"He surprised you?!" Paola and Justine gasp, "In your office?"
I cross my arms across my chest and say, "As if you didn't know, Paola. You're the one that called me trying to warn me that I wasn't going to be happy when I got home."
After everything with Jesse, I quickly came home and talked to both of them about everything.
Justine raises her hand to interject, "In her defense, she wasn't allowed to tell you because Ryan swore her to secrecy." Paola is quick to nod, confirming what Justine is saying
I raise an eyebrow, "How would you know that?"
Justine looks at Paola quickly before glancing back at me, "I made her tell me a few days before he came out. Don't you remember when she talked about the wedding plans and started switching the topic away from him? I knew something was up and I got her to tell me. I understand why you're mad but you have to give her her props, you know her ass could never keep a secret so this might be a first."
This is true. Paola always gets excited and ends up telling people things she's not supposed to. However, the one time I needed her to snitch she actually kept her word to Ryan and didn't tell me.
As angry as I wanted to be, I realized that the signs were there. Ryan wanted to tell me, and even though Paola didn't say anything there were many times where she slipped up. I should've expected that Jesse would get out early but nothing could've prepared me for the way he cornered me in my own office.
I can't deny how great he looked after five years. The smile on his face made me wanna smack him though because I could tell my nervousness was only entertaining him more.
He kept bringing up the fact that he was still going to pursue me and I didn't have the heart to tell him that we could never be together with the same way we were when we were teenagers.
At this point in my life, If I date, I'm dating to marry.
I don't do hookups, I'm not a fan of hookup culture. I'm not looking to date anyone but If I did, I'd have to see a future with them.
My parents already know who Jesse is, what he does, why he got arrested. I can't date someone that I can't have a stable future. My parents would never accept that.
When we dated, I might've been a little in over my head. When they say opposites attract, I didn't know how true that was until I met him.
Our dynamic was unconventional but it worked out somehow. But I remember that even back then I was worried about how the future would look for us and we only dated for less than six months at that point.
We could've accomplished so much together in the last five years but everything I was afraid of happening, happened.
I gave him a part of me that I never shared with anyone...and not even 24 hours later he was gone and the only way I could see him was behind a glass screen.
I might be a grown woman and everything but in my culture? Age is nothing but a damn number. They have to approve of who I'm with. A 24-year-old gang leader who was arrested at 19 for attempted murder and theft is never going to just magically disappear from my parent's minds.
There's no way in hell.
"Look, I knew he was getting out but I didn't think he'd go over to your job. He was asking Ryan for weeks where you worked and everything and I made sure he didn't tell you. He was bound to find out and come by your office anyway but not right after he literally got released." Paola shakes her head, playing with the ring on her finger
Justine has a smirk on her face as she leans back into her seat, as we're all sitting at our kitchen counter. She shakes her head and looks down at her lap and I look at Paola with a questing gaze and she mirrors my confused expression before I ask Justine, "Why are you smiling like that?"
Justine looks up with a grin and says, "I know that you really want nothing to do with that man but...you can't deny him forever. At some point y'all will get together again he's made that very clear."
"Excuse me?" I scoff and she nods her head not backing down, emphasizing her stance further.
"We all know how stubborn he is. You simply will not last as long as you think you will especially since you're not into dating anybody right now, which he's going to take advantage of. I hate to say it but...I think he might've ruined you for anyone else."
"That's not true!" I say, "If I wanted to date someone I could, I'm just---"
"Really busy right now." Justine and Paola finish off in unison and I roll my eyes. I can't help that I repeat this a lot since everyone seems to be so concerned that I haven't even been on a date since I was 18. I find myself having to defend myself and bringing my job into it every time.
Paola interjects, "Look I could care less for Jesse especially since he always refused to call me by my actual name and resorting to Paula instead, but Justine's right. You're not as over him as you think you are. And what better way to get over someone than to get under someone else?" Paola grins tapping her fingers against the counter.
I cringe, "I'm not hooking up with anyone just to 'forget' about Jesse."
She groans loudly, "It's a figure of speech dammit. I'm just saying to expand your horizons. Meet someone new, there's more to life than Jesse Duran. You owe it to yourself to be young, dumb, and adventurous is all I'm saying." she shrugs and Justine nods along with her in agreement
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The next few days after Jesse's release were pretty quiet, to say the least. He hadn't come into my office or the whole building for that matter.
I took that as a good sign that he would leave me alone but I wasn't sure of it. So I decided not to get my hopes up just yet.
