When Feelings Get In The Way - Ziall Horlik

Chapter 3

“A f-friend,” I stutter out with a nod, quickly jolting down a mental note to stop being so damn nervous in front of him.

                          

“Right.” He hums. “He seems nice.” He gets out, his lips turning up.

“He is.” I lie quickly, knowing that really, he’s just an awkward asshole. But sure, nice works too.

So ah, how have you been?” He gets out with a smile, his hair flicked up and gelled perfectly. “Great.” I say quickly with a more or less lip-bite. He looks at me, expecting me to elaborate on the topic, except nothing came out of my mouth in that moment.

“That’s… great.” He says sharply, his tie adjusting. It stays silent again, his hands clapping together as he links them together.

“Uh, how have you been?” I reply in such a delayed manner, he chuckles to himself. “Great, better than I’ve ever been.”

Now these are the types of thing to break my heart. ‘Better than I’ve ever been’.

But of course, my small lips turn into a grin. “That’s good to hear.” I say as I bite my lip.

He looks up at me and smiles, a genuine smile and I return one back.

Our gaze is broken by the knocking at my window. I glare over at Louis who was greasing off Liam, who rolled his eyes lightly.

“I’ll be sure to catch you later, sir.” He mocks, knowing how to make me laugh. “Y-Yes,” I stutter again. Shit. “Hopefully, I’ll catch up with you before the meeting tomorrow night.

“Hopefully.” He nods again, standing to his feet, walking toward the door and out of it.

I sit there to myself, grabbing onto my elbows with the opposing hands. I breathe out a loud breath, thinking about the man who was just in my office.

Again, my head shook with such anguish. “Stop being so depressed.” I hear a light voice enter my office, plopping themselves down on one of the couches.