Wrong for Me

11|your rules

NAOMI COLE—JUNE

"I DID IT!" I shouted as Dante and I sat in the conference room alone, Khalil having left after giving me the internship.

When we first walked into the conference room, my worries dissipated when I took notice of Khalil with a bright smile on his face. Immediately, he was very sweet and made the entire interview quite easy for me. He was about the same height as Dante, but with a more muscular build. He was quite attractive with a rich brown complexion, coily hair cropped low, and the perfect bone structure.

He and Dante let me know that they had already went through my resume and were impressed by it. They did however, express concern about me not knowing how to write proposals for a hedge fund if I didn't have background in this business. Being my prepared self, I pulled out the essay I had written about hedge funds for an economics class I had taken this year, which shocked Dante and impressed Khalil.

The next thing I knew, we were talking about a salary for me and when I could start, making me feel like I was on cloud nine. I told them that I could start as soon as possible, which meant I would have to quit at the restaurant because of how time consuming this internship would be. As much as I enjoyed working with the people there and Veronica, this internship was exactly what I needed to get the future that I wanted.

"You really did great," Dante told me, chuckling as I got up to do a happy dance with a grin on my face. "I'm not surprised you got it."

"Can we get lunch now? You know, to celebrate?"

"We can," he started, dragging out his words. "But we need to talk about something first. Can you sit?"

His somber tone made me a bit nervous and immediately pulled me down from the high I was feeling from getting this position. What if he wanted to end this relationship between us now that we were working together?

"When we're here...in the office, we can't let anyone know that we're—" he paused, not knowing what to say, but I nodded to let him know I understood. "It's too much of a risk and I don't want anyone to get the wrong impression. But I do still want to keep seeing you even though you're working here."

I let out a sigh of relief at his words, not bothered that we kind of had to hide what was going on between us. That made it hotter honestly. And when I was serious about something—like this internship—I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize it.

"That's no problem. I completely understand," I smiled as his expression became quite bright once again, his hand resting on my thigh. He was making it really hard for me to not want to jump on him and kiss him just as we had the night before.

"Let's go get that celebratory lunch."

***
"I'M STARTING TO THINK you're a bit weird," Dante spoke with an amused expression on his face as he pointed at the pile of french fries in front of me.

"You're just starting to think that?"

He paused for a second, tapping his chin as if he were crafting some profound response. "Well, no. But it's been taken to a new level now that your whole lunch is just fries. That's supposed to be a side dish, Naomi."

I narrowed my eyes at him, popping a fry in my mouth as I replied with, "When you find the person who wrote that rule, let me know so I can give them a piece of my mind."