Shades of wrong

Guess I'll just stumble on home to my cats...

Tobias P.O.V.

'Shall we sit down?' She says looking into my eyes for an answer. Her eyes are aggressively blue and I am immediately lost in them. 'Yeah' I mumble unwilling to break eye contact with her. I feel a pang of sadness as she breaks eye contact with me and looks down. We both sit.

 'Well I got you some coffee' she pipes up with hope behind her voice. Effectively breaking the silence 'Well Sundays usually mean for me burnt toast so coffee is a nice change'. I smile at her. 'So erm what is this interview for?' I ask curiously. 'It's just to see if you get along with me because we are going to be partners'. My heart skipped a beat. I knew I was going to be partners with someone in the agency but I didn't expect it to be her. I thought it would be someone more like me. The look of shook is on my face for sure but Taylor is thankfully distanced by stirring her coffee with a stick. Dispute her smiles from earlier something is definitely bothering her.

Suddenly it clicked it was Christmas day. Would would she agree to meet someone for work. A normal person would spend time with your family and friends. After Tris died I knew that Christmas would never be the same. I must have been starting at her in a weird way because the next thing I knew she was asking 'Is everything okay?' with a worried look on her face.

 'You just seem down is all, I can't image anyone willing to spend their Christmas at work.' 'Well for most people Christmas is a happy time not for me'. She looks down. She brings her eyes back up a second later 'What about you spending Christmas alone?'. 'I'm not alone I'm with a girl in a coffee shop.' 'Uhm, That was your chance to say pretty or ugly girl' 'Well' I scratch the back of my head and lock eyes with her. 'You're both'. Taylor made a shocked face 'Oh what do you mean by that?'

'Your pretty ugly'. We both burst out laughing. Her whole face glows with positively, which washes away the sadness. The conversation flows quick until Taylor turns to look out the window. 'Oh my' she exclaims. 'It's getting dark, We better go'. I nod in agreement. As we walk out I open the door for her. She smiles at me in gratitude but this is unlike the smile she gave my before this is her truly happy. I feel a tight squeeze in my chest but it's not painful. As we step out onto the sidewalk I ask her what she's planning on doing. 'I guess I'll just stumble on home to my cats...alone'. 'How did you get here' I ask. 'I walked' she replied.'Well I could drive you home.' I quickly add 'If you wanted me to'. She nodded. As we start to walk to the car park starts to fall. 'Well' she giggles 'I guess it's a white Christmas'

As we reach my car which is a black volvo she adds 'Sleek car I see' I nod. As we sit in the car white Christmas starts playing. 'Perfect timing' I add. 'So where do you live?' I ask her. ' 155 franklin street' she replies. It's only a few blocks away so the drive is short. As I walk on the sidewalk I open the car door and she does the same. As we walk to the entrance she turns to me 'Thank you for today, I haven't felt that in a long time'. She smiles at me as she closes the apartment complex door after turning the code to enter.

'No thank you' I whisper not loud enough for her to hear.