Crazy Town

Telephone calls

Eleanor's POV

I messily scribbled down notes in my book as James was speaking, I bit my bottom lip in concentration, eager to keep up with what he's saying. We are currently in our last meeting of the day and just before lunch time, an important client sat on the other side of the table in the meeting room, they were going over terms in the contract and it was my job to take notes of everything that's said. 

After a few more minutes the meeting came to an end, I let out a long breath as the client shook James' hand before turning to me, I stood up quickly and also shook his hand, we followed the client out of the meeting room and down to the reception area, where he bid us goodbye and left the building. I follow James towards the elevator and we stand in comfortable silence as the elevator travels up to the floor where our offices are. 

'We should get lunch' he says, his arm coming around my waist, making the heat rise to my cheeks. 

'Um, I'm actually grabbing lunch with a friend of mine' I give him an apologetic smile, his eyebrows crease. 

'Allison?' he asks, I shake my head, I didn't want to tell him that I'm meeting Oliver because I know that for some reason the two seem to dislike each other. 

'No, another friend' I vaguely say, shrugging a shoulder.

His eyes narrow as he leans closer, my eyes dart away to stare at the wall behind him, is it just me or is this elevator is taking longer than usual? 'What's their name?' he asks.

'Ummm...' I struggle to come up with a name, just then the elevator dings and the doors slowly slide open as we've reached our level, thank goodness. I quickly slip out of his arms and hurry down the hall, I can hear him slowly walking behind me and I stare down at the ground as I feel Allison's stare burning into me, I know she saw him holding me close to him in the elevator when the doors opened and I already know she's probably smirking.

I dart inside my office and shut the door behind me, taking a deep breath before going over to my desk to grab my bag. I can seem James in my peripheral vision through the glass between our offices heading over to sit at his desk. I avoid looking at him and pick up my bag and leave my office again, 'Have a good lunch' Allison mockingly sings as I step into the elevator, I childishly stick my tongue out at her as the doors close. 

Once I've left the building I look around but don't see Oliver anywhere, I even checked in some bushes knowing that he's a weird stalker but he's nowhere to be seen, I shrug a shoulder, he's probably waiting for me at the sushi place that we agree to meet at. It only takes me five minutes to walk there and I step inside and look around... no Oliver. I frown before pulling out my phone and dialling his number, I hold it to my ear as it rings. After several rings it goes to voicemail... how strange, he always picks up. I redial his number whilst looking at the large menu plastered on the wall above the cashiers, it again goes to voicemail. I frown and decide to stand in the queue, perhaps he's running late. 

The queue is long and it takes me almost ten minutes to reach the tills and Oliver is yet to show up, I call him one last time, hearing it ring for a while before going to voicemail, I hang up. He stood me up? Why? Is he mad at me? Whatever. 

'What would you like to order?' a friendly girl smiles at me as I approach the till. I huff, no longer in the mood to be nice.

'Two seafood bento boxes please' I tell her, she taps on the screen and then I pay. It only take a few minutes before she hands me my food in a bag, I mumble a thanks before leaving, I huff angrily as I make my way back to my workplace, I glance down at my phone but see no new notifications, I can't believe he didn't even have the decency to at least text me that he's not coming. I curse him in my head and angrily press the button for my floor in the elevator, when it dings open I step out, Allison's desk is empty.