Tesoro

21 | Bloody Lips

As people started walking away, John sighted "That was quite unexpected"

Then, he walked off, leaving Laura and I to stand there, watching everyone pass by to the door. Neither of us moved.

Once the last person got out a few minutes later, she turned to me "I didn't expect that either"

I stared at her, more concentrated on her the way she spoke, than what she did say.

Reaching out to touch her face- her cheek felt cold against my hand. Perhaps the weather.

I noticed her eye drop to my hand before looking back at me. I cupped her jawline, swiping my finger under her lip- smearing her red lipstick accidentally.

Her mouth opened, like she wanted to say something.

Only a minute late, a few words came out "Please, I can't-"

"I'm sorry darling" my voice no more than a whisper "I know"

She stood there, waiting, and waiting.

But I couldn't say, do a thing more. My brain felt foggy at the view of her pretty face, but not foggy enough to let me make a mistake. I was sober.

So, I dropped my hand, shaking my head before leaving as well- my brain in buzzing mess, making me wonder if I'd made the mistake anyway, by accepting this position so quickly.

I'd set myself up.

Fuck.

,,,

The next few days were spent running around making more arrangements, and we had to even go as far as delay the business trip to Edinburgh, to keep on working, for reasoning of the big sudden changes the branch was facing, and the upcoming marketing campaign.

Laura and I were left alone one too many times in that damn office, and every single time, it was like we were doing a very slow dance.

Walking on eggshells, careful and aware of each action I took- I was becoming a mad man. Sometimes I felt like she could sense it, sometimes she was completely oblivious to it.

Her every small breath in the silence of that office, as the view of sky from the window kept getting darker, faster than ever before, was driving me insane.

Sometimes it was so tempting- to touch her, feel her, that I had to look away, or even leave the room, in order not to cause that same pointless scene I did, after that conference meeting.

It was weird, and I was certain, I'd confused her, and the fact that neither of us were willing to address anything, but rather act 'professional', was making it so much worse.

Because that's all I had left- professionalism. I wore it like a mask. Just one of the many masks, I was struggling to keep on.

The ice felt thin.

"I feel like, now that we've addressed the issues on the way the company is changing, it would be a great time to take steps to dissolve them" she spoke as she stretched her neck slightly. We'd been bent over this stack of papers on the table, in front of each other, for a while. You could only stay sat for so long, so we'd been moving around the desk a bit.

Her voice sounded quiet, tired, and I couldn't blame her- the one day she didn't have to work her second job, she was staying way extra hours for the first one.