Falling For My Boss

Chapter 18

~~~~Hailee’s POV~~~~
“Okay,” Y/n says, stepping to the side to let me into her hotel room.
“Okay.” I say, rubbing my hands on my thighs nervously. “So, I very much like what’s going on between us.” I pause, unsure what to say other than that.
“Me too.” She sits down on the bed, looking at me expectantly.
“Um, the past few weeks have been great. Amazing, honestly. I uh, I don’t know what I’m trying to say here,” I start rambling.
“What do you want? Like with me?” She cuts me off, giving me something specific to focus on. But, I still don’t know. I’m scared if we label this, if we say we’re dating, that gives us a goal, and expectations for each other, and it’ll put pressure on us, and I’m just not sure if I’m ready for our relationship to change so drastically.
“I don't know, y/n. I know I want you.”
“As your assistant? As your friend with benefits? As more?” She gives me options, trying to help me figure out what I want, how she would with any other problem I have. I bite my lip in thought. “Would it help you to know how I feel about everything?” She asks, and I feel a wave of relief. I nod. “Okay, well, I really like you. Like a lot,” She smiles. “And, I also really like my job. So, I don’t want my feelings for you to jeopardize that.”
“Of course not.” I sit next to her.
“Okay, but how do I know that if something happened personally between us that you won’t fire me? It isn’t exactly cut and dry here.”
“Maybe I can add something to your contract?” I suggest. “Like if we have a falling out I have to continue to pay you for x amount of time, like I can’t fire you on the spot.”
“Um, that actually would be nice.”
“Then let’s do that,” I put a hand on her thigh. “Can you say you have feelings for me again? Because I really liked hearing that.” She laughs, throwing her head back.
“You’re the WORST! And yet, I have major feelings for you anyway.” Her eyes soften and she shakes her head in disbelief.
“Just so we’re clear, I also have major feelings for you.” I cup her cheek with my other hand, and she smiles, tilting her head into my palm.
“Should we put a label to this yet?” She gestures between us. “I don’t want to ruin it, moving too fast.”
“I don’t either, but I also don’t see myself getting involved with anyone else in the foreseeable future.” The realization hits me as I say it. That kind of means I want to be her girlfriend, doesn’t it? If we’re exclusive, that would indicate that label.
“Okay, so what do we call this? Seeing each other? Dating?” She dances around saying it, but I know her well enough to know she’s thinking the same thing as me. I’m too scared to say it though.
“Let’s go with ‘seeing each other’. For now,” I smile at her nervously.
“Okay,” she agrees, and leans in to kiss me. “So, we have a little time this evening,”
“Yeah?”
“Wanna go on a date with me?” She looks into my eyes hopefully.
“Our first date? In Atlanta? Ooh, tell me more.” I kiss her cheek and jump up. “What do you want to do?”
“Um, well,” she’s visibly checking me out. She bites her lip and I smile.
“Don’t say it, y/n,” I warn her.
“Oh, you don't want me to tell you I want to do you?” She teases me.
“Come on, what are we going to do? Don’t say ‘each other’.”
“I just want to explore Atlanta with you,” she says, and grabs a hat. “Let me disguise you.” She puts the hat on my head and kisses me again.
“If you keep kissing me, we won’t leave this room.”
“Is that a promise?” Fuck, she’s such a flirt. We go to my room and she giggles while she’s picking me out a disguise. She finds the most oversized clothing I brought with me, puts my hair up into my hat, and grabs a huge pair of sunglasses.
“Is this incognito enough?” I ask as I model the outfit for her.
“To me, no but I’m sure it’ll be fine in the wild.” And with that, we’re out the door and off on an adventure.
~~~~Y/n’s POV~~~~
We’ve been walking around for a while, just enjoying the city, when I get a text from Flo. She wants to get a late dinner at the hotel. When I ask Hailee what she thinks, she squeals and starts pulling me in that direction. We’re about three blocks from the hotel, her dragging me along with her long strides, when she suddenly pulls me down an alley. She backs me against a brick wall, and I look up at her quizzically. “What are you doing?”
“That was a fun date,” she says, and tilts my chin up, running her thumb along my bottom lip. “I’d like to continue it after dinner.” I nod, and she grins. “Good.” She kisses me, pushing me against the wall, but she pulls away so fast, I’m reeling. She starts leading me back the way we came, and I don’t know what to do with myself.
“Um, Hailee? What just happened?” I ask softly as we enter the lobby.
“You’re staying in my room tonight.” She whispers, her voice low in my ear as we locate Flo. She’s sitting on a bench near the restaurant's host stand, and she pops up when she sees us.
“Okay, just making sure I didn’t imagine that,” I admit.
“Hey you two! Who’s hungry?” Flo hugs us both.
“I am,” I say, at the same time Hailee says-
“Starving.” She smiles at me, then follows Flo to the host stand where they get us a table in the back of the restaurant, secluded as possible. We sit down in the corner booth, me in the middle, and Hailee puts a hand on my thigh under the table. Flo looks at me, and I must have made a face or something, because she looks concerned.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Before I can answer her, Hailee squeezes my leg, and I press my lips together, trying not to react.
“Yeah, y/n. Are you okay?” Hailee is clearly enjoying teasing me.
“Yup. I’m great,” I assure Flo, and grab a menu off the table. “What’re y’all feelin’?”
“Y’all?” Hailee laughs. “Since when do you say ‘y’all’?” I feel my face flush, embarrassed. Whenever I have a long talk with my mom I always have a little twang come out if I’m not thinking about it. On our date, I was especially conscious of it, but here we are.
“I was talking to my mom earlier, just an old habit.” I try to brush it off. When I first moved to California, my coworkers teased me relentlessly about my ‘country accent’, and it made me self conscious. I wouldn’t even call it that; it’s barely there unless I’m talking to my mom or grandma, but still.
“I like it!” Flo exclaims. “Why don’t you always talk with that accent?”
“When I first moved out west people noticed it a lot, and I didn’t like that. My dad’s family is from New England, so I just lean into the in-between bits of how I talk.” I hide my hands in my lap, before I start nervously popping my knuckles, but find Hailee’s hand still there. She laces her fingers into mine, and I feel a little more grounded.
“Well, I think y/n’s voice is perfect any way she likes to present it,” Hailee says, and squeezes my hand.
“Oh no! Of course! I was just curious!” Flo apologetically explains. “I’m just interested by accents in general.”
“Me too! I like to try for the in-between because it has a little bit of both, I just skewed it more neutral when I moved. Growing up, my New England tendencies were more noticable, so it was skewed towards more country. Now it’s more emotion based. When I’m joking around, I go to more country, and when I’m angry I definitely skew toward New England. I think it’s super interesting.” I start to ramble, excited that they don’t think it’s weird.
“It’s super subtle, but that makes total sense when I think about it.” Flo is very interested. “Can you do other accents more easily because of that? Growing up learning how to talk from two very different accents?”
“I don’t know about more easily, but I think that might be why I like them so much,” I say, trying to imitate Florence. Then I go a little different, more Yorkshire. “My brother can do a few that I can’t.”
“Oh fun!” Flo leans into her Yelena voice “Do you think you could do Russian?” I laugh, and respond in my normal voice.
“I’ve tried, but it isn’t good. In college I took a dialects class, and I was mostly into regional English and American accents. French and German were the bane of my existence, I just hate the placement. It made me feel like I was swallowing my tongue.” Flo and Hailee both laugh at that.
When our server comes over to take our orders, I haven't even looked at the menu. Flo, being the foodie of the group, asks if I trust her, and when I say yes, she orders for me. Hailee keeps holding my hand, and we have a lovely dinner.