Starting Over (Unexpected Encounters part 3)

Chapter 19

I got back to my desk and sat down with a loud sigh. Liz walked in behind me and took a seat in the chair opposite of me.

She looked at me with her eyebrows raised as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well?" She said.

"We were just talking," I said, "she pulled me in there because she didn't want anyone else to hear."

"Uh huh," Liz nodded slowly.

"I'm serious!" I insisted, "if anything else happened I'd be happy to admit it."

"Even though you're with Lexie now?" She asked.

"I - that's a conversation for another day," I said, "it's complicated, I don't know what I'm doing."

"Want to tell me what she had to pull you into a closet to talk about?" Liz asked.

"No," I shook my head, "I can't, hence why she had me in a damn closet."

"Right," Liz said, "sorry."

"It's fine," I told her, "I just can't really share anything aside from the fact that she needs my help with something."

"Well that's cute that you're the one she asked," Liz teased.

"It's not like that," I sighed, "I honestly wish she wouldn't have asked."

"Got it," she nodded, "okay well I won't give you anymore shit about it."

"All good," I grinned, "I'll let it slide just this once."

She smiled back at me and we finally started to do our work for the day.

***

When I left that night, I quickly took my phone out and texted Austin.

"Hey what are you up to?"

"At your place actually, hanging with Kaia," he responded.

"Okay perfect, don't go anywhere I need to talk to you guys," I sent.

That was probably going to make them panic, but oh well, that might be necessary at this point.

I got home a few minutes later, and the two of them were sitting on the couch. Austin had his arm wrapped around Kaia's shoulders, and it still looked weird to me.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"Yeah you're kind of worrying me," Kaia added.

"Okay well," I started, "I need to ask you both a favor, and when I do, I want you to remember how nice and understanding I've been about the two of you dating."

"Okay..." he said hesitantly.

"Whitney asked me for help today," I started to explain, "she um, she needs someone to pretend to be her boyfriend for one dinner...with her parents."

"You can't be serious," Austin laughed, "absolutely not."

"Listen," I sighed, "I can't exactly explain what's going on with her, but I really need you to do this."

"And where do I come in with all of this?" Kaia asked.

"I just wanted to make sure you'd be okay with it before we agreed to anything," I said.

"Oh," she shrugged, "yeah I don't care."

Austin gave her a quick look out of the corner of his eye before he turned back to me. Maybe Kaia being okay with it would help my case.