Inches Apart

n e i g h b o r s # 5

Daniel stood looking out of the conference room windows. It was Friday, and it was his last meeting of the day. After this, he would be able to go home. Later, he would finally get to meet Emily in person. He had been counting down to this day ever since she said yes. He didn't remember ever feeling this excited about anything.

He checked his watch and saw that it was a little past four o'clock. His long awaited meeting should already have started. He turned away from the windows to see if his "busy" new client had arrived yet. She hadn't. He sighed and sat down in his chair. He was a fairly patient man, but this client had already tested his patience.

Just then, his assistant walked in and said, "Your four o'clock is here. Please let me introduce to you, Emily Williams."

Daniel stood and placed a polite smile on his face. Then, within a second of Emily Williams walking through the door, his smile fell. He couldn't believe who he was seeing. It couldn't be her. It was his annoying and insanely rude neighbor.

"You?"

"You? You're my new client?"

Emily scowled at him and began to walk out. Unfortunately, her manager walked through the door right then and forced Emily back into the large conference room. She raised her eyebrow at Emily and then shook Daniel's hand. He stared at her as she said something to her manager but got waved off. Emily scowled again and stared back at Daniel.

"Why don't we take a seat and begin?" Emily's manager said.

Emily plastered a small smile on her face and sat down beside her manager as Daniel sat down in his seat. They sat in silence. Emily wasn't going to be the first one to speak, and Daniel wasn't going to be the first one either.

"Alright," Emily's manager began as she looked back and forth at the two, "I think we should hear your pitch, Mr. Young. I know this has been a long time coming. My client and I are interested in getting through this as quickly and painlessly as possible. That means you two need to stop sending imaginary daggers at each other."

Suddenly, Emily had a ridiculous thought in her head as she stared at Daniel, and she wanted to make sure she wasn't crazy.

"Wait a second. Before you begin, I need to know something. Your first name is Daniel?"

"Um, yes, but that isn't very important currently. I go by Mr. Young in the office and all my clients call me the same thing. May I begin now?"

Emily shook her head. She was even more worried now. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be.

"Do you even know what I write?"

"A blog."

"But do you know the name of it?"

"I wasn't given that information. Your representative told me you would prefer to not tell me the name until after you heard my presentation. Isn't that true?

Emily cleared her throat and took a deep breath, standing up. She was ready to leave at any second.

"My blog is called: Emily's Writings."

Daniel's eyes widened, and he looked at Emily with disbelief. He couldn't believe it. How could that even be? She was the Emily from the blog?

"You mean, you're Emily-- the one I've been emailing with?"

"I guess so. Mr. Young, there's no need for us to hear your pitch. I already know the answer is no. We're leaving now. Sorry for taking up so much of your time. I don't think we'll be seeing each other anytime soon."

Daniel caught the real meaning of her last few words, but he had no chance to say anything else because Emily walked out of the room. Her representative apologized to him over and over as she got up and went after Emily. Daniel stood in shock. He never expected his neighbor to be his client, much less the woman he had been emailing with.

He was shocked, but he also began to feel disappointed. He had been looking forward to meeting the face behind the blog, but it was his annoying and rude neighbor the whole time. The Emily from the blog seemed so nice, but it was his neighbor the entire time.

"It just goes to show you that you can't go by what people write in an email. There could be anyone behind the screen."

"Is your meeting with Miss Williams already over? That was quick," Daniel's assistant said to him as she came in with a plate of muffins.

"No, Miss Thomas. The meeting hadn't even started when she decided to leave. I think I'm going to be at work for awhile longer, but you can leave now if you wish."

His assistant set the plate on the conference table and asked, "Daniel, what's wrong? Don't tell me nothing's wrong because I know you. We've been friends for years, and I've worked for you long enough to know when something's bothering you. Don't even try to lie. Now, what happened?"

Daniel sighed. He didn't want to tell her, but he knew he should. She was good at giving him advice. So, he told her everything-- from the beginning to the end, and he wasn't ready for the response she gave him.