10 Things I Hate About You

Chapter 8

"What's that?" The redhead immediately noticed the misplaced whiteboard behind Lowery. It was an unusual time for her to show up at the control center and so they hadn't bother putting it away. They took those down time lapses to bring it out and update it. 

Not many of them had changed their bets, Lowery still believed Claire was going to be the one kissing Owen first and she'll do it by date six. The couple had gone golfing for their third date, thankfully they had the surveillance cameras to spy them. It was very evident in the redhead's body language that she wanted for Owen to just kiss her already, and his body language while very touchy-feely didn't have the same urgency. The brunette man was convinced that by date six, Claire would have had enough and get what she wanted on her own.

Vivian was on the same page, she also thought Claire would eventually give in and kiss him, but was inclined to think that their boss wouldn't be able to wait that long and will do it on their fifth date. A few of them were convinced that Claire would lead him on and do the whole work but wait for him to close the space and do it.

"That's a—wait what are you doing here?" Lowery wasn't trying to change the subject, he was really curious.

"I told you, I'm leaving early tomorrow to town so I came to make sure the park will survive without me for one day." She explained, her eyes scanning the board. "Are you guys placing bets?" She could tell those were odds next to each of their names. Claire crossed her arms against her chest and her green eyes fell on the young man for a few seconds, "you know it's against policy to bet money—"

"No...no... not money! Plus, that's...that's just the times we have win and lose playing... tic—tac—toe?" He knew he couldn't sell that one.

"What are you guys—" Claire gasped after reading how each column was divided by date with an odd of kiss/no kiss. "YOU are BETTING on the possibility of OWEN and ME KISSING?!" She was blushing, upset, even a little embarrassed, and she could not believe they were doing this.

"Are you mad?" Lowery frown and hid his head behind his arms.

"How do you even know if we haven't yet?" She curved her eyebrow, it was until something caught her attention on the screen at the front when it hit her. "YOU HAVE BEEN SPYING ON US?"

"Spying is a big word~" Lowery chuckled nervously.

"What else have you been doing?" She was by now standing right beside him, looking down on him with this intense glance that he felt could cut him in half.

"We—" He looked back at his team members who were all shaking their heads. "We might have been listening too..." He shyly confessed.

"WHAT!?"

"Just a little bit, woman." He sheltered his face with his arms, "please don't kill me!"

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND!?" Claire was fuming. She turned to look back at the board and covered her face with her hands. "Give me a reason why I shouldn't fire you, ALL OF YOU!"

"We are sorry?" He offered timidly with a smirk.

The redhead had her back on him, she couldn't keep her eyes off that board. She was taking advantage of it maybe there was something she was missing because she was dying to kiss Owen and he just wouldn't do it. Maybe they had caught something she had missed and it was hiding somewhere in those odds. She noticed all of them were down for either the fifth or sixth date and quietly smiled seeing some of them did believe he was to kiss her first.

"What's the bet!?" She demanded to know.

"The losers get a dare..." He lied. He had already admitted they weren't playing for money which had a serious disciplinary process (not that it matter anymore).