hidden | ethma

four

none other than my irritable neighbor, ethan drops his things onto his desk that is immediately diagonal from mine. he sets a coffee cup down and runs a hand through his hair, sighing.

he doesn't seem to notice me.

mr. greenman steps out of his office, a stern look on his face.

"dolan," he says as he walks up to ethan.

"you're late. again."

"so?" ethan asks, plopping into his seat.

"so, that's the fourth time this month. you'd better shape up or we'll be shopping for a new accountant soon," mr. greenman snaps.

ethan rolls his eyes. "you can say that all you want, but we both know i'm the best accountant here."

"i can still fire you," mr. greenman warns.

"alright, well when you get the balls actually let me go, give me a call," ethan says. he smirks and jesy covers her mouth with her hand.

"oooh," arnold says.

everyone seems to stifle a laugh as ethan leans back in his seat triumphantly.

mr. greenman crosses his arms over his chest. "watch it, dolan," he says through gritted teeth before turning on his heel and stalking back to his office.

"good one," zeke says to ethan, chuckling. ethan smirks. his eyes land on me and his face quickly shifts to an annoyed expression.

"hi," i say, trying to sound friendly.

ethan locks his jaw. "newbie, huh?" he asks zeke, his eyes still on me.

zeke nods. "this is emma."

"i know," ethan says coldly. "we've met."

zeke shifts his vision from ethan to me and back. he finally shrugs and turns in his chair to look at perla.

i nod, quickly returning my attention to my manuscript. why, of all the places, must we work at the same place?

i hear him spinning on his chair and clicking his pen. shouldn't he be working, at least? if he's so good at his job, why isn't he working?

i have trouble concentrating on my work after that. how can ethan be so rude to everyone? his boss, who also happens to be his COO, threatened to fire him and he responded by insulting him. how much nerve does he honestly have?

lunch rolls around and i follow zeke to the break room.

he introduces me to everyone and stands by perla. she smiles at us.

"nice to meet you," she says. "welcome to crystal."

"thanks," i say. we chat for awhile longer as we eat lunch. i catch the lingering looks zeke gives perla, trying to hide a smile.

about fifteen minutes into lunch hour, ethan slides into the seat across from me, next to zeke.

i shoot him a glare. i'm done trying to be nice to him when all i get in return is rudeness. he doesn't notice my death look as he begins chatting with zeke.