Tell Me a Lie - L.S. English

~ Fourth Chapter ~

"Why are we here so early?"  I complained to Niall, Lewis, Brad, Mitch and Sarah who dragged me to the coffee shop which is across from mine and Niall's office.
I know that's a lot of people to complain to, but they're a lot of people who dragged me to a place I didn't have time for.

We always go there, it's close to all of us.
We all work on this street or the surrounding ones of "Rosemary's Cafe".
What do we have with restaurants whose owners named the place after themselves?

"Stop complaining, we want to hear how it was with Grimmy." Sarah replied and the boys agreed with her.

"It went amazing, we're getting married next week."

"We have no patience for your sarcasm this morning, Styles. How was it?" Niall sighed.

"It was lovely. I started the evening with a bad joke, we continued in awkward silence, I told him I'm not afraid of meat and that he can eat chicken and he was offended, he forced me to tell another joke and didn't even laugh and then he accused me of being in love with Mitch and ruined the little to no chance he had left." I summarized my evening with Grimmy.

"Oh.. are you okay?" Mitch asked and I nodded.

"In love with Mitch??! That's the funniest thing I've heard in quite some time." Niall said and chuckled.  They all nodded and giggled.

"In any case, the cute waiter who was there wrote his number on the receipt and we're going out for a drink at Leon's today." I said and shrugged.

"Nice!" Niall said and Sarah rolled her eyes.
"Can we join you?" Niall asked with a smile.

"What? No! Niall, it's a date. Don't come." I immediately refused his request.
"What do you care? It's a bar date."  he argued.
"Niall, no."
"Thank you, Sarah." I replied and smiled at her and she rolled her eyes again.

"You know we're coming anyway, right?" Lewis asked and I nodded, reconciling with my bitter fate. He and Niall laughed.

"Well, if you're done gossiping I have to get to work." I said and stood up.
"so fast?" asked a silky voice behind me.

"What do you want?" Niall asked crossing his arms over his chest.
"Just to know if he came up with a positive answer, Ireland." (A.N. Reference to the ff Young and Beautiful you must read it!!)

"Who is this?" Sarah asked Niall who ignored her.
"Nobody." I rolled my eyes and turned to him.

"Hi, Louis Tomlinson. I'm Harry's colleague. I'm his date for his sister's wedding." He introduced himself and Niall rolled his eyes.

"The answer is still no, Tomlinson." I replied crossing my arms over my chest.
"As someone with no options, you're certainly quick to give up your only one." He smirked.
"Bye, Louis." I said turning back to my friends.

"Whatever you say, Styles, see you soon." He smirked and walked away.

"Why are you dismissing this man?"  Lewis asked me as if I had hit my head.
"Because he hates me."
"But he's hot!" He answered and Sarah laughed.
"Good argument, Lewis." She said.

"If he hates you so much, why the hell is he begging you to take him to Gemma's wedding?" Sarah asked after a few seconds and I tried to think of an answer. Why really?
"I don't know."

"Anyways he looks amazing, and he offered you to take him. Why don't you take him?" Lewis asked.
Why don't I take him?
Right, the call. that's why.

"Because he hates me." I said in a tone that I hoped would make it clear to them that I didn't want to talk about it anymore.
"I'm going to work, thanks guys. Niall, are you coming?"
"I'm coming. Nicole! Check, please!"

Nicole handed Niall the bill for his coffee and blueberry scones which he quickly paid. "What about mine?" I asked her.
"One guy paid it, a few minutes ago." she said and raised both of her thin eyebrows.

"You know him?" I asked her but she "locked" her lips and threw away the imaginary key.  I rolled my eyes but smiled at her.
"Thank you, Nicole."
"You're welcome, Harry." She smiled back at me.
We left the cafe and went to the office.

Louis entered the conference room and stood at the entrance, raising his eyebrows at me and looking at the clock on the wall, as if he was surprised to see me on time. Every time it's the same thing.

I'm early for every meeting, Louis just holds against me the one time I was late.
I rolled my eyes and went back to texting Niall who was looking for a new associate because his had quit to become a writer.

"Good morning, Mates." Came Liam's voice as he entered the conference room that morning.
"Morning." I answered politely and Louis just looked at him and opened his binder and started going through a document.

Liam sat between Louis and me.
"Has Niall found a replacement for Jackson yet?" Liam asked me. "No, he's currently checking out Jeffrey Malone.. why?" I asked.

"Amelia replaced my associate for a while, she is excellent. I highly recommend her." He answered and I nodded. "I'll tell Niall, but I think you should tell her to try to impress him if she wants the job." I answered.

Liam opened his mouth to say something when Marina entered.
"Good Morning." She interrupted him and sat down between Louis and Jack Chambers' empty chair.

Jack came in right after she sat down and sat down next to her. "Ladies, Liam, good morning." He called and Louis rolled his eyes.

"That was really inappropriate, Chambers." Liam said, anger building in his voice. Jack grinned at him. "I'm sorry. Ladies, good morning." He said and we all ignored him.

"Well, this week it's my turn to lead the meeting and time it. So if you can, please say 'present' when I call your name." Marina said with an enthusiasm befitting someone who had recently been promoted to the position we all held - senior partners.

From the other side of the round table came a familiar grunt.  Looking at the blue eyed man I saw the impatient expression that accompanied the grunt.
"Of course, Marina," I said with a smile, although I agreed with Louis. "Please, read our names."

The blue eyes pierced me with a frozen look.
I looked back at him as Marina read the names and got approval from Liam, an unnecessarily cheerful "present!" from me, and grunts from Jack and grumpy.
Donna isn't here, concerning.

The meeting dragged along with exasperating slowness, and the seconds hand on the clock only seemed to move every minute instead of every second.

Donna arrived twenty minutes ago and apologized that her daughter was sick, from that moment she argued with Jack about one of her clients.
"But if I do that, people will be able to take over the company much more easily." Donna said passionately. "True, but it will give them.."
I went back to fiddling with the list I was trying to make in my head for Gemma's wedding.

So first thing, I need to pick a suit.
Second, I need to find a date.
Third, I need to check that Niall hasn't bought anything weird as a wedding present.
Fourth I have to-

"Harry?" Marina asked and I stopped staring at the air next to Louis' ear and focused my gaze on her.
"What?" I asked, confused.
"I asked if you had anything to add to that." she said and a blush crept up my neck.

"Sorry, I was thinking about the case I'm working on and I wasn't focused. Can you repeat what you said?" I lied and she nodded.

"On September 22nd there is a 60th anniversary party for the office, I gave a little more detail, if you want I'll send you the details. Anything to say?" Marina repeated her words for me.
"Not right now." I said and she nodded.

I left the meeting before Louis could annoy me about anything and ran to the men's room.
God, how embarrassing that was.

______________

(1357 words)

Enjoy!!❤️