Subtle Endearment

13. Not a Date

Kira

"What's got you so quiet?" Daniel asks as I pick at my fries I'd bought from a food truck. We are on our lunch break at an open area surrounded by food trucks. We'd chosen to get burgers from one of them around the corner of FixedTech. I've barely taken two bites and I guess Daniel's noticed too.

"I'm just not feeling well, I haven't been able to sleep much since the business trip," I say, forcing a fry into my mouth.

"Yeah, I guess it can be rough. It's a good thing the weekend is almost here. Maybe you'll get a better chance to sleep," he says, offering a generous smile.

"You're right, I just need a little more rest and I should be good," I say, a little more energized by his kind words.

Even though it's already Thursday, I haven't been able to get much rest. Every time I close my eyes I can't help but think about Ian. We haven't talked about what happened and I hope we won't ever have to, I want to keep my job here. It seems like he's also resumed his schedule of only coming in once a week- that or he's avoiding me.

"Speaking of the weekend, I know I just told you it'd be a good opportunity to rest but if you're free, I was planning on taking my dog, Max, to the hairdresser," Daniel says, scrolling through his phone.

"Really? Can I see a picture of him?" I ask.

"Yeah, sure," he says, showing me a picture of the fluffy white miniature poodle.

"He gets scared easily and can't ride in a crate," he explains.

"That's too bad. He looks adorable, I can come with you," I say with my eyes still on the picture of the tiny dog.

"What time?" I ask. "two o'clock," he answers.

"Ok, I'll be ready by then," I confirm.

"Thanks, it'll go a lot faster driving there than walking the entire way," he says putting his phone into his coat pocket.

"Do you live near the pet groomer?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'm a forty minute walk from the groomers and about an hour from FixedTech in the same direction," Daniel explains.

"We should probably get going back to work," I say, spotting the time on my phone. We have about fifteen minutes till we need to be back and it's a ten minute walk.

"You've barely touched your food," Daniel says pointing to my food.

"I'll eat it later," I say, closing the to-go styled box it's in.

On the walk back all I can think about is Ian and how much I'd messed up. How bad do you have to mess up for even the CEO to avoid you. I know I'm the one who wrote the text but he doesn't seem like the type to listen to others to begin with. Why hadn't he responded?

Ten minutes later we enter the company through the sliding doors, my mind still on the events of the trip.

"Yes, just run these documents and have them on my desk by 5pm today," Ian says from the reception desk. His back is turned to us as we enter FixedTech. If I slide by now I might be able to go unnoticed.

Daniel gazes in confusion as I go out of my way to go the long way towards the more crowded area of the lobby in hopes of avoiding Ian.

"Kira, what the heck are you doing?" Daniel asks behind me not so discreetly.

"I'm-" I begin only to be cut off as I collide with the back of someone sending my food still in its to-go box sliding across the floor landing just feet away from where Ian stands.

The man I bumped into turns to me glaring as I stumble and fall to the ground. The man has blonde hair pulled back into a bun with a black turtle neck and long brown coat with gray pants and boots. His eyes glow cold and unforgiving as if he's trying to strike me down. If looks could kill.