Upon Meeting You

17

TW: Mentions of child abuse

"Here Wilhelm..." I grab his hand as he stands beside me in the elevator and pull the cap off of the pen in my hand with my teeth. I begin jotting down my phone number onto his hand. "No more work email." I grin closing the pen. The door slides open allowing me to make my exit. "Let me know where we're going. See you later." I wave walking away as he takes his time to leave the elevator.

"Will do." I hear his voice fade. I make my way to my car, settling myself into my seat and begin backing out quickly. I hit the brakes immediately barely missing Ben. He is attempting to get my attention from the rearview mirror. Once I stop he makes his way around and knocks on my window twice. I unbuckle my seatbelt and step out of the car.

"What the fuck, Anderson! I could have hit you! What the hell are you doing?" I scold him.

"Is that anyway to speak to your superior?" He raises a brow smirking.

"Oh you want to go there? Now?" I cross my arms.

"Hey hey! It was only a joke." He raises his hands in defense. "Although I wouldn't be mad at you if you did hit me. You can't control it." He speaks seriously.

"Control what? What's that supposed to mean."

"Well you know— because you're a woman and all that." I look to him in confusion. "And you know... women aren't very good drivers." he shrugs as if it were obvious. I let out a laugh.

"You're joking right?"

"No?"

"Anderson— I need to go." I roll my eyes turning my back. His hand grips my shoulder attempting to keep me from leaving.

"Wait, I wanted to ask you something." I take his hand peeling it off of me.

"Ask away."

"I just wanted to see if I could take you up on that rain check."

"I don't think that's a good idea." I say turning away. He pulls at my shoulder again.

"Why not?"

"Okay first of all— you need to stop putting your hands on me. Second of all— I didn't appreciate the sexism."

"Sexism? When was I being sexist?"

"When you said all women were bad drivers!" I exclaimed at his ridiculousness.

"It's not sexist if it's true though."

"Anders— You know what? I'm not even going to argue with you right now." I sigh exasperated.

"So you'll go out with me?"

"Not a chance." I turn my back on him again. Suddenly I feel his grip on my shoulder. He spins me around once again, but this time harder causing me to stumble over my feet and lightly collide my back with my car. "What the fuck, Anderson. I said keep your hands off of me." I exclaim grabbing my key chain.

"Whoops." He laughs tilting his head tot he side. "Come on, Lenora. Just one date. I promise it'll be worth it. Tonight."

"I'm busy tonight." I say looking away, stepping up to try to leave.

"Don't turn your back on me again."

"Or what?" I roll my eyes gripping to the small bottle on my keychain as I turn away. He grabs my wrist but I don't fight it.

I spin around, bringing the hand with the bottle up to his eyes and begin spraying the pepper spray. He lets me go dropping down to the ground as he clasps his hands over his eyes yelling out.