Gah the feels... That kiss...
As Nell sobbed into her elder sister's shoulder morosely, 100 miles away Eric was having a shower. The water pounded against his back as memories poured through his brain. Sad, happy and funny memories. He reached for his shampoo and poured a small pool into the palm of his hand. He rubbed it into his hair, creating foam that smelt slightly like the ocean. As he allowed the water to wash the bubbles out of his hair, he remembered that moment on Christmas Eve, when time stopped.
"...if you want to be politically correct." Nell had said, but Eric could not concentrate on anything but her face. He had stared at her lips, bright red, her cheeks, slightly flushed, and her eyes, twinkling in the low light. And in that pause he felt like the luckiest man in the world to work with such a beautiful person. But then he became luckier.
Eric shook some shower gel into his hand and rubbed it over his body, distracted thinking about when Nell had kissed him. He cursed inwardly at not continuing it- he hadn't even taken his hands out of his pocket! Eric remembered the gentle warmth of her lips, and the way she pulled his head towards hers. It happened so quickly, yet Eric could remember every little detail. The way she had looked up at the mistletoe afterwards, her eyes smiling.
Eric stepped out the shower and dried himself off, recalling the events after the kiss. He had changed into an identical elf costume that was equally ridiculous, but a bit larger. He remembered reluctantly pulling on his lime green leggings and grabbing his ears and pompon hat before racing out to Nell's car. Unlike the memories of the kiss, Eric struggled to recall the exact proceedings of that night as it was such a blur. However, he remembered the smiling faces that he saw, the many children's and Nell's, and he knew that he was having the best night of his life, even though nothing more had happened between him and Nell.
Now fully dressed and no longer smelling like vomit, Eric sat on his rumpled duvet staring down at his phone again.
Unable to think of any other excuse for her spontaneous crying, Nell explained her situation with Eric to her sister. However, she had to leave out lots of details, like the fact that she worked for a government agency as a top analyst and that she was training to become an agent. Or the entire calamity with Mr Green and the sexual harassment charges. Or that she had been lying to her family about key information for the last 5 years. So Nell explained her situation, but by doing so it sounded as though she was over reacting a lot. However Lisa was kind, calm and non-judgemental, and she listened to her younger sister's sad love-story quietly and patiently. Once Nell had finished, Lisa gave her verdict:
"I think that you should go back to work as soon as possible."
Nell blinked and looked at her sister questioningly. "Bu-"
Lisa continued "Nothing will get right if you stay here! You need to talk to this co-worker of yours and sort it out. Whoever he or she is, the only way you can find out what they really think is by asking them! You are good at reading people Nelly- you can find a whole lot more about what they feel by talking to them face to face. Just make sure that you don't speak in code. Stop being so cryptic with this coworker. It sounds to me like you both need to just spell out what you feel clearly!"
Still uncertain, Nell said "But what about my boss?"
"I will phone her right now and get her to allow you to go home, I will say that you can work part time instead of a full stress leave."
Although Nell was not sure how Hetty would take it, and she knew she would hate not being able to work proper hours, she was extremely grateful to her sister who had put up with her moping and hiding away over the past week or so despite having not seen Nell in a few months. She nodded and smiled in thanks, and was about to hug her older sister when Lisa gasped and raised her hands in concern.
"The 'coworker' isn't your boss is it?! Because Nell if this is the case maybe you shouldn't go back to that job. A relationship with your boss is not a good relationship to be in! I did it before. I got sacked when we broke up. I really don't want you to be in-"
Nell smiled reassuringly at her sister, holding back a giggle "No he isn't my boss. Don't worry Liss!" then she hugged her, showing just how happy she was to have the enormous weight lifted off her shoulders.
Lisa whispered into Nell's comfy hoody "Now go get 'im Nelly".
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