A new box to fit in.

Chapter 12

Work was so crazy on Monday that I was beat by the end of the day and crashed as soon as I got home.

When I finally showed up tuesday after another long day at work I headed into the locker room to change and put away my bag before seeking out Joe. I didn't see him anywhere so I headed towards his office. I could see him through the office window as I walked up. The door was open when I stopped in front of it.

I knocked softly as he was on the phone. He looked up from his desk to see me standing there. His face lit up with a breathtaking smile as as he as he waved as he waved me in. He quickly finished his phone call. "Hi" He said standing up and walking around his desk closing the distance between us. "Hi" I said a smile slowly creeping across my lips. "Im glad came by today." Joe said as he pulled me into a hug.

"Oh really. You could have fooled me." I said with a laugh when he finally pulled back from the hug. He had a goofy smile on his face when he looked at me. "Oh yes. If you hadn't come by today I would have been forced to stop by your place after work." He said as he brushed a stray piece of hair out of my face. "Really, were you. And if I wasn't home. What would you have done then?" I asked amused.

"Probably camped out in your doorway until you did get home." He did with a serious look on his face as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me in close.

"Really. What would you have done once I did come home?"

"I'll show you." He said with a devilish grin before he kissed me. I didn't hesitate as I kissed him back. I wrapped my arms around his neck running my fingers through the hair at the back of his head.

When he went to pull back I tightened my grip on his hair not letting him move away. I could feel his smile as we kissed.

Someone cleared their throat in the doorway. And we reluctantly separated. Joe didn't let me go far as he kept his arms around my waist as he looked over my shoulder to the person. "What's up Susan?"

"Malcolm's here and wants to talk to you." She said looking at me. "He's always interrupting." Joe mumbled. "That's okay. I should really start my work out." I said before I kissed him on the cheek and stepped back. "I'll come join you in a bit." He said before letting me go.

As I walked out Malcolm was right there leaning against Susan's desk. "What were you doing in there? You shouldn't be in there." He said getting a little angry. "It's none of your business." I said walking past him. He almost followed me but Susan called him back.

He was really starting to get on my nerves. Thinking that he could tell me what I can and cannot do. He irked me.

I was on the treadmill when Joe was finally able to join me. "Hey Mer." He said getting on the one next to me. "Hey!" I said pulling out my earbuds. He didn't look too happy as he started his treadmill and matches my speed.

We ran in silence for a few minutes. I turned the speed down to a fast walk when I'd hit my limit. "Any chance you'd be up for a movie tonight?" Joe asked as I hopped off and walked over to grab a mat to stretch. "Sure." I said as I laid the mat down near the treadmills.

After I'd finished my workout and showered I waited for Joe on the couch in his office. My mom called while I was waiting for him. "Hey sweetie how's it going? I haven't heard from you in a while." She said in her worried mom voice. "I'm fine mom. Just getting settled in and making new friends." I said as Joe walked in.

I smiled at him as he sat down beside me. "Oh really! You've made friends. I'm so happy for you. You weren't really the best at making friends growing up. Especially after you know who left." My mom had never gotten over Malcolm leaving and I wasn't about to tell her that we'd finally talked five years of radio silence. With Joe sitting so close he could hear my mom through the phone.

"Yeah I know. Look I'm about to head out to the movies can I call you tomorrow on my lunch break?" I asked standing up from the couch. "Yeah sure sweetie. Have fun!" SHe said before we hung up. "Ready?" I asked as I grabbed my bag. "Lets go." He said grabbing my hand and leading us towards his car.

"There isn't anything good playing. Wanna just watch something shitty and trash it?" He asked as we looked at the movie listings. "Sure, that sounds good." Joe paid for our tickets before we got popcorn and found our seats. There weren't very many people in the theatre with us as we sat at the back of the theatre.

Joe wrapped his arm around my shoulder as we got comfortable in our seats. We were right we'd chosen a really crappy movie, it was perfect for what we wanted. We sat there laughing and making fun of the movie, a few people shushed us but we just ignored them. When Joe dropped me off two hours later we made plans to have dinner Friday night.

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"It's almost Halloween!" I said in way of greeting to Angela at work the next day. "I take it that you're a fan." She said with a smile as we walked into the locker room. "Oh yeah. It's my favorite, we need to go costume shopping! Oh we can do it this weekend after our mini spa day!" I said as I put my bag away. "Oh right! Do you know what you want to be?" I had a few ideas but wasn't totally sure which way I was going to go with. "I have a couple in mind. What about you, any idea?" I asked as we headed towards the main offices.

"Well Kevin and I are doing a couples costume. I'm going as Wonder woman and he's going as Superman or Clark Kent, something along those lines." The words rushed out of her mouth as she got excited talking about her boyfriend. "Oh that's so cute I'm so excited to go shopping this weekend!" I exclaimed as we headed to work. "I'll pick you up at 10 am on Saturday." Angie called after me.

"Hey mom! How's it going?" Thankfully I'd set a reminder on my phone for me to call her back, or I probably would have forgotten. "Sweetie! I'm so glad that you called. We haven't talked in ages. Your sister said that your apartment was pretty cool, but she didn't say much else." My mom rambled on barely remembering to take a breath in between sentences.

"How's work? Do you like your job? I saw on Facebook that you were in a boxing tournament the other weekend, with Malcolm." She gritted his name out between her teeth.

My mother was always good holding grudges, and she had a pretty big one against Malcolm. After all she was the one who saw first hand how devastated I was when he'd left. "Ummm, yeah works great. I'm loving it and my apartment is pretty awesome too. It's in a great location. Only a few blocks away from this great gym that I've joined. It's how I ended up at the event." I said skimming over the details.

The past few weeks that I'd been here, my sister and I have been e-mailing eachother. I haven't left out a single detail, where'd with my mother less is sometimes more.

"I hope that you haven't had to talk to him too much, and at the very least he's apologized to you. I mean after the way that he left it's the least that he owes you." She said outraged. "I know mom. I've pretty much just ignored him every other time i've seen him." I mumbled not acknowledging the fact that he has yet to apologize, at the very least acknowledged the way he'd left.

All too soon my lunch break ended and I had to say good bye. "Call me soon!" She exclaimed before hanging up.