Joe prepared for his first day in the office without Elsie. He didn't really know what to expect now that he had the job to himself; he could make all the executive decisions and all, it was just going to be... quiet. He got himself a coffee and headed straight to work. Of course he still felt a little bad after the grilling the boys gave him last night.
Nothing could be done, he wasn't going to see her again and as he walked into the office and turned the corner, swaggering in to the space had come to know as work and there sat one Elsie Harrington.
"I thought you'd left." He sounded genuinely surprised to see her.
It wasn't until examining Elsie more that he noticed the dark rings around her eyes, once again her hair was scraped up and she wore the same clothes as the last time he saw her.
"Yeah well I can't afford to leave right now, so you'll have to just suck it up." Elsie didn't look at him, she stared at her computer screen and scrolled aimlessly to keep her attention firmly away from Joe.
He thought carefully about his next words.
"I'm sorry for what I said last time, you're right, I don't know anything about you and I had no right to make those comments."
Elsie side eyed him. Her expression didn't soften as Joe expected, he thought that she would say something kind. She'd always been kind. Joe was expecting just a simple 'I forgive you' or 'It's fine'. He didn't get that.
"Whatever." She shrugged.
When someone wasn't willing to except his apology, he couldn't let it go. Joe always considered himself to be a good guy and though he knew he hadn't been the nicest to Elsie, this rejection of his apology just kinda hurt.
"Seriously," He began, taking his seat and still looking over at the girl. "I am sorry."
"Seriously," She mimicked. "Whatever."
After the night she had, Elsie wasn't about to sit there in the office and take any crap from Joe, no matter how nice he was being now. Those niceties never lasted. Every time they'd made progress and managed to co-exist, he found a way to remind Elsie that he thought nothing of her whatsoever.
"Look I was just angry about the job it's nothing personal I swear; in fact I think you're-"
"I don't care. I have nothing to say to you." She cut him off.
He swallowed and took out his phone. Had Elsie spent anywhere near the amount of time on her phone that Joe spent on his, that would no doubt result in a comment from the latter. She didn't want to give him a reason to complain and get her fired. Or start one of his tantrums that were always at her expense.
Almost 2 hours passed and Elsie thought about the job. Had anything actually gotten done? Like actually done? Had any parts of the script been written officially. Sure they've only been in the job a week but they had literally nothing.
"Your phone's quiet. You and Logan okay?" Joe asked. In a friendship, this question would be fair enough but they weren't friend.
"Not your business." She said, a flat tone that didn't give anything away. However, her face did.
It wasn't. And had she tried to offer that information over the past week, he would have probably berated her for sharing about her life. Which he'd assured her that he had zero interest in whatsoever.
