The Boss & The Assistant - Rewritten Edition of "The Boss"

Chapter 27 - Emerson

I went home for Thanksgiving. Lafayette went with Michael and Emilio to Emilio's family's home for Thanksgiving. A part of me wished he had come home with me. We had even joked about it, but neither of us committed to it. It would have been weird to bring my boss home to my family's place, but it also would've felt right. That being said, I also would've loved to have seen him host his family in his own place. I knew it wasn't my place to suggest that, and that it wouldn't have worked, but family was one of the only things I had. I didn't have a best friend. I didn't have fame and fortune. I didn't have true love. I had my family, though.

I knew Lafayette had his friends, but it seemed like there were pain points among his family. Did he talk about it in therapy? I would've loved to have seen him reconcile with them. I knew it wouldn't be easy for him to do. As far as I could tell, there hadn't been a big fight in his family. They just grew distant. Was it because of the passing of his sister? I'm sure there was something he had never told me before, about why he was distant from them. If it was something too painful, then I understood why he wouldn't want to reconnect. Not everyone had to be close with their family. Some families were bad families. Nonetheless, the only reason why I really wanted to see him reconnect with his family, was because I think deep down he missed them. I could be wrong, though.

Everyone was at Grandma and Grandpa's place for Thanksgiving. Alicia and I were sitting in the sun room to the side of where everyone else was, scrolling on our phones. "Should I hook up with Robby Peters?" she asked. Robby was a boy from our high school. He was kind of a jerk in high school, but the only reason he was nice to me was because he had a crush on Alicia.

"What's he look like now?" I asked, looking at her phone. She showed me his Instagram where he was messaging her. "I guess he's still cute. Sure, go for it."

"Hopefully he kisses better than he did in high school," she said, messaging him. "Are you seeing anyone?"

"No," I said. "I haven't even hooked up with anyone in awhile." The last guy I hooked up with was the one who was a little rough with me, enough to leave a bruise on my face.

Alicia rolled her eyes at me. "You need to get over him," she said.

"Get over who?" But I knew she knew.

"Your boss," she said. "And don't deny it. I know you have a thing for him. You need to quit wasting your time with this unrequited love."

"Well what if it's not unrequited?" I asked.

"Has he confessed his feelings or something?" she asked.

"No, but sometimes just the way he looks at me or the stuff he says," I said.

"Like what?"

"I don't know. I mean, he said it's easy to miss me and like, he said I was beautiful one time. I don't know," I said, shrugging. Was it all in my head?

"He's your boss, Em. Your boss. If he's doing that then honestly it's kind of shitty, like he's leading you on or something," she said. "Even if you got together, what then? You hook up once and act like it didn't happen? You start dating? You wouldn't be able to date. You'd have to quit your job and you've worked so hard to get to where you are. Do you want to jeopardize that over a crush?"

"No, I guess not," I said. I didn't want to tell her that it was more than a crush.

Alicia frowned sympathetically. "I'm sorry, that was probably harsher than I meant it to be," she said. "I just don't want to see you get hurt by another guy. You deserve someone who loves you for you and not what you do for them."

Alicia had seen me at my worst, so she did know what she was talking about. After Owen and I broke up, she saw how much I wanted everyone to think I wasn't hurt. I started hooking up a lot. And not in the "live while you're young way" but in the "I am crying for help" way. When Jeremy and I started dating, she knew it was a dumb choice and that the relationship would not last, which she was right, of course. She knew I would get dumped and cry about it, which I did. She had seen my heart truly break after Kenneth passed, which was my absolute lowest point, so I knew she didn't want to see me in any of those situations again.