Golden Rain [COMPLETE]

°•° 7 °•°

Miranda subtly grabbed a few files and then left the hall, like I minded her being there. I really didn't.

I licked my lips, shifting to face her. I felt a little uncomfortable having to ask her about this but I was already here so I might as well just go for it. "Miranda said that you get off soon?"

She pulled her phone from her pocket and checked the time. "Yeah, in about ten minutes."

I shoved my hands in my sweatpants' pockets, trying to not fidget. "Are you free?"

She eyed me curiously. "Depends on what you're wanting me to do."

"I'm that transparent, huh?" I chuckled slightly.

She cracked a smile. "Yep, pretty much."

"Great," I said sarcastically. Her smile slowly faded as she waited for me to answer why I was here and what I was asking her to do. Eat the frog, I told myself. "I need your help."

"With...?"

With a huff, I spit it out. "I need to go... baby shopping."

She stared at me a second before she started dying of laughter. "You realize how that sounds, right?"

I pursed my lips together before joining in with a chuckle. "Now I do, yeah."

She sucked in a deep breath and wiped at her eyes, trying to calm herself down. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. But how do I tie into this?"

My nervousness came back with an aggressive tumbling in my stomach. "I don't really..." I threw my hands up in a vague gesture trying to find my words. With a frustrated sigh, I restarted. "I don't know what I'm doing and I don't really know who else to go to. You seem a little less idiotic than I am so I was wondering if you could help me out."

She raised her brows at me. "A little less idiotic?"

I huffed. "Well, it's true."

"Maybe only a little," she joked, sending me a teasing smile. But she quickly sobered. "Sure, I can help. But, to be honest, I'm not sure how helpful I can be in the baby supply shopping section since, you know, I don't really have a kid..."

"Right. Sorry. I just thought-"

"I'm joking, Kason. Lighten up. I'll help," she said with a smirk.

I nodded. "Okay. Thank you. Do you want me to just wait here or...?"

She waved at the air. "Nah, come on."

I watched as she made her way back toward the double doors, expecting me to follow. I raised my brows. "Can't you get fired for having me back there?"

"Probably." She shrugged nonchalantly. "But I took you up on the roof to destroy things and–look! I'm still here!"

I guess she had a point.

So I trailed after her.

She led me down a few halls that I hadn't seen before and then pushed through a pair of swinging doors. Inside was a room with a bunch of tall computers, monitors, and screens.

"Welcome to the machine lab," she said in what was almost a football announcer voice. "Where your information transferring dreams come true."

I snorted as she plopped down in a spinny chair behind a computer monitor, going around in a full 360 before facing the screen.

I pulled up a chair from another desk and positioned myself next to her. "What all do you do here?"

She smacked a finger on a manilla folder on the desk beside her. "I take what's written here"—then she poked the computer screen— "and type it into the system here."