Coming Back Home

Chapter 9

I quickly pulled my hand back and dropped it down to my side as the door opened.

"Holy shit," the person on the other side said as he jumped back, "what the hell are you two doing in here?!"

"Hi, sorry Owen," Natalie said, "I was showing Madison a few things in here and she didn't realize the door locked. We got stuck."

"Okay," he said as he took a deep breath, "well I'm glad I could help then I guess."

"Thanks," I said to him, "sorry for scaring you."

"No worries," he said as he held the door open and we walked out past him.

"Well that was a huge waste of time," Natalie said as we walked back down the hallway.

"Not a total waste though," I responded as I glanced over at her.

Natalie glanced back at me but didn't say anything. We'd see how much our conversation had changed things once we got back to work.

"What happened to you guys?" Ella asked me as we got back to our offices.

"Oh you know, I just locked us in the IT room, nothing too exciting," I said with a grin.

"Well shit," she responded.

"It was a blast," Natalie said from down the hallway.

I caught her look back and give me a small smile before she turned and went into her office. Maybe things were going to get better.

"Wow," Ella said to me quietly, "did you two have a bonding moment in there or what?"

"We were kind of forced to," I told her.

"True," she said with a shrug.

"Hopefully it lasts, but I at least feel a little bit better about things now," I said.

"Good, I hope it makes your life easier," Ella said.

"You and me both," I said as I walked back into my office.

I sat there for a minute and thought about our conversation. I had no idea what Natalie had meant when she told me that whatever had happened between us wasn't what I thought it was. I racked my brain, trying to make sense of it, but nothing was coming to me.

I was glad that her and I had at least somewhat sorted things out, but figuring out what I felt for her was much easier when she was acting like a bitch.

Aside from resentment, I wasn't expecting to have any other feelings come up at all, but clearly I was wrong.

***

At the end of the day, I packed up my things and walked towards the elevator. I heard footsteps and turned around to see that Natalie was only a few steps behind me.

We both got on to the elevator and I pushed the button for the main floor. We stood there for a minute, and it was definitely still awkward, but I felt much less tension in the air.

"Thanks for talking to me at least a little bit today," I said as I glanced over at her.

"Yeah...sure," she responded.

The elevator reached the main level and we both walked out.

"See you later," I said to her, not expecting to get anything in return.

"Good night Madison," she said.

She gave me a small wave as she walked off towards Eli's car.

Wow, I finally felt like there was some hope for us.

***

Once I got back to my apartment, I was too restless to do anything. I texted Trevor to see if he wanted to stop over. I felt like it was time to fill him in on a little more of what was going on.

And I really wanted someone who was here in person to talk to about it. Besides, it wasn't like it was some huge secret, it just wasn't something that I really liked to share.

A few minutes later, Trevor was knocking at my door.

"Hey, come in," I said to him with a smile.

"So what's up? You have some juicy Theo details to share with me or what?" He asked.

"Uh...not exactly," I said as I sat down on the couch, "can I not just invite you over to hang out?"

"Oh no you totally can," he said as he sat down next to me, "but I can tell you have something you want to say."

"Well aren't you just Mr. Observant?" I asked him with a grin.

"Sure am!" He responded.

"Well fine, I just had an interesting day at work and was going to fill you in," I said.

"With the bitchy coworker?" He asked.

"Damn, you really are good," I said.

Trevor put his hands out and shrugged, "what can I say? It's a gift."

"Well anyway," I continued, "said coworker and I actually went to school together and used to be best friends."

"Oh, well that definitely changes things," Trevor said.

"Yeah...we were best friends all the way up to high school and then we had a big falling out and haven't really spoken since then," I told him.

"Well shit," Trevor said as he raised his eyebrows, "did you not know you'd be working with her?"

"No I knew," I said, "I had a friend warn me that she worked there when I got the job, but I just had no idea that I'd have to deal with it right away and be working so closely with her."

Trevor nodded but he didn't say anything else, so I kept going.

"I've tried to talk to her a few times about things and she's just refused, she's been making it really difficult."

"Well it definitely sounds like the bitchy coworker statement is accurate from what you're saying," Trevor said.

"Yeah she's been living up to it honestly, I don't know what happened to her. It's so different than how she used to be," I said.

"But we did kind of make some headway today...at least I think we did," I continued.

"Okay...that's good I think?" He responded.

"We were kind of forced into it, I sort of locked us in the IT closet on accident," I grinned as I saw Trevor's eyes widen.

"You did what now?" He asked.

"It was an accident!" I quickly said, "she didn't tell me that the door locked and I let it shut."

"Are you sure you weren't just trying to force her to talk to you?" Trevor said with a smirk.

"Positive," I said without hesitation, "although it did get her to lighten up a little bit...and to hopefully stop treating me like shit at work."

"Definitely a plus," he responded.

"Yeah, we'll see if it lasts, but she's still being really weird about a lot...I know she's not telling me something," I said.

"Sounds like you're at least making progress though, hopefully she'll open up some more if you give it time," Trevor said to me.

"Hope so," I said, "I mean I don't expect us to be best friends again...but anything would be better than what it has been."

I debated on if I wanted to tell Trevor the main detail that I'd left out, but I figured I might as well while we were on the subject.

"The other thing that makes this a little more complicated..." I started hesitantly, "is that I um, I started to really like her in high school...I mean like her, like her."

Trevor raised his eyebrows at me in surprise before he responded.

"Okay well that was a twist that I didn't see coming."

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