The Risk of Falling

Chapter Ten: It's Complicated

After last night's dinner with Luke, I was looking forward to seeing him waiting for me again by the sidewalk but he wasn't there this morning. 

While I was in the bus, I got a text message from him. He held my phone out of my reach last night so he could ring his own number to get my contact info to register on his phone, grumbling that it was only fair since he gave me every possible way I could get a hold of him. 

[Luke: Good morning. Sorry I missed coffee. Have breakfast meeting. Gonna be a long one. We'll see if I make it back by lunch.] 

I was surprised but mildly pleased that he spent two minutes of his busy morning writing me up something so simple as a text message. 

[Me: It's fine. We can get coffee another time. Do eat something though.] 

[Luke: If I don't, you'll just have to force a meal on me while you sit there and make sure I eat every last bit of it. I'll take my time.]

 [Me: LOL. Has anyone ever said you're too transparent?]

 [Luke: Not really. People think I usually give nothing away.]

 [Me: Really? Weird. Just saying I can see thru your tactics.]

 [Luke: Yup. I like that about you. Gotta go. Later, baby. =P]

I shook my head as I chuckled softly to myself, slipping my cell phone back into my purse. 

The first time Luke called me baby last night, it was in a joking manner that I didn't even really think about it. Since then, he's thrown it around freely but never attempted anything with me beyond the occasional hug and kiss on my head. If I were a different girl, I might put more stock into these things but knowing Luke the way I do in the short three days I've known him, I knew he was just being affectionate which seemed to be the way he was naturally. It didn’t mean anything serious. I personally didn’t like a cavalier attitude about something intimate like that but with Luke, I somehow understood that it was just part of who he was. No big deal. If he just wanted to get into my pants, he would've done more than just eat lunch with a girl at the work cafeteria or go grocery-shopping with her. Those were not the actions of a man after a lay. As inexperienced as I was, I knew that at least.

The morning at work was busy with the presentation and a couple of meetings that time flew by. Jillian was already at our usual table in the cafeteria, wolfing down a tuna sandwich and listening to her MP3 when I came over.

She looked up when she saw me and took off her headphones. 

"It's about time," she said. "I was starting to worry that other random people are going to come up to me and ask about you again."

I set down the microwave-warmed lunch container that had last night's stir-fry leftovers on the table and frowned at Jillian. "What are you talking about?"

She arched a brow at me as if I shouldn't have asked that question. "Oh, I don't know. Just all the nosy people in this company who are asking if you and Mr. H are dating because you've been spotted coming in to work together, sitting down for lunch at the work cafeteria, his driver dropping off stuff at your desk—you know people are going to talk, don't you, Max?"

I sighed, grateful at least that no one seems to know everything else. "I know. There's really nothing to it, like I told you. We just became friends. We ran into each other Monday morning and he was the reason I got soaked in the rain—don't ask how—and we just kind of carried on from there. That's it."

"I actually believe you but I have to say that people only see what they want to see and interpret it however they like," Jillian said. "I didn't give them anything except that Mr. H is just really cool and nice to ordinary folks like us and just left them to grind their teeth in frustration."