Keeping it Professional

Chapter 10

They checked out and Elsa and Emma went to the food court. They ordered pizza and stood off to the side, watching as the employees made their pizza. Elsa turned to Emma with a smirk on her face, and Emma pretended not to notice. She didn't want to talk to anyone about her relationship with Killian. There wasn't anything interesting about it as it was. They were just coworkers now. She worked for him and he was her boss.

"Mr. Jones seems to really like you." Elsa began.

"Please." Emma scoffed. "Just because he gave me a promotion, doesn't mean he likes me."

"No, no. He's liked you for a long time, Em. Everytime you two are in the same room, he stares at you. He gave you his jacket the other day!"

"Els, don't look too much into all this. I haven't. He can be a complete asshole when he wants to be. Besides, I just broke up with Neal. I'm not ready to start another relationship."

"You are so blind! You are like the only person who can make him happy when he is in a bad mood."

"He's always had a problem with me. He's probably just been in a good mood with me lately because of the promotion and the thing with Neal."

"Really, then why is he staring at you now?"

"What?" Emma whipped her head around, but Killian was nowhere in sight. She could hear Elsa laugh beside her, and the other blonde turned to stare at her friend. "Not funny."

"They don't call me the Ice Queen for nothing." Their number was called and they got their pizzas and sat down. "But seriously, you can't tell me that you don't like him even a little bit?"

"No, Elsa. I don't."

"Are you sure nothing has ever happened between you two?"

"Well, I mean we kissed once-"

"You kissed?" Elsa asked with a shout.

"Just once, and it was really brief."

"You have finally come to terms with how perfect you two are."

"Elsa! There is no 'us' and there never will be."

"You keep telling yourself that." Elsa said with a wink.

Elsa dropped Emma off at her apartment after they ate and she got ready to meet Elsa at the nearby bar. Penny's Grill was a place that Emma and her friends would hang out with there a lot. When she walked inside, Elsa wasn't at the normal table or booth. Emma decided to wait for her friend. About a half hour later, her phone vibrated in her clutch purse. Once grabbing her phone, it showed that there was a text message from Elsa, stating that she wouldn't be able to make it. Emma huffed and shoved her phone back into her clutch.

"Hey, Emma!" She looked up when someone said her name. She smiled when she saw her brother walking towards her. "You look great." He said with a thumbs up. Emma laughed and hugged her brother, kissing him on the cheek.

"Thanks, David. Where's Mary Margaret?"

"Home. I just stopped by. She knows."

"Good." Emma laughed and they sat down. "Stay for a beer? I'm alone."

"Neal didn't accompany you?"

"Nah. You wouldn't want to hang around with your ex, would you?"

"You broke up with him?"

Emma sighed and looked down at her beer, and played with the drops of condensation on it. "Yeah. Turns out he has been lying to me since as long as we've been going out together. He's trying to sabotage my boss's company. I should have listened to you guys. You were right."

"Hey, Emma, it's going to be alright. I can always go and give him the beating of a lifetime if you want me to."

Emma chuckled. "That's alright, David."

"There are plenty of other guys out there."

"I know. I'm just not sure if it's smart to make the next move."

"What do you mean?"

Emma looked up and smiled. "I think my boss is attracted to me."

"Oh."

"Yeah. I'm just not sure how I should feel about it. I'm not even sure if that's right. For the first few months that I've worked there, he's been such an asshole."

"Bosses are supposed to be."

"But then he's been taking me out to lunch, giving me his jacket when I'm cold, and he even gave me a promotion that I'm pretty sure didn't even exist until Thursday."

"Sounds like Jones really does like you."

"I don't want him to."

"Why not?"

"Think about it, David. If Killian does like me, what's going to happen when people find out? They will think that I slept with him to get my job and call me a slut. Then, if things end badly, he will threaten my position. I just can't get myself into a dark place in a relationship with him. Who knows where that's going to take me."

"Emma, take a leap of faith. I believe in you."

"But I don't think I can believe in myself. I'm trying. I really am, but I've worked so hard. I don't want it to come crashing down. I put up with Killian's shit for months because I didn't want to lose my job. I'll lose an even better job if I screw this up."

"You're going to be fine." Just then David's phone started to ring. He picked it up and excused himself, but couldn't tell Emma who was on the other line. She sighed and watched him leave the building, his beer resting on a napkin on the table. When David returned, he gulped down the rest of his beer and placed money on the table. Enough for both of their drinks. "Lets go. I'll drive you home."

"I'm fine walking home." Emma insisted.

"Drop your stubbornness for five seconds, would you?"

She sighed dramatically. "Fine."

"There we go." They threaded their arms and walked out to David's car. "You have to come have dinner with me and Mary Margaret sometime this week."

"It's been a while since I've seen my older brother, so I guess so."

"I love you, Em."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Now is not the time to get cheesy on me, Dave."

"No, I'm serious. Even though I don't say it much, I do love you. You coming to live with us was the best decision Mom ever made."

"She took me out of that hellhole and brought me home. I even got an older brother in the deal, so that was a bonus." They pulled up to the apartment and David walked her to the door. She hugged him tightly and he squeezed her back. "I love you too, David."