The Playboy's Crush By Deborah A. Olaleye

ELEVEN

"Morning, Lara." Andrea threw her arms around her briefly in an embrace at lunch. "Welcome back from your trip. How was Paris?"

"Interesting. It's a fascinating city," Lara said.

"I missed you a lot," Andrea was saying.

"Yet you didn't call." Lara cut into her words, making a face.

Andrea pouted. "I expected you to call and share the fun on the trip with me, but no, you didn't. You couldn't have expected me to call. What if I called while you were having a meeting?"

"Your excuse is flimsy, buddy. But I will let it pass," Lara told her, and she tsked, shaking her head in amusement at her as she walked along the queue to get her lunch served.

She walked to the spot where Andrea and she usually hang out during lunch and sat down, Andrea joining her a few seconds later, and they both started chatting.

"Liam," Andrea muttered as Liam walked by their table, hesitating for a moment about joining the two at their table and eventually deciding to sit on another instead.

Andrea waved him over. "You can sit with us," she told him. "If you want," she added quickly.

He looked at Lara; their gazes made contact briefly before he approached the table and sat with them.

"Are you avoiding me, Liam?" Lara asked him as he sat with them.

She hoped he was not yet stuck over her rejection of his proposal to be in a relationship with her. It couldn't be. But she hadn't seen much of him around since then.

"Why should he be avoiding you?" Andrea piped. "Did you two have a fallout?"

"I'm not avoiding you, Lara. It's not you."

"Oh!" Lara's lips parted briefly, understanding the message just as much as Andrea had.

The expression on her face turned sullen again, and she focused intently on her food, pretending to be enjoying her lunch.

But Lara could see through her facade. She knew something was up between the two of them.

"Is there anything I'm missing out on, Liam? I thought you and Andrea had settled your disagreement. Or are you having a relapse?"

"It's nothing, Lara. It's nothing of the sort. We don't have a disagreement."

"Then, it's definitely me you are avoiding. I haven't seen much of you around since I got back from the trip."

Liam looked at her with a smirk on the corners of his lips and tsked. "How could you have? You've only been in office four days now since you came back."

"And four days is inconsequential? I would have noticed your presence on the first day of my resuming office."

"I missed out on lunches purposely because I had a lot to cover. I was rarely in office during those periods. You should know I would have been the first to welcome you back to the office upon your arrival." He flashed a light smile at her. "How was your trip?"

"Successful." She looked at Andrea, aware she had exempted herself from the conversation.

The Andrea she knew never shirked from setting banter rolling in a conversation.

"Andrea. What's wrong?" 

Andrea shook her head and forced a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Nothing. I'm fine."

"You don't look as cheerful as you had been a minute ago," she observed. She placed a hand over a corner of her lips to shield it from Liam's view. "Is it Liam? Has he done something to offend you?" She whispered to her, leaning closer to her to talk as distinctly as possible to her without her words getting overheard by Liam.