Just Following Orders

14 - Friend

ఌ𝙰𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚢𝚊𝚑ఌ

I walk into his office, sitting down on my usual chair with my legs over the armrest. "Miss me?" I ask as I tilt my head back to look at the ceiling.

"Not particularly." His answer is simple and the one I usually get.

I hum. "Well, I missed you." I tell him honestly.

Mr. Reyes scoffs in response. "Sure." He grumbles. He sounds like he doesn't believe me.

I smile at him, sitting up correctly. "You don't believe me?" I ask.

Mr. Reyes narrows his eyes. "It's hard to believe you when you practically ran out of the office with that boyfriend of yours." He huffs as he types something out on his computer, looking away from me.

I laugh. "My brother." I correct him. I'm not sure why everyone thought he was something more, but it's kind of gross.

His eyebrows furrow and he quickly looks at me. "Brother? What? You said you didn't talk to him." He points out. He turns his full attention to me which makes me feel special.

"We kinda sorta made up." I casually shrug. Typical Tuesday. "But he's clingy and tries to apologize in the worst ways possible." I roll my eyes at the thought of Noah's more than annoying gestures.

Mr. Reyes shakes his head. "Don't do something like that again." He harshly orders. "You can't just leave the office with a random guy who claims he's going to 'steal my employee'." He quickly adds. He's frustrated with me but surprisingly, not as angry as I thought he'd be.

I'm quick to nod, agreeing. In hindsight, it was unprofessional on so many levels. "Oh, no, no. I know." I awkwardly smile. "Won't happen again." I promise. It definitely won't happen again.

"No. It won't." Mr. Reyes agrees, looking at his screen again.

I glance to the side for a quick second before looking back at him. "So...I'm not fired?" I carefully ask.

Mr. Reyes looks back at me like I'm stupid. "What? No. Why would you be?" His nose scrunches as he scoffs.

I smile, relived. "I don't know." I lift my shoulders.

Mr. Reyes rolls his eyes at me. "You're barely even in trouble, Aaliyah." He carelessly tells me.

I perk up. "I'm not in trouble?"

"Get out." Mr. Reyes snaps. I smile and happily get up to leave the room, satisfied with the answers I got.

I'm not in trouble!

Mr. Reyes huffs right before I close the door so I pause. "God, you act like I torture you." Mr. Reyes scowls. I smile at him and softly shut the door behind me as I leave his office.

Quickly, I make my way back to my desk. It's been a little awkward between Maya and I, but there's a truce. "I'm not in trouble." I beam as I sit down. Maya just laughs.

"Surprisingly," Maya mutters to herself, shaking her head as she looks at her computer screen. I shake that off and look at my own computer.

Oo, mail.

Oh. Confirmation.

I don't get many emails that have nothing to do with Mr. Reyes, and when I do, it's Google telling me I'm the one-thousandth search.

Maya taps the top of my computer. I look up from the screen and at her, she nods her head to the elevator. I turn my head and look over at a group of guys giggling to themselves. "What?" I whisper, leaning forward a little more.