Out of Time

Thirty Four Big City, big dreams

He laughs and shakes his head a bit. Blonde hair that I'd imagine gets even lighter in the sun, I can imagine him looking like the typical surfer type guy in his birthplace. His eyes are blue and he has a perfect smile. He'd be a great fit for Leah actually. I should try to play matchmaker with those two.

"Didn't know I was such a prize. I guess I missed that memo." He laughs.

"You know who you should go out with? Leah. She's so into you and she's gorgeous." I lean in to be as discreet as possible so that no one else hears me.

"Is that right? Hmmm...interesting. I typically don't date coworkers, I don't like the drama." He answers. His eyes dart from my eyes to my lips.

"Well, if you change your mind...let me know, I'll set the whole thing up." I offer.

He laughs and shakes his head a bit. Our group begins to dwindle as the night wears on and I eventually notice we are down to five of us including Trevor and I. Leah slides into the booth to tell me that she and the three others are going to grab an Uber and head home since they all live within a couple of blocks of each other. I tell her I'm heading out soon also and Trevor tells Leah he'll be sure I make it home fine. He insists on paying my tab along with his and I pull out my phone to arrange an Uber and Trevor tells me he's already arranged one and he insists on me joining him. Within five minutes I'm in the back of the Uber with him and he mentions how glad he is that I joined everyone tonight and how much he's enjoyed spending time outside of the office getting to know me.

We arrive at my building and he asks the driver for a few minutes to walk me inside my building. He follows me inside and I thank him for the shared ride and I tell him how much fun I had.

"Can I ask you something?" He says as I fumble inside my purse for my keys before I call for the elevator. I look up at him and nod my head that he can continue.

"Earlier...you said friend and then you said complicated. Define complicated friend for me please." His eyes are serious and for some reason it makes things awkward.

"I'm not sure really how to define that. He's in England for his job for the unforeseeable future and...."

"And you're here." He finishes my sentence for me.

"Yea. Something like that." I smile.

"What sort of arrangement is there between you?" He asks.

"We are exclusive. We are both focused on our career and not dating anyone else ,but it's complicated because we're very limited to how much we can even see one another right now."

"So you're not dating anyone else but not really dating each other either?" Trevor says with a smile and a shake of his head.

"Told you it was complicated. Good thing you don't do complicated." I laugh and tease him.

"So I'm guessing he wouldn't like it if I asked you to dinner as friends?" He asks.

"Probably not, just as I wouldn't like him doing the same. "

"I understand. Can you let me know if anything changes? If suddenly you have the need to have dinner with a charming coworker from Australia then you know where to find me." He smiles and looks down at his feet for a moment. '

"Thought you didn't date coworkers?" I tease him as I press the elevator button.

"Some rules are meant to be broken Everleigh." He says softly as the elevator doors open. I give him a quick hug before turning and entering the elevator. The doors close as he's walking away and once they are completely closed I close my eyes for a moment to ground myself. In this moment I've never missed Harry more. I also realize that I feel alone in this city. Away from my best friend, away from Harry, away from everything familiar. I know that part of finding yourself is allowing yourself to be open for new experiences with new people but that scares me. It scares me because I don't want to bring new things into my life for fear that it could replace the old, familiar things. Maybe that's what scares me the most.