Personal assistant

Encounter

City lights during work nights were fascinating to me, the way that all the midnight blues and purples glittered through that large window in Sofia's office. I couldn't concentrate on anything else really, though I didn't have much left to do. Miss Bardot had already turned in for the night, she had an early rise tomorrow for a meeting with important clientele. These last few emails that needed to be sent out were simple enough, but my eyes were drawn to the outside, like a moth to a flame. I sighed and rubbed them, forcing myself to complete my work without distractions. After finally buckling down, I packed my bag and got ready to leave the office. Picking up my keys, I was perplexed to hear a swift knock on the door. I called for whoever it was to come in, thinking it was just Rupert, but was astonished to find Evan on the other side of it.

"Oh... hi."

My voice was curious, she returned the greeting with a small wave and a crooked smile, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly as she closed the door behind her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to spring on you like this, but it's been a while, I was wondering if you wanted to catch up?"

My puzzled expression must have spoken aloud what I was thinking, this was so strange.

"How did you get up here?"

Now Evan looked confused, walking a little closer.

"This is private? Allison gave me the code and told me I should come straight up."

"Allison?"

"Yeah, she said she works here?"

I put my keys back on the desk and shook my head in disbelief. The absolute nerve of that girl was endless. Del must have told her the code back when they were on-again, off-again. Seriously, sharing the code with Evan? I knew Allison was crazy, but this was ridiculous, I was yet to understand how they even knew each other in the first place.

"You're kidding."

Evan shook her head, appearing slightly wary. It wasn't her fault, but she was standing awkwardly as if she still didn't know what she had done wrong.

"I met her at the bar the other night, she told me that you and her were good friends. She was the one that said to come see you." I snorted with laughter at Evan's revelation before apologising, poor Evan getting strung along like this, but if I missed her I would have called. Unfortunately for her, my heart belonged elsewhere. 

"Allison is insane, it would do you well to stay away from her. I've met her once or twice maybe? We are certainly not friends, and she's never worked here."

Evan's eyes were like saucers, and I could sense her embarrassment all the way from where I was stood.

"I- I'm so sorry, I genuinely had no idea. She told me that you wanted to call me but lost my number."

We laughed together, finally understanding the reasoning behind this strange interaction. Evan looked well, her usually dark hair had lightened a few tones since I'd last seen her. Oddly, it was refreshing to see her after all this time. We had a week's long fling, back after I discovered Kiera's existence. Since I'd left Evan's house on the final day of that week, I hadn't answered any of her texts, which looking back wasn't kind of me. I was just absorbed by Sofia, she was all I could think about, and I'd forgotten about Evan in the process.

"I'm sorry for cutting you off the way I did, that's not usually how I handle things."

She brushed off my apology humbly, and smiled.

"It's all good, you didn't owe me anything, it's not like we were dating."

"Maybe, but I was still insensitive and shouldn't have done it."

She pondered for a moment, and then gestured to the door.

"How about one drink, to make up for it?"

I shook my head, insisting that I shouldn't.

"Oh, are you in a relationship?"

I went to nod, and then stopped. It never hit me until now, that we actually weren't. We just behaved as if we were, but I'd never been referred to her as a girlfriend, only her personal assistant.

"No, but-"

"I mean a drink as friends, truly. I want to hear more about Allison especially, she sounds interesting to say the least."

I racked my brains. Sofia wouldn't like it, but a different feeling was starting to nag at me. The realisation that after all we'd been through together, all the kisses, the late nights. The way she held me, and cared for me, all the I love you's. She'd never asked me to be her girlfriend. The petty part of me wanted to go for the drink, I wasn't doing anything wrong, and Evan confirmed it was a friendly offer, nothing more. Against my better judgement, I found myself agreeing to it, and followed her out the door of the office, locking it behind me.

Evan's company was easy, we'd always gotten along quite well outside of our casual hookup. Conversation flowed, and it was engaging. I bought her a beer as a gesture of good faith, and to apologise for the way I'd cut her out without an explanation. As she confirmed, we may have not been dating, but I still shared her bed, ate her food and wore her clothes. 

This was the right thing to do.

Or at least that what I was telling myself over and over again in my head, trying to find any reason to justify this, especially when Sofia was back at the suite, completely oblivious to it all. Due to her early rise, I didn't feel the need to tell her. A drink with an old friend, nothing more, confirmed by Evan herself. 

"I can't believe I didn't realise how much of a psycho she was!"

Evan was laughing as I revealed how Allison tried to fight Del in the middle of Dragon's lair. 

"I hope you didn't sleep with her, you might be next on her hit list."

Evan grimaced and breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Luckily, I did not. She approached me, I returned conversation to be polite, and then she brought you up."

I finished my glass, placing it down gently with a smile.

"Well for what it's worth, I enjoyed catching up with you tonight, Allison helped repair something at least."

Evan returned her crooked smile, nodding in agreement.

"You're right, I enjoyed this too, I suppose we should take away the positive rather than focus on how batshit crazy she is."

She could be so funny sometimes, I pulled my jumper round my shoulders as she sipped the last of her beer and stood up. Evan insisted on walking me to my car, and I pulled my coat closed as the evening chill hit after leaving the bar.

"Can we do this again sometime? I really enjoyed catching up, maybe we can grab a coffee or something."

She embraced me and I returned it before unlocking my car door.

"Yes that sounds good, I'll call you at some point."

"Get home safe!"

Evan called as I drove off back to the apartment. The silence in the car gave me some time to mull over my actions this evening, unusually I didn't feel guilty. Mainly because Evan and I were genuinely just trying to be friends, and that she didn't make any advances towards me all evening. She was respectful of the boundaries I put down, and I was pleased with my decision to patch things up with her. Miss Bardot on the other hand, would probably not be so understanding. I doubted she knew very well who Evan was, but I know she'd seen us kissing before. I remember the look on her face when I pulled away from Evan and she was staring across the sea of bodies on the dance floor, arms crossed. She looked threatening, and my boss was definitely the possessive type, she had me spread out on her desk barely minutes later - our first time was certainly one I would always remember.