After You

chapter nineteen

Monday rolls around too quick for my liking. But with it comes resolve to try and get Kyle to leave me alone.

Dylan doesn't stay the night with Liv, so when my alarm goes off and I jump in the shower, the sound of running water wakes her up.

After finding the little note with the phone number written on it stuck inside my phone case, I immediately ripped it into tiny pieces before throwing it in the bin.

The tactic for him to get my number is a new one. But it doesn't work, no matter how much Kyle thinks he's charming and might believe that it will suck me in. He's probably done it to plenty of other women and had some degree of success, but I'm not going to fall for it.

I'm not interested in him at all, and although he's incredibly good looking, I don't want a boyfriend or anything of the like. At this point in time I am happy to be single.

Liv is up and eating leftovers for breakfast by the time I get out of the shower and am dressed for the day: black heels, black pencil skirt, and black shirt. If you can't tell by now, I must have at least one item of clothing that is black.

"Why are you up so early?" I ask Liv when I enter the kitchen.

She shrugs her shoulders. "Couldn't sleep."

I help myself to some leftover Chinese as well, by heating it up in the microwave. I haven't had much of a chance to talk to her since the party, what with us both being so hungover. When we're both that hungover, we typically don't talk much. It's like talking just makes our headaches worse; like thinking makes us want to throw up.

"I heard you and Dyl made up," I say.

Liv's smile is devilish. "He sure did."

"No, like, I literally heard him making it up to you."

Unfazed, Liv simply shrugs her shoulders. "Invest in some headphones or something."

"Oh, Dylan," I mock, feigning a breathy voice. "Harder! Deeper! Fast-"

Liv slaps my arm with the back of her hand. "I don't sound like that," she says. "At least get that right."

"I'm pretty sure you do," I reply. "I've known you long enough to know what you sound like."

Liv rolls her eyes. "Dylan's over this weekend so I'll be sure to tell him to go faster and louder and harder," she says pointedly. "I might even ask him to leave the door open."

"You're hilarious," I say sarcastically. "Bet you can't have sex listening to The Simpsons."

"I bet we can," Liv says. "It'll just ruin your watching of your favourite show."

"I'll see you when you get home," I say on my way out the door. "Netflix?"

Liv smiles and waves goodbye to me as she finishes her breakfast. "Outlander," she replies. "If you're not home in time, I'll watch it without you."

With those parting words in mind, I leave for work. This time when I get to Starbucks I get myself a coffee, but no one else; this way I can still get to work on time without having to worry about spilling coffee on me or bumping into someone who doesn't have any spatial awareness. But when I arrive at the Glass Building – mine and Shelby's original name for our work building – I have enough time to spare to make one short visit prior to 9am.

I take the lift to the eighth floor, because that is where Kyle's office is located. The outside alone looks sophisticated and expensive, and I feel as though my touch alone to the front door will somehow damage it. Or at least dirty it.

The frosted glass panels and door hide a sleek foyer beyond. The floor is polished white marble, large and expensive artwork hang on the walls, and the floor to ceiling windows overlook the city below. The receptionist's desk is polished chrome, providing no privacy for her whatsoever.

The receptionist in question sits on a white leather chair with her attention focussed on the Mac computer in front of her. When she notices my slow approach, she stands up to greet me.

"Hi," she says, too cheerful for a Monday morning. With her blonde hair pulled away from her face, her bright red lips become front and centre. "How can I help you?"

The artwork is distracting, just as much as the view from the windows.

"I was wanting to know if you could please pass on a message to Kyle for me."

The lady cocks her eyebrow. "Is he expecting you?" she asks. She drops her chin and gaze to what I assume to be a diary with all of Kyle's meetings and other important goings-on.

"No, he's not," I say. Because the only way I was only ever going to do this was by dropping in unexpectedly. I would rather avoid than confront.

"He's not due in the office this morning," the lady continues.

"That's fine with me," I say. "Could you please pass this on to him for me?"

"Does he know what it is?" she asks.

"No, but he knows who it's from," I say, and I put a folded piece of paper onto the desk between us. "If you could just make sure he gets it, it'd be greatly appreciated."

The lady doesn't look convinced, but she takes it anyway and puts it somewhere that I can't see. "I'll make sure he gets it," she says.

"Thank you so much," I say as I turn to leave. "Have a nice day."

As I leave the office and head for the lift, I have an irrational fear that when the doors open, Kyle will be on the other side. But as I press the button, wait for it to arrive and the doors open with a ping, I sigh when the sight that greets me is nothing but a metal box.

When I arrive for work, I still have plenty of time to spare, even beating Jessica who is always here before me no matter what. She actually does a double-take when she sees me sitting at my desk.

"What the fuck," she says loudly and without thought. "Since when do you get here before me?"

"Today, and probably today only," I say.

"Good," she says as she heads for her office, "It's weird and I don't like it."

I stick my tongue out at her as she heads for her office.

I spend the rest of my morning doing the usual: taking phone calls, diverting phone calls to the relevant people, taking notes, paying invoices, organising meetings, finishing off work left over from the week before. So by the time I decide to have my lunch break, it's 12pm and I'm starving.

Today I haven't packed a lunch, so I decide to spend my break somewhere outside the office because the weather is too nice to be stuck indoors without a window to see it.

I also wonder whether the receptionist passed on my message to Kyle. She probably thinks I just want to get into Kyle's pants or something.

Shelby meets me at my desk before I head for lunch. "Do you have the message from Optimum Plumbing?" she asks.

I hand her my handwritten note. "He's free to talk from now until 1. Otherwise he's available all day tomorrow," I reply. "Anyway I'll be back in an hour."

Shelby, dressed similarly to me except her hair is pulled back into a sleek ponytail, asks me, "Please could you bring me back a coffee. I don't think I'll survive the rest of the day without one."

"Sure," I say, smiling. "Text me if anyone else wants one."

I leave the office, and making the short walk to the lifts nearby, I press the button and wait impatiently for it to arrive because I am starving. What to get for lunch?

Stepping inside the lift when it arrives, I turn to press the button for the ground floor – except it's already been pressed, lit up red. I hadn't realised someone was already in here, so when I look up, my body finally recognising the presence of another being, I too recognise the person in here with me: Kyle Ward.

It wouldn't be a Monday if shit didn't happen, would it?