Miss Stubborn

nineteen

I sat there in shock. My mouth wide open. I could feel my heart rate increasing, my hands felt clammy. The words that I wanted to say would not come out of my mouth.

"I, uh, what, no." I mumbled, trying to grasp the concept of what was going on.

This could not be happening. I sighed heavily. The man I went on a date with, Daniel Johnson, was stealing from the company of a different man I went on a date with. I laughed at the thought of it all. I had been on a date with two different guys who worked together. It was ridiculous. I had been thinking about the exact same thing the night before, laughing about how ridiculous my situation was. Normally, I would not have a single male chasing after me, at the moment I had two. Last night I sat down and decided, I told myself I had to decide which one I wanted to keep seeing and which one would be officially friend-zoned. It was difficult, I must admit, thinking at the time that they were both really nice guys, but in the end I chose Wesley. I told myself that he and I were on the same level, our personalities matched and I enjoyed spending time with him. My actions today, dropping everything to care for him, showed that I made the right decision.

"Demi, are you okay?" Wes says, squeezing my hand gently, breaking me from my thoughts.

"I don't know what to say." I finally admit. I realised I was lost, I could not comprehend what Wes had just told me. I could not believe that Daniel would do something like that, he seemed so sweet, so honest. Clearly I did not know him anywhere near as well as I thought.

"Me either." Wes agrees.

We sit in silence for a few minutes, neither of us knowing what to say.

"I should get back to work." I suggest, knowing that there was nothing that I could do right now.

"Yeah of course, could I ask you a favour though?" Wes says nervously, clearly unsure about what my answer would be.

"What is it? What do you need?"

"Can I stay here? While you are at work? I don't want to go back, it's too much right now. When we had the meeting the other day we did not know who was behind it all. Today I found out it was Daniel. I need a break." Wes sighs, running his hands through his hair once again trying to calm himself.

I pause for a moment looking at him, he looked defeated. As though everything he had ever worked for had been taken away from him. It made me want to look after him, care for him.

Placing my hand gently on his thigh I squeeze softly, "You can stay for as long as you want. I'll be back later." I lean in and give him a kiss on the cheek, doing it quickly before I chickened out.

Wes smiles up at me and relaxes onto the couch. Letting me head back to work to finish my day.

By the time I got back to the office I had only used up an extra half hour of my allocated lunch break. I sighed in relief, realising that I would not have to work back too late.

Working quickly, I managed to finalise all of my emails for the day as well as coordinate the monthly meeting Blake has with a group of colleagues. Feeling accomplished, I gathered my things and began to make my way home.

I found Wes asleep on my couch, TV on, playing a comedy series I'd seen once or twice. I decided to let him rest and set to organising dinner instead. Searching my fridge and pantry I manage to find all of the ingredients for lasagne, so I gather them up, bring them to the bench and start cooking.

The smell of food must have woken Wes from his slumber. He trudged his way into the kitchen, still looking half asleep.

"Hey." I whispered, not knowing what else to say. I turned back to the stove and continued to cook.

I heard Wes' footsteps make their way over to me, then felt his arms wrap around my waist, resting his head against mine, squeezing me tightly.

"Thank you." Wes whispered back, not releasing me from his hold.

I spun around slowly, so that I was able to face him.

"Anytime." I respond with a smile, wrapping my arms around Wes' neck.

Wes did not hesitate this time, he leant forwards and kissed me. The kiss was long, sweet, enticing and I did not want it to stop.