Influx (Book Four)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Four

"So how was your date with Alexander?" Click asks me on the phone the next day.

"It wasn't a date," I say, and she snorts.

"You two certainly looked awfully cozy," she teases, and I grit my teeth and glance at the door to make sure no one is walking in.

"Click," I say seriously.

"You're different with him Hadley, you drop your walls and I can see the real you," she says, and that knocks the wind out of me.

"What?"

"I'm serious, you just seem to relax around him in a way I've never seen before. You seem to have more life to you," she says, and I groan and blush. Burying myself in the heavy scarf I wore to work I pray no one tries to walk into my lab.

"He asked me out, I think," I say, and she squeals and there is noise.

"I won the bet!" She screams and I try to shush her. There are a few groans on the other end of the line.

"Click will you shut up, he indicated he wanted to be romantically involved but not to what level," I grumble.

"That still counts," she says, and I resist the urge to throw my phone out the window.

"Anyway, why did you call?" I ask trying to derail the conversation at hand, especially knowing that there are other people around.

"I didn't get to see you this morning and I wanted to ask about your date," she says, and I put my hand on the generator and sit on the floor.

"Was it a date?" I ask into my headphones.

"Yes," Click says and I groan and stand back up. I nearly fall over in shock when I see Aviva in my doorway.

"Hey, I was wondering why you were on the floor," she says, and she puts her phone away.

"Click I will talk to you after work," I say before hanging up and taking my headphones out.

"What's up?" I ask her and she drops onto the opposite chair.

"I don't have any projects for you, the one that I do have, I am going to work on myself," she says with a sigh.

"Seriously? Do any other teams need me?" I ask curiously.

"I want you to keep working with Camila's team on the table and the other applications. Other than that, I've cleared it with Alexander for you to pretty much work on whatever you want as long as you follow protocol," she says, and I can tell how tired she is.

"Are you okay?" I ask her and she sighs.

"Cathleen and I have been talking a lot the last few days about everything and it's just been emotionally draining," she admits.

"Is everything okay?" I ask tentatively.

"She's telling me tonight what happened, even though I have pretty much pieced it together," she says, and I give her a small smile.

"The almighty genius finally put it all together," I tease, and she gives me a tired grin.

"I'm hardly that," she says amused.

"I would beg to differ, but if you don't think that by now, I certainly wouldn't be the one to change your mind," I say, and she rests her head on my table.