I saw him go in there."
"You knew he went downstairs Monday."
"Because I sent him downstairs."
Emma pointed at Maya.
"See?"
"No. Stop encouraging her."
Maya smiled.
I looked between them.
"I genuinely have no idea where he is."
And that was true.
Normally?
Apparently there was an uncomfortable amount of evidence supporting their argument.
But not this time.
This time, I genuinely had no clue.
Emma eventually went back to her desk.
Adrian still wasn't back by eleven.
Or eleven-thirty.
Not that I was checking.
I wasn't.
I had work.
A lot of it.
At approximately noon-
"He's back."
I looked up.
Emma was sitting at her desk with a delighted expression on her face.
I followed her eyes.
Adrian had returned to his office.
So apparently I had been checking.
Wonderful.
Emma stood.
I knew exactly where she was going.
She took approximately one step.
My phone rang.
I looked at the screen.
Of course.
Emma stopped.
I answered.
"Hello?"
"Come to my office."
No hello.
No explanation.
Just-
Come to my office.
I looked through the glass.
He was behind his desk now, phone against his ear, looking directly at me.
"Why?"
"I need to show you something."
"Can you bring it here?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Angelica."
"That isn't an answer."
"Come here."
I narrowed my eyes at him through the glass.
He stared back.
"Fine."