Soulmates are Overrated

Chapter Five

I spent the rest of the day avoiding anything remotely related to Hudson. This included me ducking behind a giant fake plant. I was heading for the bathroom when I caught sight of his pale, blue suit coming towards me. My first instinct was to turn around and run, but a group of men were shoving their way past me, making retreat impossible. The only two options left were to either face my fate or cower between a cubicle and the artificial plant situated beside it.

Obviously, the only sane option was to hide, which is why I am now squatting behind the branches of whatever green flower this is supposed to be. I shuffle around, trying to find a position that doesn't expose what is underneath my skirt. "What has my life come to?" I mumble.

The footsteps grow closer. I pause my movements when I hear that familiar, low voice. I huddle closer to the wall, hoping to shrink further into the shadows. I close my eyes, trying to block everything out. Maybe he won't notice me. Maybe he will pass this cubicle and go find some other girl to annoy. As long as he is anywhere far away from me.

"Alex? Is that you?"

Dammit. I open my eyes, Cody's face appears in front of me. He's worked for the company for years, but has yet to move up from his job as administrative assistant. The graying beard on his chin is a fantastic representation of the amount of time he has wasted in the cubicle behind me.

I try to shoo him away, praying he gets the message, but it's no use. "Why are you back there?" He asks, oblivious.

I sigh as Hudson comes into my line of sight, staring down at me with his dumb face. His two right-hand men are stationed behind him. Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum.

Slowly peeling myself out of the hole, I am careful to not let my gray pencil skirt ride up. "I thought I dropped something," I smooth the wrinkles out of my clothes before quickly pushing my way through the men. Big footsteps stomp behind me, but I don't falter in my walk. Instead, I keep my pace and pray for them to disappear.

"Alexis," my full name spews out of Hudson's mouth. He hasn't called me anything other than his insult of "babe" since we first met.

I ignore him, even when he has caught up to me. My feet don't hesitate in their determined path to my office, the one place I might actually be able to hide.

"I'm getting the feeling that you're avoiding me." He sighs, "it's either that, or you actually dropped something back there, and I highly doubt that."

Why didn't I just run in the other direction instead of cowering behind an artificial plant? Apparently I don't like to take the easy way out. If I had gone the other way, I might not be having this interaction right now.

"Can I help you with something?" I stop and face Hudson, crossing my arms in defiance. I don't see why we need to have so many conversations. Sure we are working on a new project together, but I thought we agreed to do research first. Separately. I guess that plan wasn't made entirely clear after our previous conversation.

"Why are you avoiding me? I know my looks are jaw dropping but-"

"What? You've never had a girl not want to be near you before?"

"Are you that upset about matching with your husband that you have to go and tear down the rest of us?"

Matching with my husband. He thinks I matched with Julian? He thinks that when I said I don't like what I know about Soulmate Scanner, I wasn't referring to Hudson and I matching, but Julian and I matching. He doesn't know. He doesn't know!

"Alex," Hudson snaps me out of my daze. "You look like you just won something other than a participation award." My grin drops into a scowl.

"You're an idiot." I turn around and continue the walk to my office. The weight of everyone's stares are now off me and back to their computer screens. Gossip only lives for so long in these trenches of desks.

Hudson follows me. "Fine. If you don't want to talk about your disappointing husband, then let's at least discuss our pitch. How are we doing this research? Do you want to divide and conquer?" If by divide and conquer he means dividing the workload of this big project after I conquer the pile on my desk, then yes, I think that's a fantastic idea. "We need to create a timeline. I'm thinking have the research done tonight and go over the information in the morning." I falter a little in my step as we stop in front of my office. I hope he doesn't pick up on it.

He wants me to be fully prepared by the morning? That is less than twenty-four hours, and if I plan to at least complete the files on my desk, I need a full forty-eight hours. "How about we finish up our past projects," I pray, "and then tomorrow we can start the research? Besides, we are definitely going to need more than one night to gather the proper amount of information."

He takes a moment to consider my words, his bushy eyebrows pulling together in concentration. He stares at his shoes. His long fingers cup his chin the same way a college professor would when examining a new theory. All he needs is the long ponytail and a pair of glasses perched on his nose to complete the look. I suppress the giggle in my throat at the thought of Hudson as a teacher. He would end up being the professor that sleeps with his students and only passes the ones with big cleavage and short skirts.

Hudson's concentration is thrown out the window when one of our coworkers struts by in a white and pink floral dress. Amy, I think, is her name. Her straight blonde hair cascades down her back. He winks as she curls the corner of her lip in a seductive manner.

"When you're done ogling our coworkers, do you mind giving me an answer?"

He smirks, "Ah, don't be jealous, Babe."

I refuse to acknowledge his jokes. It is already time for lunch, and I have run out of patience. "Have the research done by Thursday. Friday at the latest." I close my office door behind me, leaving a smirking Hudson in the hallway. As long as his stupid face is out of my sight, I'm happy.

I sit down in my chair and pull the stack of files in front of me. The time on my phone informs me that I've already wasted enough of the morning. If I start working and don't get distracted, I might be able to complete all of these before I leave. Maybe I can even leave on time today.

My eyes float to the picture of Julian and I on my desk. I used to dream about the day I would have a partner in crime and everything would run smoothly. We would fit like a puzzle. We would both get up in the morning with a ten minute increment between us for showering. He would wake me up with a kiss on my cheek and whisper "good morning." One of us would make breakfast while the other prepares our bags for the day, and then we would both be off to work. We would alternate who makes dinner, and it would fit. It would all fit perfectly. We would move like the rhythm of a song.

Life doesn't give you ease and perfection, though. Life gives you interfering schedules and a cold plate of spaghetti.