"Come on, Esther. Unlock the door." Scott huffed.
Esther didn't move from where she'd planted herself in front of his office door, arms crossed, flanked by Ryan and Matt.
"No. Go to bed. Hang out with Kirstie. Take a walk. Stop working and take a break."
Scott buried his face in his hands. She wasn't gonna back down. "But I don't want to—there's so much to do—"
"Scott, you're literally doing other peoples' jobs," Matt stepped forward and wrapped Scott in his arms gently, rubbing his back. "There's nothing left for you to do."
"I don't want to be alone and bored." Scott figured he didn't need to bother pretending they didn't know why. "Kirstie's working late tonight; I can't go bother her."
"Then I'll go get Avi and send him up to your room. You go pick a movie and Avi will bring snacks and you will try to take the rest of the night off." Esther didn't look like no was going to be an acceptable answer, so he nodded dejectedly and extracted himself from Matt's hold to wander slowly towards his quarters.
That didn't actually sound too bad, though. A movie and snacks with Avi? That could be just like the old days before he met Kirstie and—and Mitch. He wouldn't mind an evening without any responsibilities, without sitting around and hopefully glancing at every new report laid on his desk or listening to the news play with an air of desperate helplessness. Just... relax. He can do that. He'll figure it out. If Kirstie can figure out how to do it, then he can, too.
He passed a group of staff members whispering excitedly in the hall. He wouldn't mind getting his friends together soon and hanging out like that—just talking and laughing. One of the men whipped his head around and nudged the girl next to him, and suddenly the entire group was silent and trying to be subtle about their staring. He raised an eyebrow as he passed.
He didn't often run into people gossiping about—probably—him. Now that was unsettling. He could ask Avi what the gossip about him was when he met him for the movie. Avi would know what's up. He always knows the gossip.
He could hear muffled giggles and whispering start up again quickly after he turned the corner. Guys, he's still right there, he's just around the corner. A smile cracked across his face at their excitement. He missed laughing like that with Mitch and Kirstie in their new apartment's living room. Hell, he even missed Kirstie's old apartment. He missed—
Ok, no. He shook his head a little as he walked up to his door. No, he was gonna have one evening without thinking about any of that. One nice, relaxing night. No stress, no obsessive news watching, no trying to meet the Senators' demands, no thinking about—
"Mitch?"
YOU ARE READING
A Reunion of Lips
FanficSequel to Seven Levels Below--if you don't read that first, this isn't gonna make much sense! There were fingers digging into his shoulders, trailing down his spine, smoothing over his warm skin. He sighed and relaxed into the touch for a few minute...
