"So, should I re-write it?" Sera asked.
She was sitting right next to Rowan on his desk, editing her part in her upcoming presentation just like he promised.
She was so thankful for him, he did not only help her fix what Allison pointed out, but he also reviewed the entire thing for her. Sera felt a little anxious over him seeing and reading her work, but she sucked it up as it was for the greater good and an opportunity she couldn't miss.
"Maybe rephrase the important points in this paragraph, it's kind of repetitive since you also explained it in the previous slide, don't you think?" He suggested.
"I do think so." She nodded, her eyes focused on her laptop screen as she started editing.
There was a moment of silence as they both focused on their individual work, but Sera quickly broke it with a sudden question that came to her mind.
"What did you study?" She looked at him in curiosity.
"Business." He looked back at her.
"Ooh, nice." She kept looking at him and he could tell her curiosity was not yet filled.
"How long ago did you graduate?"
Rowan hesitated for half a second before answering. "Seven years ago." He was slightly scared that their age gap might scare her away.
"So that makes you 29?" Rowan nodded, gauging her reaction.
"You're only eight years older than me!" Her eyes lit up.
Rowan internally thanked god and all the angels above.
"Mhm."
"Do you have any questions for me?" She tilted her head.
Sera was trying to get him to be more comfortable with her, and she could tell it was slowly working. She considered him a friend, and she hoped he did too.
Wait.
"Are we friends?" She blurted out, not waiting for an answer to her previous question, she had actually completely forgotten about it.
There was a minute of uncomfortable silence as she waited for his answer, her brows furrowed slightly and he noticed it immediately.
"Yes."
"Actually?" Her eyes were hopeful, as if this was the one and only thing she wanted.
"Why wouldn't we be?"
"I don't know, you're older, and my supervisor." She looked down at her lap nervously.
"We can be friends if I'm older and your supervisor, Sera." He had the urge to lift her chip up so he could look at her eyes again, but he prevented himself.
As if reading his mind, she lifted her head and looked back at him. A bright smile on her face, it lit her entire face up, scrunching it in a cute way.
"Go back to work." He felt butterflies in his stomach, he was a grown man with butterflies in his stomach, all he needed to do now was kick his feet and giggle and it would all be set.
He's whipped, and he didn't even need Jamie to say it to him because he knew.
"Right away." She saluted and immediately turned her chair back to her laptop, focusing on the screen.
Rowan kept looking at her a few moments longer than necessary until he felt like a creep and averted his gaze.
It was only a few short minutes of them working when Sera spoke again.
"If you were an animal, what would you like to be?" She kept her eyes on the screen, still editing.
"Focus, Sera." He warned.
"I am, I'm just trying to know my friend." She defended.
"You spelled market wrong."
"No, I didn-...oh."
"Now focus."
He could see her pout from the corner of his eyes but she went back to work, eventually losing the pout.
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"Done!" Sera clapped excitedly, spinning in her revolving chair.
"Good job." Rowan forced himself to say, it was getting progressively harder not to add 'baby' when he spoke to her, he kept getting the urge to and he didn't know why.
He wanted to slap himself.
"I'm...I'm kinda nervous." She admitted, biting her lip while her eyes were glued to the screen.
"Why?" He turned his chair to get a better look at her.
"I don't know, the class has a lot of students in it, what if I stutter?"
"And?"
"What if they laugh?" She looked up at him.
"Ba...No one would laugh at you, Sera." He almost slipped, "You're going to do great, I promise."
"And even if you do stutter, it's okay, everyone stutters, no big deal." She still didn't seem convinced so he went on.
"Just fake it til' you make it, don't let them know you're nervous and you'll be okay, plus professors add marks on body language as well. You don't wanna lose marks over something this silly, do you?" She shook her head.
"You're the most confident and intelligent person I know, you'll do great, I assure you."
"You really think so?" She was playing with her fingers nervously.
"I'm 100% sure."
Sera looked at Rowan for a few seconds, her eyes unsure as she asked quietly, "Can I hug you, Please?"
Rowan tensed for a moment, he'd been holding himself back from touching her even slightly in case she didn't like physical touch, and just out of politeness. But now that she's asked, he couldn't bring himself to say no, even if he knew that he would be addicted to her touch and her scent from now on, he was positive of it.
Looking into her eyes, Rowan nodded.
As soon as he did, Sera threw herself in his arms, her hands going around his torso and her face squished against his chest. It felt like heaven, how she fit against him, her smell enveloping him. He put one arm around her shoulders, the other going to her head, holding her against him. Her arms suddenly tightened around his torso as if she was squishing him and he smiled. Big and bright, the second time today.
"Thank you." She whispered into his chest.
He closed his eyes, feeling content for the first time in a long while.
Sera sighed and slowly pulled away from him, "That was awesome!" His arms were still around her shoulders and she felt him shake with a small laugh.
He physically couldn't stop the laugh that came out, not like he even tried. It was hard to hold himself back around her like the universe just wanted him to be comfortable in her presence.
"I made you laugh." She stated, her dimples showing from her bright smile.
The most beautiful smile.
Rowan licked his lips, still smiling.
"Come on, it's getting late. Do you want me to drop you off?" He asked, trying to change the subject.
"Only if it's on your way."
"Yeah, yeah, get up."
She giggled, getting up and packing her stuff from around his office.
The next day, just when her class was about to start and she was going to puke from the nerves and anxiety, her phone beeped.
Forest Man: Good luck, you got this.
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