The Workplace

The Text

Two days had gone by without hearing a word from Emily. No one else in the office had heard much from her either. I sent her a text asking her what the deal was with ignoring and blocking Gray.

I sat on my couch and stared at my phone. This was ridiculous. If Emily didn't respond in five minutes, I would call her until she picked up.

As if Emily heard my threat, she finally responded to me. I almost dropped my phone with excitement. I was thrilled to finally hear from her. But then I read her long message.

Emily: Hi. I'm sorry for not talking. It's been chaos here. And I honestly didn't know what to say. I can't text Gray or Alex anymore. Dylan asked me to block them since they all got into that fight at The Black Cat. Dylan said there was no reason to stay friends with them. That they were guys who only wanted to have sex with me. I know that's not true. But I don't want Dylan to fight with me anymore. It's already too stressful with the baby and wedding and his parents. Please tell them I'm sorry.

I couldn't believe it. How could Dylan be that much of an asshole? Why would Emily let him treat her like that?

I re-read the message, trying to figure out what to say. There wasn't anything I could say that wouldn't make me sound like a bitch. I was so mad. This didn't sound like Emily. What happened to her?

After ten minutes of staring at my blank TV, I gave up and set my phone on the coffee table. I turned to the window and saw it had grown dark outside. The city lights calmed me down.

Curiosity got the better of me. I walked up to the window. I found Gray's window right away. He was sitting on the sofa reading his book like usual.

My brain started to talk back to me. Gray's going to catch you peeping.

"Shut up."

It seemed God was trying to make a point. Gray looked out his window.

"Fuck!" I ducked down. "Shit. Shit. Shit."

I crawled to one side of the window and slowly raised my head over the frame. Unfortunately, Gray was now standing at his window, smiling at me.

I groaned in embarrassment as I stood up again. Gray continued to smile and wave at me. He was wearing those damn grey sweatpants again and looked so good.

I gave a little wave back but frowned when I thought of Emily's message again. I saw Gray cock his head to the side. He seemed to be asking me what was wrong.

On a whim, I pointed to him and then to my apartment. I needed to break the news to him in person, and I may as well do it now.

Gray smiled as he understood my gesture. I watched him put his shoes on and head out the door.

No more than five minutes later, there was a knock at my door.

"Hey." I shyly said as I opened the door for him.

"So, is peeping into windows a hobby of yours?" Gray smiled as he walked inside.

"Heh, no." I blushed. "I just happened to be looking at the lights and recognized you in the window."

"Hmm. I don't know. I've felt like someone had been watching me for awhile now."

I froze. Did Gray know?

He started laughing. "I'm kidding. I didn't realize our windows were across each other."

I nervously laughed.

"So why did you ask me here?" Gray looked around my living room.

I sat on my couch and patted my hand on the cushion next to me. "Come sit. I need to tell you something."

Gray seemed to sense this was something serious. He sat down next to me and looked at me with concern.

"Is something wrong?" He asked me.

"Not really. I wanted to tell you that I heard from Emily." I frowned.

Gray's eyes flickered. "You don't seem too happy about that. Did something happen?"

I sighed. "I asked Emily about blocking you two days ago, and she finally responded a little bit ago."

"What did she say?" Gray seemed nervous.

"Well, she said Dylan didn't want her talking to you or Alex anymore. I guess he's mad about that fight at the bar." I paused. I didn't mention the other reason.

"There's something else, isn't there?" Gray read me like a book.

"It's dumb. Emily knows it's not true. She didn't want to argue with Dylan anymore."

"What is it?" Gray's eyes got dark.

I held my breath. "Dylan told her you and Alex only wanted to have sex with Emily."

Gray's eyes softened a little. "Oh, I see. I guess I'm glad she doesn't hate me."

"So you really didn't have any feelings for Emily?" I couldn't stop the question from falling out of my mouth.

Gray chuckled. "Nothing like that. She was like a little sister. I'm just sad that she doesn't seem to think of me as a brother anymore."

"I'm sorry." I didn't know what else to say.

"It's alright. I'm glad you told me." Gray smiled again. It was nice to see.

We continued to talk about funny moments we each had with Emily and found some mutual interests to talk about. It had gotten late by the time Gray left. It had been a long time since I had that long of a conversation with someone. It made me happy.

The next day I found Alex right away at work. I pulled him into the breakroom to talk to him about Emily.

"What?" Alex was angry.

"I know, it's dumb." I told him what Dylan said about him and Gray.

"I would never think of Emily like that. There is so much more to her than her body! She's funny, sweet, and knows what to say to make me feel better. I just wanted to tell her to stay here!"

Tears started to form in Alex's eyes as he sat in a chair. He put his hands on his face.

"Do you have feelings for Emily?" I never thought of Alex being the one to have feelings for her. Part of me suspected Gray did.

"Yes. I just wanted to tell Emily, but that asshole shoved me. God, I miss her." Alex groaned.

"I'm sorry." I put my hand on Alex's arm. "I miss her too."

"Thanks for letting me know. It was driving me crazy not hearing from Emily." Alex sniffled and stood up. "We should go back."

"Alright, but do you want to talk more later? I'll take you out for dinner." I smiled at him.

He smiled back at me. "That would be nice."

We walked back to our desks. It looked like everyone else had shown up and begun working. Well, except for Autumn. She was standing over Gray's desk. It looked like she was demanding he helps her with something again.