“What things?” I asked.
“Well, going out with him, silly.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I’m not going out with him. Besides, I don’t date anymore, remember?” A while ago I’d decided that relationships required far too much work and I just didn’t have the time for them, so had officially given up on them. And I certainly wasn’t going to pursue a relationship with my boss that was just a bad idea.
“But he’s in love with you,” JJ repeated and I rolled my eyes at him.
“Please, he’s clearly not being serious. It’s all part of his cleverMr.-I’m-too-sexy-for-my-shirtact. He probably tells all the women that he loves them and then asks them all out.”
A knock on the door interrupted us and we all turned. You could almost hear the horror movie sound track swelling, as the tension built up and our eyes widened.
“It couldn’t be?” JJ whispered.
I shook my head.Please don’t let it be, please don’t—
“Hello? Sera?” His voice confirmed my worst nightmare.
Before I could stop him, JJ was already halfway across the room.
“I’m not here. I’m not here!” I hissed.
“It’s six in the morning. Where else would you be?” Bruce asked getting up.
“Jogging,” I said, moving to hide behind a pillar on the balcony.
“You don’t jog.”
“I do now,” I whispered. Bruce rolled his eyes and walked away
“Oh. Hello, neighbor,” JJ said, answering the door in all his glory. I could picture it quite clearly. JJ was probably fawning and drooling, and Bruce was probably not far behind.
“Hi, I’m Ben. I just moved in last night.”
“Oh we know exactly who you are, sweetie,” JJ said—I almost died.
I heard Ben chuckle slightly. “Yeah. I guess you do by now.”
“So what brings you to our neck of the woods?”
“I came to apologize, I hope I didn’t wake you up with the noise?”
“Nooo, nooooo, not at allll!” the chorus of JJ and Bruce rang out.
“Good. I would hate to make a bad impression on my first night here.”
“Oh, too late for that. You’ve already made averybad impression,” I heard JJ say in a very loaded tone and I physically cringed.
“Is Sera here?” I heard him ask.
“Um . . .” JJ faltered, he was terrible at lying. “She’s gone jogging.”
“Really.” Ben sounded unconvinced.
Bruce jumped in, “Oh she’s a HUGE jogger. Loves it”—oh God, he was hamming it up now. “Very fit and athletic, our little Sera is. Such a jogger.”
I heard a tiny chuckle from Ben, as if the perv was now thinking about my athleticism.
“What time does she leave? To jog?”
