A Wrench in the Gears [Damien Haas]

9. I am and it's wrong!

Hey, guys! What's up? How are you guys doing?

One thing that I've noticed while writing this is that I write better without having anyone in mind at the moment. Does anyone feel that way?

This will be a sad chapter, by the way. Just a warning. I love you all.

Anyway, let's go back, shall we? Damien's point of view. See you!

-/-/-

In the course of the four-week friendship the beautiful Jade Natalie Greene and I have, there was one thing that I knew I wasn't brave enough to do: a Grand Romantic Gesture (GRG™). First of all, it was impossible for someone like me to do that, because I was the textbook definition of "bad at dating." But more importantly, there was one reason why I just couldn't perform the GRG™: Jade hadn't been staying long at Smosh HQ.

After the wondrous Monday evening, the following Wednesday and Friday always went by a little too quickly that she even forgets to say goodbye to me. It sounded immature of me to ask for a goodbye, but I was becoming expectant for it. I didn't want to sound selfish either, but it seemed like those two days which could have been filled with wonder were filled with stress. I had long been planning the GRG™, but what good is it when she wouldn't be around for it?

So that Saturday, I decided to go to Athens News HQ. It was already eight in the evening, so I assumed that the broadcast was over, but according to the trustworthy Lily, Jade hadn't left the building yet. Up the elevator, I went until the doors opened to her floor. I ask the receptionist where she was, and she just points at a cubicle near the huge windows and the boss's office.

"Jade?" I mumble as I peep into her cubicle.

This was the first time I had seen Jade like this. She was completely knocked out and snoring loudly, an unfinished cup of coffee near her laptop. She still has her blazer on, her heels are already off her feet, and she's sitting in her office chair in a bad posture. A very bad posture. On her laptop were not one, not two, but five unfinished reports all due for the following day. This had probably been her all week, cramming on reports especially because of all the big events in America.

There were other things on her desk that I spotted. First of all, there was a picture of her parents and it seemed old. Her parents were separated after all, and I never really saw her father when I went at her place. There was a picture of Jason and Jeremy holding lightsabers and smiling right at the camera. There was a picture of her two dogs, Eleanor and Chidi, and her three cats, Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle. But of course there was one picture that caught my eye: a picture of us.

My heart starts to beat rapidly as I pick up the frame. I remember this moment: we were just about to eat the amazing chicken parmesan dinner that the twins cooked for us and they insisted on taking a picture of us. Jade's smile was relentless and bright, everything she was, and this picture captured the moment I was looking at this perfect smile. Maybe she found it on her phone and decided to print it out. But then, that means...

Does she like me?

Oh, God. That question occurred to me just now. Why would she have a picture of us framed and placed on her office desk, her little sanctuary? I wanted to know so badly but I hadn't even done the GRG™. I put the picture frame back on her desk and tell myself to forget that I ever saw it. In the nick of time, Jade wakes up and blindly stumbles for her glasses.

"Hey!" I greet her, smiling.

"Gah!" she screams upon seeing me and falls off her chair. "Oh, God. You scared me there."

I help her up, my eyes still glued on the photo. "Oh, sorry, sorry." I peel my eyes away and she takes her glasses before facing me. "You... wear glasses?"