Mr. Lawson's Assistant

Chapter 45

"He said what?"
I cringed away from Soma's screech on the other line, pulling the phone away from my ear.
I'm so glad she decided to stay on vacation for another week!
What had started as stopping in at Soma's cousins' house on her way home from the beach, had quickly turned into a family reunion. When she realized that her mom and dad had flown down to visit her cousins the same week, Soma decided to stay at her cousins' house for a week longer than she'd intended.
"If a man like that tells you you're on a date, woman, you're on a date!" She practically screamed into the phone. I winced. She sounded like she wanted to strangle me. "What kind of woman denies going on a date with a Lawson brother?" Soma raved, muttering something I wasn't sure I wanted to hear under her breath.
I shook my head. "Soma! He's my boss's brother!" I argued, but Soma stopped me from saying anything else.
"I don't care if that man is your dog's brother," she gushed, "he is literally the definition of perfection!" Soma exclaimed, and suddenly an image of Damon standing in front of me, ocean water dripping down his bare chest, flitted across my mind. I had to blink to stay focused on what else Soma was saying.
Pull yourself together, Oana.
"Soma, I don't even have a dog-"
"Shut up, Oana. My point is that who cares who he's related to? You're dating him not your boss!" My roommate said in exasperation. I could imagine her throwing her free hand up into the air for effect.
"It's still unprofessional-" I started again, but Soma cut me off with another exasperated groan.
"Don't you think that if your boss had a problem with it, he would tell his brother to back off?"
I sat down on the couch in my living room, with a sigh. "I'm not sure his brother even knows..."
Soma laughed on the other side of the call. "What he doesn't know won't kill him."
I opened my mouth to argue, but thought better of it. Firstly, Soma was an artist which meant her brain was extremely creative, and constantly at work. I'd never argued with her and won.
"At least go on the second date, then if your boss doesn't approve, you can just end it." The words made me flinch just hearing them. Go on one date, then shut him down.
There's no way I could-
I closed my eyes and swallowed, shutting off the thought as quickly as it came, "Soma, I'm not going-"
She didn't even let me finish the sentence. "Oana, I love you, but you're being an idiot. Listen to me. I'm coming home, and you're going on that second date. Besides, by the way you described the first one, you need a second just to help forget the first." Soma ordered, the tone she was using quickly turning stern.
I frowned, switching the phone to my other ear, "How do you know anything about Damon?" When Soma's side of the phone grew quiet, I was immediately suspicious. "Soma!" I demanded, and she sighed.
"David texted me and told me about this guy- your bosses brother- and said he was starting to act like a little more than a co-worker..." she trailed off. I stayed quiet so she would continue. "So, I may or may not have stalked him on Facebook for three hours..."
My eyes went wide, and I burst into laughter. "You what?" I shifted my weight on the couch, wincing at the shooting pain in my side. My ribs still hurt, and apparently they would hurt for the next three weeks. "You stalked a complete stranger on Facebook for three hours?"
"I wanted to make sure this guy was legit!"
"Why didn't you just ask me?"
Soma grunted on the other line, "You would have denied that he even existed," I started to argue but Soma cut in again, "don't even try to deny it!"
Rolling my eyes, I sighed and leaned back against the couch cushions, glancing up to check the clock. It was nine at night, and tomorrow I was going back to work.
"I have work tomorrow, so I'm hanging up-" I pursed my lips.
"You know I'm ri-"
I pulled the phone away from my ear and clicked the little red phone on the screen. Smiling to myself, I dropped my phone into my lap and stood up, clearing the remaining plate and water glass from my dinner. Two days ago, when I'd gotten back from my outing Damon, I'd called Soma and left her a voicemail. If I was honest with myself, I had been panicking. I hadn't had an actual crush since high school, and even then I'd never had a boyfriend.
What does that have to do with anything?
I mentally tried to reason my way out of the fact that I might have a crush on Damon Lawson, as I put my dishes into the dishwasher. I didn't know why I was suddenly so open to the idea of having a significant other. I'd never though far enough ahead to where I had a family or even a boyfriend. I'd always been solely focused on my career.
Sighing, I closed the dishwasher and wiped the counter to our apartment. Soma would be arriving midday tomorrow, and I was likely going to be at work so I wouldn't have time to clean the apartment in the morning. After I straightened a few things back to their places, I grabbed my phone and headed into my room. Climbing under the covers, I opened my phone to read a text from David.
'Hey, loser. You're coming to get me out of here tomorrow, right?'
I smiled. I'd gone and visited David at the hospital yesterday, and the nurse had confirmed that he was ready to come home the day after today.
'Maybe... I'm considering leaving you there.' My fingers tapped quietly against my screen, and I scooted further under the covers. Fortunately, David hadn't broken anything important, but he had gotten a serious concussion and his eyes had both swelled up to the point where he could barely see. On top of that, he had two broken fingers, and a small fracture in his collarbone. Because of the fracture in his collar bone, the hospital had insisted on keeping him for a few days even after they knew he'd be alright to come home.
My phone buzzed.
'If you don't show up tomorrow I'm walking home to beat you.'
Laughing, I shut my phone off, not bothering to reply to my brother. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.