[get to know my granular data]
Emmett McCarty, Rose thinks, is truly something else. The sheer exposure to her presence has gone a long way to soothe the nerves that have him stumbling over himself to please her, but their project updating the financial health of Midnight Sun is far from over and he still treats her with a bizarre - but welcome - deference.
Rose has a difficult personality. She's always known this and it has led to more than one dissolution of her relationships when she was younger. Her family probably only tolerates her because they're just as bad. She considers it something of a miracle that her roommates are truly her friends - but then again, Bella grew up with Leah so she's a bit more prepared for Rose's personality, and Alice is frankly too sweet-tempered to be off-put by anything.
But because she's always had a difficult personality, she's made it a practice to test people. How far can she push them? How much can they tolerate? She wants to know what people are made of and her boundary-pushing usually does that. But sometimes people surprise her. Sometimes people don't react to the push at all.
Emmett McCarty, even for all this bashfulness, has had zero reaction to her deliberate baiting of him. She's been doing her best to rile him up each time she comes into the office, but nothing seems to work.
She needs it to work. She needs to know because she needs to be able to place him in a category before she gets attached - more attached than she already is. Rose wants things from Emmett, but she doesn't want to want them if he's not going to be someone who sticks around. And she can't know if he'll stick around if he doesn't take any of the bait she's been hand-feeding him.
It isn't that she wants to be objectified or talked down to or treated badly. Of course, she doesn't want that. But she wants to know the measure of this man and, so far, his measure seems limitless.
Numbers are the only thing in her life that are limitless. People can't be like that too, can they?
She doesn't trust it. And that's why she's set out to do her level best to push him over whatever edge he has so she can know this man the way she thinks she wants to.
Rose shows up at Midnight Sun on a Monday, not on a Friday. She assumes showing up on an unexpected day will throw him off-kilter enough that he might get irritated at her antics, but aside from a round of nervous babbling and agreeing to look at the data she has compiled, there is nothing. She's here on a Monday and Emmett is happy to work with her.
Rose makes a point to wear her most form-fitting, curve-hugging, lust-inducing clothes. She has on a high-waisted jean pencil skirt and leopard print booties she knows makes her legs look like they are a mile long; she has a luscious red sweater tucked into the skirt, the deep V neckline snug around her breasts and deep enough to show off every inch of cleavage she has. She makes a point of leaning into his space where they sit side by side at his desk, makes sure she's in his line of sight when she bends over to pick up a pen she "accidentally" dropped on the floor. She does her best bend-and-snap, damn it, and she doesn't feel his eyes on her not once. Others in the office? Sure. But Emmett? He just asks if she's cold.
She is cold. He gives her an ocean-musk scented grey hoodie. She thanks him. That's not the point.
She flirts with him, touching his arm, paying him sly compliments. He accepts them with a blush and pays them back earnestly, but not about anything that is remotely lustful.
Does she want lust from him? Yes, at least enough to know he finds her desirable. The respect is nice, but here she is, doing her best to be deliberately objectified by this man, and she may as well be a nun for all the interest he shows. She's so confused by it. He calls her beautiful, he defends her online, he's asked her on dates that she has rejected in the past - but now that she returns the interest, it doesn't seem to be returned.
Bella is probably right. When Rose was bitching about it over the weekend, Bella told her that Emmett is probably not sure how to respond because he never imagined his affections being returned. That's the exact phrase she used, too.
But is Bella right? Emmett isn't responding because he's convinced it must be his own fanciful illusion or something.
Even if Bella's right, Rose is determined that he has to respond to something. He has to react to something. Maybe he'll react in a way she doesn't like and she can stop putting forth all this utterly wasted effort.
And so, predicting this, Rose had put together her data analysis with exactly one error. She did it on purpose. She wants to know how he'll respond to correcting a mistake. Even if he doesn't respond to anything else, he has to respond to that, right? And maybe if he does respond to that, she can leverage to assess his level of interest at the same time.
It's her last gambit.
What kind of man is he? Is he going to be like Royce, her utter asshat of a cousin who has an annoying habit of explaining things to Rose like she only as one working brain cell? Or her uncles who think it's "cute" she wants to get her MBA? Is he going to be like any of her past flings, who each thought her blonde hair meant she was empty-headed? Or is he going to be like the other past-lovers who thought it was a challenge to get a smart girl, and then didn't like it when she was smarter than them, so they talked down to her to assert their authority?
Will Emmett be like any of those men? She just needs to know.
She's watching him intently, so she knows the moment he realizes the mistake she left. He pauses, furrows his brow, flips the page back, and then his lips move silently as he mouths numbers to himself. His frown deepens and she is reminded that he can figure very large sums in his head.
His reaction is cute.
His response, however, is flooring.
"Uh, Rose..."
"What is it?"
"This data set, here," he says, pointing at the page. "There's a minor error in the granular data and it throws off the entire aggregate. The micro-level projection is incorrect."
"Is it?" she asks dryly.
Emmett nods. "Unfortunately, it looks like you skipped a step on this set. It's an easy mistake to make, really. See, the dividend discount model requires..."
Emmett goes on, but Rose isn't really listening. She isn't sure what she was really expecting, but it wasn't this gentle correction that doesn't patronize or dumb it down for her. She sits there and listens to Emmett thoroughly explain the error she made and the correct way to perform the calculation, nice and patient.
When he finishes and looks at her almost hesitantly, Rose is shaken from her stunned stupor. She shakes her head, truly flabbergasted that she hasn't just been mansplained into an inch of her life, and can only say one thing:
"Take me to lunch."
"What?"
"Take me to lunch, as a date," she says, staring at him intently. This man is unique. He isn't like the others and she doesn't want him to be - but at the same time, he's the only man who has gotten close to shaking her self-confidence, even knowing that he thinks she's attractive. She wants him to want her, but unique men need unique approaches, and if all of her baitings has only proven that he's gentle-hearted, thoughtful, respectful, and intelligent, then she'll have to approach him a different way.
The direct route might give him a heart attack. It might be worth it.
Emmett's blue eyes are wide. He's in disbelief. His gaze flickers all over her and he turns red, unconsciously fisting her papers.
Finally sensing that her opportunity has come, Rose leans real close, tilting her head down demurely, playing at all of her best angles as her finger skims up the back of his hand. "Take me on a date, Emmett, and I'll let you know all about my granular data."
She says granular data like it's the dirty word she wants to use but can't in an office environment, and Emmett must finally get a clue, because he nearly swallows his tongue.
Rose grins, slow and satisfied.
She's got him.
A/N: Update 2 of 4. Rose really did dress to seduce and Emmett adores her so much, so purely, that he barely even noticed. It's true love! I don't have many plot-specific notes for this chapter, other than a lot of Rose's characterization is tied up into this desire to test the boundaries of people because she knows she's a lot to handle and she'd rather they leave than waste her time. We also got to explore some of what makes Rose so Rose-like. She's an interesting character for me!
~Rae