I decided to take a break from looking at my laptop screen and lay on the couch inside of my office instead.
Getting up from my desk, that's where I headed towards. I'm glad that I decided to dress up a bit more comfortably today because I could not waste all my cute outfit ideas just to slave away in my office for no one to really see besides Carter and Leslie whenever they barge in here.
Today was a chill Thursday with not a lot of work to do so yeah I came into work practically wearing sweats.
When I get to the couch I sit down and decide to lean back and lay down slowly. When my head finally touches the pillow, I release a sigh of relief and decide to shut my eyes enjoying the tranquility that the office has to offer as I'm met with complete and utter silence.
That is until I hear someone knocking loudly against my door and disrupting the peace.
Letting out a groan, I yell loud enough for the other person to hear, "Who is it?"
"Your favorite Editor." I hear a deeper voice say on the other side of the wall and I grin to myself shaking my head knowingly as I get up and head over to the front door, opening it just a crack, just enough to cover myself and enough to sneak a peek at the person at the door.
"I'm my own favorite Editor," I say looking up at him as a wide smile takes over his whole face. Opening the door wider, I allow him to step through the door into the office. As he walks in, I close it behind him and over to the couch again to lay down. I watch as he takes the chair in front of my desk and rolls it over close to me so he can sit in front of me.
The smile on his face never left as he looks at me with a grin, sitting backward in the chair his legs straddling either side.
He's wearing a dark green t-shirt with dark blue jeans and a baseball cap facing backward as it sits on top of his head that he had freshly cut a few days ago. A silver cross necklace hanging around his neck and his left ear piercing, shining brightly as the diamond stud sits comfortably in his ear.
He looked good.
He always looked good.
There's nothing better than a man who takes care of himself in every sense of the word from skincare to fashion sense. He even makes the most basic of outfits look designer.
I clear my throat, shutting my eyes again, "So what brings you to my office?"
He scoffs jokingly, "I can't just come here to want to see my friend."
"No. No, you can. I'm just used to you bringing me food and whatnot." I open one of my eyes, keeping the other one closed to scan him up and down, "You seem to have shown up empty-handed." I close both eyes again and he lets out a loud hearty laugh
I can hear the smile in his voice, "Is that all I'm good for?"
I shake my head, "Of course not. Besides I already had lunch today so it's alright."
It's silent for a few seconds before he says, "You got any plans on Saturday?"
"Nope. Besides finishing up the thousandth season of Grey's Anatomy." I let out a small giggle. Only God knows why they kept this show on the air. I still haven't gotten over them canceling Devious Maids, Grand Hotel, and STAR.
"We should hang out or something then."
I open my eyes quickly and turn over a bit to look at him as he rolls his lips into his mouth looking back at me, "You wanna watch Grey's with me?! Paola got tired after season 7. I'm really far into the show but If you haven't watched it I can go season by season and explain--"
He cuts me off, "No actually." and lets out a small chuckle, "I'm saying that I wanna take you out."
"Take me out of where?" I asked confused and he laughs out loud biting his lip to conceal a small smile
"Out of your house. Karma, I'm asking you out on a date." he confirms and I close my mouth quickly, " Do you wanna go on a date with me?"
I look him up and down and slowly raise my body up so that I can sit properly on the couch, "You." I point at him, "Are asking me out? Why?" I press my hand against my chest thoroughly shocked.
"Because I've always liked you. I'm surprised that you're surprised. I thought I made it obvious."
"Obvious?" I ask again and shake my head quickly, "No never that."
He jerks his head back in confusion, "I'm sure half my paycheck goes to buying you food all the time. I come in here almost every day, neglecting my own work half the time just to be around you. Got closer to your friends, to get to know you and them better. I try to insert myself into your life any way I can which sounds stalkerish I guess, but I wouldn't change anything that I attempted to build this friendship with you." he finishes and I look at him, sitting quietly to myself as I put two and two together. He watches me as I do this for a few minutes but later decided to say,
"I know this is a lot for you so you don't have to give me an answer right this second. I just wanted to get all of that off my chest," he says and stands up from out of his seat slowly.
He goes to walk towards the door but as he twists the doorknob he looks back at me, "Just don't keep me waiting too long, alright?" he smiles small and twists the knob, opening the door and shutting it behind him slowly as he walks out of my office leaving me dazed and confused.
How did I not see any of that coming?
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[A/N] Carter and Karma sitting in a tree... yall know the rest teeheehee