the beginning of us

Avoid

Chapter 4

Lucas' POV

I turned in my bed, my head was hurting so fucking much.

I looked up to see a pretty girl frantically running out of the room.

I realised that it wasn't just any girl. It was April.

What the hell happened? I also realised that I wasn't completely dressed so I got up to put on some clothes, only to have stepped on a necklace.

It had April's name on it. I remembered holding the necklace yesterday while kissing her. I must have been very hungover because all the details were scrambled in my head.

I stood up to look around my room and all the memories rushed in a little too fast.

"No, no, no!" I wasn't the type to have one night stands, especially not with a close friend like April.

I could only wonder how she was feeling right now and the difficult part was that we would see each other at work in about two hours.

I was so stupid, drinking with her at night. Avoiding her would be impossible, stupid and would eventually hurt her feelings.

I got ready for work and headed for the door.

As I was about to open it, I wondered if she would be stepping out and how uncomfortable it will be for us to bump into each other.

I waited for twenty minutes, then I saw her walking out of the building through my window wearing a white shirt and light blue skirt. Her dressing gave a feminine appeal without sacrificing formality.

Hmm.

When the 'coast' was clear, I finally left for work.

I passed her desk which was in front of my office and she wasn't there.

Well, that isn't a surprise.

"Good morning." I greeted a few employees that passed by.

I called Human Resources to ask if April came in and they said she did and was shown to her office but stepped out immediately.

I was reviewing the campaign proposal from marketing while looking up every now and then too check if April had come.

After forty minutes, she was finally sitting there.

Then, I got a text from her.

Good morning, sir.
I'm sorry that my personal errand took too long.
Thank you for understanding.

What was with the formality? It didn't sound like April.

So I replied,

That's alright.
Meet me in the cafe down the road after work.

I had to return the necklace and we needed to talk.

She avoided me like the plague all day.

I pressed the intercom.
"Call for a board meeting."

"Yes sir." she replied in a low tone.

She took meeting minutes but made sure not to make eye contact throughout. I couldn't wait for the work day to end so I could talk to her.

I bet that if she wasn't working here she would basically run out.

After work, I walked to the cafe and waited for her.
She sat down and she seemed different, as if I was a stranger.

I really had to fix this.

"April."

"Huh?"

I brought her name necklace out of my pocket and placed it on the table.

She looked very excited but also a bit sad when she saw it.

"Oh my gosh, I've been looking for it all day. I thought I lost it." she wore it immediately.

"Thanks, Lucas." she said.

Come to think of it, she always wore that necklace, even since high school, like it had some hidden meaning or something.

"It's no problem. I found it after you ran out this morning." I said, looking straight at her.

"Oh." she looked around the cafe.

"Look at me, April. We have to eventually talk about it. I'm sorry if you feel I took advantage of you in any way last night." I said, sincerely.

"No, we were both drunk, things happened. Things that we will never let happen again. I'm sorry for making you feel bad and avoiding you all day." she took my hands.

"So we're cool?" I asked.

She stood up and gestured to me to stand up too.

Then, she stretched her hands out to give me a hug.

"Of course we're cool, Lulu." she mumbled against my chest causing a smile on my face.

We pulled apart as I heard someone call my name.

"Lucas!"

I looked across the room to see Matthew so I signaled to him to come over.

"Matthew, this is my friend, April." I gestured to her.

"April, this is Matthew, my friend from college and the business lawyer." I said.

"Shit, you work for Lucetta too?" April asked.

"What's wrong?" Matthew asked her.

"I kind of didn't want anyone to know that I'm friends with Lucas." April stated.

"What?"

"It just seems like you only hired me because we're friends." she said.

"Alright then, Matthew will be the first and last person to know." I told her.

We sat with Matthew for about twenty minutes before April left.

The following day, I offered to drive April to work but she reminded me that she didn't want people to know we were close.

I was having a chat with a colleague, Aaron, when April walked in.

I introduced them to each other and couldn't help but notice the way Aaron acted towards her.

He was...flirting.

Here's the necklace:

Tysm for reading!

next chapter: Crush