The Beginning of New Things

I sat at my desk at work thinking. Should I really do this? Do I really like him? Josh looks my way and smiles, causing me to subconsciously smile back. Okay, maybe I do like him.

But what if he ends up being like my old boyfriend, Asher? He was abusive (verbally and physically), not even caring about my feelings, never even liking me in the first place, and just dating me because I was so-called "easy." But Josh is a good guy. I sigh to myself. That's what I thought about Asher too before we started dating.

The clock hits 5pm, and my silent alarm on my watch goes off, telling me that my shift is over and I can go home. I start packing up my stuff when a higher-up walks over to my desk.

"Hey, can you look this over for me?" He asks. "Diana is terrible at math, but I know you're amazing when it comes to it, so do you mind?"

"Yeah, it's fine," I say with a smile.

"Great, thanks. See you tomorrow, Amelia."

"Actually, it's-," I say, but he's already in the elevator.

That's just wonderful. If a higher-up calls me Amelia, chances are, everyone else is going to start calling me that because no one has the guts to correct him.

I look around and see that the whole floor has emptied. Except Josh; he's still typing something on his computer. I wonder what he'll do when he gets home. Will he cook dinner or order in? Or maybe he'll greet the live-in girlfriend that I don't know about.

Josh then slightly laughs to himself. I wonder what that's about. He looks up and seems surprised to see me. I laugh at him a little. After I realize what I've done, he starts walking over to me.

"What are you still doing here? Doesn't your shift end at 5?" He asks when he reaches my desk. He pulls up a chair from the cubicle in front of mine next to my desk to sit. Does he plan on staying and talking to me?

"Well Alex wants me to double-check this since Diana isn't the best at math," I say slightly blushing. Thank you, Diana. "But, yes. My shift does end at 5."

"Well then you might want to finish that up so you can go home." He starts to walk away, but I open my mouth.

"Well what about you? What are you still doing here when everyone's already gone home? If I recall, you were just laughing to yourself a few minutes ago."

"Well, uh, I just have a. . .report! It's due tomorrow as soon as I get to work, so I need to finish it up tonight."

"Well then why were you laughing to yourself?"

"Umm. . .you saw nothing!" He rushes over to his desk and sits down. Looks like he wasn't planning to stay and chat. I sigh and get back to work.

At around 6:30, I finally finish correcting all mistakes on the math on the sheet Alex gave to me. God, Diana sucks at math! I start to pack up my stuff when I see that Josh is packing up too. We share the same elevator going down and I turn on my phone to do nothing just so it's not too awkward; we work on the 19th floor.

"So, I'm guessing since you've been stuck here, you haven't had dinner," Josh says. I look over at him and nod. "Well, then, I was wondering if you want to join me for dinner."

"Oh. Where at?" I ask. Is he actually inviting me out to eat?

"Just a small place on the corner of 16th. Is that alright with you?"