The Stripper-Norminah

Chapter 13-Gift, lift, and Conversation

POV Normani

I checked all of her commitments and nothing, Dinah would stay at the company all day. Could my bad luck be bigger? Last night was somewhat troubled, when in my plans I would only dine beside Arin. After the eventual almost kiss between me and Dinah, I left that place rather distracted. 

"Is everything okay, Mani?" I heard the boy's voice beside me. 

"Yes, of course. I just have a bit of a headache, can you take me home?" I received an annoyed look, I know he expected more of that night, but with Dinah a few meters away from me, it was practically impossible to think about Arin, right?! I shrugged and grabbed my purse. 

"Sure, let's go. I'll take you home."

I looked one last time to the table where Dinah was before, but no sign of her, did she leave already or went out with some girl? Belcalis Almanzar was no longer there, surely they weren't there anymore.  The way back was made in pure silence, one would notice kilometers away how much that night had been a failure, well, not really, Lauren's and Ally's night had been successful, Troy and Alfredo proved to be great dates, while Arin got annoyed and complained since the moment that he put his eyes on Dinah, who was by my side. Did he feel something different between the two of us? No, don't think about it. 

"We arrived." He said stopping the car in front of my building. 

"Thank you for tonight, I liked it." I lied, or not, seeing Dinah was wonderful. 

"Did you really? I think it was somewhat annoying, but you can understand me, right? Something in me doesn't like that woman."

"Dinah? I don't get it, she's a nice person."

"With you, right? Which to me seems really weird, she's just a futile and arrogant woman."

"No, because we don't even know her. Besides, you shouldn't talk about her like this."

"I'm not afraid of her, Normani, she barely arrived and she's already messing everything up, remember the absurd hours you spent working on that balance sheet?"

"Arin, honestly, I'm dying of headache, and I don't want to talk about work now." I spoke annoyed. 

"I'm sorry, I was an idiot. I know this night wasn't one of the best, but we can make it better." I looked in his eyes, that by the way were pretty, but it wasn't those eyes that I wanted to be looking at. I lowered my head, thinking of the politest way to tell him that for today it had been too much. However I noticed that he had gotten closer to me, touching my chin lightly, making me look at him again. "You are a beautiful woman, Normani."

"Thank you, but I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow." I got out of the car without saying anything else. 

"I want you in my office in 2 minutes."

I heard Dinah's raspy voice, making my whole body shiver.  I looked up and saw Dinah entering her office, I was praying to God for her not to remember anything from last night. I grabbed my notebook, adjusted the glasses on my face and walked slowly into her office.

"Miss Hansen." She turned the chair around facing me, staring at me with her pair of bright, caramel orbs , I felt weak every time that I faced her. I noticed her look travel down the extension of my body, making me swallow dryly. I saw her tense expression, Dinah closed her eyes tightly, shaking her head. 

"Tell me my commitments for today, Miss Kordei." She spoke taking a deep breath.  I blinked more times than I should, flipping through my notebook to tell her all of today's commitments. The day was more than peaceful, Dinah spent practically hours stuck in her office, I think the hangover from last night was affecting her.  Even always beautiful, today I could see the tiredness of a sleepless night under her eyes, the dark circles were evident. Every 5 minutes her fingers made a light massages on her aching temples.