may 2017
Emily makes sure she isn't late the next day that her and Awsten agree to do some more work together.
In fact, she makes sure that she's early— earlier than she normally is.
Her office is tidy and set up in the same way that they'd sorted it the first time.
She's surprised to find that Awsten is a little early, too.
He knocks on the door to her office and waits for her to call out to him before entering— she appreciates that.
Awsten and Emily work fairly well for a few hours.
He hates how stunned he is by her work and he wishes there was a switch that he could use just to turn off the admiration he feels whenever he sees what she's producing.
They end up being interrupted by the door to Emily's office being opened. Anna smiles, appearing from behind the door with a clipboard and a few pieces of paper in her hand.
"Oh, Anna," Emily tries to hold back on her annoyance over the fact that she didn't knock, once again— she never does, she doesn't know why she's surprised anymore.
"Hey, guys!" Anna grins, stepping further into the office without any thought.
"Come on in," Emily mutters under her breath— it's barely audible, but Awsten only just hears it. He can't understand what she has against Anna. She's always been perfectly nice to him.
"I have your schedule for next week," she places a piece of paper on Emily's desk, before shooting Awsten a grin.
Emily tunes out almost entirely as the two converse in a seemingly-sweet, casual conversation.
She hates the way Anna twists her hair between her fingers when talking to Awsten. It's obvious that she's flirting— or, at least, Emily thinks it's obvious, and painfully so.
It's disrespectful in Emily's eyes. Awsten has a girlfriend— Anna knows that and should respect that.
She's surprised that Awsten hasn't said anything about it by now. Whatever her opinion is of him, Emily can see that he's loyal; he doesn't seem like the type to cheat at all. He doesn't seem like he'd even look at another girl the wrong way while he's in a relationship. Although, Emily doesn't think she could say the same for his girlfriend.
She doesn't like Sadie one bit; at least she finds Awsten a little more tolerable— barely.
Anna peers over his shoulder to take a look at what Awsten is doing. "I didn't expect to see y'all actually working together," she snickers, clearly finding just the premise of it amusing.
Emily knows that Anna made the comment to get a rise out of her. She doesn't bite, though.
"Is that all?" She raises her eyebrows, working hard to maintain a semi-gentle expression.
"Yep, that's all," Anna chirps, bothered by the abrupt way that Emily cut the conversation off at its root, but she masks it. "Have a good day, Awsten," she makes a point of specifying who she's talking to, offering him a wave as she leaves the room.
Emily isn't surprised when Anna leaves the door open, just a crack.
"She does this every time," she grumbles, her irritated tone seeping through as she gets up to close the door fully, before swiftly returning to her desk.
Awsten wants to ask why she hates Anna so much. He wants to know why she's so bothered. But, he doesn't know why he wants to know— he doesn't know why he's curious, so he doesn't ask to avoid finding out.
Emily lets out a frustrated sigh as she reads through the schedule that Anna had given her, rubbing her hand over her forehead.
"What is it?" Awsten asks, the question slipping out before he can realise.
"Do you care?" Emily quips, bitterly, as if to read his mind.
"Jeez. I was just asking," Awsten scoffs, even though she's right, he doesn't care.
"Sorry, I—" She pauses, letting out a sigh. "They've scheduled me in to host a presentation next week when I requested that evening off," Emily explains, and Awsten swears he can hear sadness creeping into her tone— he's never heard anything more than frustration in her voice when she speaks to him.
"Special occasion?" He questions, purely out of curiosity— he still doesn't care.
"Six month anniversary," Emily answers, quietly, placing the printed schedule to the side and returning to her previous task.
"Oh..." Awsten responds. "That sucks," he mumbles.
"Wow," Emily lifts her gaze subtly, "if I didn't know any better, I'd say that was a bit of empathy."
Awsten's first reaction is to frown, but then he looks up to see a tiny, amused smile on Emily's mouth.
"Don't get used to it," he mutters, a similar expression tugging on the corner of his lips.
The lighthearted air around them soon fades, though, and they revert back to the usual tension that hangs between them.
Awsten finds himself thinking on Emily's predicament for longer than he wants to. He hates that he's thinking about it when he gets back to his B&B that evening.
He's glad that he forgets about it when he visits his girlfriend's apartment, but he's not-so-glad when his mind becomes preoccupied with the argument they have.
Maybe he'd rather be thinking about Emily after all.
***
Awsten and Emily have agreed to work together again today and, this time, Awsten is the one who's late. He's not quite as late as Emily was, but he's left her waiting long enough for it to bother her.
She wonders if it's petty payback— it's slightly disappointing, considering how well they've been doing for the past few days.
Before he arrives, she's wondering if she should bring it up; maybe she'll make a snarky comment about it, possibly even a joke— or make him feel as guilty as he made her feel.
When Awsten does arrive, he knocks on the door to her office and she calls for him to come in.
As soon as Emily lays her eyes on him, she decides against bringing up the fact that he's late altogether.
He's wearing the type of expression that one would wear if they'd been caught in a storm and their clothes had gotten entirely soaked through—but he's completely dry— like there's a thundering cloud hanging heavily over his head. He looks angry and tired, just entirely fed up.
"What's up with you?" Emily asks, before she can stop herself and wonder why she even cares— she doesn't. She wouldn't expect him to ask if it was the other way around.
"Nothing," Awsten grumbles, curtly, sitting down in his usual seat and getting straight to work.
It's not nothing— that much is painfully obvious— but Emily drops it. He doesn't need to tell her what's going on in his life and she doesn't expect him to.
They're disrupted more today, with people coming to Emily's office and asking her for things or needing her to solve an issue.
Awsten didn't realise how much she could actually do. He knows that Jeremy said it before he'd even introduced Emily to the band; he told them that she was versatile and can do virtually anything they need her to.
She seems more and more stressed each time she comes back to her office.
Maybe Awsten could tell her that she's doing a good job, so that she could at least feel like what she's doing is worth something.
That idea leaves his head as quickly as it comes.
Eventually, Awsten leaves for a lunch break. There aren't many words exchanged when he does so, but Emily remains at work.
When he returns, he gets stuck in again, not commenting on the fact that Emily hasn't taken a break all day.
"Do you want to call it a day?" Awsten asks, initiating conversation himself for the first time today.
"You can, if you want to," Emily shrugs. "But, I really want to get this finished. It's almost the end of the week."
Awsten hesitates. As much as he dislikes her, he'd feel bad for leaving Emily to finish the project off by herself tonight.
"If it gets finished today, then we can present it to Jeremy tomorrow and that's the end of it," she points out.
It doesn't take much persuading. Both of them would prefer to be done working together sooner rather than later.
Besides, it's not like Awsten has anything to get home to tonight— not after the way last night ended.
***