Indecorous

Chapter Five: Guilt and Passiveness

The warming water trickled down my stressed body, relieving some of the tension I held in my shoulders. Taking a shower was essential after today's events, leaving a guilty pit in my stomach as the image of Westin's saddened face crossed my mind every so often.

After I had answered his restless question, his face dropped and his eyes diverted from me. It was as if I had ripped the heart out from the man, taking his soul and relinquishing it too far from his grasp. I couldn't help but feel a heavy weight pressing against my chest, silently suffocating me from the anxiety that weighed upon me.

It didn't help that the rest of the day he had dismissed himself, leaving the publication early on a sick leave. I barely caught a glimpse of him when he walked down the hall, discerning his slumped shoulders and his tired expression. He didn't even bid me a goodbye or anything, though walking right in front of my office.

I cringed at this, turning towards the shower head and flicking it off, the stream coming to a mere drop before it digressed completely. I gripped my plush, cotton towel, wrapping it around my body lethargically and spinning my hair into the microfiber towel. The steam from the water attached itself to the mirror and the glass door, causing my handprint to press itself into the glass.

I dried myself off rather quick, yearning to just pull on my pajamas and lay in my guilt all night.

When I arrived to my bedroom, I decided on some soft red pajama bottoms and a tight black tank top, roughly pulling it onto my body while my hair was still in the towel. I hummed and discarded my body towel over the glass of the shower, glancing at the now visible mirror to see my prevalent eye bags.

I appeared to be jaded and somber, tracing my eyes over the unsolicited frown pulling down on my lips. This wasn't usual for me, as I didn't allow stress to take over my mood entirely. Because, after all, I didn't quite handle stress in the best ways, thus I obtusely tried to rule it out of my life completely.

My hair fell from the towel around my dullen face, having slight ringlets on the more dampened parts of my hair. I scrunched it together, giving myself more volume and curls, before releasing it and flipping the fan and the light off.

I made way to the kitchen, detecting the jiggle of the front door handle. It was only a matter of moments before my jaunty best friend bounced into the apartment, wearing a large grin on her face. Her blonde hair flowed beside her as she was dressed in her work attire, having a healthy amount of makeup on her face.

She averted her eyes towards me, upon noticing me, dropping the grin slightly and furrowing her brows. "Rough day?"

I sighed, continuing towards the kitchen, hearing her boisterous heels trailing behind me. My eyes immediately shifted to the wine chiller, reflecting onto my fallacious ways of dealing with stress. But I capitulated anyways, fingering the two wine glasses in the cupboard and grabbing the wine bottle in my free hand. Of course I was conscious of my stress drinking, but that didn't mean I was addicted to it.

Aviary quirked her brow at me as I handed her the glass, aware that the problems weren't merely anything simple. I poured some into hers as she perched on one of the island stools while I leaned over the counter.

Finally I denoted, "You won't believe what happened to me."

Aviary's face lit up an octave, revealing the true intrigument she divulge into the story. She sipped on her wine, motioning me to continue with her polished fingers.

So I did just that, capitalizing on the fact that I was only doing Westin a favor and that James had arrived at the convention. Aviary seemed to eat this up, leaning more over the counter and gasping loudly.

"Did he look hot?" She questioned, wiggling her brows in hilarity.

I groaned, closing my eyes in strain, "Is that even a question?"

Aviary cackled at this, knocking her wine to the side and almost knocking it over. I, myself, started to giggle with her, seeing as her laughter was infectious.

After we cooled down, I continued on with the story, telling her about today and how I had walked into a literal showdown between the two. I went on to inform her about the article Vanessa, the owner of the publication, wants us to write and how James's demanded that I be the one writing it.

"Oh, my, god, you can have office sex!" Aviary clapped her hands in excitement.

But I only rolled my eyes, "Westin said that he was going to have Georgia, this other girl, do it. So I don't even know if I am or not. James stormed out saying that he isn't going to do the paper unless I'm the one writing it."

Aviary pulled a huge grin on her face, shaking her head in pure amusement. She drew her finger on the rim of the wine glass, humming to herself lightly while observing me, plumping her lips out. "I think that Westin is going to send you to do it."

"You think?" I scrunched my eyebrows together, doubting it completely.

Aviary nodded her head in a convinced manner, "He can't not send you over! Like you said, he's barely made any moves. He has an obligation, and since he hasn't pursued you, there's no real reason to justify why he wouldn't."

I hummed, nodding my head in slight agreement, "Yeah, but you didn't see how infuriated he was."

"Don't have to," She shrugged, "Just wait, Amelia. If I'm right you're buying the next bottle of red wine."

I narrowed my eyes playfully at her, "Deal."

After a moment of silence, I chug the rest of my wine, onsetting the track to intoxication. I already felt slightly buzzed, therefore, when this alcohol kicked in, I would probably feel exquisite.

We sit and talk for a little longer, listening to Aviary's slight rant about a boy she's been talking to recently. She's caught up, thinking that it's a bad idea, but he's so cute and loving. I urge her to pursue, and if things get rocky, to just pull out and everything will be fine.

But before we can continue the conversation, my phone buzzes on the counter, bringing my attention away from my best friend and towards the contact name. My eyes scan over it and immediately my heart drops.

I guess it was evident in my facial expression because Aviary questioned, "Who is it?"

"Westin-do I wait to open it?" My voice was uneasy, but Aviary eagerly shakes her head, standing up from the stool and walking towards me. She stands beside me as I unlock my phone and open the text, feeling the butterflies erupting in my stomach as the lengthiness comes to eye.

I chewed on my lip before reading it aloud, "Good evening Miss Hollis-"

"Eek, it's formal," Aviary interrupts, pursing her lips.

I sigh and continue, "-sorry to bother you at the unruly hour. I just needed to inform you for the next month, you are going to be going to Mr. Vallette's offices and working on an article for our media outlets. Vanessa Fausto has been wanting to get a good story on him for a while now, so you must make it superb. If there are any concerns, please confide to Vanessa. Thank you, Westin Bradford." After I was finished I set my phone down and ran a stress-filled hand over my face.

"What did I tell you," Aviary said in a mutter, knowing that it wasn't the right time to assert her winnings.

"He's upset."

Aviary's hand runs across my back in a comforting way, "Look on the bright side, you can purposely wear short skirts to work everyday for a month."

I breathed a laugh, rolling my eyes at her and picking up the phone. I thanked him for the opportunity and asked when I would start.

In an instant he replied: This Monday. Which was only three days away.