“David,” I respond, equally as businesslike.
We walk to the elevator and join the rest of the people waiting to start their day.
Once we reach our floor, he again allows me to go first, and we make our way to our office door, where he reaches around me to get the door as well.
These are all things he’s never done for me before, and it’s absolutely pissing me off. I should not see this side of him, knowing who he really is now. I kept him in this little box of hatred, and things were easier that way. Realizing he does have a soul is not okay.
“Our car will be here in an hour,” is all he says as he walks by my desk on the way to his.
I don’t respond. There’s no reason to. My mind is already a jumbled mess, and I’m afraid my words will come out the same way.
“You ready?” Jana asks with too much pep in her voice, so I stick my tongue out at her, which only makes her laugh. “Come on. This will be fun. I do expect play-by-play details though—you know that, right?”
“There will be nothing to tell you. We will barely talk to each other, we will stay as far away from one another as we can when traveling together, and our relationship of hatred will stay perfectly intact.”
“So, you’re really not going to tell him and just pretend like the last week of back-and-forth messages that lasted until two a.m. didn’t exist?”
“Yep. Sure am!” I pull out my chair and get started on my work before our car arrives.
I just got a notification that the driver is fifteen minutes out. Are you ready?
David emails me instead of walking over to my desk.
I don’t look his way, which would honestly just consist of me lifting my head. Instead, I reply to his email with a simple,Yes, then finish what I’m working on. I close everything down before packing my laptop in my bag.
“Good luck,” Jana singsongs while she types away on her computer.
I flip her off playfully while I gather my things then head to the door, figuring I’ll just wait for him downstairs.
Before I enter the elevator, he’s by my side.
“Is this how this entire trip is going to be? You ignoring me?” he asks, and my heart sinks.
I can’t say anything because my eyes well with tears I didn’t know I had in me, so I shrug as my response.
“Zoe, you have to get over what I did. I’ve apologized, and don’t forget that I saved the client. You’re still here, going on this trip, to help with the project because she liked your work. The work that I made sure she knew was yours …”
“Yes, I know,” is all I can get out as I slide my sunglasses on to hide my true feelings on this entire situation.
I knew this trip was going to be awkward, but I didn’t realize it was going to be this hard, and we haven’t even left the building.
When we get to the street, the car is there, waiting for us. The driver takes our bags to load into the trunk, and David, again, reaches over to open the door for me, making me want to swat his hand away.
He cannot be this nice to me!
I climb in the car, and he follows. Sitting this close to him causes my heart to pound, so I scoot over as far as possible to the other door. His chuckle shows my attempt to get away from him did not go unnoticed.
We drive in silence to the JFK Airport with the soft hum of the radio filling the space around us. I stare out the window, wondering if I should just fake being sick to get out of this trip altogether. If I can’t make it to the airport without feeling like I’m going to have a panic attack, how am I going to make it for three days?
We pull into the airport drop-off and exit the vehicle. David hands me my bag, then takes out his wallet to tip the driver before grabbing his own bag from him.
“Let me get you some cash to split the tip,” I say, reaching into my purse, but he waves me off.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure the tip was worked in through the app set up by Christina, but I just wanted to make sure. That’s on me,” he responds, then motions for me to go ahead of him toward the building.
I grab my bag and wheel it next to me as I make my way to the escalator since neither of us needs to check a bag and we can just carry on the small luggage we have.
At security, David pulls out a tray, handing it to me for me to put my stuff in. We both load our items and walk through security with no trouble.
