I followed behind her, keeping a small distance between us.
“You know you didn’t need to come with me. I’m a big girl and can carry a few sandwiches by myself.”
“I know you can but I wanted to see you.”
Melanie turned around at the elevator after pressing the button.
“You saw me when I walked into the office and you would have seen me again when I came back with the food.”
“Yes.” I took a step toward her but she took two steps back toward the elevator as it dinged, letting us know we could head down to the lobby. I joined Melanie in the small cramped space. Where there had been electricity between us the other night, there seemed to be tension today.
Melanie’s shoulders were raised high and I wasn’t sure if she was uncomfortable or possibly nervous about being with me. I reached out, touching the crook of her arm. She spun around with a hand on her chest, clearly caught off guard.
“Easy, Melanie.” I came closer to her, watching as her uneven breaths became shallower. “Yes, I could have seen you for merely ten seconds each time you walked into the conference room but I wanted more than that today.”
“And why is that?” Melanie turned away from me as she exited the elevator and out of the building.
“You said the other night that you would see me again, yet I haven’t seen you. So this seemed like a sign.” I shrugged my shoulders, even though her back was to me as we waited for a clearing in the traffic to cross the street.
I appraised Melanie in what she was wearing today. Where she was normally in a dress or slacks, today she was adorning a pair of high waisted jeans and a turtleneck that was tucked in with heeled boots. She looked sophisticated but comfortable, especially with her brown wavy hair being let down and blowing in the Atlanta breeze. It felt good to see her look carefree and when she closed her eyes, taking in the smell of bread sifting through the air, I almost reached out again to touch her.
“I said I would see you around, Jack. Not that I was going to make it intentional.”
“What if I want it to be intentional?” I asked the question but Melanie ignored it, taking the current break in traffic as an escape from answering. I followed her quickly across the street and into Bakers to get our lunch order.
We stood there in silence as others came in to order their lunch, sit down and eat, or take it to go. I crossed my arms, leaning against the back wall where the pick-up station was. Melanie stood in front of me, shifting on her feet, playing with her hands, and biting her lip. I watched as she worked through whatever it was going through her head, until she stopped, spun around, and shoved a finger into my chest.
“Just because I opened up the other night to you, doesn’t mean that this is going to become something, Jack.”
“Who said anything about it becoming something?” I scoffed, even though in my heart, I knew I wanted this to become something but Melanie wasn’t ready for that yet.
“That look in your eyes, Jack.” Melanie took a step closer to me and I pushed off the wall. My hands laid by my side, itching to reach out to her but she made second contact with another finger jab. “That’s the same look you gave me the first day we met, Jack.”
“I wasn’t aware that you paid that much attention to me that day.”
“Kind of hard not to when you gave me little to no space.”
This time I made the move to touch her, grabbing her wrist, and pulling her closer to me. Melanie smelled like vanilla mixed with berries and the scent made my mouth water, not just wanting to taste her lips but all of her.
I watched as her eyes left mine and moved to where our skin was touching. She didn’t pull away, even when I heard our order being called. We stood there in our own moment, trying to figure out what exactly it was that was happening. As much as I thought I knew, I had no fucking clue what was going through Melanie’s head but I knew exactly what it was that I wanted to ask her.
“All I want is one date.”
“Order for Ink Well.” The men behind the counter call out again, this time loud enough to startle Melanie.
“That’s me.”
Melanie spun around, yanking her wrist out of my hand, and grabbing what food she could. I rushed behind her, grabbing the rest of the bags while catching up behind her. She was across the street before I could hit the curb, so I made a dash for it. Horns honked behind me as Melanie stood in front of the Ink Well with shock written on her face as she realized I had just ran through oncoming traffic to get to her.
“You could have been killed!” She yelled at me, her face becoming red with anger and all I could do was smile at her. Seeing her worked up like this made me want to make this date happen even faster. She cared, somewhere deep down, even if she didn’t want to admit it to herself or anyone else.
“You could have too but yet here we are.”
Melanie huffed and walked away, leaving me once again but this time she wasn’t as fast as before and when we got to the elevator, it was only us two again on the ride up.
“I heard you,” Melanie’s voice was soft in the quiet elevator. So soft that I almost didn’t hear her.
“Come again?” I fought the smirk that was trying to form on my lips but Melanie caught it too fast.
