NY, NY | phan

1.4

"I'm fine, sir," I said as he sipped on his drink. He made a mhm sound as he lowered his drink and grabbed my hand.

"Dan, you don't have to call me sir. We're out of the office, we're here as friends."

Friends.

His hand stayed there on top of mine until the waitress came back with our food. My dish was huge, way too big for me. Phil's was a long rectangular plate with a type of sushi laid out in a line. I looked at my food; it smelled and looked delicious. I was nervous to eat I front of him. My daily lunch consisted of an apple, a turkey sandwich, and a ziplock bag of potato chips. This cost too much and I didn't like it when people paid for me. He was already eating and I was staring at the food like I hadn't eaten in days. I wasn't even that hungry.

"Don't worry, if you don't finish it you can get a box," he said endearingly, with a cheeky smile. I could never pull off his façade. If I had tried to pull off that smile, there would be something in between my teeth just to ruin my life.

I looked down at the plate once more and I could feel his eyes on me. I coughed and asked him where the bathroom was. I quickly rose from the booth and walked in the direction that he pointed me in. As soon as I was in a stall, I slid down the door and buried my head into my lap, closing my eyes.

I thought about what time it must be and grabbed my phone. I clicked the lock button and I had ten notifications, all from Louise. It was almost one o'clock and lunch break was already over. I dialed her number quickly and the first thing that came out of her mouth were cuss words. I removed the phone from my ear as she continued to yell.

"Louise!" I yelled but she kept talking. "Louise please stop yelling! I'm sorry I missed our lunch date but there are more important things happening right now."

"What is more important than your best friend, Daniel?" I sighed as I held the phone between my shoulder and ear and looked at my shaking hands.

"I'm on a date, at least I think it's a date." She started screaming again, causing me to move the phone from my ear once more. "Louise calm down! I would have called but he wouldn't let me."

"He?!" she asked, yelling the question.

"Louise, please. I just called to apologize, I'll catch you up later. Want to meet up for some Mario Kart?"

"Fine," she mumbled. "But I won't be able to stay long."

"I'll see you later, okay?" I asked, looking down at my lap. She agreed and hung up. I got off of the floor and unlocked the stall, walking over to the sink. I looked myself in the mirror and wondered why that woman gave me such an ugly look. I thought I looked fine as I splashed a little water onto my face, but being the clumsy person I am, got some on my shirt. I rolled my eyes as I tried to dry it. I finally gave up and walked back to the table.

Phil was talking to someone on the phone. I slid into the booth nervously and looked at him, patiently.

"I-I've got to go. I'll see you later, bye now," he said before hanging up.  "Sorry that was the office."

"Are we in trouble?" I asked. He looked at the water stain on my shirt and smiled.

He chuckled before he spoke,"Of course not, dear. I am the executive after all." I laughed along. "Now eat before it gets cold."

Disclaimer: I rarely use ?! So you just witnessed a miracle. Most people find the use of ?! very informal and with my writing, I tend to stick with the formal side of things.