She's The Wild West

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Thanksgiving felt lonely. I tried my absolute hardest to clear my mind, enjoy the holiday, cast all my worried thoughts aside, but it didn't work.

I didn't know that it was really possible but, food lost its taste and colors their saturation. I felt drained and sad and I hated it because I didn't feel like myself. I think Adam and Clara knew something was up, especially since they both knew I'd left work early the day before, but they only asked me if I was okay once before letting it go. I enjoyed their company, and it was much better than being truly alone, but I just couldn't seem to enjoy anything as much as I usually would.

Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, didn't prove to be any better. In fact it was infinitely worse. There were no classes and everyone was gone. Samantha was staying with her parents, Joey and Maria were out partying to celebrate the long weekend, and even Dougie was off doing whatever he was doing. I had nothing but time to myself. Seemingly infinite seconds and minutes and hours to agonize over Veea Mori.

She warned me.

That was the part that made me feel stupid. She specifically warned me not to fall in love with her and I did it anyway. In fact, even if she hadn't warned me, I knew what we were from the start. We were two people who worked together that were screwing around, and I was fine with that. I was fine with letting the most beautiful woman in the world do whatever she wanted with me, but she was so much more than that, and the realization pushed me over the edge.

Veea Mori was kindness in the meanest way I'd ever experienced it. She was funny in her own special way, usually without trying to be, and I liked that special way. She was the smartest person I'd ever met, like, I wouldn't be surprised if she was technically a genius. She was mischievous glances, and soft, quiet laughter I was sure most people had never even heard before. Confidence, sarcasm, generosity, someone who couldn't sit back and do nothing in the face of injustice. Someone who secretly liked to gossip and someone who described cookies as 'edible' even if she secretly loved them.

She was someone who made me realize I might be able to love love again.

I laid in bed all day, alone, lonely, replaying her words in my head. I over analyzed every interaction we'd ever had, searching for meaning even if she was the only one that could give it to me.

She warned me not to fall in love with her, but I had a bad habit of never looking where I was going, and it often made me fall.

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Saturday morning, 7:56am, I arrived at The Kitaru Organization building feeling like death on legs.

A driver named Robert took me to work that morning and I left his car knowing he was in the middle of a nasty divorce and that Scaring Scarily was his all time favorite horror movie. I didn't want to hear any of it, but he took my one worded responses as encouragement to keep speaking and I had to try to keep from letting it worsen my mood.

Clara Valentine was at her desk, sipping a hot tea while holding a phone to her ear. I did my best to smile as I walked by, and her eyes lit up like she was excited to see me. I knew she would put the call on hold to speak to me if I let her, something she and Adam had a really bad habit of doing, but I didn't feel up for conversation so I gave a small wave and continued to the elevator. Mr. Lee gave me a pleasant nod, and I gave him one back, opting out of my usual greeting.

I didn't even feel like saying the word 'hello'. I felt like I needed to try and get through my shift in perfect silence.

The elevator ride up made my stomach twist with nerves, heartbeat increasing with every floor I climbed. It was the second time I'd ever entered the building anything less than eager to see Ms. Mori. I wasn't sure how she was going to speak to me, but I knew for a fact that she wasn't going to apologize. It wasn't like she'd insulted me, and the way she spoke to me that day actually reminded me of how she used to speak to me when I first started working there. It reminded me of how she spoke to other people sometimes.