Levi crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow. Liam rolled his eyes. "What, do you not believe me?" He asked, crossing his too, though he wasn't as intimidating, what with being shorter and all. Levi took a deep breath. "I'm not gonna be angry if you are. I know you have no attraction to me, it's very clear that you don't," he said, and the both of them seemed to calm down at those words, a bit disappointed that they were true and that the other one thought so. Liam twitched his lips.
"Why do you even want to know?" Liam asks, squaring his jaw. He knew by now that the answer--yes--floated between the both of them, both knowing it but both needing closure for it before they'd let this go. And even if Liam never did tell Levi, Levi would know, and Liam didn't likeit, didn't like that either way he'd be found out and that either way Levi would know and that there was no way out of this. It was almost terrifying.
"I'd like to think of us as truthful to each other," Levi replied.
Liam snorted. "Yeah. You made it quite clear you were to know about my personal life when you kicked me out of yours," he said, and Levi seemed shocked, when he really shouldn't be, because of course Liam was right, and of course that made sense, and of course he'd use that. It quieted him, and he took a deep breath before he continued. "Alright. Fine," he said coolly, eyes closed, and his arms fell to his sides. "I just wish you trusted me enough to tell me, Liam," Levi said softly, patting him on the shoulder before he went to sit back down.
Levi, suddenl, could sense Liam winding up, anger growing and body tensing before he walked over to Levi's desk. Levi sat back, watching his jaw muscles as they ground together. "I do, too," Liam said. "I wish I could tell you something, anything, but I can't--because I don't know you. Hell, I never will, not outside of a work position. I wonder why, too, huh, Levi? Oh, yes, that's right. You cut off part of my job, cut off part of my salary--and now it's so low that I don't even know why I'm working here anymore," he finsihed, stumbling over his words in how angry he was, because damn it, he was attracted to Levi, and he was off limits, and he'd guessed it, he'd guessed that he was attracted to him, and he'd made Liam stop seeing him, and it was all so very frustrating. Why was he the one to be unprofessional about this? Why was he the one who let himself got hurt? He was hired because of how professional he was. Fat lot of professinalism he was showing now. He grinded his jaw again, his eyes burning coals before he turned on his heel, marching out of the office and slamming the door behind him.
It hurt Levi, it did. Liam had been a good friend, one of his only real friends since he started this whole damn company. To top it off, it surprised him how Liam had reacted, worried him and he wasn't sure if the man was going to come back into the office. He was glad he didn't have glass walls like many of the offices had been updated to--he'd be checking around the corner every few seconds to see if he was there, taking angry steps and his hair bunched to the side in a sort of quiff because he'd been tugging on it.
It was a long while since Liam came back up, and when he did, he seemed reasonably calm, and was carrying an envelope. When he walked in, Levi perked up visibly, and Liam had seemed taken aback by it, but he steeled himself and lay the envelope on Levi's desk, turning around and squaring his shoulders before he marched right back out again. Levi, curious, picked up the envelope, turning it around to the smooth side to see small cursive handwriting saying: 'Levi'.
He swallowed, thickly, sand in his mouth as he reached over his desk for a letter opener, turning the envelope over to slip the letter opener between the adhesive, ripping it open smoothly. Inside was a piece of copy paper, and Levi pulled it out, unfolding it--it was divided into thirds--and looked at the printed letters on it, skipping the headings--his mouth becomin dryer and dryer--and reading the body of the letter:
"Dear Levi Lowry,
It is with reluctance that I'm submitting this resignation letter.
Although I have worked at LEC for the past week, I am unable to see myself continue to perform well in an unpredictable work environment.
Additionally I do not see any potential for advancement or professional growth at LEC and have, therefore, accepted a position where my skills and expertise can be optimally tapped.
It is with regret that I ask you to accept this as my resignation from Mr. Reifers with LEC effective immediately.
Sincerely,
Liam Reifers"
He nodded, rolling his lips over his teeth, keeping his mouth from saying very bad things before he took a deep breath, being able to feel his face turning red with his growing anger. He tried to do breathing excercises, breathing in four four seconds and out for six, before he got frustrated when he couldn't count the seconds well enough and he slammed the letter onto the table. After a momen'ts consideration, he grabbed the envelope and stuffed the letter back inside, crumpled from his rough handling of the paper, and he threw the envelope across the room--though it wasn't very satisfying because it just drifted from side to side before it landed on the floor.
