the game Changer

Chapter 3

I spent the morning going over my case files with Sherry. She was a quick learner and by lunchtime she seemed to have a grasp on most of the cases we would be handling together.

As one o'clock came, my stomach growled loudly, signalling it was time for a break. Stretching back in my chair, I noticed Angus walking towards us - a sly smile stretched across his lips.

"Lunch?" He asked as he reached us.

"Yep," I agreed eagerly.

"Ok so Sherry you can meet me back here at two." I order before getting up from my chair. However, I stopped when I was met by Angus' expectant stare. I tried to figure out what he was telling me but came up short. My eyebrows knotted together in confusion, showing him I had no idea what he meant.

Sighing, a more genuine smile formed on his lips as he turned towards Sherry. "Unless you would like to join us for lunch. We were planning to go to the sandwich shop across the street," Angus explained. I felt my jaw tighten at his words. I didn't want to be spending anymore time with this girl than necessary.

"That would be great thanks," Sherry said with an easy smile causing the muscles in my back to tense. Angus gave me an odd look before leading Sherry out of the office. Groaning, I grabbed my jacket before slowly following the two of them.

"So Sherry," Angus started as we all tucked into our sandwiches. We were sitting in the back of the small shop around a cheap plastic table. Despite the old furnishings and the tacky decor, the food was incredible, so this was where Angus and I chose to spend most of our lunches. "How come you moved station?" Angus continued before taking a bite of his chicken sub.

A flash of emotion crossed Sherry's eyes, but disappeared so quickly I couldn't decipher it. Shrugging it off, I waited for her response. "I wanted to be closer to my family," she answered. "They only live thirty minutes from here." Once she finished, her gaze moved to me but I quickly looked back to my food, pretending I hadn't been staring in the first place.

"So are you liking it here so far?" Angus probed.

"I like the town," Sherry responded quickly, carefully not mentioning anything about the station.

"What about the station?" Angus continued. "Settling in?"

"It's only been half a day," Sherry said with a laugh but not before her eyes had flickered back over to me.

"Oh don't worry about this one," Angus said as he flung his arm around my shoulders in a joking manner. "He'll warm up to you eventually," he grinned.

Shooting a glare in his direction, I mumbled, "Don't count on it." This only caused Angus to punch me in the shoulder, hard. While Sherry just stared at me, confused.

"He is joking," Angus tried to cover. "He has a weird sense of humour," he laughed awkwardly.

"Ok," Sherry responded dragging out the length of the word.

For the rest of lunch, Sherry and Angus chatted happily away, getting to know each other. I, on the other hand, tried to ignore the girl sitting opposite me. Instead I focused on the half eaten crust in front of me, my appetite long since disappearing.

Angus cleared up our wrappers, taking them to the bin on the other side of the shop. Sherry and I were left sitting across from her awkwardly. Looking over to Angus, I noticed he was now in a deep conversation with the shop owner so there was no way I could avoid speaking to Sherry. She seemed to think the same thing.

"So..." She started.

"So..." I commented back.

"You been working here long?" She asked. The small talk was so bad it was almost funny.