Somewhere

Chapter 14

Marlon

"Hey Marl." Ray says, as he sits opposite to me.

I minimise the file I was working on, and give him a pointed look. He seldom calls me Marl, mostly when we both are drunk, or when he is curious about something. He does not look drunk, so it must be the latter.

"What brings you here, during work time?" I ask him, putting my elbows on the table.

"I just wanted to ask about the new project." He says it n a way most people would believe, but I have known him for a long time, to know that he is bullshitting.

"You could have asked about that to anyone in the management. Now spill out why you are actually here."

"Don't jump to any conclusions, man." He says with mock accusation. "Look here." He shows his phone screen to me, where there is a photo of Emily and me on her instagram.

"What, you wanted to show me how handsome I look?" I question him, looking at our photo from our last night out at a Japanese restaurant.

"Read the caption, dumbass." He points towards the caption with a smirk.

Always fun to be wid dis 1.

"You wanted to show the bad grammar of Em?"

"Don't play coy." He says smugly. "We all were there, but it's just you two in this photo. See, there are even three hearts after it and we all know what that means. Kendall sent me this screenshot. We always knew you would end up together."

I don't know whether to laugh at him or kick him, so I just leave out a sigh.

"What are you both, teenagers? Analysing someone's social media post?" I ask him, crossing my arms. "And you know that we don't like each other; we are just friends like all of us. I can expect such juvenility from you, but seriously, Kendall?"

"Stop deriding us, just because you don't know how to read between the lines. Kendall is quite concerned by the lack of dates you have at any event. Plus, we don't want you to die single."

How did this go from speculating if Em and I are together, to me dying single?

"I won't die single. Anyways, there is no harm in being single. I am perfectly content." I say with finality. " And, you are speaking as if you have a girlfriend." It is time to put him under the bus now.

"Not at present, but I think I will have one soon." He shrugs casually. Very casually.

"Shit, you like someone? Who is she? Do I know her?" I hope he is talking about Kendall.

"Now, now, who is behaving like a teen?"

"Just answer my fucking questions."

"You know, Lucie, your neighbour? I like her." He says this, coquettishly.

"You like Lucie?" I question him, my voice coming out uncanny and surprised, even though it shouldn't surprise me. I mean, Ray is a charmer and Lucie, well, she is beautiful and nice and hot and I can see why he likes her. Nevertheless, I feel weird, like, this is not supposed to happen.

"I knew it." Ray says with a wide grin. I don't say anything, because I am still thinking about his earlier statement.

"I knew that you are into Lucie." He says snapping his fingers in front of me.

"What?" I am not sure if he is just yanking my chains or being serious.

"It was evident the first time I saw you both, but now I am damn sure. You like her. You really like someone after a year." He says showing all his teeth with a triumphant look on his face.

"Wait. You said you like her, not me." I am genuinely confused now.

"I just said that to see how you react, and you definitely like her and" He looks completely assured about what he is saying. "I think she likes you too."

"I don't- wait, she likes me?" I question, somewhat impatiently.

"You want her to like you?" He asks, instead of telling me and I really don't know what to say. Bloody bastard.

"First answer my question." I say defiantly.

"She hasn't said anything like that, but nor have you, but here we are." He smirks again. "There's no harm in admitting it."

"I am not worried about admitting anything, I just never thought about liking her." I tell him honestly, since there is no good in hiding anything about it as he noticed that I like her, even before I knew it. I am still not sure if I like her, though.

"Then think about it. She seems like a nice girl and from what I have seen, you also think the same."

I don't say anything to this and just look at my screen and realise that I still have a lot of work to do for the upcoming project.

I can figure about my feelings later, because, work is the priority right now.

"Poor Emily, when she will know that you like someone else." Ray says dramatically, grabbing my attention.

"Shut up, idiot. We are just friends." I try to smack his arm, but the table is huge, so I can't reach his arm.

"So you keep saying, but Em has never denied." Ray says this, with a hint of seriousness in his voice.

What is this now?

"Go and let me work." I say dismissively. It is all I can say.

"Goodbye to you too, dear brother." He says in a sarcastic tone and goes out.

Everything seems messed up. I blame Ray for flooding my brain with thoughts, that don't even have any validation.

Thoughts swirl in my mind at a pace that I cannot comprehend individual thought logically. I take a deep breath and try to analyse each thought properly.

First, is it possible that Lucie likes me? I am not unlikable, but does she really like me?

Are Emily's feelings for me more than just platonic? We have been friends for a long time and I never felt anything romantic for her, but has she?

Still the most important thing is, do I like Lucie? How could I not know if I like her or not?

Ugh. Chicks really mess up my mind, and again they have no idea how they have tied me in knots.

Ray has finally given the push to Marlon which he needed.

Hopefully, he will be more proactive in his approach now.

This was a bit hard chapter to write, because I initially wanted to focus more on work side, but then I thought What the Hell.

Anyways, the photo above is similar to my office, but has an semi translucent partition in it.

Do share your thoughts on the chapter.

gooD Day;)