Two days later and Elsie was still 'living' in the office. Joe didn't know. She always arrived before him and 'left' after. Of course, she couldn't keep this up. She had gone the legal proxy route of getting Logan out of her flat, so she wouldn't have to see him. Buying new underwear, a new toothbrush and all of that, had been annoying. Showing at the gym wasn't great either. But when the eviction would be served, she didn't know. Her pay check should arrive soon and she'd be able to get a hotel room.
"Do you need a ride home or?" Joe tried on the first day they'd become civil.
"No, no thank you. I- uh just need to sort a few things out here." She smiled weakly, which he accepted.
From what she could see, Joe seemed to have accepted that. He did, given that she was English, her polite stuttering wasn't alarming. Not that he would be alarmed anyway. But she still felt a little bit conscious of lying. She'd taken to wearing a coat and scarf so it was less obvious that she was wearing the same two shirts having not been to collect her stuff yet.
The next day he'd tried again.
"You look like you're done for the day too. Can I give you a ride home?" He spoke through a yawn and stretched his arms over his head.
"Nah, the bus comes in fifteen minutes so I'll head down in ten. See you tomorrow though." She answered, pretending to search for a bus ticket in her bag.
Joe frowned.
"It's no problem y'know, I can-"
"It's fine Joe, I get an all day bus ticket, I'd might aswell use it." She laughed softly but it wasn't humorous and the both of them could see it.
"Well stop it. Save up for your car, get a one way trip and I'll start driving you home after work. I don't mind. It's really the least I can do."
"Please, Joe. It's fine."
In both of their backgrounds, offering someone a lift home was a great gesture to get to know your co-workers. Maybe the reluctance came from everything that had led up to this point. If that was the case, he'd just have to wear her down until she was comfortable enough around him to accept the offer. Though he also didn't want to call her out on it and make things tense again.
"You really don't want me to see where you live huh?" He chuckled, pulling on his coat.
She laughed in response.
"That's not it. Blame my unwavering independence. Well, goodnight." Her voice remained gentle as she turned her attention back to her screen.
Joe stood for another second but couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Goodnight."
And the next day, he'd started making observations. Nothing rude, or he'd tried not to be, but there was something about her that wasn't sitting right with him.
"Not staying?" Joe's voice made her jump a bit. He didn't seem to have an inside voice but Elsie had never spoken to him outside of that building. She couldn't really make assumptions.
"Huh?"
"Going somewhere?" He slowly waved his hand around, palm up.
"No, why?"
"You haven't taken your coat off, looks like you're ready to leave. If the room isn't warm enough, you can turn up the heat, I don't mind." He offered. He was joking but Elsie knew what he was getting at.
She left it there and shook her head at him. The two of them passed drafts of script back and forth and found that they worked rather well together.
"I'm pretty sure this one is done too-" Joe started, but quickly stopped his sentence when he noticed she wasn't listening. Her mind was somewhere else. "Hey, I don't wanna sound rude but you look really tired. Why do you just go home early for once and I can email you-"
"Sorry, I'm fine," That could've been enough but when Joe sighed, Elsie felt she needed to add some more conviction. "Really, I'm okay."
Work carried on like this for the next three days. Joe offered rides and suggested early finishes but Elsie just kept turning them down. Anything to see her leave the office. Which probably meant that he was on to her. It was currently about 5pm and around the time Joe and Elsie should be at least thinking about going home.
"So should I ask if you need a ride or not?" He tried, not nearly as enthusiastic as usual.
"Oh no, It's okay. Thank you."
"What's going on, Elsie?" Joe attempted to make eye contact but she wasn't having it.
She froze a little, unable to find an excuse. Playing it off felt deceitful but she really didn't want him to know about this. As nice as he'd been this week, that could change at any moment and living in the office could definitely get her in trouble.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean- I don't know, you just," Joe sighed. He was sat, looking straight at her, leaning in a little. His voice was soft and kinda. "Something isn't right. You're exhausted, you're quiet and I haven't seen you step foot out of this office in God knows how long"
"I'm going through a breakup, you know that. I'll be fine in a week or two."
Her excuse was a good one. And it was true. The key part of that reason was missing though. Out of shame and professionalism, Elsie really didn't want Joe to know.
"Of course yeah but your bus hasn't made you late in forever. Will you just let me drive you home once? I was a massive jerk and I'm just trying to make it up to you."
"You don't need to. I don't mind the bus anyway, it stops right outside my house." She tried to give him a bright smile to cover it up, but Joe wasn't done yet.
"Okay, if not for you, for me. How can you say no to this face, come on."
She smiled, shaking her head. As nice as the gesture was, she had no home for him to drive her to right now. He was being sweeter than she knew him capable of being, yet there was still hesitation in Elsie's manner that they both were quite aware of.
"I'll just have to walk you to your bus stop then." Joe says, passively.
"I'm not actually going straight home tonight. I'm meeting friends at Mazario's for drinks," That was a total lie. She was surprised that how convincing she sounded, Elsie was a terrible liar. "But if you really wanna make it up to me, I get a cappuccino, two sugars."
"Not entirely what I was aiming for but progress nonetheless. Alright, I'll see you tomorrow. If you're hungover tomorrow, I'm going to laugh at you," He called, his back to her as he walked away. "Goodnight!"
