Behind the Screen

Chapter 28

I drove home feeling happier and more content than I had in a long time. I still couldn't believe that this is what had come from an anonymous online dating app.

And the fact that it had been with my boss that I couldn't stand made it that much more unbelievable.

It was obviously still pretty early on, but I was pleasantly surprised nonetheless.

Once I got home, I texted Emily to see if she wanted to come over later so I could fill her in.

"Come over tonight?" I sent to her.

"I'll be there, what time?" She responded.

"Around 7:00 work?" I asked.

"Perfect, see you in a while," she said.

***

I showered and took a nap before it was time for Emily to come over, trying to recover from my eventful night with Chloe.

I heard a knock at my front door right around 7:00 as I was laying on the couch watching TV.

"Yeah, come in," I yelled out.

Emily came inside and set her things down before joining me on the couch.

"Hey, what have you been up to?" She asked as she sat down.

"Just relaxing most of the day," I shrugged, "but I knew you'd be bugging me to hear about my night so I figured I'd just invite you over."

I grinned at her as she tried to look innocent.

"I was going to let you tell me whenever you wanted to," she said.

"Uh huh," I said sarcastically.

"But I mean...I am curious," Emily admitted.

"I knew you would be," I responded.

"Well I can't help it, I'm happy for you!" She said.

"Thanks," I said quietly as I looked down at the couch.

"It was a really fun night though," I continued.

"Yeah?" Emily said, urging me to continue.

"Yeah," I nodded, "Chloe has a super nice house, and we ordered some really good food..."

"And is that all you did?" Emily asked me with a grin.

I knew she wouldn't push too hard if I really didn't want to tell her anything else. I wasn't huge into sharing the details of my sex life, but I was feeling so good about everything that I wanted to tell her.

"No..." I finally said hesitantly, "that is not all that we did."

Emily raised her eyebrows at me as she waited for me to continue.

"We slept too," I said, trying to keep a straight face.

"Oh whatever," Emily laughed.

"And we did some other activities..." I continued, "a few times."

"A few times, huh? That makes a lot more sense why you weren't answering your phone now," Emily said.

I brought my hands up to cover my face and tried to hide my red cheeks.

"Yeah I was uh, a little distracted," I said as I let my hands fall.

"Sounds like it," Emily grinned.

"Chloe did tell me that she wants to meet you sometime though," I told her.

"I do need to meet the person who's making you look like that," Emily said as she nodded towards me.

"Yeah we'll see," I responded, "maybe you can come with me to one of the work get togethers or something."

"I didn't think you ever went to those," Emily said.

"I usually don't," I shrugged, "but maybe they wouldn't be so bad now that I don't hate my boss."

"You have a point there," Emily agreed, "but just tell me when and I'll be there."

"I will," I nodded, "I'll have to decide which one I won't hate the most."

Emily grinned at me and shook her head, neither of us were huge fans of big get togethers, so I knew she understood.

"I think a group of people go out to a bar near the office every once in a while," I continued, "that probably wouldn't be too bad."

"Probably not," Emily said, "does anyone at work know about you and Chloe?"

"No," I shook my head, "I mean they've probably noticed that we've been friendlier towards each other and she doesn't act like she hates me quite as much."

"That's probably a pretty big giveaway," Emily grinned, "but you guys don't have any rules about dating or anything do you?"

"Not that I know of," I said, "and if there were I'd hope that my boss would've brought that up by now."

"Okay true," Emily said, "there's probably not then."

"Hope not," I grinned, "but we agreed a while ago that we weren't going to say anything until we kind of figured out where this was going."

"Probably smart," Emily said, "seems like you kind of know where it's going now though, don't you?"

"Well yeah - no, I'm not sure," I said hesitantly, "I mean things are going well but we haven't really had a conversation about anything like that yet."

"Maybe you should then," Emily said as she gave me a side eyed glance and smiled, "it's been what, like a month or two now?"

"Yeah, something like that," I said, "I don't know though, I don't want to ruin things or make anything awkward."

"I know," Emily said, "always that risk I guess...but you never know."

"I guess so," I sighed, "I'm fine with how things are going right now though, but maybe we'll have that talk sometime soon."

"Fair enough," Emily said, "just don't let her string you along or anything."

"Why would she do that?" I asked as I scowled at Emily.

"Sorry I didn't mean anything bad by that," she said, "it's just - you know she wasn't the nicest to you before."

"I know Em," I nodded, "and I'll be the first to admit that, but she's been completely different since all of this started."

"That's part of why I said that," Emily said, "why couldn't she have just been nicer before? Not wait until after you started sleeping together."

"Emily...seriously?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," she said, "you know I'm just trying to look out for you."

"I know you are, and I appreciate the concern..." I started, "but you don't have to say it that way, damn."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry, okay?" She said again.

"Yeah...okay," I said quietly.

"Don't be mad at me...please," Emily said as she tried to innocently grin at me.

"I'm not," I sighed, "I just um, I guess I wasn't expecting that, I didn't know you had that much doubt about this."

"No I don't," Emily shook her head, "I swear, you know I'm just overprotective. It's not like I've seen or heard anything to make me doubt the two of you."

I looked down at my hands in my lap and began to fidget. Why did she have to make me think about that?

"Katie, I can see you overthinking over there, please don't," Emily said, "I didn't mean to make you panic or anything."

"I'm not," I said, "it's okay."

I wasn't sure if I was telling her or myself that, but either way, I didn't sound very convincing.

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