Give In

reflecting

"Good morning", Shawn said when he arrived at the office and placed the coffee he was carrying in front of his computer before taking his coat off. "How are you?"

"Good. You?"

"Awesome"

"You look like you're in a great mood"

"Yeah, I had a great weekend"

For some reason his words made me smile. Could I have played a part on making his weekend great? I tried not to give much thought to that. It would be stupid of me to take credit for it.

Our office had an open space arragement. Jim, our manager, insisted that being able to watch each other faces allowed for better relationships, team work and creativity. So, even when our desks were big and had a small division, we we're still in constant contact with each other. Shawn had taken the desk next to me so we were always in touch; therefore, I could notice how he was really in a great mood the whole morning. He hummed melodies every now and then, he joked around with people, he offered to do boring tasks like photocopying documents and overall acted so cheerful.

After lunch, I saw him stretching out his shoulder and I remembered the fall he had taken during his game that his friends mentioned.

"Was the fall that bad?" I asked.

"It was bad but not too much. I overworked my shoulder after it", he explained.

"Would a massage help?" I offered and immediately recounted my words.

"That would be awesome", he said without hesitation.

I stood up behind his chair and acted cool even though I could feel Liam's word hovering over me. I placed my hands around his neck and massaged it around, slowly going down to his shoulders. I repeated the movement a few times before focusing on his injured shoulder. I rubbed it with my fingers, applying pressure trying to make the muscle relax.

"That feels so good", Shawn whispered.

I was suddenly very self conscious and seriously doubting my actions. What was I doing giving him a massage on the office during working hours?

I looked down trying to end the task I had put myself into quickly when the collar of his white shirt moved around a little and exposed a hickey on the base of his neck, almost touching his shoulder.

I frowned and spoke before I could think about the words leaving my mouth.

"Is that a hickey?", my mouth said.

Shawn laughed a bit and turned around on his chair to look at me. He had a smirk on his face.

"Yeah. After you left on Saturday, I met this girl Angie in the club, and let's just say that I was a bit busy until Sunday morning. That's why my shoulder hurts, otherwise it would be ok by now". He laughed casually.

I couldn't help but feel a bit stupid for thinking I was the reason he was happy earlier. I sat back at my chair and gave him a smile.

"I see. Are you going to see her again?"

"I doubt it. It was just a one time thing. It was fun though".

"I can tell", I said referring to the mark on his skin.

"What about you? How was your Sunday?", he asked stretching once again.

"Really nice. We really missed each other those two days we spent apart", I exaggerated but played it cool so he wouldn't notice. I didn't know what I was doing lying to him and bluffing about something that wasn't true. What was the point?