A new box to fit in.

6

I hid in the change room far longer that was necessary, when I finally dragged myself out I headed straight for the door. Unfortunately to get to the door from the ladies change room you had to pass Joe's office.

As I walked past I could see Malcolm and Joe in there having an argument, the door was open. As I walked passed I could hear some of what they were discussing. "You can't just expect her to let you back into her life just like that, especially when you haven't apologized. Have you even talked to her about why you left in the first place?" Joe just about yelled at Malcolm.

"No I didn't, I haven't really even thought about talking to her about why I left. I've just been talking to her like I usually do." Malcolm said calmly as if he'd never done anything wrong. "Are you kidding me! That's probably one of the first things that you should have done. And now you're trying to pry into her very personal life, and broadcast it across the gym at the same time!"

I felt my heart jump at his words, he was defending me, no one had ever stood up for me like that before.

"I'm just trying to protect her like I've always done! I'm not going to let some random guy not even worth her time hurt her. I've always protected her! All through high school when ever some good for nothing pig decided to try for her I'd always intercept and steer him clear of her. That's how it's always been and how it will always going to be."

Holly crap! That was great just great. That was why I was never asked out. I just thought that no one ever like me, but all this time Malcolm had been thwarting any opportunity that I may have had. Well damn him! That is so going to change. Now that he's no longer in my life and I'm not totally concentrating on school I can actually get a life, maybe even find a boyfriend. Yeah that sure would be nice.

I sped up my pace and left the gym without looking back. I let my fury and determination drive me as I sped home. I was no longer going to let Malcolm rule my life, I was going to get out there and live my life without further interruption.

The next day at work I walked straight up to Angela, "I need to meet more people, get myself out there. I'm going to turn over a new leaf and be a people person, be sociable." I said as we put our stuff into our lockers in the employee room.

"Okay!" She said enthusiastically, I knew that she'd help. "I'm going to see a movie with a few friends tonight after work, join us." She said before we went back out to greet the waiting patients.

Her friends turned out to be a lot of fun, and they easily welcomed me into their group. We ended going out for a late dinner and drinks and I didn't get home until at least midnight. They'd invited me to join them Thursday for bowling after work. It sounded like a lot of fun, I hadn't gone bowling in years.

"So my friends loved you." Angela said as soon as we got a break together at work. I'd gotten in early and was already with a patient when she'd arrived and we'd been working steadily with back to back patients.

"Well they're pretty awesome themselves." I said taking a sip of my tea. "They said that I could invite you anytime. Justin was even more taken by you. He called me this morning before work to ask if you were single. Apparently his best friend would love you." She said with a big grin. That would be perfect if right off the bat I were to get a date. Even if we didn't end up soul mates, it would still be nice to go out on an actual date.

"He asked if I could pass on his friend's number to you and get you to text him or something." She said pulling out a piece of paper with a name and number on it. "His name is Gregory, I've actually met him a couple of times before, he's pretty cute and really nice. I think that you'd get along great with him." She said as I grabbed the paper from her and set it in front of me. "What do I say?" I asked staring at it.

"Something cute and flirty, but short." She said sliding my phone in front of me. "Here write the message now, that way I'm here and can help you."

I didn't really know how to tell her, as I didn't want to let her down and disappoint her friend when I'd just met them but.... "I don't think that I should text him just yet."

"Why not? Is there someone else?" She asked quickly catching on. "Maybe, but I'm not sure if its mutual. I mean we're friends, well at least I think we are... I hope we are. But I mean I don't want to be rude and not text him, especially if he's expecting a message from me. And I don't want to piss off Justin." I said staring down at my phone.

"It's okay if you don't message him, especially if you already like someone else. I can explain it to Justin, he'll be fine with it. But if it doesn't work out text Gregory, just don't wait around for this other guy too long."

"I won't. I just need to figure out if I even have a chance with him." I mumbled. "So are you going to let me know who this guy is?" She asked as we headed back. "it's ummm... Well....... It's Joe." I said into my tea. I hadn't really thought too much about him and what I was feeling towards him. All I knew was that every time that he was near I felt tingly all over and that when he was nowhere close to me I thought about him every secound.

"Joe really! That's awesome, he's so nice. My gosh he would be perfect for you." Angela said with a giant smile on her face. "I'm going to make a plan, I'm really good as setting people up. With in two weeks I'll have you two together if you do what I tell you too." She said looking somewhere far off into space.

Angela was on a roll for the next few days trying to make a plan to get Joe and I together, and when we got to the bowling alley Thursday night she got her friends in on it too.

"So, you've gone out for dinner twice, given it was at a food truck, you've also had tea and breakfast together and you work out together all of the time. You're definitely friends." She said talking it through with her friends.

"Oh so he definitely does like you, we just need to figure out if he likes you as more than just friends or not." Said Joanne who was sitting beside her.

For the next two hours as we bowled, in which I'd totally kicked ass, they debated the best way for me to catch Joe's eye. They wanted me to start dressing a sexier, but that just wasn't me, and I wasn't about to change who I am for a guy. "Well when are you going to see him again?" Justin asked as we stood at the counter to return our shoes. "There's a charity match tomorrow at the gym and Joe invited me." I said handing over my shoes.

"Well that's perfect, most girls dress all skimpy at those kinds of events. Here's your chance to show a little skin and grab his attention." Justin said wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. "But he already saw her all dressed up last Saturday when we went out and ran into him, and he was diffidently checking her out then. He was way jealous when Malcolm was hugging her, and you should have seen the grin on his face when she sat down beside him instead of Malcolm. It was like he'd won the lottery." Angela said all giddy. "I'm coming over tomorrow to help you pick out what your going to wear!"

"Yeah, no I really don't need to wear anything special. I mean he's seen me as a sweaty mess and without any makeup on so I really don't think that he's going to care what I look like if he does like me." I said as we headed towards our cars. I'd gotten a ride from Angela as I don't have a car and the bowling alley is at least a half hour drive away.

It took some time, pretty much the whole ride home, but I finally convinced her.

When we left work that night she tried one last time and I shot her down. "I really don't think that I need to wear anything special. Besides Joe is probably going to be really busy and I won't even get to see him." I said as we left work. "Okay, but if you change your mind just call me!"  

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Please don't hesitate to comment and let me know what you think.  I'm more than willing to listen to constructive criticism.

Samantha