But I couldn’t. I wouldn’t.
I rounded the desk and pushed her chair out so that she was facing me.
And I fell to my knees.
“Like… this?” I asked as I wrapped my arms around her tightly. “I’m not… I… I’ve never done this before.”
“You’ve never hugged someone before?” she asked incredulously.
“I think some girls tried to hug me in high school, like in passing. But… no. I’ve never been hugged.”
For some reason, that made her cry harder. Part of me thought she might be pitying me, and I should shut this down.
The other part of me was happy to enjoy hugging and being hugged. It was warm, and in her arms, the world seemed to fall away around us.
Even against everything my rational mind was screaming, I let myself melt into her.
"I’m off now,” Pearl said, lingering at the door of my office. Most of the employees had left, so she was surprising me by staying late.
I tried not to show that I was affected by her deciding to go back to her apartment for the night. But I was, especially after what happened in my office earlier.
“Go on now, but don’t forget our deal,” I replied as I kept doing mindless things on my computer.
At the last second, my eyes flicked up to catch the blush coating her face and running down her neck. She turned to leave my office, and I watched her as she made it all the way to the elevator.
When she finally disappeared, I started to quickly gather my stuff.
I might have acted like I wasn’t bothered, but I was so much more than that. There was no fucking way I was going to let her walk all the way home alone.
I slowly took my time walking after her, nodding to the few who were still working, and then called the elevator. Impatience was causing me to tap my fingers incessantly against my thigh as I waited. When it finally came, the ride down to the lobbywas excruciating, and by the time the door opened, I was all but running to catch up to her.
But Pearl was taking her time, and I immediately had to slow my pace so I could follow her.
Does she know anything about being aware of her surroundings?
The more I followed her, the more annoyed I got. Most of the time, she was either listening to music or whatever it was on her phone or looking at it directly. Still, I couldn’t help but notice she never crossed the street without looking or even bumped into someone walking the opposite way.
We finally got to her apartment. I had done my research on where she lived, but the pictures were from a few years ago and looked much better than now. It had zero security and looked condemned. Anxiously, I waited outside, checking my phone every few minutes, but I didn’t see any lights going on.
She should’ve been up in her apartment by now. Maybe I should text her?
The longer I stayed away from her, the more unsure I was about her staying at her apartment for the rest of the night.
It was New York City, so sirens going off constantly were a common thing, but one sounded a little less than a block away, and I immediately started to panic.
I pulled up her contact and started typing, but to my surprise, she sent me a message first.
Pearl
Don’t work late tonight.
My lips quirked.Is Pearl Meadows worrying about me?It was endearing, but my mind didn’t stray from the fact that she was going to be staying in this apartment alone without me.
Me
Miss me already? Or have you already tried making yourself come and failed?
Even without seeing her, I knew that that blush was probably working its way down her body.
