The Delivery Girl

24. Can't do this

I finish arranging the bouquets of flowers on the stands. The interns are doing a workshop on photographing still life today, taught by one of the senior photographers, Erica.

I take a step backwards to take a look. "How's this?" I ask Erica.

"Lovely! Thanks a lot, Julie," she says. "Feel free to stick around and watch if you're not busy."

"Sure, thanks!"

My plate is pretty empty. I've already finished everything Hayley asked me to work on today, and Callen wasn't in the office this morning to give me anything new. Plus, Hayley showed me how to forward calls from my desk phone to my cell.

I take a seat by the corner of the dim studio. All of the lights are off, besides the lightbox pointing towards the flowers, creating a warm and soft glow in the room. It's not long before the last few interns trail in and take their seats in front of Erica.

"Good morning everyone," she says. "Today's workshop will be on photographing still life."

At the opposite corner of the room, the door quietly opens. I feel my heart skip a beat as I see Callen walking in. The room is dark and I can barely see him, but I easily recognize his silhouette. He doesn't seem to notice me – I can't decide whether that feels like a good or bad thing. He takes his usual, confident strides to where the interns are sitting.

"Ah, good morning, Mr. Sterling," Erica greets him.

"Good morning, Erica," he says. "Apologies for interrupting. My last meeting ran long."

"Not to worry," she says. "I didn't realize you were coming today."

"Oh, sort of a last minute decision," he says. I notice his eyes briefly skim across the interns. "The flowers are nice. Today's workshop is on still life?"

She nods. "Very nice! I was going to buy fake ones, but Julie was kind enough to bring real ones." She suddenly turns towards the corner of the room where I'm sitting. "Julie, you mentioned your friend actually owns that florist shop?"

Callen stiffens a bit when he spots me, and I feel myself do the same. I hate how awkward things feel around each other now.

"Y-yes her family does," I stumble.

"Lovely," she says. "Mr. Sterling, there's an extra chair by Julie if you'd like to take a seat."

She continues the lesson, and Callen comes over to sit next to me.

"Hi," he says softly, looking straight ahead.

"Hi," I whisper back. "Morning going ok?"

"Fine, thanks," he says monotonously. "Did you book the venue for the interns' dinner?"

"Made the reservation this morning."

"Ok."

I fidget with my fingers, trying to ignore the sick feeling in my stomach. It felt like he was finally starting to feel more comfortable around me, and the same went for myself. How did things turn out like this?

I mumble something about having work to do. He wordlessly nods as I quietly slip off my chair and leave.

Callen doesn't end up coming back to our office before my shift finishes.

–

Casey's jaw is dropped open in shock by the time I finally finish telling her about the other night's fiasco.

"Jesus," she mutters.

"What do I do?" I groan, burying my face in my hands. "I like my job, I don't want to quit." I've learned so many technical photography skills from the team, and improved my soft skills by interacting with them too. They're all so nice and supportive.