Desire and Virtue-Series One

Treading in Shallow Waters

It's just a few hours before the launch party and Chloe is busy up and down ensuring everything is in place. "Hey boss, did you ask for the theme colors to be changed," Chloe questioned frantically. "Yea, I did, I sent you a message about it, didn't you get it?" Nigel responded calmly. "Shoot, my phone was on do not disturb, I missed it!" she replied with a calm sigh. "You're not the do not disturb kind of person, you okay girl?" Nigel questioned in concern. "I don't even know if I'm okay, I started panicking thinking I told the decorators the wrong thing," Chloe said while sitting down on a chair. "Wow, you need to calm down Chloe, you've been going hard at it all morning; haven't seen you work this hard for any fashion week in years," Nigel said with a grin. "Really, I didn't notice, it seems oh so normal to me," Chloe said while pushing her hair away from her eyes. Nigel walked calmly over to Chloe and rest his hands on her tense shoulders; "Look, I'm always appreciative of what you do around here, but take it easy okay." Chloe nodded in agreement and tried to get up; but he gently pushed her back to her seat. "Starting from now, take a break, at least a ten minutes; check your social media, talk to your friends, family, or something," Nigel insisted. Looking up at her boss, she smiled and agreed.

While in her boss' office scrolling through her social media, to her surprise Dexter was at the door knocking. Nigel signaled for him to come in and greeted him with a strong handshake. "Hey bro, what's up?" said Dexter. "Man, I'm just here finalizing some stuff for some clients, before my mind is free to enjoy the launch party tonight," Nigel replied with a wide grin on his face. Before Dexter replied to Nigel, he called out to Chloe and told her hello. Chloe raised her head slightly up and smiled and returned the greeting. Dexter, stared at her for about five seconds before he continued speaking to Nigel. "Man, I know you're busy, but I just had to ensure I know how to dress for this thing," Dexter said while glancing at Chloe. Chloe looked up and her eyes connected with his; she quickly fixed her eyes back on her phone and fixed herself on the chair. Pretending to not pay attention to their conversation, Chloe got up, "I think my ten minutes is up boss." Nigel grinned at her, "I'm sure it's not, but okay take it easy Chloe." Chloe assured him that she would and then exited his office. At her desk, she sat there wondering, how is this tall handsome guy, with great fashion sense worried about what he'll wear to the launch party, ha-that's crazy; I'm sure he'll look good in anything he wears. Her thoughts went on and on about how good he'll look that night, and how many eyes would be on him.

Leaving early from work that day, the closing door of the elevator was interrupted by Dexter's huge hands. As he walked in, his eyes immediately locked with hers, and his calm smile warmed Chloe's heart. Chloe tried to stay in her corner of the elevator, with her eyes focused on the elevator buttons. A few seconds on their way down, Dexter turned to her, "You know, Nigel talks about you a lot." Chloe looked over shyly, "Well, I assume it's all good things." "I swear they are," he replied taking his phone out his pocket to receive a call. Ten more floors down, and Chloe overheard him talking to a female about getting his clothes from the stylist and bringing it over later. His tone and demeanor wasn't that calm and pleasant as though he was talking to a significant other; but Chloe immediately felt a sense of jealousy or a sense of wanting to be in that females' position. As they approached the second floor, he hung up the phone and looked over at Chloe; "Well, I look forward to seeing you tonight Chloe." "Ohh yea, me too, hope you get that handled," replied Chloe while looking at his phone. He chuckled, "Oh yea, Dayna got me covered." Walking through the elevator door she questioned, "Wife?" He paused, before sharply replying, "Ohh no no," he chuckled, "Dayna's my sister, my favorite sister at least." Chloe felt as though tension had been raised from her chest when he said, sister. She calmly played off her immense change in body language and replied, "Wow that sounds amazing, having siblings' sounds great." "Trust me, on most days you wish it was you alone; but yea having a sibling that got your back is pretty amazing," Dexter chuckled. As they reach the car park, and was about to go their separate ways, Dexter said yet again, "Looking forward to seeing you tonight." Chloe blushed slightly and said, "Yea, me too."