"Nia." Her name softly fell from his lips and she soaked in his sweet breath like a pancake to syrup. Her eyes were low and she was watching his chest rise and fall. She couldn't look at him just yet. She was frozen in place.
With just this brazen...
It was the next afternoon when Nia realized that she had forgotten to do her weekly hook up recon last night.
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Rain pattered against the windowed wall in Nia's office on the cool June Tuesday as she worked on a project board planning the theme for one of the brand's Fall launch events. She had wanted to wrap it up before she took lunch and had taken off her flannel sweater jacket, working steadfast in a crisp white tank, jeans and chic combat boots; a more stylish, work appropriate version of her chunky black glasses sliding down her nose as she poured over papers and pictures.
She was in an arts and crafts-y frenzy; her desk was covered in magazine clippings of venue images, cut colour swatches and aesthetic photos, while scrap paper pooled at her feet on the floor and her hands were sticky with glue. Nia relished in every bit of the creative process. She was able to truly feel out and curate the vibes, plus, she loved the nostalgia of working on something tangible compared to a digital presentation. It left her feeling like she was on the verge of a passionate breakthrough. Like Jenna Rink in 13 Going on 30.
Or like it was the only thing to keep her mind off of Malcolm for the last 24 hours. Because it was.
She took a step back to examine the collage based with rich browns, cream and of course a pop of mint, and to check her phone.
"Fuck." She exhaled when she saw that she had devoted more time to her pet project than she had allotted. It was well past 1:30 pm, and though she'd missed the lunch rush she might miss lunch altogether with a booked 2 pm meeting slot creeping closer to the present.
She decided to grab a bagel and tea quickly from the café on the first floor of the building. When her phone shook with a vibration signaling her payment had gone through, she realized that she hadn't felt the sensation in a while; and that's when it clicked. Her phone was dry as bone. 0 new messages all morning.
Though she typically didn't answer them during work, her suitor's messages from Monday night usually trickled in through the next day.
"Shit." Nia sighed at the realization as she made her way back up to her office. This is exactly why schedules were important to her. She made one rash move to meet friends and a Monday night and her whole life was thrown off course.
On top of that, she had been in a mood since yesterday. But maybe the two things were related. She sat in her office with 10 minutes to spare as she munched on her quick lunch and mulled over her feelings, turning her phone over in her free hand.
Maybe her mood caused her schedule to fall off, or her schedule falling off caused her mood to be out of wack.
She didn't want to throw her week off any further, but then she also didn't necessarily want to put it back on its preplanned track. Maybe she was so boy-ed out that she needed a break. There was too much going on to throw a hit-it-and-quit-it date into the mix right now. Maybe the emotional rollercoaster of the weekend was too much for her typically logical heart to take.
