‘He’s such a dick,’ Darcy mutters as they cross the office floor to their desks.
‘Mm,’ Lissa agrees, though non-committally enough that she could deny it if overheard. He’s never exactlyfun, Liam, but he’s been worse since her panic attack in the office a few weeks ago. She grimaces thinking of it, the way she dropped her glass of water, cut herself when she picked up the smashed pieces. How she saw the blood, so much from just one tiny cut, and spiralled. The dizziness, the way her heart raced, breathing harder and harder until she couldn’t breathe at all. Then she was on the floor, curled in a ball under her desk. She can still hear Darcy’s voice fighting through the ringing in her ears, before her friend managed to get her to her feet and to the bathroom, while Liam looked on in comical horror.
Darcy gives her a look, like she might bring said incident up.
Lissa shakes her head firmly. ‘We’re not talking about it.’
‘Oh, is this denial?’ Darcy nods musingly. ‘All right. I can get on board with denial – I’ve been known to partake of that myself every now and then.’
Lissa snorts, just as they reach her desk – and find someone already there. Someone with blonde hair and big brown Bambi eyes, who seems to have quite literally popped up out of nowhere.
‘Oh hey, Mark,’ Darcy says brightly.
He smiles that very straight white smile. ‘Hi, Darcy. Good weekend?’
‘Oh, you know. Not as fun as Lissa’s.’
Lissa feels her cheeks reddening. She cannotbelieveDarcy went there. Actually, who is she kidding, of course she can. She just wishes her friend would show a little restraint.
‘Anyway,’ Darcy continues, before Lissa or Mark has the chance to make any awkward comment, ‘we were just talking about our horoscopes.’
Lissa raises one eyebrow at her, just as Mark says, all gallant politeness, ‘Were you?’
‘Yep. Mine says I’m going to getshockingnews this month.’
‘Does it now?’ Lissa asks drily, before she can help herself.
‘Yep,’ Darcy says again, smiling breezily. ‘And Lissa’s says it’s time to try new things.’
Honestly, the woman is shameless. Lissa tries to convey this with her eyes as Darcy moves to sit at the desk next to hers. They’d initially had desks on opposite sides of the office to one another, but Darcy had bribed Jan, the woman who used to sit next to Lissa, with a week’s supply of Pret coffee to switch.
With Darcy semi out the way, Mark turns to Lissa and smiles, and she does her best to smile back, to try not to think of when she last saw him, and how very naked he was.You are an adult, she reminds herself.You can deal with this.‘Hey, Lissa,’ he says, his voice an octave lower.
Right then, Lissa is actually grateful for Darcy when she pipes up with ‘Want to know what yours says, Mark?’
He frowns, glancing at her. ‘My what?’
‘Horoscope.’
‘Ah, no thanks.’ He looks back at Lissa, shifts his weight from foot to foot. He’s nervous, Lissa realises. And that makes her just a little less so. ‘So I was wondering … would you want to get a drink one day after work?’
And just what exactly is she supposed to say to that? ‘Umm, sure.’ Because she can’t exactly sayno, can she? Not to his face. ‘I mean, it depends on which day, but—’
‘She’d love to,’ Darcy pipes up, clicking on her mouse and not looking at either of them.
Lissa sighs and shakes her head at Mark to convey her apology, which gets a grin out of him. That’s something, she supposes.
‘Cool. Anyway, I better get going.’ He gestures to his own desk. ‘Need to make sure I’ve got my prep ready for the meeting.’ And unlike Darcy, he is not being ironic. For some unfathomable reason, he actually seems to like working here – or at least cares enough about it to be angling for a promotion – and finds discussions about search engine optimisation downright fascinating. Which, to be fair, is probably what one should look for in a digital marketing specialist.
‘Thanks for that,’ Lissa says to Darcy, once Mark is out of earshot.
‘What?’ Darcy asks, the picture of innocence. ‘I was being helpful.’
‘Yes, well. Maybe the “new thing” I do this month can be giving you a lesson on just what exactly being helpful usually constitutes.’
Darcy grins, in a way that makes it impossible for Lissa to even contemplate being mad at her. ‘Much as I love your lectures, I can think ofplentyof other new things that would be far more fun, can’t you?’
All things considered, Lissa decides it’s best not to reply to that.
