Pose

Chapter Two: Passing Connections

(Corrine's Point of view)

        In my defense, I tried; I really tried not to blush at what Nathaniel Smith said.

        I failed miserably.

        My cheeks were on fire and I began mentally running through things to say.

        Fortunately (or unfortunately, I'm still not quite sure), he was suddenly embraced by Kelly.

        "Easy!" I heard him say, laughing softly as she visibly crushed him.

        "We're have you been?" She squealed.

        I gape at her, then grin. Apparently, my boss knows him a lot better than I thought she did.

        "Around, Kelly. I'd like some oxygen please." He choked out.

        She pulled away and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry." She wrapped an arm around me. "I see you've met my brilliant photographer." 

        The blush that had been cooling off returned in full force. "I am hardly brilliant, Kelly." I murmured.

        Nathaniel and Kelly both gave me a look.

        "You're too modest for your own good. Or you're just dumb." She shrugged.

        "Ouch, Kelly!" I laughed softly, knowing she was just kidding... Then again, you can't really tell with her.

        "You know I adore you!" She gushed.

        "This isn't an appropriate boss-employee relationship, I see." Nathaniel muttered, raising a suggestive eyebrow.

       Suddenly, a hand covered my eyes.

        "Guess who!" A male voice with an American accent said.

        "Cedric?"

        The hand moved away and I was wrapped up in a bear-hug.

        "How did you guess?" My brother in law murmured into my hair.

        Cedric is Jason's younger brother. He was his complete opposite too. Where Jason was cold and extremely logical, Cedric was...fire. He was unpredictable and impulsive.

        Which was why he was so much fun to have around.

        "Because I know your voice, idiot." I grinned, hugging him tightly.

        He released me and held me at an arm's length, giving me a once-over. "Damn, woman, you look good. As you always do." He grinned.

       "And you look the same as you always do." It's true. His warm brown eyes, goofy grin, and incredibly messy brown hair never changed. "But you did get more tattoos." I pointed out, looking at his arms.

       "Hell yeah." His grin widened.

        Realizing that I've been incredibly rude, I turned and faced Kelly and Nathaniel. "This is my idiot in law, Cedric." I smiled.

        "Hurtful," he whined. He shook hands with Nathaniel (who was trying really hard to hide his shock. He even took a glance at my hand, and that's when I understood his surprise. I had forgotten to wear my rings) and then turned to Kelly and turned on the full charm. And Kelly seemed charmed.

        Did I mention Cedric is a horn ball? Well, he is.

       Nathaniel and I shared an awkward look. We are now the 'the friend of a friend' left together. I glanced at my boss and brother in law and found then looked back to him, nodding to the side as if to say 'let's give them a moment'.

       We both stepped aside and let them be.

        I offered an awkward smile. “So… How’d you meet Kelly?”

         He grinned. “She’s my sister.”

        It took me a moment to absorb that bit of information. Then I blinked once, twice, and a third time for good measure.

        “You’re…kidding, right?”

        If possible, his grin widened. “Nope.”

        “Oh, dear. You poor thing.” I murmured, giving my best faux apologetic look.

        Kelly was most certainly one of the best people I have ever met in my entire life. However, she was insanely overwhelming most of the time which intimidated many people, even me sometimes.

        “I know, right? I deserve some kind of reward for putting up with her for long. And her messiness…”

        I raised an eyebrow. “What? Do you have OCD?”

        “Thank God, no. But imagine I did….?”

        When he let the sentence hang we both shuddered. Kelly, God bless her, was one of the messiest and least organized people. Ever.

        I glanced away from that blindingly beautiful smile to try to look for Kelly… aaaaaand she’s gone.

        Damn, Cedric works fast.

        Abruptly, Reya grabbed my arm and began saying, “Corrine, get your ass over—“She stopped talking once she got a good look at Nathaniel. “Uh—you should-need-um-over…”

        Nathaniel’s grin didn’t waver as he extended a hand for her to shake. Gripping my arm with her right hand she extended her left hand.

        “Wrong hand, honey.” I murmured, trying and failing to contain my amusement.

        “Right, sorry!” She smiled sheepishly. She released me and took a step forward.

        Then tripped over air and straight into Nathaniel.

        Thankfully, he caught her against him before she fell or worse, toppled him over too.

        I had to clamp a hand on my mouth so I wouldn’t laugh. Usually, I was the one all over the place so this is a bit of a surprise.

        As Nathaniel straightened her, he said, “Are you okay? Do you need to sit down?”

        He released her. “Oh, I’m fine-really, I am. Um, Corrine, can you…?” Come with me? I mentally filled in the blank for her.

        “Sure, honey.” I smiled. Bringing my attention back to Nathaniel, I said, “I’m sorry but I have to go. Again, it was a pleasure to meet you.”

        He smiled. “Likewise, Corrine.”

        I think some natural-unnatural impulse took over us both and next thing we knew, we were hugging.

        I noticed my nose what pretty much pressed against his shirt, and I nuzzled him, holding him tighter. He hugged me back too, his face in my hair.

        Of course hugs were just a physical gesture shared between people for multiple reasons, but my brain totally ignored that. To me, this felt…valuable, and to a certain extent, deeply intimate. And when he released me and we said our final casual goodbyes I felt…bereft.

        This is silly, Corrine. I scolded myself. This is just a passing connection between a stranger. You probably won’t even remember this when you wake up tomorrow morning.

        I hoped that was the case. 

*************************************

CHAPTER TWO

My third O-level today and I feel absolutely giddy! I think I did well....

I'm very sorry about the short chapter! Forgive me?

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